United States GP 1961
OCTOBER 8, 1961
United States GP, 1961
Having won both World Championships Ferrari decided not to bother with the United States GP, which was being held at Watkins Glen in upstate New York for the first time.
Both Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss had the new Climax V8 engine on this occasion but Moss decided after practice not to race it. The field was joined by a number of local stars, notably Hap Sharp and Roger Penske in Coopers and Jim Hall and Ken Miles in Lotuses.
Brabham took pole position with Graham Hill alongside while Moss shared the second row with Bruce McLaren in the second factory Cooper.
At the start Moss took the lead from Brabham while Innes Ireland charged through from eighth on the grid to take third place. For the first half of the race Moss and Brabham dueled for the lead, switching places several times but on lap 45 Brabham had to stop with overheating problems. Moss led for the next 12 laps but then he too was forced out with mechanical trouble. This left Ireland in the lead in the factory Lotus but he was in trouble with fuel pressure problems. His chasers were out of luck, however. Graham Hill had to stop when his magneto came loose and Roy Salvadori looked like being a possible winner until a few laps from the finish when his bearings failed. Ireland survived to the finishing line, chased home by Dan Gurney's Porsche and Tony Brooks in his BRM.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 15 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax 21 | 100 | 2h13m45.800s | 8 |
2 | 12 | Dan Gurney | Porsche 718 | 100 | 2h13m50.100s | 7 |
3 | 5 | Tony Brooks | BRM-Climax P48/57 | 100 | 2h14m34.800s | 6 |
4 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax T55 | 100 | 2h14m43.800s | 4 |
5 | 4 | Graham Hill | BRM-Climax P48/57 | 99 | 2 | |
6 | 11 | Jo Bonnier | Porsche 718 | 98 | 10 | |
r | 19 | Roy Salvadori | Cooper-Climax T53 | 69 | Engine | 12 |
7 | 14 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax 21 | 96 | 5 | |
8 | 6 | Roger Penske | Cooper-Climax T53 | 96 | 16 | |
9 | 16 | Peter Ryan | Lotus-Climax 18/21 | 96 | 13 | |
10 | 3 | Hap Sharp | Cooper-Climax T53 | 93 | 17 | |
11= | 21 | Olivier Gendebien | Lotus-Climax 18/21 | 15 | ||
11= | 21 | Masten Gregory | Lotus-Climax 18/21 | 92 | ||
r | 26 | Lloyd Ruby | Lotus-Climax 18 | 76 | Magneto | 19 |
r | 17 | Jim Hall | Lotus-Climax 18 | 76 | Fuel Leak | 18 |
r | 7 | Stirling Moss | Lotus-Climax 18/21 | 58 | Engine | 3 |
r | 1 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax T58 | 57 | Overheating | 1 |
r | 22 | Masten Gregory | Lotus-Climax 18/21 | 23 | Gearbox | 11 |
r | 60 | Walt Hansgen | Cooper-Climax T53 | 14 | Accident | 14 |
r | 18 | John Surtees | Cooper-Climax T53 | 0 | Engine | 9 |