Mexican Grand Prix 1970 - Race Schedule and Countdown

Jacky Ickx won the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix, leading home Ferrari teammate Clay Regazzoni for the team's third consecutive 1-2 finish, but the victory was not enough to prevent Jochen Rindt from becoming Formula 1's first and only posthumous World Champion. Despite Ickx's fourth win of the season, his total of 40 points fell five short of Rindt's 45, confirming that the late Austrian had secured the title despite being killed at Monza two months earlier. The championship was thus decided in the most tragic circumstances imaginable.

The race at Mexico City's high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit saw Ferrari dominate from start to finish, with Ickx and Regazzoni controlling proceedings in front of an enormous crowd. Denny Hulme finished a distant third for McLaren, unable to match the Ferrari's pace at the challenging venue. While Ickx pushed hard for maximum points, the mathematics were clear - only a miracle could prevent Rindt's posthumous championship, and that miracle did not materialize. The Belgian driver's four victories demonstrated his quality, but Rindt's dominant five-win run earlier in the season had built an insurmountable advantage.

As the checkered flag fell, Formula 1 found itself in unprecedented territory. Rindt's championship, earned through five brilliant victories before his death, would be awarded posthumously, making him the only driver in the sport's history to claim the title after death. The somber crowning of a dead champion served as a stark reminder of racing's deadly toll in 1970 - Bruce McLaren, Piers Courage, and Rindt all lost in one tragic season. Ferrari's late-season surge had come too late to change the outcome, and Ickx's 40 points secured a deserved second place. The season ended not with celebration, but with reflection on the unacceptable cost of motorsport's pursuit of speed.