British GP 1963

British GP, 1963

The World Championship returned to Silverstone after two years during which the British GP had been held at Aintree. The usual field was joined by a number of local drivers which included F1 debutantes Mike Hailwood in a Reg Parnell Lotus and Bob Anderson in a DW Racing Lola.

There was no surprise to see Jim Clark at the front after qualifying. The Team Lotus driver qualified two-tenths faster than Dan Gurney's Brabham while the front row was completed by Graham Hill in the BRM 57 (the team having decided not to race the newer 61) and Jack Brabham's Brabham. The second row of the 4-3-4 grid featured John Surtees in the only Ferrari present and the two Cooper-Climaxes of Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs.

There was a huge crowd to watch the race but rather than seeing Clark take the lead as usual, they witnessed Brabham and Gurney go into the lead in the two Brabhams with McLaren and Hill also ahead of Clark. It did not last long and on lap four Clark was back in the lead again. As Clark pulled away from the rest, McLaren went out with engine trouble. Gurney overtook Brabham for second place and a few laps later Barbham's engine blew up. This promoted Hill to third place although he soon came under attack from Surtees. On lap 59 Gurney went out with engine failure and so Clark was left with a lead nearly a minute over Hill and Surtees. On the last lap Hill ran out of fuel which allowed Surtees to pass him and grab second place.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 4 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 25 82 2h14m09.600s  1 
2 10 John Surtees Ferrari 156 82 2h14m35.400s  5 
3 1 Graham Hill BRM P57 82 2h14m47.200s  3 
4 2 Richie Ginther BRM P57 81  9 
5 3 Lorenzo Bandini BRM P57 81  8 
6 12 Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 24 80  13 
7 19 Chris Amon Lola-Climax MK 4A 80  14 
8 20 Mike Hailwood Lotus-Climax 24 78  17 
9 7 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax T66 78  7 
10 23 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 718 76  21 
11 21 Masten Gregory Lotus-BRM 24 75  22 
12 22 Bob Anderson Lola-Climax MK 4 75  16 
13 24 John Campbell-Jones Lola-Climax MK 4 74  23 
r 25 Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 24 66 Gearbox 15 
r 14 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax T66 65 Engine 12 
r 9 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7 59 Engine 2 
r 26 Ian Raby Gilby-BRM (62) 59 Gearbox 19 
r 16 Ian Burgess Scirocco-BRM SP 36 Ignition 20 
r 8 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax BT7 27 Engine 4 
dq 11 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM MK 1 26 Push Start In Pits 11 
dq 5 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 25 23 Push Start In Pits 10 
r 15 Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM SP 20 Ignition 18 
r 6 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T66 6 Engine 6