The 1963 Formula One season was the 17th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 14th World Championship of Drivers, the 6th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 26 May and 28 December 1963.
Jim Clark driving for Lotus won his first Drivers' Championship with three races to go. He won seven races in the championship, a number that would not be beaten until , when Ayrton Senna won eight, and a win percentage that nearly beat Alberto Ascari's record from . Lotus also won the Manufacturers' Championship for the first time.
Every pole position and race in the 1963 championship were won by British drivers, the first time that this was achieved by any single nation. (Italy is sometimes considered to have achieved this feat in , but this only goes if the Indianapolis 500 is excluded from the statistic.)
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 1963 FIA World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.
Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Driver Rounds Brabham Racing Organisation Lotus-Climax 25 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Jack Brabham 1 Brabham-Climax BT7BT3 2–10 Dan Gurney All Owen Racing Organisation BRM P57P61 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Richie Ginther All Graham Hill All Cooper Car Company Cooper-Climax T66 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Bruce McLaren All Tony Maggs All Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 25 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Jim Clark All Trevor Taylor 1–6, 8–10 Peter Arundell 4 Mike Spence 7 Pedro Rodríguez 8–9 R.R.C. Walker Racing Team Cooper-Climax T60T66 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Jo Bonnier All British Racing Partnership Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Jim Hall 1–9 Innes Ireland 1, 6 BRP-BRM Mk 1 2–5, 7 Reg Parnell Racing Lola-Climax Mk4A Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Chris Amon 1–7 Maurice Trintignant 1 Lucien Bianchi 2 Mike Hailwood 7 Masten Gregory 8–9 Lotus-Climax 24 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Maurice Trintignant 4 Mike Hailwood 5 Lotus-BRM BRM P56 1.5 V8 Masten Gregory 5 Rodger Ward 8 Hap Sharp 8–9 Chris Amon 9 Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 156 Ferrari 178 1.5 V6 Willy Mairesse 1–2, 6 John Surtees All Ludovico Scarfiotti 3–4 Lorenzo Bandini 7–10 Bernard Collomb Lotus-Climax 24 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Bernard Collomb 1, 6 Siffert Racing Team Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Jo Siffert 1–9 Scirocco Powell Racing Cars Scirocco-BRM SP BRM P56 1.5 V8 Tony Settember 2, 4–7 Ian Burgess 5–6 Automobili Turismo e Sport ATS 100 ATS 100 1.5 V8 Phil Hill 2–3, 7–9 Giancarlo Baghetti 2–3, 7–9 Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsche 718 Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4 Carel Godin de Beaufort 2–3, 5–10 Gerhard Mitter 3, 6 Ecurie Filipinetti Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Phil Hill 4 Scuderia Centro Sud BRM P57 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Lorenzo Bandini 4–6 Maurice Trintignant 7 Moisés Solana 9 Cooper-Climax T60 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Mário de Araújo Cabral 6–7 Cooper-Maserati T53 Maserati 6-1500 1.5 L4 Ernesto Brambilla 7 Tim Parnell Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Masten Gregory 4, 7 Lola-Climax Mk4 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 John Campbell-Jones 5 Lotus-Climax 18/21 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 André Pilette 6 Tim Parnell 6 DW Racing Enterprises Lola-Climax Mk4 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 Bob Anderson 5, 7 Ian Raby Racing Gilby-BRM 62 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Ian Raby 5–7 Kurt Kuhnke Lotus-Borgward 18 Borgward 1500 RS 1.5 L4 Kurt Kuhnke 6 Scuderia Settecolli De Tomaso-Ferrari F1 Ferrari 178 1.5 V6 Roberto Lippi 7 André Pilette Lotus-Climax 18/21 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 André Pilette 7 Canadian Stebro Racing Stebro-Ford Mk IV Ford 109E 1.5 L4 Peter Broeker 8 Frank Dochnal Cooper-Climax T51 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 Frank Dochnal 9 Lawson Organisation Lotus-Climax 21 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 Ernie Pieterse 10 Selby Auto Spares Lotus-BRM 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 Paddy Driver 10 Otelle Nucci LDS-Alfa Romeo Mk 1 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.5 L4 Doug Serrurier 10 Alfa Special-Alfa Romeo Special Peter de Klerk 10 John Love Cooper-Climax T55 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 John Love 10 Sam Tingle LDS-Alfa Romeo Mk 1 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.5 L4 Sam Tingle 10 Ted Lanfear Lotus-Ford 22 Ford 109E 1.5 L4 Brausch Niemann 10 David Prophet Brabham-Ford BT6 Ford 109E 1.5 L4 David Prophet 10 Scuderia Lupini Cooper-Maserati T51 Maserati 6-1500 1.5 L4 Trevor Blokdyk 10
Team and driver changes Porsche withdrew their works team after 1962, choosing to focus on their road-going sports cars. Ex-driver Jo Bonnier signed with Rob Walker's private team, while Dan Gurney signed with the relatively new team of double World Champion Jack Brabham. This left only the private Porsche driven by Carel Godin de Beaufort. champion Phil Hill and his teammate Giancarlo Baghetti left Scuderia Ferrari after 1962 to go to ATS. The new team was formed by ex-Ferrari employees, including chief engineers Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, after the "palace revolt" of 1961. John Surtees signed with Ferrari in 1963, leaving Reg Parnell to search for new drivers, which he found in veteran Maurice Trintignant and debutant Chris Amon.
Mid-season changes Ferrari hired Belgian Willy Mairesse and Italian Ludovico Scarfiotti to share the role of teammate to John Surtees. Mairesse suffered a heavy crash in the German Grand Prix and broke his arm. Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini was brought in to finish the season. Lotus driver Trevor Taylor crashed out of the (non-championship) 1963 Mediterranean Grand Prix at Enna-Pergusa. He was thrown out of his car, which then caught fire. He escaped with fairly minor injuries but missed the Italian Grand Prix. Mike Spence substituted for him.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 26 May 2 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 9 June 3 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort 23 June 4 French Grand Prix Reims-Gueux, Gueux 30 June 5 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 20 July 6 German Grand Prix Nürburgring, Nürburg 4 August 7 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 8 September 8 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen International, New York 6 October 9 Mexican Grand Prix Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City 27 October 10 South African Grand Prix Prince George Circuit, East London 28 December
Calendar changes The Dutch Grand Prix was organised a month later than in 1962, moving it back to be the third race in the championship. The French Grand Prix was moved back to Reims-Gueux. It would alternate to host the GP with Rouen-Les-Essarts until . The British Grand Prix was moved from Aintree to Silverstone. Aintree had alternated with Silverstone since , but 1962 was the last time that they hosted F1. The Mexican Grand Prix was added to the calendar and was held at the Magdalena Mixhuca circuit in Mexico City.
Championship report
Rounds 1 to 3 The Monaco Grand Prix received the honorary title of European Grand Prix and, more importantly, functioned as the 1963 season opener. With little driver changes in the front-running teams and constructors withholding to introduce new designs to the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, the battle between the championship protagonists was expected to restart. Only five drivers were guaranteed a starting place: the previous World Champions or winners of the Monaco Grand Prix. The rest had to fight in qualifying over the remaining eleven spaces. 1962's runner-up Jim Clark managed this with ease in his Lotus-Climax. He posted the fastest practice time and started the race on pole position. Reigning champion Graham Hill started second in his BRM, with John Surtees (Ferrari) and Richie Ginther (BRM) in third and fourth. Hill and Ginther took the lead at the start, but the first nine cars kept going nose-to-tail. Clark managed to get past Hill on lap 7, but then went wide at the Station hairpin and went down to third once again. He tried again and the lead changed hands multiple times, before Clark went ahead definitively and increased his lead to 17 seconds at three-quarters race-distance. Then suddenly, his gearbox jammed and his wheels locked. Hill was gifted the win, ahead of teammate Ginther and Bruce McLaren in the Cooper.
The Belgian Grand Prix was run at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the fastest circuits of the year, with the 1.5 litre cars running full throttle for some three minutes per lap. Clark was still suffering from gearbox issues, so Hill took pole position, ahead of Dan Gurney (Brabham) and local hero Willy Mairesse (Ferrari). Clark started eighth, but somehow, managed to take the lead before the first corner was reached. Hill followed him and the pair had a 15-second lead after the first lap. The race was run in very wet conditions and Clark had the upper-hand, stretching out a lead of his own to almost 30 seconds at half-distance. Then when Hill's gearbox broke, his win looked sealed, expect the heaviest storm of the day flooded the track. Five drivers crashed and it was discussed to stop the race, but Clark cautiously completed the laps, ahead of McLaren and Gurney.
Moving north some , Circuit Zandvoort hosted the Dutch Grand Prix. Clark started on pole, ahead of Hill and McLaren. The three arrived side-by-side at Tarzan corner, but the positions were unchanged. Brabham had started fourth but got up to second while his teammate Gurney drew everyone's attention with a heroic recovery drive after a bad start. Hill got back up to second, but his BRM was overheating. Gurney had climbed to fourth, but a strut underneath the car had come loose and a pit stop brought him back down the order. Hill's engine had enough on lap 58 and he was forced to pit, letting Surtees into second and Gurney up to third. The latter had been working wonders again, but Clark, meanwhile, was a lap ahead of everyone else. He won the race to make it a "grand slam", ahead of Gurney and Surtees, a late spin by the Ferrari driver gave Gurney a deserved place as 'best-of-the-rest'.
In the Drivers' Championship, Jim Clark (Lotus) was leading with 18 points, ahead of Richie Ginther (BRM) with 11 and Bruce McLaren (Cooper) and Dan Gurney (Brabham), both with 10. Lotus was leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 19 points, ahead of BRM with 14 and Cooper and Brabham with 10.
Rounds 4 to 7 Championship leader Jim Clark scored another pole position at the French Grand Prix, ahead of Graham Hill and Dan Gurney. At the start, Hill stalled his engine, along with Masten Gregory and the unrelated Phil Hill, but they were allowed to be push-started without further consequence, which was a diversion from the normal rules by the French race director. Behind Clark, a group of Brabhams and BRMs were fighting over second place. A couple of laps later, a series of retirements had changed the picture, and Clark's engine was not reaching full rpm either. Jack Brabham was catching the leading Lotus, but when the rain fell, Clark was again the fastest man on track and took the chequered flag to complete another "grand slam" and a hattrick of wins. When an electrical wire had come loose, Brabham's engine died. Although he could restart it, second place was now up for grabs. Hill took first advantage but his clutch slipped and it was Tony Maggs for Cooper that was the first to finish behind the almighty Clark. During the race, the stewards decided to penalise the three drivers that stalled on the grid by adding a minute to their race time. Hill was still classified as third, but at a later point, it was decided to withhold his championship points. No points were awarded for third place.