Mexican GP 1964

Mexican GP, 1964

Graham Hill arrived in Mexico with 39 points in the World Championship battle but knew that he would have to drop three points if he scored again. John Surtees had 34 points and could count anything he scored. Jim Clark was the outsider with 30 points but a victory with the others failing to score would give him the title and he had won more races than his rivals. Clark had not given up and set a scintillating pace in qualifying with a pole position time which was nearly a second faster than his nearest rival Dan Gurney (Brabham). The blue and white Ferraris of Lorenzo Bandini and Surtees were on the second row while Mike Spence in the second Lotus was alongside Hill on row three. Ferrari entered a third car for the event for Pedro Rodriguez.

Clark's hopes of World Championship success were slim but they looked decidedly better at the start as he took off into the lead. Graham Hill dropped to 10th when the elastic on his goggles broke just before the start while Surtees's car was misfiring badly and he was down in 13th place at the end of the first lap. Surtees was in luck, however, as his engine cured itself and he was able to begin a charge through the field. Hill too was able to make up places and on lap 12 he moved into the vital third position which gave him the one point he needed to stay ahead of Clark. Hill remained under threat from Bandini and on lap 31 the two cars made contact and both spun. This enabled Surtees to take third place. Hill rejoined by he had damaged the exhausts on the BRM and had to pit and so his chances of winning the World Championship depended on his rivals retiring. With Gurney second, Surtees could not win the title if Clark won the race and as Bandini's flat 12 Ferrari was quicker than the V8 car being used by Surtees the Italian moved up into third.

It seemed that Clark was going to win a second title but with seven laps to go the Lotus began leaking oil. On the last lap the Lotus's engine seized up. Gurney went through to win but now Surtees's title depended on Bandini moving over to allow him to finish second. The Italian did exactly that and Surtees became the first motorcycling World Champion to win a world title on four wheels as well.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 6 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7 65 2h09m50.320s  2 
2 7 John Surtees Ferrari 158 65 2h10m59.260s  4 
3 8 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 1512 65 2h10m59.950s  3 
4 2 Mike Spence Lotus-Climax 25 65 2h11m12.180s  5 
5r 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 33 64 Engine 1 
6 18 Pedro Rodriguez Ferrari 156 64  9 
7 9 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T73 64  10 
8 4 Richie Ginther BRM P261 64  11 
9r 10 Phil Hill Cooper-Climax T73 63 Engine 15 
10 17 Moises Solana Lotus-Climax 33 63  14 
11 3 Graham Hill BRM P261 63  6 
12 11 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM MK 2 91  16 
13 23 Hap Sharp Brabham-BRM BT11 60  19 
r 15 Chris Amon Lotus-BRM 25 45 Gearbox 12 
r 5 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax BT11 44 Electrics 7 
r 14 Mike Hailwood Lotus-BRM 25 11 Overheating 17 
r 22 Jo Siffert Brabham-BRM BT11 10 Fuel Pump 13 
r 16 Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax BT7 9 Suspension 8 
r 12 Trevor Taylor BRP-BRM MK 2 5 Overheating 18