The 1962 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Aintree on 21 July 1962. It was race 5 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This was the last race at Aintree. From 1963 onwards, the race would be held at Silverstone or Brands Hatch. Scotsman Jim Clark dominated the race, driving a Lotus 25. It was considered a power track, benefitting the light and powerful Lotus and Lola cars in particular. Ferrari were still sidelined due to the Italian metal workers' strike but managed to send one car for Phil Hill.
Race It was not a particularly exciting race, with Clark leading from start to finish and fairly large gaps between the cars. Out of the twentyone starters, six still had four-cylinder engines while the rest were multi-cylinder cars. These cars were in a sort of class of their own, with Jackie Lewis finishing best of the four-cylinder cars.Blunsden, p. 32 John Surtees' Lola started and finished in second place, in spite of having lost second gear on the tenth lap. Dan Gurney was hopeful after winning in France and at the non-championship Solitude race in the preceding two weeks. He began the race in third but had a slipping clutch and slid steadily down the field, ending in ninth position.Blunsden, p. 18 His teammate Jo Bonnier had to retire with a broken transmission. Bruce McLaren (Cooper) passed Gurney after twelve laps and finished in third. Graham Hill pushed his BRM hard but had to settle for fourth, and was threatened by Jack Brabham in the closing stages. Brabham, however, had burns on his right foot since lap 40 and was in a lot of pain. He finished fifth, ahead of Tony Maggs' Cooper. Brabham had hoped to start in his own car after his mechanics had worked days and nights, but at 3 am the morning before the race it was discovered that they had been supplied with the wrong exhaust system. The Brabham BT3 had to wait until Nürburgring two weeks later to make its first appearance.Blunsden, p. 33
Innes Ireland had perhaps the day's biggest disappointment. After having qualified his Climax-engined UDT/Laystall Lotus 24 on the first row, the gear shifter bent on his first lap, leaving him with only three gears. He had to pit immediately after start and finished last, after having spent several laps repairing the car. Trevor Taylor was anxious to have a good race after several recent collisions and started well. Soon, however, he had to pit with a loose carburettor, and only managed an eighth place in his Lotus 24. Phil Hill's Ferrari, meanwhile, was totally outclassed by the British cars in spite of its new six-speed gearbox. He never ran higher than tenth and had to retire with ignition troubles.
Classification Qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorGapQ1Q2Q3Q41 20 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax1:55.61:54.01:55.0 1:53.6—2 24 John Surtees Lola-Climax1:55.81:55.01:54.2 1:58.8 +0.63 32 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax1:55.21:55.81:54.4 No time +0.84 16 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax2:02.01:56.61:54.6 1:54.6 +1.05 12 Graham Hill BRM1:55.8No time1:55.0 1:54.6 +1.06 8 Dan Gurney Porsche1:55.21:54.81:56.8 1:55.8 +1.27 10 Jo Bonnier Porsche1:56.01:55.22:00.6 1:55.4 +1.68 14 Richie Ginther BRM1:55.21:55.61:55.2 1:56.8 +1.69 30 Jack Brabham Lotus-ClimaxNo time1:55.81:56.0 1:55.4 +1.810 22 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax1:56.81:56.41:56.0 1:56.4 +2.411 26 Roy Salvadori Lola-Climax1:57.41:57.41:56.2 1:59.0 +2.612 2 Phil Hill Ferrari1:58.61:57.81:56.6 1:56.2 +2.613 18 Tony Maggs Cooper-ClimaxNo time2:06.01:59.0 1:57.0 +3.414 34 Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax1:58.01:57.21:58.6 1:57.4 +3.615 42 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax2:08.62:02.42:00.4 1:59.4 +5.816 36 Ian Burgess Cooper-ClimaxNo time2:01.62:01.6 2:00.6 +7.017 54 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche2:02.02:01.4No time 2:01.4 +7.818 48 Tony Shelly Lotus-Climax2:03.62:02.42:08.2 No time +8.819 40 Tony Settember Emeryson-Climax2:06.02:03.22:02.4 2:03.6 +8.820 46 Jay Chamberlain Lotus-ClimaxNo time2:05.62:04.6 2:03.4 +9.821 44 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-BRMNo timeNo time2:25.6 2:11.6 +18.0 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 20 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 75 2:26:20.8 1 9 2 24 John Surtees Lola-Climax 75 + 49.2 2 6 3 16 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 75 + 1:44.8 4 4 4 12 Graham Hill BRM 75 + 1:56.8 5 3 5 30 Jack Brabham Lotus-Climax 74 + 1 Lap 9 2 6 18 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 74 + 1 Lap 13 1 7 34 Masten Gregory Lotus-Climax 74 + 1 Lap 14 8 22 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 74 + 1 Lap 10 9 8 Dan Gurney Porsche 73 + 2 Laps 6 10 42 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 72 + 3 Laps 15 11 40 Tony Settember Emeryson-Climax 71 + 4 Laps 19 12 36 Ian Burgess Cooper-Climax 71 + 4 laps 16 13 14 Richie Ginther BRM 70 + 5 Laps 8 14 54 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 69 + 6 Laps 17 15 46 Jay Chamberlain Lotus-Climax 64 + 11 Laps 20 16 32 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 61 + 14 Laps 3 2 Phil Hill Ferrari 47 Engine 12 26 Roy Salvadori Lola-Climax 35 Battery 11 10 Jo Bonnier Porsche 27 Differential 7 44 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-BRM 11 Brakes 21 48 Tony Shelly Lotus-Climax 6 Engine 18 48 Keith Greene Lotus-Climax Practice only - Shelly's car 28 Maurice Trintignant Lotus-Climax Car damaged 38 John Campbell-Jones Emeryson-Climax Driver unfit 50 Keith Greene Gilby-BRM Car not ready 52 Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM Insufficient starting money
Scuderia Ferrari withdrew their other two entries, cars #4 and #6, to which drivers had not been allocated.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Graham Hill 19 2 2 Jim Clark 18 3 Bruce McLaren 16 2 4 Phil Hill 14 2 5 John Surtees 13Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 2 1 Lotus-Climax 24 1 2 BRM 23 1 3 Cooper-Climax 21 4 Ferrari 14 1 5 Lola-Climax 13Source:
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References