1.5 Litre Rules - 1961 to 1965

Ferrari Triumphant

For 1961 a 1.5 litre formula was introduced. Most of the British teams were caught out, but not Ferrari. They had done their homework well and the year saw the arrival of the Scuderia's first rear-engined car. Dubbed 'shark-nose' their little V6 was to emerge as the class of the field and would deliver up both drivers and constructors championships.

Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips retained their works Ferrari seats and were joined by the American Richie Ginther, while newcomers to the competition, Porsche, recruited Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier to mount their challenge on the title. The Lotus team of Clark and Ireland remained unchanged, Graham Hill and Tony Brooks were at BRM and Cooper's efforts were again headed up by Brabham and McLaren.Despite numerous offers Moss had elected to remain with Rob Walker's team and was forced to make do with last year's Lotus. He put it to good use however and won the season opener in Monaco. Ferrari fought back and von Trips scored his first win at Zandvoort, while Phil Hill lead a 1-2-3-4 for the team at Spa. The circus then moved to France for what was to be a sensational races. The young Italian, Giancarlo Baghetti, in his very first race, won after several of the big names retired. He remains the only man to have won on his debut Grand Prix. The British Grand Prix was again held at Aintree and it was another Ferrari whitewash with von Trips, Hill and Ginther finishing in that order. At the Nürburgring Moss was victorious just ahead of Hill and von Trips.

At Monza tragedy struck yet again. Early in the race von Trips tangled with Clark and the Ferrari was catapulted into the crowd. Twelve spectators were killed along with von Trips. Phil Hill won a hollow victory that also delivered up the title. Ferrari elected to skip the last race of the season, held at the US circuit of Watkins Glen in the state of New York. Moss and Brabham scrapped for a while before both retired giving Ireland the first (and only) win of his career. The race was the last showing for Tony Brooks who finished third in his BRM. He announced his retirement after a successful career spent mainly in the shadow of Hawthorn and Moss.

Title Goes to Graham Hill

For 1962 Ferrari retained the services of Phil Hill and Baghetti, while recruiting promising newcomers Ricardo Rodriguez and Lorenzo Bandini. Graham Hill joined Ginther at BRM whose powerful new V8 engine suggested great things may be close at hand. McLaren became team leader at Cooper when Brabham quit to develop his own car. Lotus, with Clark and Trevor Taylor as works drivers introduced yet another new car, the revolutionary Type-25, the first true monocoque to take to the circuit.

The season opener was staged at Zandvoort and gave Graham Hill his first ever Grand Prix victory. Taylor finished second in only his second race. At Monaco McLaren came home ahead of Phil Hill in the Ferrari, while the race at Spa gave Jim Clark his first ever win. At Rouen Gurney won for Porsche which meant that after four races, four different drivers and marques had scored wins. In essence the championship was wide open.

Clark edged ahead with a dominant win at Aintree while Graham Hill won at the Nürburgring. Moving to Monza Hill was again victorious while Clark failed to finish. At Watkins Glen the situation was reversed as Clark led Hill home. The season finale took place in the first ever South African Grand Prix. Clark took pole but retired while leading. Hill took the win and with it came the championship. Ferrari had a terrible year. Few of their drivers made it into the points and they also experienced the loss of Rodriguez who was killed in the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix at the tragically young age of twenty. 1962 was also the year that Moss was lost to the sport. He crashed heavily in a non-championship race at Goodwood suffering massive injuries. Fortunately he recovered but he would never race at the top level ever again.

Clark's Great Year

In 1963 BRM, Lotus and Cooper retained their drivers while Gurney, having lost his seat at Porsche when the team withdrew from the competition to concentrate on sport car racing, joined Brabham in the double champions own team. Surtees moved to Ferrari, who lost Phil Hill and Baghetti to the off-shoot ATS organisation. It was to be a decision that both drivers would live to regret.

From the very start it became apparent that this was to be Jim Clark's year. He led the opener in Monaco before retiring with a busted gearbox, leaving Hill to score the first of his record breaking five Monte Carlo wins. Clark took charge in the wet in Spa, beating McLaren and Gurney and the story was repeated at Zandvoort with Clark leading Gurney and Surtees home. At Reims, despite a misfire Clark made it three in a row while a fourth win came at Silverstone in a race that saw Surtees finishing second after Graham Hill ran out of fuel on the final lap. Surtees scored a win for Ferrari at the Nürburgring with Clark a close second ahead of Ginther's BRM. At Monza it was Clark again. Graham Hill, plagued all year by an unreliable car struck back at Watkins Glen heading home Ginther and Clark. For the first time Mexico joined the championship and gave Clark his sixth win of the year. Win number seven came in South Africa and with it confirmation that Clark was the best driver of his generation.

Surtees Wins It - By a Point

1964 was a great year for John Surtees who entered the record books as the only man ever to win world titles on both 2 and 4 wheels. Clark, in the new Lotus 33, started well at Monaco but was again forced to retire, leaving Hill and Ginther to make it a 1-2 for BRM. Clark bounced back to win at Zandvoort while Surtees announced his claim to the title with a well-deserved second place. Clark got another one in the bag at Spa after leaders Gurney, Hill and McLaren all fell foul of fuel problems. Gurney made it home first at Rouen, giving the Brabham team their first ever win. Hill came second with Jack Brabham in third. For the first time the British Grand Prix was held at Brands Hatch and Clark continued his tradition of wining at home.

Surtees won at the mighty Nürburgring for the second year running, while his team-mate Bandini scored a debut win in Austria on the newly opened Zeltweg track. Surtees won once more at Monza in a typical slip-streaming affair with McLaren and Bandini joining him on the podium. Graham Hill kept his title bid alive at Watkins Glen with a win ahead of Surtees and Siffert. As a result while the circus moved to Mexico for the season finale three drivers had a real chance of taking the title. Hill had 39 points, Surtees had 34 with Clark, playing the unusual role of outsider, was on 30 points. Hill blew it early on and it looked as if Clark would take the title again but with just two laps remaining he suffered major engine problems. Bandini waved Surtees into second place and the six points were enough to make him champion - by a margin of one point.

Clark Dominates the Season

For 1965 the British outfits of Lotus and Brabham, both opted to use new versions of the powerful 32 valve Climax V8 engine. Clark was joined by Mike Spence at Lotus while Brabham invited the New Zealander Denny Hulme to join him and Gurney. The Ferrari line-up stayed the same while Ginther was recruited by new boys Honda to spearhead their efforts. BRM replaced him with yet another talented Scotsman; his name was Jackie Stewart and he finished sixth in his first race at Kyalami, where Clark finished first. Lotus did not compete at Monaco preferring to take a crack at the Indianapolis 500, where Clark scored an historic first win for a rear-engined car. As usual the Monte Carlo race went to Mr Monaco himself - Graham Hill. Fresh from the States Clark won in the wet at Spa with Stewart in second. The sequence was the same in France, where the race was staged on the mountainous Clermont-Ferrand circuit. At Silverstone and Zandvoort Clark won again, before going to the Nürburgring to score his sixth win of the season. With only the top six scores counting for the championship he had reached maximum points and the title was his again, with three races still to run. Monza was significant as Stewart's maiden win, while Graham Hill took the honours at Watkins Glen. The surprise of the year came in Mexico when Richie Ginther gave Honda and tyre maker Goodyear their first ever wins. Mexico also marked the end of the 1.5 litre formula which had given the sport some of the most exciting circuit racing ever seen.

For the following season the races would be run under a new set of rules with bigger, more potent engines. It was to be a return to power.