1961 Belgian Grand Prix

 1961 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing data
3rd of 8 races of the 1961 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XXI Grote Prijs van Belgie
Date:	June 18, 1961
Place:	Spa , Belgium
Course:	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Length:	423 km in 30 laps of 14.1 km
Weather:	dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver:	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Time:	3: 59.3 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Richie Ginther (Round 20)	Ferrari
Time:	3: 59.8 min
Podium
First:	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Second:	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari
Third:	Richie Ginther	Ferrari

The 1961 Belgian Grand Prix took place on June 18, 1961 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps near Spa and was the third race of the 1961 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

After dominating the Dutch Grand Prix in 1961 , Ferrari increased its quota of cars to four. In addition to the regular drivers Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips , Phil Hill and Richie Ginther , Olivier Gendebien also drove for the team. Gendebien had already started for individual races at Scuderia Ferrari in previous years. This was his last assignment for the racing team. While the car of his teammates was painted red, Gendebien drove a yellow Ferrari 156 . Porsche continued to drive with Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney , but only used the Porsche 718 as a racing car for the rest of the season . At Lotus , Innes Ireland returned to the automobile world championship after an injury break and had Jim Clark as a teammate.

Many teams and drivers were registered for the Grand Prix with private cars. The Equipe Nationale Belge had two Lotus 18s and two Emeryson cars at their disposal . The drivers were Willy Mairesse and Lucien Bianchi . Mairesse drove the last race for the Equipe Nationale Belge, he then switched to Lotus for one race. The Rob Walker Racing Team had reported a Lotus 18/21 for Stirling Moss for the first time . The UDT Laystall Racing Team drove a Lotus 18 for Cliff Allison . Due to the consequences of a serious training accident, this was the last race in Allison's career. Maurice Trintignant drove back to Scuderia Serenissima after a race break . Of the two cars entered, he used the Cooper T51 for training and racing. H&L Motors made its debut in the automobile world championship. It was also the first race for driver Jackie Lewis . The team used a Cooper T53 . Lorenzo Bandini , who drove for Scuderia Centro Sud , also made his debut in the same car . Other registered drivers in private cars were Masten Gregory and Ian Burgess for Camoradi International , Wolfgang Seidel for Scuderia Colonia , Carel Godin de Beaufort for Ecurie Maarsbergen , John Surtees for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team and Tony Marsh with his own team.

Due to the high number of registered drivers, the organizers limited the payment of prize money to 19 drivers. 16 cars were selected before the training, another three of the remaining nine were determined by the fastest training time.

Between the Dutch Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix there were five races that were not part of the World Automobile Championship. Jack Brabham won the Aintree 200 on Cooper , Roy Salvadori also won the London Trophy on Cooper . These were the last victories of the year for Cooper, afterwards most of the non-auto world championships were won by Ferrari and Lotus. Giancarlo Baghetti won the Gran Premio di Siracusa and the Gran Premio di Napoli in a Ferrari , at the next race Baghetti also made his debut in the automobile world championship and won his only Grand Prix. Moss also won the Silver City Trophy on Lotus .

With Tony Brooks and Brabham, two former winners took part in the race; Cooper had previously been successful once and Ferrari three times with the constructors. In the drivers 'championship, Moss and Graf Berghe von Trips were tied ahead of Phil Hill and Ginther, while Ferrari was two points ahead of Lotus in the constructors' championship.

training

The training session was overshadowed by Allison's serious accident. In his first training lap, Allison went off the track and rolled over several times in a field. He survived the accident but broke both knees and pelvis. After the serious crash at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1960 , this was the second accident with serious injuries, which is why Allison ended his career.

In the duel for pole position , Ferrari was again superior to the competition and had several seconds ahead of them. The first three starting positions were occupied by Ferrari drivers. Phil Hill secured the second straight pole position and was the only driver who took less than four minutes to complete his fastest practice lap. Von Trips qualified in second place, eight tenths of a second behind, while Gendebien was another three seconds slower in third place. Surtees qualified fourth among the Ferraris, with Ginther fifth. BRM qualified for the next positions on the grid with Graham Hill and Brooks. Moss was behind the two Porsche drivers Bonnier and Gurney.

Due to further accidents, both Mairesse and Bianchi did not complete a timed lap and the two Emeryson vehicles were too damaged to take part in the race. However, since Marsh and Seidel withdrew their entry for the Grand Prix, the Equipe Nationale Belge borrowed their cars and Mairesse and Bianchi started anyway. Marsh, Seidel and Burgess refused to start the race because they were drivers who did not receive any money from the organizer.

run

The starting duel was won by Graham Hill, who started from sixth and overtook the five cars in front of him up to the first corner. The Ferraris were stronger, however, so that Graham Hill dropped several positions on the first lap and Phil Hill led the race. Gendebien was in second place and overtook Phil Hill on the second lap of the race. This made him the first Belgian to lead an automobile world championship race. It was also the only automobile world championship race of his career in which he was in the lead. A year later, at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1962 , Mairesse was again a Belgian who led the Grand Prix at short notice. Mairesse retired on lap seven of this race with a defective ignition.

After two laps of the race, four Ferraris led the field and dueled for victory, with positions changing very often between the drivers. Behind this there was a gap to the competition. Graham Hill and Surtees also overtook each other several times in the battle for fifth place. Phil Hill overtook Gendebien on lap three and stayed in first place for three laps, after which he was overtaken by Gendebien again and countered on lap eight. Count Berghe von Trips caught up with his teammates through the duel and overtook both of them one lap later and subsequently swapped places with Phil Hill nine times.

McLaren retired on lap nine with a defective ignition, Ireland followed two laps later with engine failure and Bianchi also suffered a technical defect in this racing phase. Another engine failure hit Brabham, causing the Cooper works team to suffer a double breakdown. On lap 20, Bandini also had an engine failure and retired. Trintignant parked his car three laps later with a defective gearbox. The most recent retirement of the race involved Graham Hill, whose ignition failed, which meant that Surtees secured fifth place, behind the four Ferraris.

Ferrari dominated the race and classified its drivers in the top four places. In the duel between Phil Hill and Graf Berghe von Trips, Phil Hill prevailed five laps before the end of the race, making him the third winner in the third race of the season. Ferrari won the second consecutive Grand Prix. Graf Berghe von Trips came in on the finish line. Ginther was third in front of his teammate Gendebien, for whom it was the last point placement in the automobile world championship. With fifth place, Surtees achieved the best points result for Cooper of the season so far, Gurney finished sixth and thus achieved another point result for Porsche. His teammate Bonnier was classified seventh, ahead of Moss, Lewis and Gregory. Beaufort crossed the finish line in eleventh place, ahead of Clark and Brooks. Ginther drove the fastest lap of the race.

Phil Hill took the lead in the drivers' championship for the first time in his career and was one point ahead of Graf Berghe von Trips after the race. Moss was third but was already seven points behind Phil Hill. Ginther retained fourth place and was tied with Moss. In the constructors' championship, Ferrari increased its lead over Lotus to ten points, as they did not score any points. Cooper was one point ahead of Porsche, BRM continued to score no points. For Phil Hill it was the only victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari won this race again in 1966.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	02	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari 156	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	04th	Phil Hill
	06th	Richie Ginther
	08th	Olivier Gendebien
Equipe Nationale Belge	10	Willy Mairesse	Emyson 1003	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
			Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4
	12	Lucien Bianchi	Emyson 1001	Maserati 1.5 L4
			Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4
Rob Walker Racing Team	14th	Stirling Moss	Lotus 18/21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
UDT Laystall Racing Team	16	Cliff Allison	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Porsche System Engineering	18th	Jo Bonnier	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
	20th	Dan Gurney
Ecurie Maarsbergen	22nd	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
Yeoman Credit Racing Team	24	John Surtees	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Serenissima	26th	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper T51	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
			Cooper T43	Climax 1.5 L4
Cooper Car Company	28	Jack Brabham	Cooper T55	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	30th	Bruce McLaren
Team Lotus	32	Innes Ireland	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	34	Jim Clark
Owen Racing Organization	36	Graham Hill	BRM P48 / 57	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	38	Tony Brooks
H&L Motors	40	Jackie Lewis	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Tony Marsh	42	Tony Marsh	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Camoradi International	44	Masts Gregory	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	50	Ian Burgess	Lotus 18
Scuderia Colonia	48	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mairesse drove the Emeryson with the number 10 in the practice sessions and the Lotus in the race.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bianchi drove the Emeryson with the number 12 in the practice sessions and the Lotus in the race.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Trintignant drove the Cooper T51 with the number 26 in practice sessions and in the race.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Phil Hill	Ferrari	3: 59.3	212.12 km / h	01
02	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	4: 00.1	211.41 km / h	02
03	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	4: 03.0	208.89 km / h	03
04th	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	4: 06.0	206.34 km / h	04th
05	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	4: 06.1	206.26 km / h	05
06th	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	4: 07.6	205.01 km / h	06th
07th	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	4: 07.9	204.76 km / h	07th
08th	Stirling Moss	Lotus Climax	4: 08.2	204.51 km / h	08th
09	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	4: 08.3	204.43 km / h	09
10	Dan Gurney	Porsche	4: 08.4	204.35 km / h	10
11	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	4: 08.6	204.18 km / h	11
12	Masts Gregory	Cooper-Climax	4: 10.2	202.88 km / h	12
13	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	4: 11.1	202.15 km / h	13
14th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	4: 16.7	197.74 km / h	14th
15th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	4: 17.4	197.20 km / h	15th
16	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	4: 17.7	196.97 km / h	16
17th	Lorenzo Bandini	Cooper Maserati	4: 19.0	195.98 km / h	17th
18th	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	4: 20.0	195.23 km / h	18th
19th	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	4: 21.4	194.19 km / h	19th
20th	Tony Marsh	Lotus Climax	4: 23.2	192.86 km / h	20th
21st	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus Climax	4: 27.4	189.83 km / h	21st
22nd	Ian Burgess	Lotus Climax	4: 37.6	182.85 km / h	22nd
23	Willy Mairesse	Lotus Climax	no time		23
24	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus Climax	no time		24

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Phil Hill	Ferrari	30th		2: 03: 03.8	01	4: 00.1
02	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	30th		+ 0.7	02	4: 01.4
03	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	30th		+ 19.5	05	3: 59.8
04th	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	30th		+ 45.6	03	4: 01.7
05	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	30th		+1: 26.8	04th	4: 05.2
06th	Dan Gurney	Porsche	30th		+1: 31.0	10	4: 05.8
07th	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	30th		+ 2: 47.1	09	4: 08.1
08th	Stirling Moss	Lotus Climax	30th		+ 3: 55.6	08th	4: 09.6
09	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	29		+ 1 lap	13	4: 09.4
10	Masts Gregory	Cooper-Climax	29		+ 1 lap	12	4: 09.7
11	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	28		+ 2 rounds	14th	4: 12.0
12	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	24		+ 6 rounds	16	4: 15.0
13	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	24		+ 6 rounds	07th	4: 07.8
-	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	24		DNF	06th	4: 06.3	ignition
-	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	23		DNF	19th	4: 11.3	transmission
-	Lorenzo Bandini	Cooper Maserati	20th		DNF	17th	4: 19.0	Oil pressure / engine
-	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	12		DNF	11	4: 08.3	Engine failure
-	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus Climax	09		DNF	24	4: 34.3	Oil leak
-	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	09		DNF	18th	4: 17.6	Engine failure
-	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	09		DNF	15th	4: 15.0	ignition
-	Willy Mairesse	Lotus Climax	07th		DNF	23	4: 34.7	ignition
-	Cliff Allison	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Training accident / injury
-	Ian Burgess	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Participation withdrawn
-	Tony Marsh	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Participation withdrawn
-	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Participation withdrawn

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 eight races counted. In the constructors' championship, the first six of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points, only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Phil Hill Ferrari 19th 02  Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Ferrari 18th 03  Stirling Moss Lotus Climax 12 04th  Richie Ginther Ferrari 12 05  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 4th 06th  Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 3 07th  Dan Gurney Porsche 3 08th  John Surtees Cooper-Climax 2 09  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 1 10  Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 22nd 02  lotus 12 03  cooper 4th 04th  Porsche 3

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• 1961 Spa Belgium GP on YouTube.com
• Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, ​​1961 on grandprix.com
• Hill heads Ferrari clean sweep at en.espnf1.com