1961 Belgian Grand Prix

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1961 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 18 June 1961
Official name XXI Grote Prijs van Belgie
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Spa, Belgium
Course Street circuit/Racing facility
Course length 14.1 km (8.761 miles)
Distance 30 laps, 423.0 km (262.8 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 3.59.3
Fastest lap
Driver United States Richie Ginther Ferrari
Time 3.59.8 on lap 20
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1961 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 June 1961 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 3 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The organizers of the race invited 25 entries, but were only going to pay starting money to 19: sixteen pre-selected cars plus the 3 fastest of the remaining 9. Three of the cars without starting money decided not to race after practising. A fourth entry was a single car for Cliff Allison and Henry Taylor. UDT Laystall decided to let the fastest driver in practice compete, but Allison wrecked the car on his first practice lap. The Emeryson cars were also discarded by Equipe Nationale Belge after discovering terminal chassis damage on one of them, although Willy Mairesse gained the use of a Team Lotus spare machine to post a better time on Saturday. The team eventually reached a deal for Mairesse and Lucien Bianchi to compete in the race with the older, yet proven, Lotus 18s of non-starters Marsh and Seidel.

The race was completely dominated by the Ferrari team, with the four works drivers finishing 1-2-3-4. This was the last time any constructor achieved this score in a F1 race. Of the four works Ferraris, three cars were painted red in the tradition of rosso corsa, the national racing colour of Italy, and Gendebien's car was painted in a Belgian racing yellow. Apart from two NART entries in the 1964 season this was the last time a Ferrari car wore other than the traditional red colour in Formula One. While Graham Hill took the lead at the start from sixth on the grid, he could not hold off the Italian cars and all had passed him by the end of the first lap. Hill fought with John Surtees for fifth place until he retired with an oil leak on the 24th lap.

Classification[edit]

Qualifying[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Qualifying times Gap
Q1 Q2
1 4 United States Phil Hill Ferrari 4:06.3 3:59.3
2 2 Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 4:04.0 4:00.1 +0.8
3 8 Belgium Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 4:05.8 4:03.0 +3.7
4 24 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Climax 4:09.1 4:06.0 +6.7
5 6 United States Richie Ginther Ferrari 4:10.5 4:06.1 +6.8
6 36 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM-Climax 4:07.6 unknown +8.3
7 38 United Kingdom Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 4:09.8 4:07.9 +8.6
8 14 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 4:14.3 4:08.2 +8.9
9 18 Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche 4:12.3 4:08.3 +9.0
10 20 United States Dan Gurney Porsche 4:08.4 4:10.9 +9.1
11 28 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 4:12.2 4:08.6 +9.3
12 44 United States Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 4:13.5 4:10.2 +10.9
13 40 United Kingdom Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 4:18.0 4:11.1 +11.8
14 22 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 4:18.7 4:16.7 +17.4
15 30 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 4:22.9 4:17.4 +18.1
16 34 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax No time 4:17.7 +18.4
17 46 Italy Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 4:20.8 4:19.0 +19.7
18 32 United Kingdom Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax No time 4:20.0 +20.7
19 10 Belgium Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax 4:27.3 4:20.6 +21.3
20 26 France Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 8:54.2 4:21.4 +22.1
21 42 United Kingdom Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax 4:26.8 4:23.2 +23.9
22 12 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Emeryson-Maserati 4:27.3 4:49.3 +28.0
23 48 Germany Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 4:33.0 4:27.4 +28.1
24 50 United Kingdom Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax 4:57.2 4:34.6 +35.3
DNS 16 United Kingdom Cliff Allison Lotus-Climax No time No time
Source:[1][2]

  Drivers that were not guaranteed full starting money: only the top 3 non-guaranteed drivers would receive it. Despite this, Godin de Beaufort and Bandini chose to compete anyway.

Race[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 4 United States Phil Hill Ferrari 30 2:03:03.8 1 9
2 2 Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 30 +0.7 secs 2 6
3 6 United States Richie Ginther Ferrari 30 +19.5 secs 5 4
4 8 Belgium Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 30 +45.6 secs 3 3
5 24 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Climax 30 +1:26.8 4 2
6 20 United States Dan Gurney Porsche 30 +1:31.0 10 1
7 18 Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche 30 +2:47.1 9
8 14 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 30 +3:55.6 8
9 40 United Kingdom Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 29 +1 Lap 13
10 44 United States Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 29 +1 Lap 12
11 22 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 28 +2 Laps 14
12 34 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 24 +6 Laps 16
13 38 United Kingdom Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 24 +6 Laps 7
Ret 36 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM-Climax 24 Ignition 6
Ret 26 France Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 23 Gearbox 20
Ret 46 Italy Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 20 Wheel Bearing 17
Ret 28 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 12 Engine 11
Ret 30 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 9 Ignition 15
Ret 32 United Kingdom Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 9 Engine 18
Ret 12 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 9 Oil Leak 21
Ret 10 Belgium Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax 7 Ignition 19
DNS 42 United Kingdom Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute
DNS 48 Germany Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute
DNS 50 United Kingdom Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute
DNS 16 United Kingdom Cliff Allison Lotus-Climax Car Damaged in Practice
WD 16 United Kingdom Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax Car Damaged by Allison
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race[edit]

  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1961 Beigan GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Belgium 1961". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  3. ^ "1961 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Belgium 1961 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


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1961 Dutch Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
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