The 1966 Formula One season was the 20th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 17th World Championship of Drivers, the 9th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and four non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over nine races between 22 May and 23 October 1966.
Jack Brabham won the Drivers' Championship in a Brabham-Repco.[1] It was his third and last championship. Brabham was also awarded the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, their first title.[2]
John Taylor collided with Formula Two driver Jacky Ickx during the German Grand Prix. Taylor was badly burned in the accident and succumbed to his injuries four weeks later.
The season saw "the return to power", with the FIA doubling the maximum allowed engine displacement from 1.5 to 3 litres.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1966 FIA World Championship.
Dubbed "the return to power", the new formula of 3 litre naturally-aspirated engines was met with enthusiasm. Not all projects were finished in time for the start of the season, however. Coventry Climax had decided to quit their business of building racing engines, despite winning their latest championship in, so most British teams had to find new contracts:[5]
Two teams made their debut this year:
| Round | Grand Prix | Circuit | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Monaco Grand Prix | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo | 22 May |
| 2 |  Belgian Grand Prix | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot | 12 June |
| 3 |  French Grand Prix | Reims-Gueux, Gueux | 3 July |
| 4 |  British Grand Prix | Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown | 16 July |
| 5 |  Dutch Grand Prix | Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort | 24 July |
| 6 | German Grand Prix | Nürburgring, Nürburg | 7 August |
| 7 |  Italian Grand Prix | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza | 4 September |
| 8 |  United States Grand Prix | Watkins Glen International, New York | 2 October |
| 9 |  Mexican Grand Prix | Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City | 23 October |
The 1966 season started off with the Monaco Grand Prix. The twisty track seemed for a large part to negate the difference in power between the 3 litre Ferrari engines and the 2 litre BRM and Climax engines (used by Lotuses). and champion Jim Clark qualified on pole position in the Lotus-Climax, ahead of champion John Surtees for Ferrari. On the second row started the two BRMs of Jackie Stewart and champion Graham Hill. At the start, Clark's car got jammed in first gear and was passed by everyone. Surtees and Stewart created a gap to the rest of the field. Under normal circumstances, the Ferrari would soon leave the BRM behind, but Surtees' rear axle failed and he retired on lap 16. Stewart was out on his own, followed by Jochen Rindt in the Cooper-Maserati and Hill, before Lorenzo Bandini rose up to second place in the Ferrari. Clark was charging back to the front of the field, but spent a lot of time behind Hill. Clark dove through into the first corner to take third place - Rindt had retired with engine failure - but the Lotus's left-rear suspension failed later in the lap and the reigning champion was out of the race. Stewart held on to take his second career win, ahead of Bandini and Hill. Bob Bondurant finished in fourth place to get three BRMs in the points. Behind came three Coopers but none of them were classified and did not receive championship points.[15]
At first, Stewart was setting the pace during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, but on the high-speed circuit, Surtees qualified on pole in his Ferrari, more than three seconds ahead of Rindt in the Cooper-Maserati. Stewart started third, while Clark could only manage tenth. As the flag was waved, rain was falling at the far end of the track. Stewart and Hill crashed in the Masta Kink, already known as the most dangerous corner, and the Scot got trapped under his car in a pool of leaking fuel for 25 minutes. Hill and Bondurant, who had both crashed as well, borrowed a spectator's toolkit to free him. Another five cars retired within the first lap of the race, including Clark. Surtees led the race, ahead of Rindt and Bandini, and that became the finishing order as well. Behind them finished and champion Jack Brabham and Rindt's teammate Richie Ginther. Two other drivers were still running but were not classified, making it two races in a row that championship points were held back under the new rule. Following his crash, Stewart became a strong advocate of improving driver safety in not only Grand Prix but motor racing in general.[16]
When Surtees was not granted a drive with Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he left the Italian team and, with that, gave up his F1 drive as well. He found a seat at Cooper, where Ginther had left to return to his old team Honda. Bandini qualified on pole for the French Grand Prix, with old teammate Surtees and new teammate Mike Parkes beside him on the first row. At the start, Surtees fell back with fuel pick-up issues, before he retired on lap 5. Brabham got up to second place, the only driver able to follow Bandini's pace. On lap 32, the Australian inherited the lead as the Ferrari's throttle cable broke. The Italian took a piece of string from a straw bale lining the track and tied it to his throttle, operating it by hand and actually nursing his car back to the pits, but finished out of the points. Brabham won the race, ahead of Parkes in his first race and Brabham's teammate Denny Hulme.[17]
In the Drivers' Championship, Jack Brabham (Brabham-Repco) took the lead with 12 points, ahead of Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari, 10 points), followed by Surtees, Stewart and Rindt (all 9 points). In the Manufacturers' Championship, Ferrari had the lead with 21 points, ahead of Brabham (12) and BRM and Cooper (both 9).
The British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch saw the Brabham duo of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme qualify at the front, ahead of Dan Gurney in the Eagle, Graham Hill for BRM and Jim Clark for Lotus. Next came John Surtees in the Cooper, to make it five different constructors in the top six. At the start, it was Brabham and Hill who led away, until it started raining and Jochen Rindt pitted for rain tyres. Rindt got up to second place, pressing Brabham for the lead, while Surtees was third. As the rain dried, however, Rindt fell back and Surtees retired, leaving Brabham and Hulme to finish first and second. Behind them came Hill, Clark and Rindt.[18]
Brabham and Hulme again qualified first and second for the Dutch Grand Prix, ahead of Clark, still driving a 2 litre Climax-powered Lotus. Hulme's engine went wrong on lap 17, eventually retiring on lap 37, and leaving Brabham vulnerable to Clark's offense. While lapping some backmarkers, the Brit passed the Australian and pulled out a substantial lead. At half-distance, Graham Hill was the only driver not lapped by Clark and Brabham, but then, a shock absorber on the Lotus's crankshaft broke and punched a hole in the water pump, leading to his engine coolant to leak away. This forced a pit stop and brought him down to third place. Brabham won his third race in a row, ahead of Hill.[19]
The German Grand Prix was run at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. In fear of a dull race with not enough entries, the FIA allowed Formula Two entries to race simultaneously. They would not be eligible for F1 championship points. The lighter 2 litre cars topped the timings in qualifying, with Clark, Surtees and Stewart occupying the front row. But at the start, the more powerful 3 litre cars got away better: Surtees held the lead, but Brabham and Lorenzo Bandini were his nearest rivals. John Taylor spun off in the rain that had started falling. He got trapped in a burning wreck but was rescued by F2 driver Jacky Ickx. At the end of the first lap, Brabham had taken the lead, ahead of Surtees, Rindt and Clark. The latter crashed out of the race on lap 11, while the podium places remained unchanged.[20]
After winning four consecutive races, Jack Brabham (Brabham) had a sizeable lead in the Drivers' Championship with 39 points, ahead of Graham Hill (BRM, 17 points) and John Surtees and Jochen Rindt (teammates at Cooper, both on 15 points). In the Manufacturers' Championship, Brabham led with 39 points, ahead of Ferrari (23) and BRM (22).
The teams that had had to make due with limited power until now, could finally take delivery of new 3 litre engines for the Italian Grand Prix: BRM introduced H16 engines for the works team and their customer Team Lotus, the Eagle was powered by the new Weslake V12, and Honda were on the grid for the first time this year with their own V12. Much to the joy of the tifosi, Ferrari teammates Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti qualified at the front, ahead of Jim Clark (Lotus), John Surtees (Cooper) and Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari). Championship leader Jack Brabham started in sixth but felt not much pressure, as Surtees had to win all three remaiining races to stop the Australian from claiming the title. Scarfiotti took the lead at the start but was down to seventh at the end of the first lap. His teammate Bandini replaced him at the front. Brabham went by on lap 4 but then retired with an oil leak. Successively, Surtees, Bandini and Clark retired as well, giving the lead back to Scarfiotti, ahead of Parkes and Denny Hulme (Brabham). Jochen Rindt's front tyre deflated coming out of the last corner, the Austrian crossing the finish line while spinning and eventually ending up in the grass. With Surtees' retirement, Brabham had clinched the Drivers' Championship of 1966.[21]
As per usual, the championship ended overseas, firstly with the United States Grand Prix. Freshly crowned champion Brabham qualified on pole with last year's champion Clark next to him. Bandini started third but quickly took the lead, before Brabham went back through on lap 10. Bandini later repassed the Australian but then retired with an engine failure. Half way through the race, Brabham retired as well. Clark had been left behind by the leading duo but inherited the race win. Rindt ran out of fuel and slowed down. He did finish the race, but his last lap took so long that it was forfeited, putting him a lap behind but still second in the classification, as Surtees in third was even further behind.[22]
The last round of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix, saw Surtees back on pole, for the first time in a Cooper, ahead of Clark and Ginther. The Honda driver took the lead at the start, leading fifth-starting Rindt and fourth-starting Brabham. Surtees fell down to fifth but had charged back to first at the half-way point. He won the race, seven seconds ahead of Brabham and at least a lap ahead of Hulme and the rest of the field.[23]
Jack Brabham had won the Drivers' Championship with 42 points, ahead of John Surtees (28) and Jochen Rindt (22). Jack It was Brabham's third Drivers' Championship (following wins in and), moving him into the second place in the record standings, behind five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio. He became the first and, so far, only driver to win the championship in a car carrying his own name. This was also the first time that a non-European or -British car had won the championship. The Brabham team also scored 42 points in the Manufacturers' Champions and won the title, ahead of Ferrari (31 points) and Cooper (30 points).
Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. Only the best five results counted towards the championship. Formula 2 cars were not eligible for Championship points.
The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. Additionally, like the Drivers' Championship, only the best five results counted towards the cup.
Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:
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| Pos. | Manufacturer | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brabham-Repco | Ret | (4) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (3) | Ret | 2 | 42 (49) |
| 2 | Ferrari | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | (6) | 1 | Ret | 31 (32) | ||
| 3 | Cooper-Maserati | NC | 2 | 4 | (5) | 7 | 2 | (4) | 2 | 1 | 30 (35) |
| 4 | BRM | 1 | Ret | Ret | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 22 |
| 5 | Lotus-BRM | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| 6 | Lotus-Climax | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 9 | 6 | Ret | 8 |
| 7 | Eagle-Climax | NC | 5 | Ret | Ret | 7 | DNQ | DSQ | 5 | 4 | |
| 8 |  Honda | Ret | NC | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| 9 | McLaren-Ford | Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | 2 | |||||
| 10 | Brabham-Climax | Ret | Ret | 7 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 6 | 1 | ||
| = | Brabham-BRM | Ret | 6 | 8 | 8 | Ret | DNQ | 1 | |||
| = | McLaren-Serenissima | DNS | 6 | DNS | 1 | ||||||
| — | Cooper-Ferrari | 11 | Ret | 0 | |||||||
| — | Eagle-Weslake | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||
| — | Shannon-Climax | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
| Pos. | Manufacturer | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | Pts. |
Four other Formula One races were held in 1966, which did not count towards the World Championship.
| Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 South African Grand Prix | Prince George | 1 January | Mike Spence | Lotus-Climax | Report | |
| Gran Premio di Siracusa | Syracuse | 1 May | John Surtees | Ferrari | Report | |
| BRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 14 May |  Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | Report | |
| International Gold Cup | Oulton Park | 17 September | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | Report |
The film Grand Prix is a fictionalized version of the 1966 season, which includes footage of the actual races edited together with footage of actors in staged racing scenes.
