1961 French Grand Prix

  1961 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 8 in the 1961 Formula One season
Date	2 July 1961
Official name	XLVIIe Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
Location	Reims France
Course	Street circuit/Racing facility
Course length	8.302 km (5.158 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 431.704 km (268.248 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Time	2.24.9
Fastest lap
Driver	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Time	2.27.1 on lap 20
Podium
First	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari
Second	Dan Gurney	Porsche
Third	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax

The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims.

By winning the race, Giancarlo Baghetti became only the third driver to win his first World Championship race, the other two being Nino Farina, who won the first World Championship race (the 1950 British Grand Prix) and Johnnie Parsons, who won the 1950 Indianapolis 500 (the Indianapolis 500 was part of the World Championship from 1950 to 1960), though both Farina and Parsons had competed at future World Championship races before the creation of the championship, while this was Baghetti's first start at a major Grand Prix. This was Baghetti's only World Championship race win. He would never finish in the top 3 again.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	50	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	52	2:14:17.5	12	9
2	12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	52	+0.1 secs	5	6
3	8	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	52	+1:01.0	9	4
4	6	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	52	+1:10.3	10	3
5	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	52	+1:41.8	8	2
6	22	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	52	+1:41.9	6	1
7	10	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	52	+3:15.4	13
8	42	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	51	+1 Lap	15
9	16	Phil Hill	Ferrari	50	+2 Laps	1
10	30	Henry Taylor	Lotus-Climax	49	+3 Laps	25
11	46	Michael May	Lotus-Climax	48	+4 Laps	22
12	36	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax	43	+9 Laps	16
13	32	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Maserati	42	+10 Laps	23
14	38	Ian Burgess	Lotus-Climax	42	+10 Laps	24
15	18	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	40	Oil Pressure	3
Ret	26	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	31	Brakes	4
Ret	48	Willy Mairesse	Lotus-Climax	27	Engine	20
Ret	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	23	Overheating	17
Ret	28	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus-Climax	21	Overheating	19
Ret	20	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	18	Engine	2
Ret	34	Giorgio Scarlatti	De Tomaso-Osca	15	Engine	26
Ret	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	14	Oil Pressure	14
Ret	52	Bernard Collomb	Cooper-Climax	6	Engine	21
Ret	40	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	4	Accident	7
Ret	24	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	4	Overheating	11
Ret	44	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	4	Overheating	18
DNS	46	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus-Climax		Practice only - May's car
DNS	T	Juan Manuel Bordeu	Lotus-Climax		Practice only - UDT Laystall T-car
WD	14	Hans Herrmann	Porsche		Entry taken by de Beaufort
WD	46	Olivier Gendebien	Emeryson-Maserati		Entry taken by May
WD	54	Brian Naylor	JBW-Maserati		Car not ready
Source:[1]

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Phil Hill 32 laps (1–12, 18–37); Wolfgang von Trips 5 laps (13–17); Richie Ginther 3 laps (38–40); Giancarlo Baghetti 7 laps (41–43, 45, 47, 50, 52); Jo Bonnier 1 lap (44); Dan Gurney 4 laps (46, 48–49, 51).
• This was a very hot race, with air temperatures at 102 °F (39 °C) and track temperatures at 120 °F (50 °C).
• First F1 Grand Prix start for Bernard Collomb.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Phil Hill 19 2 Wolfgang von Trips 18 3 Stirling Moss 12 4 Richie Ginther 12 25 5 Giancarlo Baghetti 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 30 2 Lotus-Climax 16 1 3 Porsche 9 1 4 Cooper-Climax 6 1 5 BRM-Climax 1

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References