1961 French Grand Prix

Summary

The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims. It was race 4 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

1961 French Grand Prix
Race details
Date 2 July 1961
Official name XLVIIe Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
Location Reims
France
Course Street circuit/Racing facility
Course length 8.302 km (5.158 miles)
Distance 52 laps, 431.704 km (268.248 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 2.24.9
Fastest lap
Driver United States Phil Hill Ferrari
Time 2.27.1 on lap 20
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Porsche
Third Lotus-Climax
Lap leaders

By winning the race, Giancarlo Baghetti became only the third driver to win his first World Championship race, the other two being Nino Farina, who won the first World Championship race (the 1950 British Grand Prix) and Johnnie Parsons, who won the 1950 Indianapolis 500 (the Indianapolis 500 was part of the World Championship from 1950 to 1960), though both Farina and Parsons had competed at future World Championship races before the creation of the championship, while this was Baghetti's first start at a major Grand Prix. This was Baghetti's only World Championship race win. He would never finish in the top 3 again.

Classification edit

Qualifying edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Qualifying times Gap
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 16   Phil Hill Ferrari 2:24.9 No time 2:30.0
2 20   Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 2:26.4 No time 2:28.7 +1.5
3 18   Richie Ginther Ferrari 2:27.4 2:27.0 2:26.8 +1.9
4 26   Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 2:27.6 2:31.0 2:32.3 +2.7
5 8   Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 2:30.3 2:33.7 2:29.0 +4.1
6 22   Graham Hill BRM-Climax 2:29.1 2:30.4 2:32.0 +4.2
7 40   John Surtees Cooper-Climax 2:33.3 2:32.2 2:29.1 +4.2
8 4   Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 2:31.3 2:30.4 2:29.4 +4.5
9 12   Dan Gurney Porsche No time 2:31.1 2:29.6 +4.7
10 6   Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 2:30.2 2:30.5 2:29.8 +4.9
11 24   Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 2:32.3 2:31.6 2:29.9 +5.0
12 50   Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 2:30.9 2:30.9 2:30.5 +5.6
13 10   Jo Bonnier Porsche No time No time 2:30.5 +5.6
14 2   Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 2:31.0 2:33.1 2:33.0 +6.1
15 42   Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 2:31.2 2:31.3 2:35.3 +6.3
16 36   Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 2:31.9 2:31.3 2:33.0 +6.4
17 14   Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche No time 2:33.2 2:31.8 +6.9
18 44   Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 2:33.0 2:32.0 No time +7.1
19 28   Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 2:33.8† 2:33.4 2:34.2 +8.5
20 48   Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax No time No time 2:35.8 +10.9
21 52   Bernard Collomb Cooper-Climax 2:39.1 No time 2:36.8 +11.9
22 46   Michael May Lotus-Climax No time 2:40.2 2:37.9 +13.0
23 32   Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati No time 2:38.8 No time +13.9
24 38   Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax 2:44.7 2:40.9 2:39.7 +14.8
25 30   Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax No time† 3:14.2 2:40.3 +15.4
26 34   Giorgio Scarlatti De Tomaso-Osca No time 2:47.3 2:47.1 +22.2
Source:[1]

† Bianchi was absent for the first day of qualifying. Taylor qualified on Day 1 with Bianchi's car, but French timekeepers only tied the laptimes of a given car to the driver listed alongside in the programme, and his laptime was attributed to Bianchi.

Race edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 50   Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 52 2:14:17.5 12 9
2 12   Dan Gurney Porsche 52 +0.1 secs 5 6
3 8   Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 52 +1:01.0 9 4
4 6   Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 52 +1:10.3 10 3
5 4   Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 52 +1:41.8 8 2
6 22   Graham Hill BRM-Climax 52 +1:41.9 6 1
7 10   Jo Bonnier Porsche 52 +3:15.4 13
8 42   Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 51 +1 Lap 15
9 16   Phil Hill Ferrari 50 +2 Laps 1
10 30   Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax 49 +3 Laps 25
11 46   Michael May Lotus-Climax 48 +4 Laps 22
12 36   Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 43 +9 Laps 16
13 32   Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 42 +10 Laps 23
14 38   Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax 42 +10 Laps 24
15 18   Richie Ginther Ferrari 40 Oil Pressure 3
Ret 26   Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 31 Brakes 4
Ret 48   Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax 27 Engine 20
Ret 14   Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 23 Overheating 17
Ret 28   Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 21 Overheating 19
Ret 20   Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 18 Engine 2
Ret 34   Giorgio Scarlatti De Tomaso-Osca 15 Engine 26
Ret 2   Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 14 Oil Pressure 14
Ret 52   Bernard Collomb Cooper-Climax 6 Engine 21
Ret 40   John Surtees Cooper-Climax 4 Accident 7
Ret 24   Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 4 Overheating 11
Ret 44   Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 4 Overheating 18
DNS 46   Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax Practice only - May's car
DNS 28   Juan Manuel Bordeu Lotus-Climax Practice only - UDT Laystall T-car
WD 46   Olivier Gendebien Emeryson-Maserati Entry taken by May
WD 14   Hans Herrmann Porsche Car taken by de Beaufort
DNA 54   Brian Naylor JBW-Maserati Car not ready
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race edit

  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References edit

  1. ^ "1961 ACF GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  2. ^ "1961 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. ^ a b "France 1961 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


Previous race:
1961 Belgian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1961 season
Next race:
1961 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1960 French Grand Prix
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1962 French Grand Prix