1960 French Grand Prix

 1960 French Grand Prix

Racing data
6th of 10 races in the 1960 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XLVI Grand Prix de l'ACF
Date:	3rd July 1960
Place:	Reims , France
Course:	Circuit de Reims-Gueux
Length:	417.4 km in 50 laps of 8.348 km
Weather:	dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver:	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Time:	2: 16.8 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Time:	2: 17.5 min
Podium
First:	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Second:	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax
Third:	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax

The 1960 French Grand Prix took place on July 3, 1960 at the Circuit de Reims-Gueux near Reims and was the sixth race of the 1960 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

At the French Grand Prix on the Circuit de Reims-Gueux, both rear-engined and front-engined cars started, although the latter, like the Ferrari Dino 246F1, were still competitive because the better top speed could be used on the long straights. As in the previous race, Ferrari started with Phil Hill , Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and Willy Mairesse , although he paused the next two races and only returned to the team at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix . At Lotus , Ron Flockhartden replaced Chris Bristow in a fatal accident at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1960 . It was Flockhart's first race of the season and his only one for Lotus. From the next Grand Prix, Lotus signed John Surtees again . In addition to Flockhart, Innes Ireland and Jim Clark drove for the team.

Vanwall was entered for a final race in the automobile world championship. The team, which was the first constructors' world champion in 1958 , only took part in this one race of the season and used the new Vanwall VW11 . The front-engined car was not competitive, which is why the team withdrew from the automobile world championship after the race and disbanded a year later. The driver of the car was Tony Brooks , who then drove again for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team for the rest of the season . The Scarab was not a victorious car either, which is why the team's outings continued to decline. Team owner Lance Reventlow paused a race and gave a cockpit to Richie Ginther , who returned to Ferrari after that one race. His teammate was Chuck Daigh . The last time Scarab competed with two cars, the team entered two other races with only one car.

Many drivers and teams qualified with private cars. The Scuderia Centro Sud announced three Cooper T51 for Maurice Trintignant , Masten Gregory and Ian Burgess . Three of these cars were also driven by Olivier Gendebien , Henry Taylor and Bruce Halford for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team. This was Halford's last race in the automobile world championship. Gino Munaron drove a Cooper bought by the Ferrari team for Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti , Lucien Bianchi drove another private Cooper for Fred Tuck Cars . In addition, David Piper drove the first of two races of the season in a Lotus 16 .

Ferrari had previously won the French Grand Prix on this circuit four times, Brooks was the only former winner in the field. In the drivers' championship, Cooper driver Bruce McLaren led his teammate Jack Brabham . Third-placed Stirling Moss paused due to injury. All drivers still had theoretical chances of becoming world champions. In the constructors' championship, Cooper led by a large margin over Lotus and Ferrari. Even in this ranking, all teams still had a chance of winning the title.

training

As in the previous race, Brabham dominated practice and was more than a second faster than the competition. He achieved the second pole position in a row. It was the third of the season for Cooper. Phil Hill qualified in second place in a Ferrari, ahead of Graham Hill in a BRM and Ireland in a Lotus, so that four different designers took the first four places on the grid. Ferrari was stronger again compared to previous races. In addition to Phil Hill's second place, Ferrari drivers also occupied positions five and six. Graham Hill's teammates Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier finished seventh and tenth in training. McLaren, leader in the drivers' championship, qualified in ninth place. The best of the drivers with private cars was Gendebien in eleventh place, Brooks qualified the new Vanwall car in 14th position in the rear field.

Engine damage occurred in both Scarab cars, which prevented participation in the race, which meant that the race weekend for Scarab was already over after training. Engine failure during training also prevented Piper from participating in the race.

run

The race started with two accidents at the start. Graham Hill stopped due to a technical error, whereupon Trintignant drove him into the rear. This damaged the BRM so badly that Hill gave up the race. Trintignant parked his car a few yards away. Brooks and Bianchi also collided, but both drivers continued the race. At the front, Brabham took the lead and held it for the first three laps. He was then attacked by Phil Hill, who took the lead on lap four. For the first time in the season, a Ferrari was in the lead. It was also the penultimate race in which a front-engined car fought for victory thanks to the favorable track characteristics.

Brabham and Phil Hill fought an exciting battle for first place over several laps, and the lead changed eleven times up to the 18th lap. In laps four to nine, Brabham and Phil Hill led alternately, then Brabham defended first place for two laps until Phil Hill countered again and the two drivers overtook each other alternately by lap 15. They often drove the long straight side by side and fought many wheel-to-wheel duels. On lap 15 Phil Hill began to defend his lead permanently until he fell back three laps later with no power transmission. He also suffered damage to the front axle when he once touched the barrier. Brooks had previously retired due to vibrations on his Vanwall, Mairesse, Bianchi and Munaron also had technical problems with the power transmission. The BRM P48 again showed its lack of reliability, both Gurney and Bonnier retired with engine damage, so that again no BRM reached the target.

After Phil Hill fell back, Graf Berghe von Trips caught up with Brabham, but retired a few laps later, like his teammate Phil Hill. Despite the retirement, both drivers were still classified in the classification because they had completed the necessary race distance. When there was no competition from Ferrari, Cooper dominated the racing scene. Brabham increased the lead over his opponents, while Gendebien and McLaren dueled for second place. Brabham was faster on the straights than Gendebien, who accelerated better out of the corners. Both drivers overtook each other several times until McLaren was stopped by drivers to be lapped shortly before the end of the race. As there was no rule at the time to let vehicles pass that wanted to lap, McLaren lost too much time and Gendebien took second place. For Gendebien, this was the second and final podium finish in a run for the Formula 1 World Championship. Brabham won the third race in a row, for Cooper it was already the fourth win of the season and also the third in a row. Brabham also achieved a triple with the fastest race lap. In the drivers' championship, Brabham drew level with McLaren and took the lead as he had more race wins than McLaren. Gendebien improved to fourth place in the drivers' standings behind Moss. All drivers still had the theoretical chance to become world champions. In the constructors 'championship, Cooper extended his lead over Lotus to 19 points and was able to become constructors' world champion early in the next race. For this, Cooper needed another win in the next few races. In addition, only Lotus and Ferrari had a chance of winning the constructors' title, BRM could no longer win the title.

Taylor also achieved his best race result with fourth place and received the only points of his career. Clark was fifth again, Flockhart received one point for sixth place. He was back in the points since the 1956 Italian Grand Prix , but for the last time in his career. Ireland was ranked seventh ahead of Halford, Gregory and Burgess. Count Berghe von Trips and Phil Hill were classified in eleven and twelve. For Cooper it was the only victory on this track, Brabham won the race again years later.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari	02	Phil Hill	Ferrari Dino 246F1	Ferrari 2.4 V6	D.
	04th	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips
	06th	Willy Mairesse
Owen Racing Organization	08th	Jo Bonnier	BRM P48	BRM 2.5 L4	D.
	10	Dan Gurney
	12	Graham Hill
Vandervell Products Ltd.	14th	Tony Brooks	Vanwall VW11	Vanwall 2.5 L4	D.
Cooper Car Company	16	Jack Brabham	Cooper T53	Climax 2.5 L4	D.
	18th	Bruce McLaren
Team Lotus	20th	Innes Ireland	Lotus 18	Climax 2.5 L4	D.
	22nd	Ron Flockhart
	24	Jim Clark
Reventlow Automobiles Inc.	26th	Chuck Daigh	Scarab Type 1	Scarab 2.4 L4	D.
	28	Richie Ginther
Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti	30th	Gino Munaron	Cooper T51	Castellotti 2.5 L4	D.
Robert Bodle Ltd.	34	David Piper	Lotus 16	Climax 2.5 L4	D.
Fred Tuck Cars	36	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper T51	Climax 2.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Centro Sud	38	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper T51	Maserati 2.5 L4	D.
	40	Masts Gregory
	42	Ian Burgess
Yeoman Credit Racing Team	44	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper T51	Climax 2.5 L4	D.
	46	Henry Taylor
	48	Bruce Halford

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	2: 16.8	219.68 km / h	01
02	Phil Hill	Ferrari	2: 18.2	217.46 km / h	02
03	Graham Hill	BRM	2: 18.4	217.14 km / h	03
04th	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	2: 18.5	216.99 km / h	04th
05	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	2: 19.3	215.74 km / h	05
06th	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	2: 19.4	215.59 km / h	06th
07th	Dan Gurney	BRM	2: 19.4	215.59 km / h	07th
08th	Ron Flockhart	Lotus Climax	2: 19.5	215.43 km / h	08th
09	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	2: 19.6	215.28 km / h	09
10	Jo Bonnier	BRM	2: 19.8	214.97 km / h	10
11	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax	2: 20.0	214.66 km / h	11
12	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	2: 20.3	214.20 km / h	12
13	Henry Taylor	Cooper-Climax	2: 22.8	210.45 km / h	13
14th	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	2: 23.3	209.72 km / h	14th
15th	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-Climax	2: 23.6	209.28 km / h	15th
16	Bruce Halford	Cooper-Climax	2: 23.6	209.28 km / h	16
17th	Masts Gregory	Cooper Maserati	2: 24.3	208.27 km / h	17th
18th	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	2: 24.7	207.69 km / h	18th
19th	Gino Munaron	Cooper-Castellotti	2: 31.3	198.63 km / h	19th
20th	Ian Burgess	Cooper Maserati	2: 36.7	191.79 km / h	20th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	50		1: 57: 24.9	01	2: 17.5
02	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax	50		+ 48.3	11	2: 20.0
03	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	50		+ 51.9	09	2: 19.8
04th	Henry Taylor	Cooper-Climax	49		+ 1 lap	13	2: 20.1
05	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	49		+ 1 lap	12	2: 21.9
06th	Ron Flockhart	Lotus Climax	49		+ 1 lap	08th	2: 21.7
07th	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	43		+ 7 rounds	04th	2: 19.1
08th	Bruce Halford	Cooper-Climax	40		+ 10 rounds	16	2: 25.4
09	Masts Gregory	Cooper Maserati	37		+ 13 rounds	17th	2: 24.0
10	Ian Burgess	Cooper Maserati	36		+ 14 rounds	20th	2: 32.1
11	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	30th		+ 20 rounds	06th	2: 18.1
12	Phil Hill	Ferrari	29		+ 21 rounds	02	2: 17.8
-	Jo Bonnier	BRM	22nd		DNF	10	2: 20.3	Engine failure
-	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-Climax	18th		DNF	15th	2: 25.5	Power transmission
-	Dan Gurney	BRM	17th		DNF	07th	2: 22.3	Engine failure
-	Gino Munaron	Cooper-Castellotti	16		DNF	19th	2: 31.9	Power transmission
-	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	14th		DNF	05	2: 22.4	Power transmission
-	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	07th		DNF	14th	2: 22.5	Vibrations
-	Graham Hill	BRM	00		DNF	03		accident
-	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	00		DNF	18th		accident
-	Chuck Daigh	Scarab	00		DNS			Engine damage during training
-	Richie Ginther	Scarab	00		DNS			Engine problems
-	David Piper	Lotus Climax	00		DNS			Engine failure

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the six best results from ten races counted. Only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted in the constructors' championship.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 24 02  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 24 03  Stirling Moss Lotus Climax 11 04th  Olivier Gendebien Cooper-Climax 10 05  Jim Rathmann Watson-Offenhauser 8th 06th  Innes Ireland Lotus Climax 7th 07th  Phil Hill Ferrari 7th 08th  Cliff Allison Ferrari 6th 09  Rodger Ward Watson-Offenhauser 6th 10  Graham Hill BRM 4th 11  Paul Goldsmith Epperly-Offenhauser 4th 12  Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Ferrari 4th

Item driver constructor Points 13  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 4th 14th  Henry Taylor Cooper-Climax 3 15th  Carlos Menditeguy Cooper Maserati 3 16  Tony Brooks Cooper-Climax 3 17th  Don Branson Phillips-Offenhauser 3 18th  Jo Bonnier BRM 2 19th  Johnny Thomson Lesovsky-Offenhauser 2 20th  Richie Ginther Ferrari 2 21st  Eddie Johnson Trevis-Offenhauser 1 22nd  Lucien Bianchi Cooper-Climax 1 23  Ron Flockhart Lotus Climax 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  cooper 38 02  lotus 19th 03  Ferrari 15th 04th  BRM 6th

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Grand Prix Results: French GP, 1960 at grandprix.com
• Brabham wins again as rear engine powered cars dominate at en.espnf1.com