Monaco GP 1963

Monaco GP, 1963

The opening round of the 1963 World Championship did not take place until the end of May. The major non-championship races were shared between the 1962 World Champion Graham Hill in his BRM and runner-up Jim Clark in his Lotus. The BRM and Lotus teams were unchanged with Hill partnered by Ritchie Ginther and Clark by Trevor Taylor. Cooper continued with Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs, while the withdrawal of Porsche resulted in Dan Gurney joining Jack Brabham's team, which was expanded to a two-car operation with the new Brabham BT7, while Jo Bonnier joined Rob Walker. Bowmaker withdrew its support for Reg Parnell Racing and so John Surtees took up an offer to race for Ferrari. The Italian team had suffered from the departure of most of its engineering and driver staff. They had formed the new ATS team with Carlo Chiti in charge of engineering and Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti driving. Surtees was joined at Ferrari by Willy Mairesse. To replace Surtees Parnell hired young New Zealand driver Chris Amon.

Qualifying for Monaco resulted in pole position for Clark with G Hill alongside him. Surtees was on the second row with Ginther while Innes Ireland was fifth fastest in his British Racing Partnership Lotus-BRM which shared the third row with Gurney's Brabham.

In the race the two BRMs went into the lead at the start with Hill leading Ginther and Clark third. Then came Surtees, McLaren and Ireland. On the fifth lap Clark was able to get past Ginther and he chased after Hill and the two then fought it out until lap 18 when Clark took the lead. Hill tried to retake the place but gradually Clark slipped away from him. In the laps that followed Surtees was able to get ahead of Ginther and on lap 56 he was also able to pass Hill for second place. Hill fought back and retook the second. Surtees then began to drop away with fading oil pressure. On lap 78 Clark 's gearbox locked up and he was out, leaving Hill to retake the lead and win the race. Ginther finished second for a BRM 1-2 while McLaren took third in his Cooper, having overtaken the fading Surtees.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Graham Hill BRM P57 100 2h41m49.700s  
Richie Ginther BRM P57 100 2h41m54.300s  
Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T66 100 2h42m02.500s  
21 John Surtees Ferrari T56 100 2h42m03.800s  
Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax T66 98  10 
10 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 25 98  
11 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax T60 94  11 
8r Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 25 78 Accident 
9r Jack Brabham Lotus-Climax 25 77 Gearbox 15 
14 Innes Ireland Lotus-BRM 24 40 Accident 
20 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 156 37 Clutch 
17 Maurice Trintignant Lola-Climax MK 4A 34 Mechanical 14 
Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7 25 Transmission 
12 Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 24 20 Gearbox 13 
25 Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 24 Engine 12 
ns 15 Chris Amon Lola-Climax MK 4A  Car Raced By Trintignant 16 
nq 24 Bernard Collomb Lotus-Climax 24  Too Slow 17