1962 USA Grand Prix

 1962 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 9 races of the 1962 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	V United States Grand Prix
Date:	October 7, 1962
Place:	Watkins Glen , USA
Course:	Watkins Glen International
Length:	378 km in 100 laps of 3.78 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 15.8 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jim Clark (Round 70)	Lotus Climax
Time:	1: 15.0 min
Podium
First:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Second:	Graham Hill	BRM
Third:	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax

The 1962 US Grand Prix took place on October 7, 1962 at Watkins Glen International near Watkins Glen and was the eighth race of the 1962 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Last race of the Porsche works team in the automobile world championship

third win of the season by Jim Clark

Between the 1959 US Grand Prix and the 1961 US Grand Prix, the Grand Prix took place on three different racetracks. This change was ended and the race was held at Watkins Glen International for 15 years from 1961. Ferrari decided not to participate for the third time in a row because the team had not yet won the 1962 World Cup and the car was not competitive enough to win or podium in the last two races of the season. In addition, Phil Hill , who had won the drivers' championship with Ferrari in 1961, should be fired. Phil Hill drove a Porsche because and because Joakim Bonnier did not feel comfortable in training . In the race, however, Bonnier drove the car alongside his teammate Dan Gurney . After the US Grand Prix, Porsche withdrew from the automobile world championship in order to concentrate fully on the sports car world championship . In 2010 Porsche intended to return to Formula 1, but these plans were not implemented. The season ended for Bonnier and Phil Hill as well as Gurney. Phil Hill moved to ATS and Gurney became Brabham's second driver . Bonnier drove for the Rob Walker Racing Team in 1963 and did not compete in factory teams for the rest of his career.

Cooper entered three cars for the US Grand Prix. In addition to Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs , Tim Mayer received an old Cooper T53 for his only race in the automobile world championship. Timmy Mayer was the brother of Teddy Mayer with McLaren racing team, who a few years later McLaren founded.

There were other changes in the teams with private vehicles. The UDT Laystall Racing Team registered Innes Ireland and Masten Gregory , Gregory drove for the last time and switched to Reg Parnell Racing the following season . Even Maurice Trintignant moved to Reg Parnell Racing and ended his season at the RRC Walker Racing Team. With Roger Penske , Hap Sharp , Jim Hall and Rob Schroeder four drivers from the United States took part in the race, Schroeder the only time, Penske for the last time, Hall and Sharp drove again next season.

In the drivers' championship, Graham Hill was clearly ahead of McLaren and Jim Clark . Only he and Clark still had a chance at the World Championship, Graham Hill had the chance to win the title early with a win. In the constructors' championship there was the same situation between BRM and Lotus . BRM would have had a win in the race to win the championship. With Ireland and McLaren two former winners took part, Lotus was twice successful in the constructors, Cooper once.

training

Clark dominated the practice session on Friday and reached his second pole position in a row, the fifth of the season , with a lead of eight tenths of a second . He improved the lap record in training by more than two seconds. Behind them were the two BRMs, as in the previous race, but this time Richie Ginther was slightly faster than his team-mate Graham Hill. Gurney qualified fourth ahead of Jack Brabham , both of whom drove the same time. Brabham's former teammate from previous years, McLaren, started from sixth behind. The best driver with a private car was Gregory in seventh place, Trevor Taylor , Bonnier and Tony Maggs completed the top ten.

During the training session on Saturday, the weather conditions had deteriorated and none of the drivers improved their times. The steering column of John Surtees ' Lola Mk4 broke, causing Surtees to have a serious accident and making the car undrivable. He took over the car of his team-mate Roy Salvadori and started from last place on the grid.

run

Clark won the starting duel against Ginther, who was overtaken by his team-mate Graham Hill. As in previous races, Clark and Graham Hill fought for the lead again. Brabham was in third place after the start, ahead of Gurney and McLaren. Gurney overtook Brabham first, then Ginther, and was third.

Carel Godin de Beaufort had an accident on lap nine ; for him the race was over. Hall couldn't even start because of an engine failure. On the twelfth lap of the race, Clark had the first laps before him, but this enabled Graham Hill to overtake his rival. Clark had to overtake the other drivers without their support, which gave Graham Hill the chance to attack him. Graham Hill's lead was a racing situation that would have led him to win the Drivers' Championship, but Clark countered five laps later and kept his chances for the title upright. On this lap he also set a new official course record, which he improved again on lap 70, making it the fastest race lap.

The duel for third place was also very intense between Ginther and Gurney. After Gurney went off the track because of an oil spill, but narrowly missed the boundary, Ginther overtook him. In lap 35 the duel was decided in favor of Gurney; Ginther retired with engine failure. Before that, Surtees, Mayer and Trintignant were eliminated with different problems. Gurney's Porsche also had difficulties and was no longer able to perform at full capacity, which meant that Gurney dropped to fifth.

Clark kept Graham Hill behind for the remainder of the race, winning his third race of the season. Graham Hill finished second and had also won three times in 1962. This made the world championship decision at the Grand Prix of South Africa . Clark needed a win in this race to win the drivers' world championship, in all other cases Graham Hill would have been world champion due to the deletion of results regulation (without the deletion results, Hill would even have been world champion). There was the same starting situation in the constructors' world championship, Lotus needed a win at the season finale to win the title, in all other situations it would have gone to BRM. In the following years there was also a duel between Clark and Graham Hill for victory in the US Grand Prix. Graham Hill won the next three years on BRM, and Clark twice in a row on Lotus.

Third in the US Grand Prix was McLaren, dropping back to third in the drivers' standings behind Clark. Brabham finished fourth and got the first points with his own car, the Brabham BT3 . With Gurney in fifth place, five different constructors were in the points, sixth was Gregory on Lotus. The first ten were completed by Maggs, Ireland, Penske and Schroeder. Sharp, Taylor and Bonnier also made it to the finish line.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Owen Racing Organization	04th	Richie Ginther	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	05	Graham Hill
Rob Walker Racing Team	06th	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus 24	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Team Lotus	08th	Jim Clark	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	09	Trevor Taylor
Porsche System Engineering	10	Dan Gurney	Porsche 804	Porsche 1.5 B8	D.
	11	Jo Bonnier
		Phil Hill
Ecurie Maarsbergen	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
Dupont Team Zerex	14th	Roger Penske	Lotus 24	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
UDT Laystall Racing Team	15th	Innes Ireland	Lotus 24	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	16	Masts Gregory		BRM 1.5 V8
Brabham Racing Organization	17th	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT3	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
Bowmaker Racing Team	18th	John Surtees	Lola Mk4	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	19th	Roy Salvadori
Cooper Car Company	21st	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T60	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	22nd	Tony Maggs
	23	Tim Mayer	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4
Hap Sharp	24	Hap Sharp	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Jim Hall	25th	Jim Hall	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
John Mecom	26th	Rob Schroeder	Lotus 24	Climax 1.5 V8	D.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Joakim Bonnier drove the Porsche 804 with the number 11 in the training sessions and in the race. Phil Hill also drove the car in practice sessions.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	1: 15.8	179.53 km / h	01
02	Richie Ginther	BRM	1: 16.6	177.65 km / h	02
03	Graham Hill	BRM	1: 16.7	177.42 km / h	03
04th	Dan Gurney	Porsche	1: 16.9	176.96 km / h	04th
05	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	1: 16.9	176.96 km / h	05
06th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	1: 17.3	176.04 km / h	06th
07th	Masts Gregory	Lotus BRM	1: 17.9	174.69 km / h	07th
08th	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	1: 18.0	174.46 km / h	08th
09	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	1: 19.0	172.25 km / h	09
10	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	1: 19.7	170.74 km / h	10
11	Tim Mayer	Cooper-Climax	1: 20.7	168.62 km / h	11
12	Roger Penske	Lotus Climax	1: 21.3	167.38 km / h	12
13	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1: 21.8	166.36 km / h	13
14th	Hap Sharp	Cooper-Climax	1: 22.4	165.15 km / h	14th
15th	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	1: 24.0	162.00 km / h	15th
16	Rob Schroeder	Lotus Climax	1: 24.0	162.00 km / h	16
17th	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus Climax	1: 25.8	158.60 km / h	17th
18th	John Surtees	Lola-Climax	1: 29.2	152.56 km / h	18th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	100		2: 07: 13.0	01	1: 15.0
02	Graham Hill	BRM	100		+ 9.2	03	1: 15.3
03	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	99		+ 1 lap	06th	1: 16.2
04th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	99		+ 1 lap	05	1: 16.1
05	Dan Gurney	Porsche	99		+ 1 lap	04th	1: 16.5
06th	Masts Gregory	Lotus BRM	99		+ 1 lap	07th	1: 15.7
07th	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	97		+ 3 rounds	10	1: 17.9
08th	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	96		+ 4 rounds	15th	1: 17.0
09	Roger Penske	Lotus Climax	96		+ 4 rounds	12	1: 17.2
10	Rob Schroeder	Lotus Climax	93		+ 7 rounds	16	1: 20.4
11	Hap Sharp	Cooper-Climax	91		+ 9 rounds	14th	1: 22.0
12	Trevor Taylor	Lotus Climax	85		+ 15 rounds	08th	1: 22.0
13	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	79		+ 21 rounds	09	1: 18.0
-	Richie Ginther	BRM	35		DNF	02	1: 43.6	Engine failure
-	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus Climax	32		DNF	17th	1: 19.1	Brakes
-	Tim Mayer	Cooper-Climax	31		DNF	11	1: 22.6	ignition
-	John Surtees	Lola-Climax	19th		DNF	18th	1: 18.3	Engine failure
-	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	09		DNF	13	1: 23.6	accident
-	Jim Hall	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Engine failure
-	Phil Hill	Porsche	00		DNS			only participated in the training
-	Roy Salvadori	Lola-Climax	00		DNS			Surtees took over his car for the race

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the five best results from nine races counted. In the constructors' championship, only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Graham Hill BRM 39 (43) 02  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 30th 03  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 24 (26) 04th  John Surtees Lola-Climax 19th 05  Dan Gurney Porsche 15th 06th  Phil Hill Ferrari 14th 07th  Richie Ginther BRM 10 08th  Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 9 09  Trevor Taylor Lotus Climax 6th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Jack Brabham Lotus-Climax / Brabham 6th 11  Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 5 12  Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 4th 13  Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari 4th 14th  Willy Mairesse Ferrari 3 15th  Jo Bonnier Porsche 3 16  Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 2 17th  Masts Gregory Lotus BRM 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  BRM 39 (47) 02  lotus 36 03  cooper 27 (31) 04th  Lola 19th 05  Porsche 18 (19) 06th  Ferrari 18th 07th  Brabham 3

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: United States GP, 1962 at grandprix.com
• Clark wins to keep championship alive at espnf1.com