On the 14th May, 1972, BRM saw their final Grand Prix finish as a Formula 1 team at the Monaco GP. The race was won by Jean-Pierre Beltoise; it was the only win of his Formula One World Championship career, which he secured in the BRM P160B.
The conditions for the race were some of the worst seen up to that point on the track – the rain was so persistent that a thirty-minute session of extra practice was permitted to drivers. When the race began, as reported by Motorsport Magazine, ‘Beltoise screamed through on the inside of Ickx in a do-or-die effort that came off’. He gained a strong lead, knowing that if he could keep the car running and on the track in spite of the conditions, that he had an excellent chance for his first podium. Both the leading BRM and the Ferrari (driven by Ickx in a 312B) had anxious moments when water got into the electrics or the injection system, but things dried out and they went hack onto their full 12-cylinders again.
As written by Dennis Jenkinson, “The victory was well deserved, Beltoise giving a marvellous display of courage, tenacity and skill and the win for BRM could not have happened at a better time […] This victory must restore the balance, for it was a well-won victory, from flag to flag, and not a victory by the default or misfortune of others. As team-leader of the motley Marlboro crew, Jean-Pierre Beltoise really asserted himself in a moment of truth and glory.
It was race 4 of 12 in both the 1972 World Championship of Drivers and the 1972 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The course had been substantially modified from 1971, in the interest of safety; the pits were moved to the harbor front, between the chicane and Tabac, and a new chicane was placed near Tabac. Just the previous year, Jackie Stewart had set the fastest record for the track in a Tyrrell 003-Ford, doing the course in 1m22.2 at 85.577 mph.
