Belgian Grand Prix 1965

 Belgian Grand Prix 1965

Racing data
3rd of 10 races of the 1965 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXV GROTE PRIJS VAN BELGIE
Date:	June 13, 1965
Place:	Spa , Belgium
Course:	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Length:	454.4 km in 32 laps of 14.2 km
Weather:	cloudy, heavy rain
Pole position
Driver:	Graham Hill	BRM
Time:	3: 45.4 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jim Clark (Round 23)	Lotus Climax
Time:	4: 12.9 min
Podium
First:	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax
Second:	Jackie Stewart	BRM
Third:	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax

The 1965 Belgian Grand Prix took place on June 13, 1965 on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps near Spa and was the third race of the 1965 World Automobile Championship . The Grand Prix also had the FIA ​​honorary title of European Grand Prix .

Reports

background

Jim Clark wins the Belgian Grand Prix for the fourth time in a row

After a race break, Lotus returned to the World Automobile Championship and continued to drive with Jim Clark and Mike Spence for the rest of the season . Two vehicles were registered for Clark, the new Lotus 33 and the old Lotus 25 , Clark used the Lotus 33 both in training and in the race. In Brabham alongside drove Jack Brabham again Dan Gurney as the second driver Denny Hulme paused. As the organizer, the Royal Automobile Club de Belgique stipulated that the first 16 vehicles in the qualification would receive an entry fee. Unlike the 12 factory teams who had secured the entry fee, ten drivers with customer vehicles were supposed to fight for the four remaining starting places that would have been paid for by the organizer. This rule was later changed when all drivers with customer vehicles boycotted Friday training. Reg Parnell Racing contested the race with Richard Attwood and Innes Ireland , who drove his first race of the season and became the team's new regular driver. The Scuderia Centro Sud announced three BRM P57 for Lucien Bianchi , Willy Mairesse and Masten Gregory . For all three drivers it was the return to the World Automobile Championship after a year off. Bianchi contested his only race of the season, he did not return until 1968 . For Gregory it was the second return to Scuderia Centro Sud, having last driven for the team in the 1960 World Cup . Mairesse was registered for a Grand Prix for the last time.

With Brabham and Clark, two former winners took part in the race, Clark previously won this Grand Prix three times in a row. Ferrari was successful four times with the designers, Lotus three times and Cooper once. Clark was ahead of Graham Hill and John Surtees in the drivers 'championship, and BRM in front of Ferrari and Lotus in the constructors' championship .

training

Due to the boycott of the teams with customer vehicles, only 12 drivers took part in the first training session on Friday. Jackie Stewart on BRM set the first fastest time, which was beaten by Honda rider Richie Ginther after a few laps . Then Hill was the fastest and he dueled his team-mate Stewart for the fastest lap time. Clark took to the track and finished first, but had to change the engine after an oil leak. Graham Hill took the lead with a time of 3: 48.0 minutes and was more than a second faster than the pole position time of the previous year. Brabham also had the engine of his car changed.

After the training boycott by some teams, the organizer was forced to adjust the distribution of the entry fee so that 18 drivers received it. Two more were allowed to take part in the race but received no money for it. Mairesse only drove one lap in the second practice session and then left the track to take part in a race at the Nürburgring . Hill improved the best time further and set it to 3: 45.4 minutes. Clark had major technical problems with his Lotus and therefore only drove a few laps. He improved to second behind Hill, but was two seconds behind him.

Hill achieved the second pole position in a row, his teammate Stewart finished third. Honda was competitive in practice for the first time, finishing fourth and eleven on the grid. Gurney was fifth ahead of Surtees and Joakim Bonnier , who was again the best driver with a customer vehicle in practice. The first ten were completed by Joseph Siffert , Bruce McLaren and Brabham.

run

Most of the race weekend was cloudy but dry. It only started to rain shortly before the race, so all drivers switched to rain tires. Despite qualifying, Anderson decided not to take part in the race because he had discovered technical problems on his car during training that could not be resolved in time. The rain was so heavy at the start that there was very little visibility behind a vehicle in front. Hill won the start, leading in front of Clark. Behind were Stewart and Surtees. Due to the bad weather conditions and the limited visibility, all drivers apart from Clark kept greater distances from one another. Clark drove close behind Hill and overtook him on the first lap of the race. As a result, he was the fastest driver in the field and after a short time built up a greater gap to the competition. Hill was overtaken by his team-mate Stewart one lap later, after which all drivers stayed far behind the one in front so as not to drive in the spray.

Despite the heavy rain, there were relatively few failures. Gardner parked his Brabham on lap three with a defective ignition. Surtees retired two laps later with engine failure. Bucknum and Bonnier gave up the race on lap nine, Gregory followed on lap twelve with a defective fuel pump. Ginther improved to fourth with the failure of Surtees, but was later overtaken by McLaren. Rindt and Gregory pitted for repairs and then continued the Grand Prix in the back field. After 16 laps, Clark was 43 seconds ahead of runner-up Stewart. McLaren caught up on Hill, with Brabham overtaking Ginther behind. A few laps later, McLaren passed Hill and Brabham caught up with him. At the same time, Brabham was lapped by Clark and lost a lot of time due to the short drive in the gout of the leader, so that Hill pulled away again a little. Bucknum, who had parked his car on the track, was driven back into the pits by Ireland.

A serious accident occurred on lap 26. Attwood lost control of his Lotus and spun off the track. He hit a telegraph pole, which broke his car in two and burned out completely. Attwood survived the accident with minor injuries and minor burns. The point placements remained unchanged until the end of the race. Clark slowed down shortly before the end of the race after clutch damage appeared to be on the horizon. The problem solved itself and Clark drove the last two laps at a higher speed again. At the finish he was 44 seconds ahead of Stewart; he had lapped all other drivers beforehand. For Clark it was the second win of the season and the beginning of a series of five wins in a row. He won the Belgian Grand Prix for the fourth time in a row, but also for the last time in his career. It was only in 1991 won by Ayrton Senna again a driver four times in a row in this race. Stewart finished second for the first time in his career, his best result to date. McLaren completed the podium in third place. Shortly before the end of the race, Brabham overtook Graham Hill for fourth place. Ginther crossed the finish line in sixth, winning the first point for Honda in the automobile world championship. Spence just missed the points in seventh place ahead of Siffert, Bandini and Gurney.

In the drivers' championship, Clark took the lead again from Hill and Stewart. He was three points ahead of Hill and seven points over Stewart. In the constructors' championship, BRM kept first place one point ahead of Lotus. Ferrari was third, seven points behind.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	01	John Surtees	Ferrari 158	Ferrari 1.5 V8	D.
	18th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 1512	Ferrari 1.5 V12
Cooper Car Company	04th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T77	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	05	Jochen Rindt
Owen Racing Organization	07th	Graham Hill	BRM P261	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	08th	Jackie Stewart
Honda R&D Co.	10	Richie Ginther	Honda RA272	Honda 1.5 V12	G
	11	Ronnie Bucknum
Brabham Racing Organization	14th	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT11	Climax 1.5 V8	G
	15th	Dan Gurney
Team Lotus	17th	Jim Clark	Lotus 33	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
			Lotus 25
	18th	Mike Spence	Lotus 33
Rob Walker Racing Team	20th	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	21st	Joseph Siffert	Brabham BT11	BRM 1.5 V8
Reg Parnell Racing	15th	Innes Ireland	Lotus 25	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	16	Richard Attwood
DW Racing Enterprises	24	Bob Anderson	Brabham BT11	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
John Willment Automobiles	26th	Frank Gardner	Brabham BT11	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
Scuderia Centro Sud	27	Lucien Bianchi	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	28	Willy Mairesse
	29	Masts Gregory

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jim Clark drove the Lotus 33 with the number 17 in practice sessions and in the race.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Graham Hill	BRM	3: 45.4	225.52 km / h	01
02	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	3: 47.5	223.44 km / h	02
03	Jackie Stewart	BRM	3: 48.8	222.17 km / h	03
04th	Richie Ginther	Honda	3: 49.0	221.97 km / h	04th
05	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	3: 49.2	221.78 km / h	05
06th	John Surtees	Ferrari	3: 49.5	221.49 km / h	06th
07th	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	3: 49.7	221.30 km / h	07th
08th	Jo Siffert	Brabham-BRM	3: 50.7	220.34 km / h	08th
09	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	3: 51.3	219.77 km / h	09
10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	3: 51.5	219.58 km / h	10
11	Ronnie Bucknum	Honda	3: 52.3	218.82 km / h	11
12	Mike Spence	Lotus Climax	3: 52.6	218.54 km / h	12
13	Richard Attwood	Lotus BRM	3: 53.2	217.98 km / h	13
14th	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Climax	3: 53.3	217.88 km / h	14th
15th	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	3: 54.0	217.23 km / h	15th
16	Innes Ireland	Lotus BRM	3: 57.4	214.12 km / h	16
17th	Lucien Bianchi	BRM	3: 59.0	212.69 km / h	17th
18th	Frank Gardner	Brabham-BRM	3: 59.4	212.33 km / h	18th
19th	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	3: 59.8	209.36 km / h	-
20th	Masts Gregory	BRM	4: 02.8	209.36 km / h	19th
21st	Willy Mairesse	BRM	no time	-	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	32	0	2: 23: 34.8	02	4: 12.9
02	Jackie Stewart	BRM	32	0	+ 44.8	03
03	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	31	0	+ 1 lap	09
04th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	31	0	+ 1 lap	10
05	Graham Hill	BRM	31	0	+ 1 lap	01
06th	Richie Ginther	Honda	31	0	+ 1 lap	04th
07th	Mike Spence	Lotus Climax	31	0	+ 1 lap	12
08th	Joseph Siffert	Brabham-BRM	31	0	+ 1 lap	08th
09	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	30th	0	+ 2 rounds	15th
10	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	30th	2	+ 2 rounds	05
11	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Climax	29	1	+ 3 rounds	14th
12	Lucien Bianchi	BRM	29	0	+ 3 rounds	17th
13	Innes Ireland	Lotus BRM	27	0	+ 5 rounds	16
14th	Richard Attwood	Lotus BRM	26th	1	+ 6 rounds	13
-	Masts Gregory	BRM	12	0	DNF	19th		Fuel pump
-	Joakim Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	09	1	DNF	07th		ignition
-	Ronnie Bucknum	Honda	09	0	DNF	11		transmission
-	John Surtees	Ferrari	05	0	DNF	06th		Engine failure
-	Frank Gardner	Brabham-BRM	03	1	DNF	18th		ignition
-	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	00	0	DNS			technical error
-	Willy Mairesse	BRM	00	0	DNS			withdrawn

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the six best results from ten 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  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 18th 02  Graham Hill BRM 15th 03  Jackie Stewart BRM 11 04th  John Surtees Ferrari 9 05  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 8th 06th  Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 6th 07th  Mike Spence Lotus Climax 3 08th  Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 3 09  Joseph Siffert Brabham-BRM 1 10  Richie Ginther Honda 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  BRM 19th 02  Lotus Climax 18th 03  Ferrari 12 04th  Cooper-Climax 8th 05  Brabham-Climax 3 06th  Brabham-BRM 1 07th  Honda 1

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Belgian Grand Prix - Scotland Forever at motorsportmagazine.com
• Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, ​​1965 on grandprix.com
• 'Nearly blind' Clark triumphs at Spa at espn.co.uk