1961 Italian Grand Prix

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.

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	10.00 km (6.214 miles)
Distance	43 laps, 430.00 km (267.190 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari
Time	2:46.3
Fastest lap
Driver	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari
Time	2:48.4 on lap 2
Podium
First	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Second	Dan Gurney	Porsche
Third	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Lap leaders

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. 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.

Background

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

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

Qualifying

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

Race

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

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Ricardo Rodríguez; and the first for a Mexican driver.
• This was the first (and only) pole position for Wolfgang von Trips, and the first for a German driver.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Phil Hill	34 (38)
1	2	Wolfgang von Trips	33
	3	Stirling Moss	21
	4	Richie Ginther	16
2	5	Dan Gurney	15
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Ferrari	40 (52)
	2	Lotus-Climax	24
	3	Porsche	17
	4	Cooper-Climax	13 (15)
	5	BRM-Climax	3
Source:

• 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.