Belgian GP 1961

Belgian GP, 1961

A year after the traumatic Belgian race the F1 teams gathered again at Spa with a few changes from the Dutch Grand Prix three weeks previously. Innes Ireland, who had broken his leg at Monaco, was back in action for Team Lotus, which had new Lotus 21s for Ireland and Jim Clark. Ferrari had a fourth car painted up in Belgian racing yellow for Olivier Gendebien, which was being run by Ecurie Nationale Belge, which also had a pair of Emeryson chassis for Lucien Bianchi and Willy Mairesse. These were both damaged in practice and so Bianchi and Mairesse took over the non-qualified Lotus 18s on Tony March and Wolfgang Seidel. BRP was also in trouble with only one Lotus 18 to be shared by Cliff Allison and Henry Taylor. The team decided that the fastest driver would race. As a result Allison went too fast, crashed heavily, rolling the car and suffered severe leg injuries which would end his F1 career.

Phil Hill took pole with Wolfgang Von Trips alongside while Gendebien made the most of his local experience to take third despite using a less powerful engine than the factory Ferraris. Ritchie Ginther's Ferrari shared the second row with John Surtees in Reg Parnell's Cooper-Climax.

Hill took the lead at the start but was then passed by Gendebien while Von Trips and Ginther joined the fun. The lead changed several times before Hill took the lead from Von Trips and Ginther. Gendebien was fourth giving Ferrari a straight 1-2-3-4 result. Surtees was fifth although he had to battle early in the race with Graham Hill's BRM which eventually went out with electrical trouble. Dan Gurney finished sixth in his Porsche.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 4 Phil Hill Ferrari 156 30 2h03m03.800s  1 
2 2 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 156 30 2h03m04.500s  2 
3 6 Richie Ginther Ferrari 156 30 2h03m23.300s  5 
4 8 Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 156 30 2h03m49.400s  3 
5 24 John Surtees Cooper-Climax T53 30 2h04m40.600s  4 
6 20 Dan Gurney Porsche 718 30 2h04m34.800s  10 
7 18 Jo Bonnier Porsche 718 30 2h05m50.900s  9 
8 14 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 18/21 30 2h06m59.400s  8 
9 40 Jack Lewis Cooper-Climax T53 29  13 
10 44 Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax T53 29  12 
11 22 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 718 28  14 
12 34 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 21 24  18 
13 38 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax P48/57 24  7 
r 36 Graham Hill BRM-Climax P48/57 24 Mechanical 6 
r 26 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati T51 23 Transmission 20 
r 46 Lucien Bianchi Cooper-Maserati T53 20 Engine 17 
r 28 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax T55 12 Engine 11 
r 12 Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 18 9 Mechanical 21 
r 32 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 21 9 Engine 16 
r 30 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T55 9 Fuel System 15 
r 10 Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax 18 7 Engine 19 
ns 42 Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax 18  No Starting Money 22 
ns 48 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 18  No Starting Money 23 
ns 50 Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax 18  No Starting Money 24 
ns 16 Cliff Allison Lotus-Climax 18  Accident/ Injury 25