1961 Italian Grand Prix

 1961 Italian Grand Prix

Racing data
7th of 8 races of the 1961 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXXIIo Gran Premio d'Italia
Date:	September 10, 1961
Place:	Monza , Italy
Course:	Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Length:	430 km in 43 laps of 10 km
Weather:	dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver:	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari
Time:	2: 46.3 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Giancarlo Baghetti (Round 2)	Ferrari
Time:	2: 48.4 min
Podium
First:	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Second:	Dan Gurney	Porsche
Third:	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax

The 1961 Italian Grand Prix took place in Monza on September 10th and was the seventh race of the 1961 World Automobile Championship . The Grand Prix was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Count Wolfgang Berghe von Trips , in which 15 spectators were also killed - more than in any other race in the automobile world championship before and after.

Reports

background

Five weeks after the German Grand Prix , the next race of the automobile world championship took place on the traditional track of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. As a route variant, the organizers determined the ten-kilometer combination of the standard course with an attached oval course , as this route variant meant an advantage for Ferrari , which was especially superior to the competition on routes with long straights. As in the previous year, there were protests against this decision, but most of the teams agreed to participate, as the cars were slower than in the previous year due to the reduction in displacement and the organizers promised to negotiate the steep turns one last time. In the meantime, the Guard's Trophy not counting for the world championship in Brands Hatch , the Kanonloppet in Karlskoga , the Grand Prix of Denmark in Roskilde and the Grand Prix of Modena at the Aerautodromo di Modena . Stirling Moss won three of these races in a Lotus .

Ferrari driver Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips came to Monza with four points ahead of his teammate Phil Hill and twelve over Moss. With a win, von Trips would have secured the world championship in the penultimate race of the season. Ferrari had already won the constructors' championship a few races before. Besides Graf Berghe von Trips, only Phil Hill and Moss had theoretical chances of becoming world champions.

Ricardo Rodríguez , who became a team-mate of Graf Berghe von Trips, Phil Hill and Richie Ginther , took part in his first race . Rodríguez was the youngest Grand Prix driver to date. It wasn't until 1980 that Mike Thackwell, a driver almost a month younger, started. Since Ferrari did not take part in the US Grand Prix in 1961 , it was the last race of the season for the four drivers of the team. Graf Berghe von Trips had a fatal accident in the race, Ginther switched to BRM the following season. Only Phil Hill and Rodriguez stayed with Ferrari.

Most teams have already had vehicle tests for the following season. Cooper Car Company announced both a Cooper T55 and a Cooper T58 with the new V8 engine for Jack Brabham . Brabham used the T58 both in training and in the race. At BRM, the new BRM P57 with BRM engine was registered for a race for the first time , but was only used as a test by Graham Hill in training. Lotus used two different cars for Innes Ireland , a Lotus 21 and a Lotus 18/21 , the Rob Walker Racing Team experimented with two teams and a total of three different cars for Moss. In addition, Porsche reported two cars each for its drivers.

For many teams and drivers with private cars, the Italian Grand Prix was the last race of the season, or the last race ever. Henry Taylor ended his career with British Racing Partnership , as a teammate he had Masten Gregory , who moved to this team and also drove for British Racing Partnership the following season. The Scuderia Colonia , a team founded by Graf Berghe von Trips, also withdrew from the automobile world championship and was registered with Wolfgang Seidel for the last time . H&L Motors also contested the last Grand Prix in the team's history, and that ended the season for driver Jackie Lewis and Seidel. The Scuderia Serenissima ended the season as did their driver Maurice Trintignant , who drove a Cooper one last time. He then switched back to the Rob Walker Racing Team. His team-mate for the Italian Grand Prix was Nino Vaccarella , who drove his only race on a De Tomaso F1-003 . The Scuderia Centro Sud paused for a year after the Grand Prix, the driver Lorenzo Bandini switched to Ferrari, Massimo Natili ended his career in the automobile world championship. André Pilette paused after the race until 1963 and used an Emeryson 61 for the Equipe Nationale Belge , the only use of the car. Brian Naylor and Jack Fairman also ended their careers, Gerry Ashmore , Giancarlo Baghetti , Tim Parnell the season. Roberto Bussinello made his debut, but did not compete in the world championship again until 1965. Furthermore, the Italian drivers Renato Pirocchi , Gaetano Starrabba and Roberto Lippi made their debut , only Lippi also drove other races.

With Moss, Phil Hill and Tony Brooks three former winners participated, Moss won the Italian Grand Prix three times before, Phil Hill and Brooks once each. Ferrari and Cooper had previously been successful with the designers.

training

After the training runs, the factory Ferraris took the first four places, the Ferraris were more than a second faster than the competition. The pole position was secured for the only time by Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, Ricardo Rodríguez missed pole by a tenth of a second on his first Grand Prix start. Ginther qualified third ahead of Phil Hill. This broke Phil Hill's streak of five straight pole positions, but it was already the sixth in a row for Ferrari. It wasn't until five years later, at the 1966 Grand Prix of Great Britain , that another team managed to take first and second place on the grid.

Graham Hill qualified in fifth place ahead of Baghetti. With his private Ferrari, five of these cars qualified among the top six starting positions. Seventh place went to Jim Clark on Lotus, eighth place to Jo Bonnier on Porsche. The first ten were completed by Ireland and Brabham. With a total of 32 cars, a numerically very large field of drivers qualified for the Grand Prix, only Pilette missed the required qualification time and was therefore not allowed to take part in the race.

run

The accident occurred shortly before the Parabolica

Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and 15 spectators die in the biggest accident in Formula 1 history

Phil Hill wins the world championship with his last race win

Immediately after the start of the race, von Trips dropped from pole to sixth place. Phil Hill took the lead in front of his teammates Ginther and Rodríguez. While Graf Berghe von Trips was overtaking Brabham, Ashmore had an accident. He survived the accident with serious injuries. On the second lap, a catastrophe occurred at the entrance to the Parabolica curve: During an attempt to overtake, von Trips' Ferrari collided with Jim Clark's Lotus at almost 230 km / h . Count Berghe von Trips lost control of his Ferrari, raced up the adjacent embankment and crashed into the safety fence; Both the embankment and the fence were aimed at the safety of the audience. The car was thrown up and hit the spectators standing at the fence. Von Trips was thrown out of the cockpit, hit the ground and died instantly. With him, eleven spectators died at the race track, four more died in the hospital in the following days, and 60 were injured. The race was not canceled despite the high number of victims, the highest in the history of the automobile world championship.

After the fatal accident, the race was marked by a hard-fought duel at the top and many technical failures. On the second lap of the race, Bussinello, Lippi and Seidel retired with engine damage, Fairman and Naylor also a few laps later. Even John Surtees crashed, but remained without injuries. Ireland abandoned the race on lap five due to a defective chassis and Brabham's car overheated on lap seven. Another series of failures began on lap ten with engine failure at Graham Hill. Gregory, Baghetti and Vaccarella also parked their cars, as did Rodriguez, Bonnier and Starrabba. In most cases, engine damage was the cause and the unit on Ginthers Ferrari was also defective. Until shortly before his failure, he had dueled Phil Hill for the lead and took it over four times. After Moss was eliminated, Phil Hill drove safely to victory, the last of his career. At the same time he took the lead in the drivers' championship and was one point ahead of Graf Berghe von Trips. Due to the fatal accident of his teammate and the failure of Moss, Phil Hill was determined ahead of time as the winner of the 1961 World Cup. Phil Hill became the first world champion from the United States, but it remained his only world championship. For Ferrari it was the fifth drivers title in the team's history. Gurney was second in a Porsche ahead of Mclaren in third. Jackie Lewis secured the only points of his career in fourth place. Brooks was fifth and Salvadori also finished in the points for the last time, in sixth.

Due to the accident with the many fatalities, Ferrari decided not to participate in the last race of the season, the 1961 US Grand Prix . Ferrari strengthened its team in the following season with drivers Rodriguez and Bandini. But the series of fatal accidents involving their own drivers, which began in the late 1950s, continued in the years that followed - both Rodriguez and Bandini were killed in accidents.

Registration list

As was common at the time, some drivers with several vehicle models or engines were registered for this race. For example, Stirling Moss was registered with a Lotus 21 - Climax 1.5 L4 , a Lotus 18/21 - Climax 1.5 L4 and a Lotus 18/21 - Climax 1.5 V8 ; he finally started in the Lotus 21.

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	2	Phil Hill	Ferrari 156	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	4th	Wolfgang von Trips
	6th	Richie Ginther
	8th	Ricardo Rodríguez
Cooper Car Company	10	Jack Brabham	Cooper T58	Climax 1.5 V8	D.
	10	Jack Brabham	Cooper T55	Climax 1.5 L4
	12	Bruce McLaren
JBW Cars	14th	Brian Naylor	JBW 61	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Private	16	Tim Parnell	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	18th	Gerry Ashmore
UDT Laystall Racing Team	20th	Henry Taylor	Lotus 18/21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	22nd	Masts Gregory
Owen Racing Organization	24	Graham Hill	BRM P57	BRM 1.5 V8	D.
	24	Graham Hill	BRM P48 / 57	BRM 1.5 L4
	26th	Tony Brooks
Rob Walker Racing Team	28	Stirling Moss	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
			Lotus 18/21
				Climax 1.5 V8
Fred Tuck Cars	30th	Jack Fairman	Cooper T45	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Sant'Ambroeus	32	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari 156	Ferrari 1.5 V6	D.
	34	Alfonso Thiele	Cooper T45	Climax 1.5 L4
Team Lotus	36	Jim Clark	Lotus 21	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	38	Innes Ireland
			Lotus 18/21
Yeoman Credit Racing Team	40	Roy Salvadori	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
	42	John Surtees
Porsche System Engineering	44	Joakim Bonnier	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.
			Porsche 787
	44	Dan Gurney	Porsche 718
			Porsche 787
	46	Edgar Barth	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 F4
Scuderia Serenissima	48	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper T51	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
	50	Nino Vaccarella	De Tomaso F1-003	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia set colli	52	Roberto Lippi	De Tomaso F1-002	OSCA 1.5 L4	D.
Isobele de Tomaso	54	Roberto Bussinello	De Tomaso F1-004	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Colonia	56	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Pescara Racing Club	58	Renato Pirocchi	Cooper T51	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
H&L Motors	60	Jackie Lewis	Cooper T53	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Centro Sud	60	Massimo Natili	Cooper T51	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
	62	Lorenzo Bandini	Cooper T53
Scuderia Dolomiti	64	Ernesto Prinoth	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Private	66	Mennato Boffa	Cooper T45	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Equipe Nationale Belge	68	André Pilette	Emeryson P	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Scuderia Colonia	70	Michael May	Lotus 18	Climax 1.5 L4	D.
Principe Gaetano Starrabba	72	Gaetano Starrabba	Lotus 18	Maserati 1.5 L4	D.
Ecurie Maarsbergen	74	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 B4	D.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	2: 46.3	216.47 km / h	01
02	Ricardo Rodríguez	Ferrari	2: 46.4	216.35 km / h	02
03	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	2: 46.8	215.83 km / h	03
04th	Phil Hill	Ferrari	2: 47.2	215.31 km / h	04th
05	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	2: 48.7	213.40 km / h	05
06th	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	2: 49.0	213.02 km / h	06th
07th	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	2: 49.2	212.77 km / h	07th
08th	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	2: 49.6	212.26 km / h	08th
09	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	2: 50.3	211.39 km / h	09
10	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	2: 51.6	209.79 km / h	10
11	Stirling Moss	Lotus Climax	2: 51.8	209.55 km / h	11
12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	2: 52.0	209.30 km / h	12
13	Tony Brooks	BRM	2: 52.2	209.06 km / h	13
14th	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	2: 53.4	207.61 km / h	14th
15th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	2: 53.8	207.13 km / h	15th
16	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	2: 54.0	206.90 km / h	16
17th	Masts Gregory	Lotus Climax	2: 55.2	205.48 km / h	17th
18th	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	2: 55.2	205.48 km / h	18th
19th	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	2: 55.6	205.01 km / h	19th
20th	Nino Vaccarella	De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo	2: 56.0	204.55 km / h	20th
21st	Lorenzo Bandini	Cooper Maserati	2: 57.7	202.59 km / h	21st
22nd	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	2: 58.7	201.45 km / h	22nd
23	Henry Taylor	Lotus Climax	3: 00.6	199.34 km / h	23
24	Roberto Bussinello	De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo	3: 01.7	198.13 km / h	24
25th	Gerry Ashmore	Lotus Climax	3: 03.0	196.72 km / h	25th
26th	Jack Fairman	Cooper-Climax	3: 04.8	194.81 km / h	26th
27	Tim Parnell	Lotus Climax	3: 05.7	193.86 km / h	27
28	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus Climax	3: 06.0	193.55 km / h	28
29	Renato Pirocchi	Cooper Maserati	3: 06.5	193.03 km / h	29
30th	Gaetano Starrabba	Lotus Maserati	3: 07.9	191.59 km / h	30th
31	Brian Naylor	JBW-Climax	3: 08.1	191.39 km / h	31
32	Roberto Lippi	De Tomaso-OSCA	3: 08.9	190.58 km / h	32
33	André Pilette	Emeryson Climax	3: 11.6	187.89 km / h	DNQ

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Phil Hill	Ferrari	43		2: 03: 13.0	04th	2: 49.1
02	Dan Gurney	Porsche	43		+ 31.2	12	2: 50.7
03	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	43		+ 2: 28.4	14th	2: 51.1
04th	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	43		+ 2: 40.4	16	2: 51.8
05	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	43		+ 2: 40.5	13	2: 52.9
06th	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	42		+ 1 lap	18th	2: 55.3
07th	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	41		+ 2 rounds	15th	2: 56.6
08th	Lorenzo Bandini	Cooper Maserati	41		+ 2 rounds	21st	2: 58.1
09	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper Maserati	41		+ 2 rounds	22nd	2: 57.2
10	Tim Parnell	Lotus Climax	40		+ 3 rounds	27	3: 04.4
11	Henry Taylor	Lotus Climax	39		+ 4 rounds	23	3: 00.6
12	Renato Pirocchi	Cooper Maserati	38		+ 5 rounds	29	3: 07.9
-	Stirling Moss	Lotus Climax	36		DNF	11	2: 50.8	Wheel bearings
-	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	23		DNF	03	2: 49.7	Engine failure
-	Gaetano Starrabba	Lotus Maserati	19th		DNF	30th	3: 06.1	Engine failure
-	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	15th		DNF	08th	2: 49.3	suspension
-	Ricardo Rodríguez	Ferrari	13		DNF	02	2: 49.8	Fuel pump
-	Nino Vaccarella	De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo	13		DNF	20th	3: 00.0	Engine failure
-	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	13		DNF	06th	2: 48.4	Engine failure
-	Masts Gregory	Lotus Climax	11		DNF	17th	2: 58.0	suspension
-	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	10		DNF	05	2: 53.5	Engine failure
-	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	07th		DNF	10	2: 49.5	Overheating
-	Brian Naylor	JBW-Climax	06th		DNF	31	3: 10.8	Engine failure
-	Innes Ireland	Lotus Climax	05		DNF	09	2: 58.6	chassis
-	Jack Fairman	Cooper-Climax	05		DNF	26th	3: 13.4	Engine failure
-	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	02		DNF	19th	2: 53.9	accident
-	Roberto Lippi	De Tomaso-OSCA	01		DNF	32	3: 55.5	Engine failure
-	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	01		DNF	01	3: 03.4	deadly accident
-	Jim Clark	Lotus Climax	01		DNF	07th	3: 03.7	accident
-	Roberto Bussinello	De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo	01		DNF	24	3: 26.7	Engine failure
-	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus Climax	01		DNF	28		Engine failure
-	Gerry Ashmore	Lotus Climax	00		DNF	25th	3: 26.7	accident

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 34 (38) 02  Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Ferrari 33 03  Stirling Moss Lotus Climax 21st 04th  Richie Ginther Ferrari 16 05  Dan Gurney Porsche 15th 06th  Jim Clark Lotus Climax 11 07th  Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 9 08th  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 8th 09  Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 4th

Item driver constructor Points 10  John Surtees Cooper-Climax 4th 11  Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 3 12  Innes Ireland Lotus Climax 3 13  Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 3 14th  Jo Bonnier Porsche 2 15th  Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 2 16  Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 2 17th  Graham Hill BRM-Climax 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 40 (52) 02  lotus 24 03  Porsche 17th 04th  cooper 13 (15) 05  BRM 3

Individual evidence

1. ^ Motorsportmemorial.org: Motorsport most tragic accidents by number of fatalities
2. ↑ autobild.de: Monza fateful route from September 7th
3. ↑ statsf1.com: Italy 1961 - participant

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com