1961 Italian Grand Prix

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1961 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 10 September 1961
Official name XXXII Gran Premio d'Italia
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Monza, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 10.000 km (6.214 miles)
Distance 43 laps, 430.000 km (267.190 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 2:46.3
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari
Time 2:48.4 on lap 2
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Porsche
Third Cooper-Climax
Lap leaders

The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 1961 at Monza. It was race 7 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The race was marked by one of the most terrible accidents in the history of Formula One, when on the end of lap 2, at the approach to the Parabolica, German driver Wolfgang von Trips lost control of his Ferrari after colliding with the Lotus of Jim Clark and crashed into a fence line of spectators, killing 15 and himself.[1][2] The race was not stopped, allegedly to avoid the audience going home en masse jamming the roads around the stadium and thus impeding the rescue work for the injured. This was also the last Formula One race ever to be held on the full 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) Monza circuit, with the two banked corners and the straight between the bankings included.

The race was won by von Trips's American teammate Phil Hill; since von Trips was the only one who could challenge him, Hill won the World Championship with one race to go. Hill's Monza win also assured Ferrari of the Constructors' Championship for 1961.[3]

Background[edit]

Before the running of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, four drivers were mathematically in contention for the year's Drivers' Championship: Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill, Stirling Moss, and Richie Ginther. Realistically, however, the championship had come down to two Ferrari drivers, von Trips and Hill.

In the Constructors' Championship, two teams were mathematically in contention: Ferrari, and Lotus-Climax. In order for Lotus to overtake Ferrari at this point, one of their drivers had to win both this race and the final race of the season, the 1961 United States Grand Prix.

Qualifying[edit]

37 cars attempted to qualify for the Italian Grand Prix, and 32 had sufficiently fast times to make it to the race grid. Similar to the 107% rule of today, a rule was in place for the 1961 season enforcing a 115% cutoff against the time of the second fastest driver.

Classification[edit]

Qualifying[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Qualifying times Gap
Q1 Q2
1 4 West Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 2:50.3 2:46.3
2 8 Mexico Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari 2:49.6 2:46.4 +0.1
3 6 United States Richie Ginther Ferrari 2:46.8 2:47.1 +0.5
4 2 United States Phil Hill Ferrari 2:48.9 2:47.2 +0.9
5 24 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM-Climax 2:55.0 2:48.7 +2.4
6 32 Italy Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 2:53.4 2:49.0 +2.7
7 36 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 2:52.4 2:49.2 +2.9
8 44 Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche 2:53.6 2:49.6 +3.3
9 38 United Kingdom Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 2:56.7 2:50.3 +4.0
10 10 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 2:55.1 2:51.6 +5.3
11 28 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 2:51.8 2:57.5 +5.5
12 46 United States Dan Gurney Porsche 2:53.4 2:52.0 +5.7
13 26 United Kingdom Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 2:58.8 2:52.2 +5.9
14 12 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 2:59.8 2:53.4 +7.1
15 74 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 2:57.9 2:53.8 +7.5
16 60 United Kingdom Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax No time 2:54.0 +7.7
17 22 United States Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 3:01.4 2:55.2 +8.9
18 40 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 3:02.0 2:55.2 +8.9
19 42 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Climax 2:59.3 2:55.6 +9.3
20 50 Italy Nino Vaccarella De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 3:03.7 2:56.0 +9.7
21 62 Italy Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 2:57.7 2:58.2 +11.4
22 48 France Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 3:03.9 2:58.7 +12.4
23 20 United Kingdom Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax 3:03.8 3:00.6 +14.3
24 54 Italy Roberto Bussinello De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 3:09.8 3:01.7 +15.4
25 18 United Kingdom Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax No time 3:03.0 +16.7
26 30 United Kingdom Jack Fairman Cooper-Climax 3:06.7 3:04.8 +18.5
27 16 United Kingdom Tim Parnell Lotus-Climax 3:15.4 3:05.7 +19.4
28 56 West Germany Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax No time 3:06.0 +19.7
29 58 Italy Renato Pirocchi Cooper-Maserati 3:18.3 3:06.5 +20.2
30 72 Italy Gaetano Starrabba Lotus-Maserati No time 3:07.9 +21.6
31 14 United Kingdom Brian Naylor JBW-Climax 3:13.0 3:08.1 +21.8
32 52 Italy Roberto Lippi De Tomaso-Osca 3:27.7 3:08.9 +22.6
115% cutoff time: 3:11.36
DNQ 68 Belgium André Pilette Emeryson-Climax 3:19.4 3:11.6 +25.3
Source:[1]

Race[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 United States Phil Hill Ferrari 43 2:03:13.0 4 9
2 46 United States Dan Gurney Porsche 43 +31.2 12 6
3 12 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 43 +2:28.4 14 4
4 60 United Kingdom Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 43 +2:40.4 16 3
5 26 United Kingdom Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 43 +2:40.5 13 2
6 40 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 42 +1 Lap 18 1
7 74 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 41 +2 Laps 15
8 62 Italy Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 41 +2 Laps 21
9 48 France Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 41 +2 Laps 22
10 16 United Kingdom Tim Parnell Lotus-Climax 40 +3 Laps 27
11 20 United Kingdom Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax 39 +4 Laps 23
12 58 Italy Renato Pirocchi Cooper-Maserati 38 +5 Laps 29
Ret 28 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 36 Wheel bearing 11
Ret 6 United States Richie Ginther Ferrari 23 Engine 3
Ret 72 Italy Gaetano Starrabba Lotus-Maserati 19 Engine 30
Ret 44 Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche 14 Suspension 8
Ret 8 Mexico Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari 13 Fuel system 2
Ret 32 Italy Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 13 Engine 6
Ret 50 Italy Nino Vaccarella De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 13 Engine 20
Ret 22 United States Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 11 Suspension 17
Ret 24 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM-Climax 10 Engine 5
Ret 10 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 8 Overheating 10
Ret 14 United Kingdom Brian Naylor JBW-Climax 6 Engine 31
Ret 38 United Kingdom Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 5 Chassis 9
Ret 30 United Kingdom Jack Fairman Cooper-Climax 5 Engine 26
Ret 42 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Climax 2 Accident 19
Ret 4 West Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 1 Fatal collision 1
Ret 36 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 1 Collision 7
Ret 54 Italy Roberto Bussinello De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 1 Engine 24
Ret 56 West Germany Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 1 Engine 28
Ret 52 Italy Roberto Lippi De Tomaso-Osca 1 Engine 32
Ret 18 United Kingdom Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax 0 Accident 25
DNQ 68 Belgium André Pilette Emeryson-Climax Too slow
DNS 46 West Germany Edgar Barth Porsche Practice only - experimental car
WD 58 Italy Massimo Natili Cooper-Maserati Pirocchi drove car
DNA 34 Italy Alfonso Thiele Cooper-Climax Support race
DNA 64 Italy Ernesto Prinoth Lotus-Climax On route to the Flugplatzrennen
DNA 66 Italy Menato Boffa Cooper-Climax Racing at Vallelunga
DNA 70 Switzerland Michael May Lotus-Climax Retired from racing
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race[edit]

  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Collantine, Keith (10 September 2011). "50 years ago today: F1's worst tragedy at Monza". www.f1fanatic.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Motorsport Memorial".
  3. ^ Daily Express pages 1, 2 & 7 Monday 11 September 1961
  4. ^ "1961 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Italy 1961 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.


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1961 German Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1961 season
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1961 United States Grand Prix
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1960 Italian Grand Prix
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1962 Italian Grand Prix