The 1964 Formula One season was the 18th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 15th World Championship of Drivers, the 7th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and eight non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 10 May and 25 October 1964.
John Surtees won the Drivers' Championship with Scuderia Ferrari. It was his first and only title. Ferrari were also awarded the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers. It was their second title and the last until .
Maurice Trintignant retired at the age of 46 after 15 seasons in F1. He was the last driver to have competed in the first World Championship season in .
Dutch driver Carel Godin de Beaufort crashed during practice for the German Grand Prix and succumbed to his injuries the following day in hospital.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 1964 FIA World Championship. Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre Driver Rounds Revson Racing Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Peter Revson 1, 6, 8 Bernard Collomb Lotus-Climax 24 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Bernard Collomb 1 Maurice Trintignant BRM P57 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Maurice Trintignant 1, 4–6, 8 Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Climax BT7BT11 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Jack Brabham All Dan Gurney All Owen Racing Organisation BRM P261P67 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Richie Ginther All Graham Hill All Richard Attwood 5 Cooper Car Company Cooper-Climax T73T66 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Phil Hill 1–7, 9–10 Bruce McLaren All John Love 8 Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 2533 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Peter Arundell 1–4 Jim Clark All Mike Spence 5–10 Gerhard Mitter 6 Walt Hansgen 9 Moisés Solana 10 British Racing Partnership Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Innes Ireland 1 Trevor Taylor 5 BRP-BRM Mk 1Mk 2 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Innes Ireland 3–5, 7–10 Trevor Taylor 1, 3–4, 7–10 DW Racing Enterprises Brabham-Climax BT11 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Bob Anderson 1–8 Reg Parnell Racing Lotus-Climax 25 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Chris Amon 7 Lotus-BRM 2524 BRM P56 1.5 V8 1–6, 9–10 Mike Hailwood 1–2, 4–10 Peter Revson 3–5 R.R.C. Walker Racing Team Cooper-Climax T66 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Edgar Barth 6 Jo Bonnier 1 Brabham-Climax BT7 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 7–10 Brabham-BRM BT11 BRM P56 1.5 V8 2–3, 5–6 Jochen Rindt 7 Geki 8 Jo Siffert 9–10 Hap Sharp 9–10 Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC North American Racing Team Ferrari 1561581512 Ferrari 178 1.5 V6Ferrari 205B 1.5 V8Ferrari 207 1.5 F12 Lorenzo Bandini All John Surtees All Ludovico Scarfiotti 8 Pedro Rodríguez 10 Siffert Racing Team Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Jo Siffert 1 Brabham-BRM BT11 2–8 Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsche 718 Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4 Carel Godin de Beaufort 2, 6 Scuderia Centro Sud BRM P57 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Tony Maggs 2–3, 5–7 Giancarlo Baghetti 2–3, 5–8 Equipe Scirocco Belge Scirocco-Climax SP Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 André Pilette 3, 6 Bob Gerard Racing Cooper-Ford T71/73 Ford 109E 1.5 L4 John Taylor 5 Ian Raby Racing Brabham-BRM BT3 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Ian Raby 5, 8 John Willment Automobiles Brabham-Ford BT10 Ford 109E 1.5 L4 Frank Gardner 5 Honda R & D Company Honda RA271 Honda RA271E 1.5 V12 Ronnie Bucknum 6, 8–9 Derrington-Francis Racing Team ATS DF ATS 100 1.5 V8 Mário de Araújo Cabral 8 Fabre Urbain Cooper-Climax T60 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Jean-Claude Rudaz 8
Team and driver changes
Trevor Taylor had driven for Team Lotus in but admitted his confidence was shaken by two serious accidents at Spa-Francorchamps and Enna-Pergusa. Team owner Colin Chapman suggested Taylor take a sabbatical and then return to Lotus. However, Taylor signed with British Racing Partnership for 1964. Lotus promoted their Formula Junior driver Peter Arundell to the F1 team. Italian car manufacturer ATS had entered the 1963 season with a self-designed chassis, aiming to compete against Ferrari, but after spending the year battling many technical difficulties, they decided to withdraw from the sport. Their driver, champion Phil Hill, moved to Cooper, where he replaced Tony Maggs.Biodata Privateer Reg Parnell Racing switched from using a Lola chassis to second-hand Lotus cars. This marked Lola's exit from the sport until their collaboration with Honda in .
Mid-season changes
Lotus driver Peter Arundell suffered a severe accident in a Formula Two race at Reims-Gueux. Mike Spence was called up to replace him from the British Grand Prix on. Carel Godin de Beaufort crashed during practice for the German Grand Prix. He succumbed to his injuries the following day in hospital. Although not a works Porsche driver, he had driven a Porsche 718 in all his races since . His demise marked the disappearance of Porsche's name from F1 until . Honda entered the grid half-way through the 1964 season. They had designed their own chassis and engine, something only Ferrari and BRM were doing at the time. Driver Ronnie Bucknum made his F1 debut in the Honda during the 1964 German Grand Prix.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 10 May 2 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort 24 May 3 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 14 June 4 French Grand Prix Rouen-Les-Essarts, Orival 28 June 5 British Grand Prix Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown 11 July 6 German Grand Prix Nürburgring, Nürburg 2 August 7 Austrian Grand Prix Zeltweg Air Base, Styria 23 August 8 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 6 September 9 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen International, New York 4 October 10 Mexican Grand Prix Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City 25 October
Calendar changes The Dutch Grand Prix was moved up four weeks, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. On 23 August, the Austrian Grand Prix was run in the championship for the first time, after making their debut as a non-championship event in . The South African Grand Prix at the Prince George Circuit was scheduled for 26 December but was moved back a week to become the season opener of the 1965 Formula One season.
Championship report
Rounds 1 to 4 After a dominant season with seven wins in ten races, reigning champion Jim Clark was still in form for the first race of 1964, the Monaco Grand Prix. He qualified his Lotus-Climax on pole position, but Jack Brabham (world champion in and ) was just 0.1 seconds behind him in his Brabham-Climax. champion Graham Hill started in third for BRM and John Surtees fourth for Ferrari. Clark set a blistering pace from the start but went too fast through the harbour chicane and caught some straw bales lining the track. He was lucky to carry on without losing a position. Dan Gurney had started in fifth but overtook Hill and his teammate Brabham on lap 12. Brabham would later retire, as would Surtees. Clark pitted to fix the damage from his first-lap misstep, allowing Gurney and Hill to the front. Just past half-distance, Hill took the lead and Gurney retired with a failing gearbox. Surprisingly, Clark could not match Hill's pace, but it did not matter anyway, since his Lotus developed an oil leak and he retired with four laps to go. Hill took the chequered flag, a lap ahead of his teammate Richie Ginther, awarding BRM a surprise 1-2 finish. Debutant Peter Arundell was third for Lotus, with his team leader being classified fourth to rack up valuable points.
Dan Gurney started on pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix, with the champions Jim Clark and Graham Hill next to him on the front row. Gurney was the first to brake for Tarzan corner, leaving the other two to fight it out side-by-side. It was Clark who just reached ahead and then never looked back. Gurney retired on lap 22, before Hill's BRM developed a misfire. So the order almost automatically became Clark, Surtees, Arundell, and this remained until the finish.
For the Belgian Grand Prix, it was Gurney again on pole, ahead of Hill and Brabham. On the second row stood Arundell, Surtees and Clark. At the start, it was Arundell who reached Eau Rouge first, but after the first was complete, Gurney, Surtees and Clark were the top three. Surtees briefly advanced to the front before his Ferrari engine failed, leading to a second retirement in three races. Clark was now free to challenge Gurney but had to focus more on keeping Hill behind. They traded places a couple of time, allowing Bruce McLaren to join them in his Cooper. Gurney broke the lap record multiple times, growing his lead to 40 seconds, but unknowingly, was running low on fuel. He slowed down so much that Hill overtook him even before he reached the pits. But then on the last lap, Hill stopped with a failing fuel pump and McLaren's car started spluttering heavily. His engine cut out with less than a kilometer to go, but the track went downhill, so the car was rolling towards the finish line at the bottom when Clark streaked by and narrowly took the victory. McLaren was second, Jack Brabham was third. Clark ran out of fuel during his cool-down lap, so he was brought back to the pits, seated on the engine cover of his teammate's car.
The French Grand Prix saw no surprising names on the front and second rows, although due to the many retirements so far, the fastest drivers did not necessarily feature at the top of the provisional standings. Clark put his Lotus on pole position, ahead of Gurney and Surtees. Clark and Gurney quickly streaked ahead of the rest, while Surtees retired again. Clark set a new lap record and edged away from Gurney, until his engine lost a cylinder. He pitted, was sent out again, but then definitely retired. Gurney took an unchallenged victory, while Hill and Brabham fought over second placed, rubbing tires and flicking up dirt all the while. Hill took second place, Brabham third.
In the Drivers' Championship, Jim Clark (Lotus) stood on 21 points, ahead of Graham Hill (BRM) with 20 and both Richie Ginther (BRM) and Peter Arundell (Lotus) with 11 points. The Manufacturers' Championship saw Lotus on top with 25 points, ahead of BRM (21) and Brabham (14).
Rounds 5 to 7 The British Grand Prix was held at Brands Hatch for the first time and received the honorary title of European Grand Prix. Championship leader Jim Clark qualified his Lotus-Climax on pole position, ahead of main rival Graham Hill (BRM) and Dan Gurney (Brabham). Gurney got up to second at the start but had to pit on lap 3 with electrical problems. Hill pressured Clark during the whole race, but the Lotus driver held on to take the win. John Surtees finished third in his Ferrari.
During practice for the German Grand Prix, Dutch driver Carel Godin de Beaufort crashed his famous orange Porsche 718. He was rushed to hospital but would pass away two days later. Honda made their debut but their chassis and engine were marred by reliability problems. The organisers saw the PR value of the new team and scheduled an extra practice session, so that driver Ronnie Bucknum could reach the minimum of 5 laps required to qualify for the race. This gave local hero Gerhard Mitter the chance to do the same. Surtees qualified on pole, ahead of Clark and Gurney, but it was Surtees's teammate Lorenzo Bandini that took the lead at the start. Surtees and Clark went by on the second lap, before Gurney started challenging the pair and snatched the lead away. The Ferrari and Brabham changed places a couple of times, while still lapping faster than Clark and Hill behind them, until Gurney, almost unsurprisingly at this stage, ran into technical issues. His engine was overheating. On lap 7, Clark retired, leaving Surtees to take the win, ahead of Hill and Bandini.