Grand Prix Gold: Italy 1961

Monza '61: the runners & riders

Race Report: Phil Hill - World Champion

First American to win title does so with sole surviving Ferrari - Tragic accident to von Trips - Stirling Moss's bid fails as wheel bearing collapses - Dan Gurney's splendid race for Porsche

By Gregor Grant

The 23rd Italian Grand Prix at Monza last Sunday was both a joy day for Ferrari and one of mourning. Phil Hill won, and clinched the Drivers' Championship of the World, but at the start of the second lap, popular Taffy von Trips collided with Jim Clark's Lotus at the South Bend, and went end over end among the spectators. Von Trips was killed instantaneously, and several spectators lost their lives and others were badly injured.

Ferrari's five-car assault was speedily reduced to one. After von Trips's accident, Ricardo Rodriguez and Giancarlo Baghetti retired with engine troubles, and subsequently Richie Ginther went out also with mechanical failure.

Behind Hill, Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney had a tremendous wheel-to-wheel battle for second place, but on the 36th lap, Stirling had to abandon at the pits when a wheel bearing collapsed and Dan went on to take second place behind his fellow Californian. Into third position came Bruce McLaren, and Jack Lewis (Cooper-Climax) snatched fourth place from Tony Brooks (BRM) by a millimetre of tyre tread.

There were several accidents; Clark was involved in the von Trips crash, but escaped unharmed. John Surtees (Yeoman Credit Cooper) and Jo Bonnier (Porsche) hit one another at the South Bend. Surtees had to abandon and Bonnier eventually retired with unspecified troubles. Gerry Ashmore (Lotus) crashed at the same spot, and was taken to hospital with severe abrasions and a suspected fractured arm.

Early in the race, Jack Brabham had a wonderful scrap with the Ferraris, but had to pack up when the engine lost all its water. With four red Ferraris circulating in a bunch, the race looked to be a walkover for the prancing horse. However, motor racing is the most unpredictable of sports, and when three of the V6s were eliminated, only Hill was able to keep going.

SEFAC Ferrari could not be accused of not taking Monza seriously, for they turned up with half a dozen cars, two of which were the older 90-degree-engined machines, one for Rodriguez and one a spare trainer. Nominated to pilot the 120-degree cars were Hill, von Trips, Ginther and Baghetti.

The Ferrari team in the paddock © LAT

Alf Francis and his men have made a fine job of installing the new V8 Coventry Climax engine in Moss's Lotus, but the car arrived at the track completely untested. BRM had been race testing their V8 for several days. This is a beautiful little car, possibly the best-looking grand prix machine since the 250F Maserati and finished to the high standard we now come to expect from Bourne. Despite rumours of eight Amal carburettors, the 90-degree engine had a new Lucas fuel injection system.

Heavy rain spoiled Friday's training session, and only a few drivers managed to circulate in the dry, including von Trips, whose 2m46.8 seconds was fastest of the session. Both Brabham and Moss were in grave trouble with their V8s, the engines overheating and using gallons of water. The BRM was not produced, Wilkie and Co being busy tracing an oil leak and trying to solve minor fuel injection problems.

Brilliant sunshine produced really serious business on Saturday, with everyone trying hard to qualify. This year drivers were required to lap within 15 per cent of the best time, which worked out at around a 25-second margin.

Again the Climax V8s suffered from loss of water, even as much as a gallon steaming out on one lap. Both Moss and Brabham circulated with their engine covers removed, but the trouble persisted. Wally Hassan and Harry Speirs came to the reluctant conclusion that this could not be cured, so Moss decided not to use his car for the race, but depend on a 'four.' Between stops to take on more water, Brabham managed to achieve 2m51s. Graham Hill did 2m48.7s with his BRM V8, which did not have overheating bothers, and seemed to be going surprisingly well for a new design.

However, Ferrari made sure of an all-red front row on the grid, with von Trips returning 2m46.3s, and the incredible Rodriguez being only one tenth of a second slower. Ginther's best was 2m46.8s, Hill's 2m47.2s and Baghetti's 2m49s. The Italian nearly came unstuck in a big way on the South Bend after the banking, his Ferrari diving down from the top and all but spinning round. The surface on the banked sections was dreadfully rough, and cars were seen to be leaping and bounding with dampers working overtime.

The next best British effort was put up by Clark with 2m49.2s. John Surtees was just getting into the groove when he blew a cylinder head gasket and had to practice in a spare car. The only other driver to get under 2m50s was Bonnier in his Porsche (2m49.6s). Next up were Innes Ireland (Lotus), Brabham and Gurney (Porsche). Masten Gregory did a 2m55.2s lap with the UDT-Laystall Lotus. Moss's best was 2m51.8s, after several unhappy tours with the engine steaming like a kettle.

British participation in the two Coppa Inter-Europa GT races comprised John Coundley Despite Graham Hill's good time with the V8 BRM, vaporisation bothers caused fuel starvation, and rather than risk wrecking the prototype engine, it was decided to use the fours. With Brabham almost certainly booked to come in early for water, the British challenge to Ferrari had weakened almost to vanishing point, with Clark over three seconds a lap slower than von Trips in practice.

For some odd reason, the starting grid was arranged in pairs, making 16 rows in all stretching over 300 yards, well past the pits. The front row was occupied by von Trips and Rodriguez, the latter wearing a bright yellow crash helmet.

The start of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix © LAT

Stirling Moss appeared with a Team Lotus car, painted blue and green with yellow wheels. To confuse matters even further, Ireland had a UDT-Laystall Lotus, so the petrol-oil barons must have come to some sort of agreement, for Team Lotus are Esso contracted entrants, and UTDT-Laystall come under BP.

Earl Howe dropped the flag, but already Rodriguez was on the move. The young Mexican immediately shut off, and waited on Hill. The line of cars was so long that the tail-enders were over 13 seconds behind before they passed the timing strip.

Rodriguez out-accelerated Hill, but the latter went ahead and at the South Bend Ginther also overtook the Mexican, and Graham Hill had been caught and passed by Clark.

As the leaders swooped off the banking to complete the first lap it was Phil Hill, Ginther, Rodriguez, Clark, Brabham, von Trips, Baghetti, Bonnier, Tritignant, Moss, Surtees and Graham Hill.

Von Trips roared past Brabham and Clark, but seemed to lose control and collided with Clark's Lotus. The Ferrari overturned and reared up against a wire fence where many spectators were gathered. Von Trips was flung out, being instantaneously killed, but before the wrecked car finished up back on the track, it had created terrible havoc among the crowd. Clark's Lotus also overturned, but the Scotsman escaped serious injury. For some time there was confusion, with officials attempting to remove the crashed Ferrari and attend to the dead and dying.

With two laps gone, it was Hill, Ginther, Rodriguez, Baghetti, Brabham, Moss and Gurney. Again there was an incident at the South Bend. Bonnier cut sharply in front of Surtees, and both cars collided. The Porsche driver continues, but the Yeoman Credit Cooper had to be retired at the pits with badly damaged suspension. Ashmore crashed at Vedano, and was taken to hospital.

Brabham was chasing the quartet of Ferraris while Moss and Gurney were fighting it out almost wheel-to-wheel. Wolfgang Seidel's Lotus was in the pits and Roberto Lippi's Osca-Tomaso was also in trouble.

The struggle in front was immense, but Brabham grimly held on to the four red cars, and behind Gurney, Moss, Bonnier and McLaren made a compact group followed by the two BRMs. Ireland managed to edge in front of Lewis, who had Roy Salvadori close behind. The Ferraris kept chopping and changing places with Ginther in front on lap seven and third next time round behind Hill and Rodriguez. Gregory stopped at the pits with his UDT-Laystall Lotus and Jack Fairman pulled Fred Tuck's Cooper in to try and cure a misfire.

Then, on the ninth lap, the expected happened. Brabham coasted slowly into the pits to abandon the V8 with overheating. The race now became a Ferrari procession, albeit a high-speed one, for both Gurney and Moss were dropping about two seconds a lap to the Maranello machines.

After 11 tours, Graham Hill abandoned with engine failure. Ginther took command for three laps, but the four red cars were so tightly-bunched that it was difficult to sort them out individually. Bonnier had a lengthy pit stop and dropped right out of the running.

The aftermath of the accident between Wolfgang von Trips and Jim Clark © LAT

Then, proud Ferrari received a shattering blow when both Rodriguez and Baghetti came into the pits at the same time. The Mexican's screen was covered in oil and the Italian's engine had given up the ghost. Mechanics feverishly wheeled both away to the dead car park.

This was a real turn-up for the book and an unlucky 13th lap for Ferrari. Still and all, Hill and Ginther were firmly locked in the lead with Moss and Gurney some 25 seconds behind. Gregory, who had restarted, finally gave up, as did Lippi. Bonnier was circulating very slowly and the writing was obviously on the wall.

Ferrari were extremely worried, and signals were continually displayed to the two Americans. Consequently, the lap speeds dropped slightly and both Moss and Gurney began to creep closer. The pair were having a monumental dice, passing and repassing all round the circuit. Bruce McLaren, driving splendidly, had made fifth place his own, while behind, Brooks was getting everything possible out of the BRM.

All the others, bar Lewis and Salvadori, had been 'doubled,' the latest victims being Maurice Trintignant and Carel Godin de Beaufort. Now Ferrari began to have the wind up completely, for Ginther's engine lost its crisp note and he gradually dropped behind Hill. On the 24th lap, his car went to join the others in the dead car park, and Maranello's hopes rested entirely on Hill. Gurney was doing a magnificent job in holding Moss and the pair were within 20 seconds of Hill.

Then the latter started to open up a bit more and pulled about two seconds a lap away from the battling pair. By lap 25, only Hill, Gurney, Moss, McLaren, Brooks and Lewis were on the same lap, and Lewis was starting to catch Brooks. The youngster was driving a superb race, completely cool and relaxed. Salvadori had seventh spot all on his own, with de Beaufort some way behind.

The Gurney-Moss dispute was highly exciting, both drivers getting everything possible out of their cars. Once or twice, Stirling actually passed Dan on the banking, but the Porsche and the Lotus were so evenly matched that neither could obtain any real advantage.

Then, to the consternation of Moss's well-wishers, the Lotus was driven slowly into the pits and the unlucky Stirling had to abandon with wheel bearing failure. Unless anything happened to Hill, a Ferrari victory was certain and Gurney had second place more or less in the bag.

The advance of Lewis on Brooks was a minor sensation, and just before the end the BRM was overtaken, and Lewis was in fourth place. Hill pursued his way to final victory, after having driven a real world champion's race. To the huge delight of Porsche, Gurney sailed in to secure second spot and, after McLaren had acknowledged the flag for third place, all eyes were on the Lewis-Brooks battle.

Coming off the banking for the last time Brooks made a desperate effort and as they crossed the line it looked from the press box like a dead heat. However, the timekeepers gave Lewis the verdict by one tenth of a second, with three points in the world championship. Into sixth place came Salvadori, who had kept his end up magnificently. Only a dozen survivors were running out of the original 32, the race having taken a heavy toll mechanically.

View results, stats, quotes and images from the 1961 Italian GP at FORIX