Karl Jochen Rindt was a German-born racing driver who competed with an Austrian license during his career, despite having German and not Austrian citizenship.
71 Facts About Jochen Rindt
2.
In 1964, Rindt made his debut in Formula One at the Austrian Grand Prix, before securing a full drive with Cooper for 1965.
3.
Jochen Rindt won his first Formula One race at the 1969 United States Grand Prix.
4.
Jochen Rindt had a very successful 1970 season, mainly racing the revolutionary Lotus 72, and won five of the first nine races.
5.
Jochen Rindt was killed owing to severe throat injuries caused by his seat belt; he was pronounced dead while on the way to hospital.
6.
Jochen Rindt left behind his wife, Nina, and a daughter, Natasha.
7.
Jochen Rindt was successful in sports car racing, winning the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans paired with Masten Gregory in a Ferrari 250LM.
8.
Jochen Rindt was a popular figure in Austria and his success resulted in increased interest in motorsport and Formula One in particular.
9.
Jochen Rindt hosted a monthly television show titled Motorama and set up a successful exhibition of racing cars in Vienna.
10.
Jochen Rindt was born on 18 April 1942 in Mainz, Germany, to an Austrian mother and German father.
11.
Jochen Rindt's mother had been a successful tennis player in her youth and, like her father, studied law.
12.
Jochen Rindt's parents owned a spice mill in Mainz, which he later inherited.
13.
Jochen Rindt drove his first race at the Flugplatzrennen in 1961, in his grandmother's Simca Montlhery.
14.
Jochen Rindt entered several rallies with his Simca but did not achieve good results.
15.
In 1963, Jochen Rindt switched to Formula Junior with the assistance of Kurt Bardi-Barry, a wealthy owner of a travel agency and one of Austria's leading drivers at the time; Barry gave him his one-year-old Cooper T67 and the two men formed a partnership, driving to races together.
16.
Jochen Rindt was fastest in practice for his first race in Vallelunga, a race won by Barry, and took victory in his second at Cesenatico.
17.
Jochen Rindt was highly successful in Formula Two racing, amassing a total of 29 victories.
18.
Jochen Rindt entered the series in partnership with Barry, driving Brabham cars.
19.
The international motor racing world first took notice of him on 18 May 1964, when Jochen Rindt won the London Trophy race at the Crystal Palace circuit in a Brabham BT10 ahead of Graham Hill.
20.
Jochen Rindt had a long-standing relationship with Roy Winkelmann, and drove with his team until it closed at the end of 1969.
21.
Jochen Rindt started at the 24 Hours of Le Mans a total of four times.
22.
At the start, the drivers had to run to their cars; Jochen Rindt entered with a forward roll that allowed him to get his foot on the throttle instantly and take an early lead.
23.
At this point, Jochen Rindt had already changed back into his civilian clothes, expecting their race to be over.
24.
Jochen Rindt drove most of the night, advancing from 18th to third position by dawn.
25.
Gregory persuaded Jochen Rindt to let him drive the closing part of the race, suspecting that his young teammate might not drive moderately enough to nurse the car to the finish.
26.
Later that year, Jochen Rindt drove, again in a Ferrari 250LM, at the 500 kilometre race at Zeltweg.
27.
Jochen Rindt was able to win ahead of the better powered Ferrari of Mike Parkes owing to a special lever that manually activated the brake lights.
28.
Jochen Rindt made his Formula One debut at his home race, the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix, in a loaned Brabham BT11 supplied by the Rob Walker Racing Team.
29.
Jochen Rindt retired on the 58th lap with a broken steering column in his only Grand Prix of the season.
30.
Jochen Rindt was not immediately successful as Cooper, formerly a top team, were struggling at the time.
31.
Jochen Rindt's best result was a fourth place at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
32.
Jochen Rindt ended the season with four points, 13th in the championship.
33.
At the second race of the year, the Belgian Grand Prix, Jochen Rindt overcame an engine failure in practice to qualify second, next to Surtees on the front row of the grid.
34.
Jochen Rindt spun several times on the wet track and suffered from a limited-slip differential, but held onto the lead until lap 21, when Surtees repassed him and won.
35.
Brabham's Repco V8 engine was not competitive against the now widely used Cosworth DFV and Jochen Rindt finished just two races, both in third place.
36.
At the season opener in South Africa on New Year's Day, Jochen Rindt placed third, being elevated by a late retirement from Jackie Stewart and closing on second-placed Graham Hill towards the end.
37.
Jochen Rindt had closed on Hill in the latter stages of the race after the Englishman spun, and finished just four seconds behind after a close battle during the last lap.
38.
Jochen Rindt felt uncomfortable with the move, owing to the notorious unreliability of the Lotus car; in a twenty-month period between 1967 and 1969, the team was involved in 31 accidents.
39.
Jochen Rindt's hesitancy appeared justified when both he and Hill suffered high speed crashes at the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuic.
40.
Jochen Rindt's accident left him sidelined for the Monaco Grand Prix, a race that Hill won.
41.
At the British Grand Prix, Jochen Rindt fought a close battle with Stewart for the lead; both men were 90 seconds ahead of third-placed Jacky Ickx.
42.
The race was decided in Stewart's favour only when Jochen Rindt had to enter the pits after part of his car's bodywork started to rub on the tyre; he finished fourth.
43.
Jochen Rindt's victory was overshadowed by a serious accident involving his teammate Hill, who crashed after a high speed puncture and suffered major leg injuries.
44.
The car proved ineffective in the race; Jochen Rindt retired after nine laps.
45.
Seemingly unaffected by this, Jochen Rindt produced what his race engineer Herbie Blash called "the race of his life".
46.
Jochen Rindt used the Lotus 49 one last time at the Belgian Grand Prix, a race at which he heavily criticised the organisers for installing guardrails that had gaps of several metres between them.
47.
Jochen Rindt had originally started practice in the remodelled 72, but the car came to a halt early in the session with a broken lower wishbone, forcing Rindt to switch cars once more.
48.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, Jochen Rindt eventually used the new Lotus 72, better sorted after alterations had been made.
49.
Jochen Rindt set pole position in the final practice session, almost a quarter of a second ahead of his closest challenger, Stewart.
50.
Jochen Rindt went on to take his maiden victory in the Lotus 72, but it was not a joyful occasion for him; on lap 23, his close friend Piers Courage, with whom he had eaten dinner just the night before, died in a fiery crash.
51.
Jochen Rindt was heavily shaken by the loss of yet another fellow driver and contemplated retirement.
52.
Jochen Rindt went back to using his open-front helmet, only to be hit in the face by a stone from another car, causing a deep cut on his right cheek.
53.
Brabham was then able to regain the top spot on lap 69 as Jochen Rindt missed a gear and looked the certain winner, only to repeat his misfortune of Monaco: on the last lap, he ran out of fuel, allowing Jochen Rindt to take his third win in a row.
54.
Jochen Rindt's victory was cast into doubt shortly after the race when Chief Scrutineer Cecil Mitchell found the rear aerofoil not at the regulated height.
55.
Jochen Rindt was provisionally disqualified, only to be reinstated as winner after three hours of deliberation.
56.
Jochen Rindt set the Lotus 72 on pole position, to the delight of the crowd, but retired from the race with an engine failure.
57.
Jochen Rindt was in the habit of using only four points on the five-point harness then available and did not wear the crotch straps, as he wanted to be able to exit the car quickly in the event of fire.
58.
Later investigations found that the accident was initiated by a failure of the car's right front inboard brake shaft, but that Jochen Rindt's death was caused by poorly installed crash barriers.
59.
Jochen Rindt was pronounced dead on the way to hospital in Milan and Lotus withdrew all cars from the race, including the Lotus 72 entered by Rob Walker.
60.
Jochen Rindt was buried at the central cemetery in Graz on 11 September 1970.
61.
Regardless what happens in the remaining Grands Prix this year, to all of us, Jochen Rindt is the world champion.
62.
At the time he died Jochen Rindt had won five of that year's ten Grands Prix, which meant that he had a substantial lead in the Drivers' Championship.
63.
In March 1967, Jochen Rindt married Nina Lincoln, a Finnish model and daughter of racing driver Curt Lincoln, whom he had raced in the early part of his career.
64.
Nina Jochen Rindt married twice more after Jochen Rindt's death, first Philip Martyn, with whom she had another daughter, and then Alexander Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport, making her Nina Hood, Lady Bridport.
65.
Jochen Rindt had met Bernie Ecclestone during his time at Cooper and the two became friends.
66.
In Formula One, Jochen Rindt had several friendly relationships with other drivers, most notably Jackie Stewart.
67.
Jochen Rindt became involved in Stewart's fight for increased safety in Formula One, being one of the leading figures of the GPDA.
68.
Stewart said that it took Jochen Rindt some time to understand the graveness of the situation but after that, he was a "good ally".
69.
Privately, Jochen Rindt was known to family and friends as an often reckless driver when on public roads.
70.
In 1965, Rindt put together the first exhibition of racing cars in Austria, the Jochen-Rindt-Show in Vienna.
71.
Jochen Rindt's popularity was further increased through the TV show Motorama, which he hosted.