1961 Belgian Grand Prix

  1961 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 8 in the 1961 Formula One season
Date	June 18, 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 mi)
Distance	30 laps, 423.0 km (262.8 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Time	3.59.3
Fastest lap
Driver	Richie Ginther	Ferrari
Time	3.59.8 on lap 20
Podium
First	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Second	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari
Third	Richie Ginther	Ferrari

The 1961 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 June 1961 at Spa-Francorchamps.

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 practicing. A fourth entry was a single car for Cliff Allison and Henry Taylor. The team decided to let the fastest driver in practice compete, but Allison wrecked the car on his first practice lap. The Emeryson cars of Bianchi and Mairesse were also damaged beyond repair in practice, but they competed by using the older Lotus 18s of Marsh and Seidel, who had decided not to race. The race was completely dominated by the Ferrari team, with the four works drivers finishing 1-2-3-4. While Graham Hill made an amazing start to the lead from the third row, he could not hold off the Italian cars and all had passed him by the end of the first lap. There was some excitement for fifth place, with Graham Hill and Surtees passing each other for the position until Hill had to retire with an oil leak on the 24th lap.

Classification

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

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Phil Hill 20 laps (1, 3-5, 8, 11-13, 15, 17-18, 21-23, 25-30); Olivier Gendebien 3 laps (2, 6-7); Wolfgang von Trips 7 laps (9-10, 14, 16, 19-20, 24).
• Final race entry by Cliff Allison after crash during practice in which he broke both knees and fractured his pelvis.
• Of the 4 works Ferraris, 3 were painted red and one was painted yellow (Gendebien's, because he was Belgian and it was a one-off drive)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Phil Hill 19 2 Wolfgang von Trips 18 2 3 Stirling Moss 12 4 Richie Ginther 12 5 Jim Clark 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 22 2 Lotus-Climax 12 1 3 Cooper-Climax 4 1 4 Porsche 3

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

References