The 1960 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 4 September 1960. It was race 9 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 8 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The race on the 10 km long banked oval version was won by American driver Phil Hill driving a front-engine Ferrari 246 F1 in absence of the mid-engine British cars that already had secured the Championships.
Race summary The 1960 season had been a frustrating one for Ferrari's Formula One program as they campaigned their obsolete Dino 246, a front-engined car as the rear-mid-engined design established supremacy. The championship had already been decided for Jack Brabham and Ferrari had gone without a victory. Seeing an opportunity, the Italian organizers decided to maximize Ferrari's one advantage —straight line speed — by using the combined Monza road and banked oval circuit, making the fast Monza even faster.
Citing the fragility of their cars and the dangers of the banking, the major British factory teams of the day—Lotus, BRM, and Cooper, all boycotted the event, leading to a cobbled together field of private entrants and Formula 2 cars. Because of this boycott by the British teams, none of the drivers who started the race had previously won a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix.
The race was a processional affair, with Ginther leading at the start and eventually being overtaken by Hill. The pair with teammate Willy Mairesse raced on to a rare 1–2–3 team result for Scuderia Ferrari. The boycott also allowed Scuderia Castellotti to score its only world championship points with Giulio Cabianca finishing fourth in his Cooper T51, two laps behind Hill and ahead of Scuderia Ferrari's fourth entry, Wolfgang von Trips in a 1.5 L-engined (conforming to F2 regulations) Ferrari 156 F2 car.
It was the first victory by an American driver in a Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy at the 1921 French Grand Prix, and, excluding the Indy 500, the first by an American in the Formula One World Championship.
It was the last Formula One World Championship victory by a front-engined car, although the Ferguson P99 won the non-championship Gold Cup at Oulton Park in 1961.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap1 20 Phil Hill Ferrari 2:41.4—2 18 Richie Ginther Ferrari 2:43.3 +1.93 16 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 2:43.9 +2.54 2 Giulio Cabianca Cooper-Castellotti 2:49.3 +7.95 36 Giorgio Scarlatti Cooper-Maserati 2:49.7 +8.36 22 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 2:51.9 +10.57 6 Brian Naylor JBW-Maserati 2:52.4 +11.08 4 Gino Munaron Cooper-Castellotti 2:53.1 +11.79 34 Alfonso Thiele Cooper-Maserati 2:55.6 +14.210 26 Hans Herrmann Porsche 2:58.3 +16.911 8 Arthur Owen Cooper-Climax 3:01.5 +20.112 24 Edgar Barth Porsche 3:02.1 +20.713 10 Wolfgang Seidel Cooper-Climax 3:07.0 +25.614 28 Fred Gamble Behra-Porsche-Porsche 3:10.6 +29.215 12 Piero Drogo Cooper-Climax 3:11.9 +30.516 30 Vic Wilson Cooper-Climax 3:16.5 +35.1 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 20 Phil Hill Ferrari 50 2:21:09.2 1 8 2 18 Richie Ginther Ferrari 50 + 2:27.6 2 6 3 16 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 49 + 1 Lap 3 4 4 2 Giulio Cabianca Cooper-Castellotti 48 + 2 Laps 4 3 5 22 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 48 + 2 Laps 6 2 6 26 Hans Herrmann Porsche 47 + 3 Laps 10 1 7 24 Edgar Barth Porsche 47 + 3 Laps 12 8 12 Piero Drogo Cooper-Climax 45 + 5 Laps 15 9 10 Wolfgang Seidel Cooper-Climax 44 + 6 Laps 13 10 28 Fred Gamble Behra-Porsche-Porsche 41 + 9 laps 14 6 Brian Naylor JBW-Maserati 41 Gearbox 7 34 Alfonso Thiele Cooper-Maserati 32 Gearbox 9 4 Gino Munaron Cooper-Castellotti 27 Engine 8 36 Giorgio Scarlatti Cooper-Maserati 26 Engine 5 30 Vic Wilson Cooper-Climax 23 Engine 16 8 Arthur Owen Cooper-Climax 0 Accident 11 14 Horace Gould Maserati Fuel system
Notes
This was Phil Hill's first win and his first pole position in his Formula One World Championship career, and also the first pole position for an American driver (excluding the Indianapolis 500 races). It was the Formula One World Championship debut race for Italian drivers Alfonso Thiele and Piero Drogo, British drivers Arthur Owen and Vic Wilson, and for American driver Fred Gamble. This was Ferrari's third home win of an Italian Grand Prix. The Scuderia was already the most successful constructor and engine supplier at an Italian Grand Prix with three wins, four pole positions, five fastest laps and eighteen podiums in eleven Formula One World Championship Italian Grands Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Jack Brabham 40 2 Bruce McLaren 33 6 3 Phil Hill 15 1 4 Innes Ireland 12 1 5 Stirling Moss 11Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Cooper-Climax48 (54) 2 Lotus-Climax28 (29) 3 Ferrari26 (27) 4 BRM6 5 Cooper-Maserati3Source:
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 6 results counted towards each Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References