The 1961 German Grand Prix was the 23rd time the German Grand Prix (or Grosser Preis von Deutschland) motor race was held. The race also held the honorary designation of the 21st European Grand Prix. It was run to Formula One regulations as race 6 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers It was held on 6 August 1961 over 15 laps of the giant 14.2 mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit for a race distance of almost 213 miles. The race also celebrated the 100th race since the establishment of the World Championship in 1950.
The race was won by British driver Stirling Moss, driving a Lotus 18/21 for privateer outfit the Rob Walker Racing Team; it proved to be his 16th and last Grand Prix victory. Moss started from the second row of the grid and led every lap of the race. It was the first German Grand Prix victory for a rear-engined car since Bernd Rosemeyer's Auto Union Type C took victory in 1936. Moss finished just over 20 seconds ahead of Ferrari 156 drivers Wolfgang von Trips and Phil Hill, breaking a four-race consecutive run of Ferrari victories. The result pushed Moss into third place in the championship points race, becoming the only driver outside Ferrari's trio of von Trips, Hill and Richie Ginther still in contention to become the 1961 World Champion with two races left.
Jack Brabham's Cooper took full advantage of the new Coventry-Climax V-8 in qualifying. Brabham qualified second, and shot to the lead by the first corner. However, Brabham crashed before the end of the first lap due to a sticking throttle. It was the last home country appearance for points leader von Trips before his death at the Italian Grand Prix five weeks later. His second-place finish saw Ferrari secure the constructors' championship. The remaining championship points scorers were all from British racing teams. Scottish driver Jim Clark (Lotus 21) was fourth for Team Lotus; former motorcycle World Champion John Surtees (Cooper T53) was fifth for Yeoman Credit Racing and young New Zealander Bruce McLaren was sixth in his factory-run Cooper T58.
Of the race's 26 starters, 17 finished the race with 16 of them classified finishers. Bernard Collomb (Cooper T53) did not complete the 75% race distance in order to be classified as a finisher.
Classification Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorGapQ1Q2Q31 4 Phil Hill Ferrari9:10.2 8:55.29:07.9—2 1 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax9:10.6 9:10.69:01.4 +6.23 7 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax9:10.5 9:11.49:01.7 +6.54 8 Jo Bonnier Porsche9:06.6 9:04.89:11.3 +9.65 3 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari9:23.5 No time9:05.5 +10.3617 Graham HillBRM-Climax9:18.69:13.59:06.4 +11.27 9 Dan Gurney Porsche9:13.3 9:06.69:16.9 +11.48 14 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax9:20.9 9:08.19:37.9 +12.99 16 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax9:50.2 9:10.59:09.3 +14.110 18 John Surtees Cooper-Climax9:39.9 9:11.29:19.8 +16.011 11 Hans Herrmann Porsche9:19.2 9:12.79:24.6 +17.512 2 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax9:22.4 9:13.09:14.4 +17.813 6 Willy Mairesse Ferrari9:32.7 9:15.99:23.5 +20.714 5 Richie Ginther Ferrari9:23.8 9:16.69:20.1 +21.415 19 Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax9:41.1 9:22.09:25.2 +26.81615 Innes IrelandLotus-Climax9:22.99:38.19:23.2 +27.717 31 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche9:39.8 9:28.49:29.7 +33.218 28 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax9:42.3 9:35.09:31.4 +36.219 32 Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati9:43.2 9:35.49:40.9 +40.220 37 Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax9:52.3 9:37.7No time +42.521 20 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati10:08.6 10:04.69:38.5 +43.322 33 Tony Maggs Lotus-Climax16:21.9 10:04.49:45.5 +50.323 26 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax9:59.9 No timeNo time +1:04.724 30 Ian Burgess Cooper-Climax11:00.7 10:22.610:01.4 +1:06.225 27 Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax10:37.9 10:18.210:06.0 +1:10.826 38 Bernard Collomb Cooper-Climax10:41.8 10:23.010:30.8 +1:27.827 25 Michael May Lotus-Climax17:00.9 No time10:37.5 +1:42.3 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 15 2:18:12.4 3 9 2 3 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 15 +21.4 secs 5 6 3 4 Phil Hill Ferrari 15 +22.5 secs 1 4 4 14 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 15 +1:17.1 8 3 5 18 John Surtees Cooper-Climax 15 +1:53.1 10 2 6 2 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 15 +2:41.4 12 1 7 9 Dan Gurney Porsche 15 +3:23.1 7 8 5 Richie Ginther Ferrari 15 +5:23.1 14 9 28 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 15 +5:23.7 18 10 19 Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 15 +12:11.5 15 11 33 Tony Maggs Lotus-Climax 14 +1 Lap 22 12 30 Ian Burgess Cooper-Climax 14 +1 Lap 24 13 11 Hans Herrmann Porsche 14 +1 Lap 11 14 31 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 14 +1 Lap 17 15 37 Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax 13 +2 Laps 20 16 27 Gerry Ashmore Lotus-Climax 13 +2 Laps 25 6 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 13 Accident 13 20 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 12 Engine 21 38 Bernard Collomb Cooper-Climax 11 Not classified 26 32 Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 10 Engine 19 16 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 6 Engine 9 8 Jo Bonnier Porsche 5 Engine 4 26 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax 3 Handling 23 17 Graham Hill BRM-Climax 1 Accident 16 15 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 1 Fire 6 1 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 0 Accident 2 25 Michael May Lotus-Climax Practice accident 10 Edgar Barth Porsche Car unraceworthy 12 Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax Left the team 21 Giorgio Scarlatti De Tomaso-Alfa Romeo Car not ready 29 Piero MonteverdiMBM-PorscheCar destroyed 34 Renato PirocchiCooper-ClimaxTeam withdrawal 35 Geoff Duke Cooper-Climax Car not ready 39 John Campbell-Jones Cooper-ClimaxNot present
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Wolfgang von Trips 33 2 Phil Hill 29 1 3 Stirling Moss 21 1 4 Richie Ginther 16 2 5 Jim Clark 11Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 38 (44) 2 Lotus-Climax 24 3 Porsche 11 4 Cooper-Climax 10 (11) 5 BRM-Climax 1Source:
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