The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, located just north of Milan in Lombardy, became in 1971 the fastest circuit on the Formula One calendar following the removal of Spa-Francorchamps. The race was also the scene of tributes to Jochen Rindt, the reigning World Champion who had died at the same circuit the previous year. Because of ongoing legal proceedings between Team Lotus and Italian authorities arising from Rindt's death, Emerson Fittipaldi's entry in the four-wheel-drive Lotus 56B gas turbine car was made under the name "World Wide Racing" — the only occasion Fittipaldi would race in a championship event in a car not powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Mike Hailwood was making his debut for the Surtees team, an inspired choice given that he held both the Formula 5000 and motorcycle lap records at Monza.
Chris Amon, driving for Matra, took pole position with a lap of 1:22.40, equivalent to 251 km/h (156 mph) — the fastest qualifying lap recorded in a Formula One championship race to that point, and the first pole position for a Matra-powered car. The result was a public embarrassment for Ferrari on their home circuit; the second row was occupied by BRMs. Jackie Stewart, the reigning World Champion, qualified only seventh after suffering gearbox problems in practice. Peter Gethin, who would take the race victory, started eleventh.
Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari thrilled the tifosi by surging from the fourth row to lead early from Jo Siffert and Stewart, before Ronnie Peterson took the lead on lap three. Stewart moved to the front on lap seven. By lap sixteen, both Stewart and Jacky Ickx had retired with engine failures, followed two laps later by Regazzoni; Jo Siffert dropped further back after his gearbox stuck in fourth gear.
What remained was the defining spectacle of the race. The surviving frontrunners formed a close-order slipstreaming pack — Hailwood, Cevert, Peterson, Siffert, Ganley, Amon, Gethin, and Jackie Oliver — cycling through the lead lap after lap with fractions of a second separating them. Gethin timed his run perfectly, emerging at the front in the closing moments and holding on through the final corners.
At the flag, Gethin led Peterson by 0.01 seconds. Francois Cevert was third at 0.09 seconds, Mike Hailwood fourth at 0.18 seconds, and Howden Ganley fifth at 0.61 seconds — the five covered by that margin in total. The top four were separated by less than two-tenths of a second. Polesitter Amon took sixth place, nearly half a minute behind Ganley. The fastest lap of the race was set by Henri Pescarolo on lap nine at 1:23.8. The race also marked the Formula One championship debut of Jean-Pierre Jarier and the fifth championship podium for a Swedish driver.
The victory was Gethin's only Formula One championship win. Tyrrell-Ford clinched their first Constructors' Championship at Monza, with two rounds remaining. The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was also the last Formula One race run on Monza's original full-speed layout: alarmed by average speeds exceeding 242 km/h, organizers introduced two chicanes for 1972 at the circuit's most dangerous curves.
The average race speed of 242.615 km/h stood as the highest in Formula One championship history for 32 years, until it was surpassed at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix, also at Monza. No race on the modified circuit would come close to matching the 1971 figure, leaving the five-abreast finish of that September afternoon as a singular event in the sport's history.
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