A podium to start

End of 1970, Swede Reine Wisell entered Formula One with Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus as a late-season replacement for John Miles, who had departed after team leader Jochen Rindt had been killed at Monza on September 5.

Wisell’s debut was a month later at the 1970 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He performed well for a rookie aboard the Lotus 72 (picture-above) and scored what was going to be the best result of his F1 career with a third place finish, trailing only his team mate Emerson Fittipaldi, who that day scored his first Grand Prix victory, and Pedro Rodriguez.

Subsequent races for Team Lotus were less successful and Wisell was dropped by the team at the end of the 1971 season, after scoring two fourth place finishes in South Africa (picture-below) and in Austria, while his team mate Fittipaldi won the championship. He continued to compete in Formula One with BRM and March, but then oriented his career towards touring cars racing.