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25px United Kingdom  1961 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 5 of 8 in the 1961 Formula One season
Circuit Aintree.svg
Date 15 July 1961
Official name XIV RAC British Grand Prix
Location Aintree Circuit, Liverpool, England
Course Permanent road course
4.828 km (3.000 mi)
Distance 75 laps, 362.10 km (225.00 mi)
Weather Torrential rain, drying later
Pole position
Driver 25px USA Phil Hill Ferrari
Time 1:58.8
Fastest lap
Driver 25px UK Tony Brooks BRM-Climax
Time 1:57.8 on lap 72
Podium
First 25px Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari
Second 25px USA Phil Hill Ferrari
Third 25px USA Richie Ginther Ferrari

The 1961 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 15 July 1961 at the Aintree Circuit, near Liverpool. It was the fifth race of eight in the 1961 World Championship season. Following a wet weekend, with torrential rain affecting both qualifying and the race start, the Grand Prix was ultimately dominated by Scuderia Ferrari, with their drivers taking all three podium positions. The race was won by German Wolfgang von Trips, who had led for much of the race after starting from fourth place. This was von Trips's second and last Grand Prix victory, as two races later he was killed in an accident during the 1961 Italian Grand Prix. Pole position winner Phil Hill drove to second place, on his way to winning the World Drivers' Championship at the end of the season, and third place was taken by Hill's American compatriot Richie Ginther.

The 1961 British Grand Prix is also notable as being the first occasion on which a four-wheel drive car, and the last at which a front engined car was entered for a World Championship race. These two accomplishments were achieved by the same vehicle: the experimental Ferguson P99-Climax run by the Rob Walker Racing Team. Although the car was disqualified for receiving assistance on the track, in the hands of Stirling Moss – who took over the car from first driver Jack Fairman after his own Lotus's brakes failed – it showed some promise. Unfortunately for Moss, the 1961 British Grand Prix also marked the last occasion on which the local hero would contest a Grand Prix race on home soil, as his career was ended by an accident during a non-Championship race prior to the 1962 season.

Classification[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 4 25px Germany Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 75 2:40:53.6 4 9
2 2 25px USA Phil Hill Ferrari 75 +46.0 secs 1 6
3 6 25px USA Richie Ginther Ferrari 75 +46.8 secs 2 4
4 12 25px Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 75 +1:08.6 9 3
5 8 25px Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche 75 +1:16.2 3 2
6 36 25px UK Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 75 +1:26.2 13 1
7 10 25px USA Dan Gurney Porsche 74 +1 Lap 12
8 14 25px New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 74 +1 Lap 14
9 22 25px UK Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 73 +2 Laps 6
10 16 25px UK Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 72 +3 Laps 7
11 42 25px USA Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 71 +4 Laps 16
12 60 25px Italy Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 71 +4 Laps 21
13 50 25px South African flag after 1928 Tony Maggs Lotus-Climax 69 +6 Laps 24
14 44 25px UK Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax 69 +6 Laps 25
15 54 25px UK Keith Greene Gilby-Climax 69 +6 Laps 26
16 56 25px Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 69 +6 Laps 18
17 52 25px Germany Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 58 +17 Laps 22
Ret 18 25px UK Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 62 Oil Leak 8
DSQ 26 25px UK Jack Fairman
25px UK Stirling Moss
Ferguson-Climax 56 Disqualified 20
Ret 32 25px Belgium Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 45 Gearbox 30
Ret 28 25px UK Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 44 Brakes 5
Ret 20 25px UK Graham Hill BRM-Climax 43 Engine 11
Ret 58 25px Italy Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 27 Accident 19
Ret 48 25px UK Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax 25 Ignition 27
Ret 34 25px UK John Surtees Cooper-Climax 23 Differential 10
Ret 38 25px UK Tim Parnell Lotus-Climax 12 Clutch 29
Ret 46 25px UK Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 7 Handling 15
Ret 40 25px UK Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax 7 Ignition 26
Ret 30 25px UK Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax 5 Accident 17
Ret 62 25px Italy Massimo Natili Cooper-Maserati 0 Gearbox 28
WD 24 25px Belgium Olivier Gendebien Emeryson-Maserati Car not ready

Notes[]

  • Pole position: Phil Hill - 1:58.8
  • Fastest Lap: Tony Brooks - 1:57.8
  • Lap Leaders: Phil Hill 6 laps (1-6); Wolfgang von Trips 69 laps (7-75).
  • Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship with 3 races left.
  • World Championship Formula One debut for Gerry Ashmore

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px Germany Wolfgang von Trips 27
2 25px USA Phil Hill 25
3 25px USA Richie Ginther 16
4 25px UK Stirling Moss 12
5 25px Italy Giancarlo Baghetti 9
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Italy Ferrari 38
2 25px UK Lotus-Climax 16
3 25px Germany Porsche 11
4 25px UK Cooper-Climax 9
5 25px UK BRM-Climax 1
  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.


Previous race:
1961 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1961 season
Next race:
1961 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
1960 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
1962 British Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1961 British Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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