The Formula 1 driver Jochen Rindt was one of Austria’s most successful professional sportsmen.
He discovered his love for fast cars early on – a love which, in later years, was to cost him his life.
1942 Jochen Rindt is born in Mainz in Germany.
1962-1963 The young driver from Graz wins his first races and soon advances to Formula Junior.
1964-1970 Rindt graduates to Formula 2. In the following six years, he wins a total of 29 Formula 2 races. In 1965, he also wins the Le Mans 24 Hours in France.
1970 Jochen Rindt has been trying to break into Formula 1 for some time, but neither his work for the Cooper team nor for Brabham produces the desired results.
His luck improves after the change to Lotus. In this season, Rindt wins five races before entering the Italian Grand Prix.
Jochen Rindt dies during training in a crash caused by a broken brake shaft. However, he is so far ahead of the other drivers in points that Rindt is posthumously declared the 1970 Formula 1 world champion.
Jochen Rindt, the son of a German father and an Austrian mother, was born on 18 April 1942 in Mainz, Germany. His parents were killed in an air raid when he was only 15 months old. His mother’s parents brought him to their home in Graz, where he spent his childhood and youth.
Jochen’s interest in motor sports kindled at an early age. At the age of 15 he ran his first private race on a moped. After his school-leaving examination („Matura“), he initially entered the family’s spice importing business. However, motor sports never ceased to fascinate him.
At the age of 20 he finally won his first race. Only a year later, he competed in the Formula Junior race in Cesenatico in Italy. He then competed successfully in several Formula 2 races. At the Crystal Palace in London, he even beat the world champion, Graham Hill. In 1965, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Alerted by these successes, he was hired by Bruce McLaren’s team, and Rindt became a factory driver for Cooper in Formula 1. But he did not yet turn his back on Formula 2, where he won several more races for the Brabham team. In March of 1967 he married a Finnish woman, Nina Lincoln, and their daughter Natascha was born a year later.
1968 was an eventful year for Jochen Rindt on the sporting front too. He switched to Formula 1 and the Lotus team, which also included Graham Hill. Two years later he reached the apex of his career, winning many races in that season. He had an enormous lead in Grand Prix points on the other drivers when he went into the training run for the Monza race. In the Parabolica bend, the right front brake shaft of his Lotus 72 broke. Rindt hit the guide rail at high speed and was killed instantly. Jochen Rindt’s body was buried in the Graz central cemetery. A few weeks after the tragic accident, Jochen Rindt was posthumously declared the 1970 Formula 1 World Champion thanks to his enormous lead in championship points.
Jochen Rindt’s career as a racing driver, though brief, was crowned with many victories. He won a total of 29 Formula 2 races. In the 60 Grand Prix races which he entered, he had 10 starts in pole position and six victories.