1961 Formula One season

1961 FIA Formula One World Championship season Previous: 1960 Next: 1962 Index: Races by country | Races by season

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The 1961 Formula One season included the 12th FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on May 14, 1961, and ended on October 8 after eight races. Phil Hill of Ferrari won his only Driver's Championship, his teammate and rival Wolfgang von Trips was killed at the Italian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season. Ferrari won their first Constructor's Championship.

Season summary

The first year of the 1.5 litre formula was dominated by a well-prepared Ferrari team. Only Stirling Moss, in an outdated Lotus, was able to beat the Ferraris on two tracks where his skills offset the Ferrari power advantage. Ferrari driver Giancarlo Baghetti won the French Grand Prix on his championship debut, the only driver to have done so other than Nino Farina, winner of the first F1 World Championship race. Baghetti had also won his only two previous Formula One races, the non-championship events at Syracuse and Naples, but the French race was his only win in the World Championship. The contest for the championship between Ferrari's leading drivers, Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, ended in tragedy when von Trips collided with Jim Clark at Monza, killing the Ferrari driver and 14 spectators. Hill went on to win the championship, the first American to do so. With the change of formula and the introduction of the United States Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 was dropped from the championship.

The number of points awarded to a race winner was increased to nine.

Season review

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
1	Monaco Grand Prix	May 14	Monaco	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
2	Dutch Grand Prix	May 22	Zandvoort	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	Report
3	Belgian Grand Prix	June 18	Spa-Francorchamps	Phil Hill	Ferrari	Report
4	French Grand Prix	July 2	Reims	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	Report
5	British Grand Prix	July 15	Aintree	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	Report
6	German Grand Prix	August 6	Nürburgring	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
7	Italian Grand Prix	September 10	Monza	Phil Hill	Ferrari	Report
8	United States Grand Prix	October 8	Watkins Glen	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	Report

1961 Constructors Championship final standings

Pos	Constructor	Points[1]
1	Ferrari	45 (52)
2	Lotus-Climax	35
3	Porsche	22 (23)
4	Cooper-Climax	14 (18)
5	BRM-Climax	7
6	Ferguson-Climax	0
7	Lotus-Maserati	0
8	Emeryson-Maserati	0
9	De Tomaso-Osca	0
10	De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo	0
11	Cooper-Maserati	0
12	Gilby-Climax	0
13	JBW-Climax	0

1961 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos. Driver MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER ITA USA Pts. 1 Phil Hill 3 2 1 9 2 3 1 34 (38) 2 Wolfgang von Trips 4 1 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 33 3 Stirling Moss 1 4 8 Ret Ret 1 Ret Ret 21 4 Dan Gurney 5 10 6 2 7 7 2 2 21 5 Richie Ginther 2 5 3 15 3 8 Ret 16 6 Innes Ireland Ret 4 10 NC Ret 1 12 7 Jim Clark 10 3 12 3 Ret 4 Ret 7 11 8 Bruce McLaren 6 12 Ret 5 8 6 3 4 11 9 Giancarlo Baghetti 1 Ret Ret 9 10 Tony Brooks 13 9 13 Ret 9 NC 5 3 6 11 Jack Brabham Ret 6 Ret Ret 4 NC Ret Ret 4 12 John Surtees 11 7 5 Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret 4 13 Jackie Lewis 9 Ret Ret 9 4 3 14 Olivier Gendebien DNQ 4 11 3 15 Joakim Bonnier 12 11 7 7 5 NC Ret 6 3 16 Graham Hill Ret 8 Ret 6 Ret NC Ret 5 3 17 Roy Salvadori 8 6 10 6 Ret 2 18 Maurice Trintignant 7 Ret 13 Ret 9 0 19 Carel Godin de Beaufort 14 11 Ret 16 14 7 0 20 Lorenzo Bandini Ret 12 NC 8 0 21 Cliff Allison 8 0 22 Roger Penske 8 0 23 Hans Herrmann 9 15 13 0 24 Peter Ryan 9 0 25 Masten Gregory DNQ 10 12 11 Ret Ret 0 26 Henry Taylor DNQ 10 Ret 11 0 27 Tim Parnell Ret 10 0 28 Hap Sharp 10 0 29 Tony Maggs 13 11 0 30 Michael May Ret 11 0 31 Ian Burgess DNQ 14 14 12 0 32 Renato Pirocchi 12 0 33 Trevor Taylor 13 0 34 Tony Marsh DNQ Ret 15 0 35 Keith Greene 15 0 36 Gerry Ashmore Ret 16 Ret 0 37 Wolfgang Seidel DNQ 17 NC Ret 0 — Bernard Collomb Ret NC 0 — Lucien Bianchi DNQ Ret Ret Ret 0 — Willy Mairesse Ret Ret Ret 0 — Jack Fairman DSQ Ret 0 — Giorgio Scarlatti Ret 0 — Massimo Natili Ret 0 — Ricardo Rodríguez Ret 0 — Gaetano Starrabba Ret 0 — Nino Vaccarella Ret 0 — Roberto Bussinello Ret 0 — Brian Naylor Ret 0 — Roberto Lippi Ret 0 — Jim Hall Ret 0 — Lloyd Ruby Ret 0 — Walt Hansgen Ret 0 — André Pilette DNQ 0 Pos. Driver MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER ITA USA Pts.

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Light blue Practiced only (PO) Friday test driver (TD) (from 2003 onwards) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

• Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

Non-Championship race results

Other Formula One races also held in 1961, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
II Lombank Trophy	Snetterton	March 26	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
IX Glover Trophy	Goodwood	April 3	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	Report
XXI Pau Grand Prix	Pau	April 3	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	Report
III Brussels Grand Prix	Heysel	April 9	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
II Vienna Grand Prix	Aspern Aerodrome	April 16	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
VI Aintree 200	Aintree	April 22	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
XI Syracuse Grand Prix	Syracuse	April 25	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	Report
XIX Naples Grand Prix	Posillipo	May 14	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	Report
IX London Trophy	Crystal Palace	May 23	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	Report
VI Silver City Trophy	Brands Hatch	June 3	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
Solitude Grand Prix	Solitudering	July 23	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	Report
VII Kanonloppet	Karlskoga	August 20	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
II Danish Grand Prix	Roskildering	August 26-27	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
XV Modena Grand Prix	Modena	September 3	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Report
III Flugplatzrennen	Zeltweg Airfield	September 17	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	Report
VIII Gold Cup	Oulton Park	September 23	Stirling Moss	Ferguson-Climax	Report
V Lewis-Evans Trophy	Brands Hatch	October 1	Tony Marsh	BRM-Climax	Report
I Coppa Italia	Vallelunga	October 12	Giancarlo Baghetti	Porsche	Report
I Natal Grand Prix	Westmead	December 17	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	Report
VIII South African Grand Prix	East London	December 26	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	Report

Notes