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 an accident with the highest death toll 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. The race was not stopped, allegedly to avoid the spectators 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, becoming the first American driver to win the Formula One World Championship. Hill's Monza win also assured Ferrari of the Constructors' Championship for 1961.Daily Express pages 1, 2 & 7 Monday 11 September 1961

Background

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.

Qualifying 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.

Classification

Qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorGapQ1Q214 Wolfgang von TripsFerrari2:50.32:46.3—28 Ricardo RodríguezFerrari2:49.62:46.4 +0.136 Richie GintherFerrari2:46.82:47.1 +0.542 Phil HillFerrari2:48.92:47.2 +0.9524 Graham HillBRM-Climax2:55.02:48.7 +2.4632 Giancarlo BaghettiFerrari2:53.42:49.0 +2.7736 Jim ClarkLotus-Climax2:52.42:49.2 +2.9844 Jo BonnierPorsche2:53.62:49.6 +3.3938 Innes IrelandLotus-Climax2:56.72:50.3 +4.01010 Jack BrabhamCooper-Climax2:55.12:51.6 +5.31128 Stirling MossLotus-Climax2:51.82:57.5 +5.51246 Dan GurneyPorsche2:53.42:52.0 +5.71326 Tony BrooksBRM-Climax2:58.82:52.2 +5.91412 Bruce McLarenCooper-Climax2:59.82:53.4 +7.11574 Carel Godin de BeaufortPorsche2:57.92:53.8 +7.51660 Jackie LewisCooper-ClimaxNo time2:54.0 +7.71722 Masten GregoryLotus-Climax3:01.42:55.2 +8.91840 Roy SalvadoriCooper-Climax3:02.02:55.2 +8.91942 John SurteesCooper-Climax2:59.32:55.6 +9.32050 Nino VaccarellaDe Tomaso-Alfa Romeo3:03.72:56.0 +9.72162 Lorenzo BandiniCooper-Maserati2:57.72:58.2 +11.42248 Maurice TrintignantCooper-Maserati3:03.92:58.7 +12.42320 Henry TaylorLotus-Climax3:03.83:00.6 +14.32454 Roberto BussinelloDe Tomaso-Alfa Romeo3:09.83:01.7 +15.42518 Gerry AshmoreLotus-ClimaxNo time3:03.0 +16.72630 Jack FairmanCooper-Climax3:06.73:04.8 +18.52716 Tim ParnellLotus-Climax3:15.43:05.7 +19.42856 Wolfgang SeidelLotus-ClimaxNo time3:06.0 +19.72958 Renato PirocchiCooper-Maserati3:18.33:06.5 +20.23072 Gaetano StarrabbaLotus-MaseratiNo time3:07.9 +21.63114 Brian NaylorJBW-Climax3:13.03:08.1 +21.83252 Roberto LippiDe Tomaso-Osca3:27.73:08.9 +22.668 André PiletteEmeryson-Climax3:19.43:11.6 +25.3

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Phil Hill Ferrari 43 2:03:13.0 4 9 2 46 Dan Gurney Porsche 43 +31.2 12 6 3 12 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 43 +2:28.4 14 4 4 60 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 43 +2:40.4 16 3 5 26 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 43 +2:40.5 13 2 6 40 Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 42 +1 Lap 18 1 7 74 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 41 +2 Laps 15 8 62 Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 41 +2 Laps 21 9 48 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 41 +2 Laps 22 10 16 Tim Parnell Lotus-Climax 40 +3 Laps 27 11 20 Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax 39 +4 Laps 23 12 58 Renato Pirocchi Cooper-Maserati 38 +5 Laps 29 28 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 36 Wheel bearing 11 6 Richie Ginther Ferrari 23 Engine 3 72 Gaetano Starrabba Lotus-Maserati 19 Engine 30 44 Jo Bonnier Porsche 14 Suspension 8 8 Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari 13 Fuel system 2 32 Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 13 Engine 6 50 Nino Vaccarella De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 13 Engine 20 22 Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 11 Suspension 17 24 Graham Hill BRM-Climax 10 Engine 5 10 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 8 Overheating 10 14 Brian Naylor JBW-Climax 6 Engine 31 38 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 5 Chassis 9 30 Jack Fairman Cooper-Climax 5 Engine 26 42 John Surtees Cooper-Climax 2 Accident 19 4 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 1 Fatal collision 1 36 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 1 Collision 7 54 Roberto Bussinello De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo 1 Engine 24 56 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 1 Engine 28 52 Roberto Lippi De Tomaso-Osca 1 Engine 32 18 Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax 0 Accident 25 68 André Pilette Emeryson-ClimaxToo slow 46 Edgar Barth Porsche Practice only – experimental car 58 Massimo Natili Cooper-Maserati Pirocchi drove car 34 Alfonso Thiele Cooper-ClimaxSupport race 64 Ernesto Prinoth Lotus-ClimaxOn route to the Flugplatzrennen 66 Menato Boffa Cooper-ClimaxRacing at Vallelunga 70 Michael May Lotus-Climax Retired from racing

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Ricardo Rodríguez; and the first for a Mexican driver. This was the first (and only) pole position for Wolfgang von Trips, and the first for a German driver.

Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 1 Phil Hill 34 (38) 1 2 Wolfgang von Trips 33 3 Stirling Moss 21 4 Richie Ginther 16 2 5 Dan Gurney 15Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 40 (52) 2 Lotus-Climax 24 3 Porsche 17 4 Cooper-Climax 13 (15) 5 BRM-Climax 3Source:

Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References