Tunnel vision of victory for Jean-Pierre Beltoise at Monaco, 1972
“I’m the best crasher there is in the rain,” quips Mike Hailwood prior to the soaked 1972 Monaco Grand Prix, though we suspect the joke was veiling a deeper concern. Monaco in the dry is tricky enough, but in the rain it becomes a whole different challenge – and Jean-Pierre Beltoise rose to it...
Monaco’s glamour and lustre evaporates when the clouds roll in and the rain begins to fall. But this was of little concern to Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who was about to score his first – and only – Formula 1 victory. In diving ahead of the pole sitter Emerson Fittipaldi at the start, Beltoise secured himself the only clear view of the circuit, which he would retain for the whole two-and-a-half-hour race.
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