German GP 1964

German GP, 1964

The big news at the German Grand Prix was that the Honda team was finally ready for action and Ronnie Bucknum was there to drive the new machine. It was not a great success as Bucknum qualified over a minute slower than pole position man John Surtees in the Ferrari. Sharing the front row of the 4-3-4 grid were Jim Clark's Lotus, Dan Gurney's Brabham and the second Ferrari of Lorenzo Bandini. Graham Hill was down on the second row with Jack Brabham's Brabham and Bruce McLaren's Cooper, while the third row consisted of Phil Hill's Cooper, Chris Amon in one of the Reg Parnell Racing Lotus-BRMs, Jo Siffert in his private Brabham-BRM and Ritchie Ginther in the second factory BRM.

Practice was overshadowed by an accident on Saturday which left Dutch aristocrat Carel Godin de Beaufort with critical injuries after he went off in his outdated Porsche at Bergwerk and hit a tree.

At the start of the race Bandini made the best start to take the lead but Clark soon dispensed with the Italian and he was followed past the Ferrari by Gurney and Surtees. Surtees soon overtook Gurney and then Clark and took the lead. The Lotus driver ran into engine trouble and eventually retired and this left Surtees ahead of Gurney and G Hill with Brabham a long way back in fourth place. Gurney then dropped back as his engine overheated. Brabham also ran into trouble with his transmission. Surtees was able to win the race to score Ferrari's first win of the year and G Hill came home second over a minute behind. Bandini claimed third.

Godin de Beaufort died on the day after the race.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 7 John Surtees Ferrari 158 15 2h12m04.800s  1 
2 3 Graham Hill BRM P261 15 2h13m20.400s  5 
3 8 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 156 15 2h16m57.600s  4 
4 19 Jo Siffert Brabham-BRM BT11 15 2h17m27.900s  10 
5r 22 Maurice Trintignant BRM P57 14 Battery 14 
6 26 Tony Maggs BRM P57 14  16 
7 4 Richie Ginther BRM P261 14  11 
8 2 Mike Spence Lotus-Climax 33 14  17 
9 23 Gerhard Mitter Lotus-Climax 25 14  19 
10 5 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7 14  3 
11r 14 Chris Amon Lotus-BRM 25 12 Suspension 9 
12r 6 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax BT11 11 Transmission 6 
13r 20 Ronnie Bucknum Honda RA271 11 Spin 22 
14r 27 Peter Revson Lotus-BRM 24 10 Accident 18 
r 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 33 7 Engine 2 
r 9 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T73 4 Engine 7 
r 16 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax BT11 4 Suspension 15 
r 12 Edgar Barth Cooper-Climax T66 3 Clutch 20 
r 18 Giancarlo Baghetti BRM P57 2 Throttle 21 
r 10 Phil Hill Cooper-Climax T73 1 Engine 8 
r 15 Mike Hailwood Lotus-BRM 25 0 Engine 13 
r 11 Jo Bonnier Brabham-BRM BT11 0 Ignition 12 
ns 29 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 718  Fatal Accident 23 
nq 28 Andre Pilette Scirocco-Climax SP   24