1961 French Grand Prix Explained

Type:	F1
Country:	France
Grand Prix:	French
Date:	2 July
Year:	1961
Official Name:	XLVIIe Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
Location:	Reims France
Course:	Street circuit/Racing facility
Course Mi:	5.158
Course Km:	8.302
Distance Laps:	52
Distance Mi:	268.248
Distance Km:	431.704
Weather:	Sunny
Pole Driver:	Phil Hill
Pole Country:	USA
Pole Team:	Ferrari
Pole Time:	2.24.9
Fast Driver:	Phil Hill
Fast Team:	Ferrari
Fast Time:	2.27.1
Fast Lap:	20
Fast Country:	US
First Driver:	Giancarlo Baghetti
First Country:	Italy
First Team:	Ferrari
Second Driver:	Dan Gurney
Second Country:	US
Second Team:	Porsche
Third Driver:	Jim Clark
Third Country:	UK
Third Team:	Lotus-Climax

The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims. It was race 4 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

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

Qualifying

Pos! rowspan="2"
Q1	Driver	Constructor	Q2	Q3		Gap
No	Driver	Constructor				Gap
1	16	Phil Hill	Ferrari	2:24.9	No time	2:30.0	—
2	20	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	2:26.4	No time	2:28.7	+1.5
3	18	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	2:27.4	2:27.0	2:26.8	+1.9
4	26	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	2:27.6	2:31.0	2:32.3	+2.7
5	8	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	2:30.3	2:33.7	2:29.0	+4.1
6	22	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	2:29.1	2:30.4	2:32.0	+4.2
7	40	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	2:33.3	2:32.2	2:29.1	+4.2
8	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	2:31.3	2:30.4	2:29.4	+4.5
9	12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	No time	2:31.1	2:29.6	+4.7
10	6	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	2:30.2	2:30.5	2:29.8	+4.9
11	24	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	2:32.3	2:31.6	2:29.9	+5.0
12	50	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	2:30.9	2:30.9	2:30.5	+5.6
13	10	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	No time	No time	2:30.5	+5.6
14	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	2:31.0	2:33.1	2:33.0	+6.1
15	42	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	2:31.2	2:31.3	2:35.3	+6.3
16	36	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax	2:31.9	2:31.3	2:33.0	+6.4
17	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	No time	2:33.2	2:31.8	+6.9
18	44	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	2:33.0	2:32.0	No time	+7.1
19	28	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus-Climax	2:33.8†	2:33.4	2:34.2	+8.5
20	48	Willy Mairesse	Lotus-Climax	No time	No time	2:35.8	+10.9
21	52	Bernard Collomb	Cooper-Climax	2:39.1	No time	2:36.8	+11.9
22	46	Michael May	Lotus-Climax	No time	2:40.2	2:37.9	+13.0
23	32	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Maserati	No time	2:38.8	No time	+13.9
24	38	Ian Burgess	Lotus-Climax	2:44.7	2:40.9	2:39.7	+14.8
25	30	Henry Taylor	Lotus-Climax	No time†	3:14.2	2:40.3	+15.4
26	34	Giorgio Scarlatti	De Tomaso-Osca	No time	2:47.3	2:47.1	+22.2
Source:^[1]

† Bianchi was absent for the first day of qualifying. Taylor qualified on Day 1 with Bianchi's car, but French timekeepers only tied the laptimes of a given car to the driver listed alongside in the programme, and his laptime was attributed to Bianchi.

Race

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	28	Juan Manuel Bordeu	Lotus-Climax		Practice only - UDT Laystall T-car
WD	46	Olivier Gendebien	Emeryson-Maserati		Entry taken by May
WD	14	Hans Herrmann	Porsche		Car taken by de Beaufort
DNA	54	Brian Naylor	JBW-Maserati		Car not ready

Notes

This was the first Formula One World Championship podium for Porsche as a constructor and engine supplier.

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
Source: ^[2]

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
Source:

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

Notes and References

Web site: 1961 ACF GP Qualification. www.chicanef1.com. 1 August 2020.
Web site: France 1961 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 15 March 2019.