| Type: | F1 |
| Country: | Italy |
| Grand Prix: | Italian |
| Date: | 10 September |
| Year: | 1961 |
| Official Name: | XXXII Gran Premio d'Italia |
| Location: | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza, Italy |
| Course: | Permanent racing facility |
| Course Mi: | 6.214 |
| Course Km: | 10.000 |
| Distance Laps: | 43 |
| Distance Mi: | 267.190 |
| Distance Km: | 430.000 |
| Weather: | Sunny |
| Pole Driver: | Wolfgang von Trips |
| Pole Country: | Germany |
| Pole Team: | Ferrari |
| Pole Time: | 2:46.3 |
| Fast Driver: | Giancarlo Baghetti |
| Fast Team: | Ferrari |
| Fast Time: | 2:48.4 |
| Fast Lap: | 2 |
| Fast Country: | Italy |
| First Driver: | Phil Hill |
| First Country: | US |
| First Team: | Ferrari |
| Second Driver: | Dan Gurney |
| Second Country: | US |
| Second Team: | Porsche |
| Third Driver: | Bruce McLaren |
| Third Country: | New Zealand |
| Third Team: | Cooper-Climax |
The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 1961 at Monza. It was race 7 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The race was marked by one of the most terrible accidents in the history of Formula One, when on the end of lap 2, at the approach to the Parabolica, German driver Wolfgang von Trips lost control of his Ferrari after colliding with the Lotus of Jim Clark and crashed into a fence line of spectators, killing 15 and himself.[1] [2] The race was not stopped, allegedly to avoid the audience going home en masse jamming the roads around the stadium and thus impeding the rescue work for the injured. This was also the last Formula One race ever to be held on the full Monza circuit, with the two banked corners and the straight between the bankings included.
The race was won by von Trips's American teammate Phil Hill; since von Trips was the only one who could challenge him, Hill won the World Championship with one race to go. Hill's Monza win also assured Ferrari of the Constructors' Championship for 1961.[3]
Before the running of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, four drivers were mathematically in contention for the year's Drivers' Championship: Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill, Stirling Moss, and Richie Ginther. Realistically, however, the championship had come down to two Ferrari drivers, von Trips and Hill.
In the Constructors' Championship, two teams were mathematically in contention: Ferrari, and Lotus-Climax. In order for Lotus to overtake Ferrari at this point, one of their drivers had to win both this race and the final race of the season, the 1961 United States Grand Prix.
37 cars attempted to qualify for the Italian Grand Prix, and 32 had sufficiently fast times to make it to the race grid. Similar to the 107% rule of today, a rule was in place for the 1961 season enforcing a 115% cutoff against the time of the second fastest driver.
| Pos | Driver | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Phil Hill | 34 (38) | |
| 1 | 2 |  Wolfgang von Trips | 33 | |
| 3 | Stirling Moss | 21 | ||
| 4 | Richie Ginther | 16 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Dan Gurney | 15 | |
| Source:[4] | ||||
| Pos | Constructor | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ferrari | 40 (52) | ||
| 2 | Lotus-Climax | 24 | ||
| 3 | Porsche | 17 | ||
| 4 | Cooper-Climax | 13 (15) | ||
| 5 | BRM-Climax | 3 | ||
| Source: | ||||
