The GSOH - Round Two - 2022 vs 1961

[crmalcolm]

The next match of the GSOH bracket puts 2022 up against 1961.

Summaries from Wikipedia:

2022 - Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. For the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, both Haas drivers got through into Q2, with Kevin Magnussen qualifying 7th and Mick Schumacher 12th. In the opening lap at turn 6, Alpine's Esteban Ocon touched the rear of Schumacher's car, spinning him round, and was penalised five seconds for the accident. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly caught fire and retired on lap 46. Leclerc won the Grand Prix ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., making it a 1–2 finish for Ferrari. Magnussen finished 5th, while the Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez retired late in the race due to fuel issues.

Pérez took pole position for the first time at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton claimed 16th place after being knocked out in Q1 for the first time since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix. Only 18 drivers started the race, as Yuki Tsunoda's AlphaTauri broke down on the way to the grid after a suspected drivetrain issue, and Schumacher was withdrawn from the event after a crash in qualifying; he would return to racing in the next round. Williams's Nicholas Latifi hit the wall at the final corner on lap 16, while Alpine's Fernando Alonso, McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo, and Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas retired after 38 laps due to technical problems. Verstappen won the race after a late overtake on Leclerc. Williams's Alexander Albon got a three-place grid penalty after the race for a collision with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.

Leclerc won the Australian Grand Prix from pole position, set the fastest lap, and led every lap, getting the first grand slam for Ferrari since Alonso at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix. Pérez and Mercedes's George Russell took second and third, respectively. Pérez's teammate Verstappen was running second before he retired on lap 38 due to fuel leaks causing a fire.

Verstappen took pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint. Despite Leclerc overtaking him at the start, Verstappen recovered, using DRS to overtake him and win the sprint, ahead of Leclerc and teammate Pérez. Verstappen won Sunday's Grand Prix from pole position to achieve the second grand slam of his career, while Pérez finished in second to give Red Bull their first 1–2 finish since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. Leclerc ran in third for the most of the race but spun on lap 53, falling to ninth and promoting McLaren's Lando Norris to the final podium place. Leclerc would recover to eventually finish in sixth position. The result promoted Red Bull to second in the Constructors' Championship, and Verstappen to second in the Drivers' Championship, with Leclerc's teammate Sainz suffering a second DNF in a row following a lap 1 collision with Daniel Ricciardo.

Leclerc led Sainz for a Ferrari front-row lock-out for the first edition of the Miami Grand Prix. Behind them were the Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Pérez, and Alfa Romeo's Bottas. Stroll and Vettel, who respectively qualified 10th and 13th, started the race from the pit lane after a fuel temperature issue. At the first corner on the opening lap, Verstappen overtook Sainz for second place and closed in on Leclerc, whom he passed for the lead on lap 9, as Leclerc struggled with the medium compound tyres. The race was neutralised on lap 41, as Norris's rear right tyre made contact with Gasly's front left, triggering a virtual safety car and then a safety car for five laps. Verstappen was pressured by Leclerc at the restart and defended his position to take the win. On lap 52, his teammate Pérez attempted to overtake Sainz into turn 1 but made a mistake and locked up. Vettel and Schumacher collided at lap 53, but no action was taken. Leclerc and Sainz finished second and third, respectively, while Pérez, who had temporarily suffered engine issues that cost him about 30 horsepower, and Russell made up the top five. After the race, Alonso was given two separate five-second penalties and finished outside of points. Magnussen had two separate incidents following the restart with Stroll, retiring on the last lap.

Leclerc took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, which he led until being forced on lap 27 to retire due to a turbo and MGU-H failure. Despite DRS issues, Verstappen won the race, with Pérez letting him by on lap 49, as they were on different strategies; Russell completed the podium. Sainz had a bad start that dropped him from third to fifth, and also spun at turn 4 on lap 7 due to wind gust, followed by Verstappen due to similar issues at the same tun on lap 9, but Sainz recovered from 11th to finish fourth, ahead of Hamilton, who also made a come back from 19th, after suffering a puncture in a racing incident with Magnussen at turn 4 after the start. For the first time in the season, Red Bull led Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, while the Drivers' Championship standings switched from a 19-point Leclerc lead to a 6-point advantage for Verstappen.

Leclerc claimed pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, in front of Sainz and Pérez. Two formation laps were run, 16 minutes after the scheduled start time. The start was aborted and started 50 minutes later. Due to a strategy error, Leclerc fell to fourth place behind Verstappen and Sainz, with Pérez leading the race. Ocon and Hamilton made contact on lap 18, the former getting a five-second time penalty. Five laps after Magnussen retired due to water pressure loss, Schumacher spun near the swimming pool section, splitting his car in two and causing the race to be stopped. The race was won by Pérez, followed by Sainz, Verstappen, Leclerc, and Russell.

Leclerc once again claimed pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in front of Pérez and Verstappen. Pérez immediately overtook Leclerc in turn 1 and held the lead until lap 15, where Verstappen overtook him. On lap 9, the virtual safety car was deployed after Sainz stopped at turn 4, due to a hydraulic issue. Then, on lap 20, after briefly taking the lead of the race, Leclerc suffered a power unit issue and pulled into the pits. Magnussen and Zhou also retired from the race. Tsunoda was shown the black-and-orange flag for a DRS failure, which was fixed with speed tape, and he dropped to 13th. Williams's Latifi received a ten-second stop and go penalty after for a grid infringement and was later given a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Verstappen took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, which returned to the calendar after a two-year absence, after a wet qualifying session. Alpine's Alonso started second, ahead of Sainz, while Leclerc started from the back of the grid after exceeding his quota of power unit components. Pérez started 13th following a crash in qualifying. Pérez retired on lap 8 with gearbox issues, while technical problems for Schumacher forced him to retire on lap 20. Tsunoda crashed on lap 49, bringing out the safety car and allowing Sainz to close in on Verstappen and chase down the Red Bull driver in the closing stages. Despite this, Verstappen won the race from Sainz and Hamilton, while Leclerc climbed up to 5th. Alonso was given a five-second post-race penalty for making more than one change of direction to defend a position, dropping him down from 7th to 9th.

Sainz claimed his first pole position at the British Grand Prix. Verstappen overtook him at turn one, before the race was red flagged and was restarted with original positions, meaning Sainz started first again. He kept first position off the second start, before being overtaken by Verstappen several laps in. Verstappen picked up damage to his floor and dropped down to seventh. Sainz was then overtaken by Leclerc. Sainz, Pérez and Hamilton all pitted for new tyres under the safety car. With newer tyres, Leclerc was then overtaken by all three, dropping him down to fourth. Sainz won his first-ever Formula One race.

Verstappen qualified on pole and won the second sprint of the championship at the Austrian Grand Prix. He was overtaken three times at various points by Leclerc, who eventually won the race. Sainz was quicker than Verstappen and was on for an "easy one-two," before a power unit issue saw him retire, leaving Verstappen second and promoting Hamilton to third.

Russell took his maiden pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix while Red Bull Racing struggled in qualifying, with Verstappen suffering MGU-K problems and Pérez unable to get a clean lap in Q2 leaving them tenth and eleventh on the grid. Verstappen made a strong recovery drive, working his way up the order with better strategy and pace. Verstappen won from Hamilton, who recovered from seventh, following a DRS failure in qualifying. Russell came third after being passed by Hamilton with five laps to go. Sainz and Leclerc finished fourth and sixth respectively after questionable strategy calls from the Ferrari pit wall.

The Belgian Grand Prix was the first race held after the August break, with several drivers taking on additional components and incurring grid penalties for doing so. Sainz started the race from pole; Alonso and Hamilton made contact after a scrap at Les Combes. Hamilton was forced to retire his car shortly afterwards, and an incursion between Latifi and Bottas on the second lap drew out the safety car. Verstappen made quick work of the cars ahead at the restart, with Pérez following to secure a one-two finish for Red Bull Racing. Sainz rounded out the podium. Leclerc pitted for new soft tyres on the penultimate lap to attempt the fastest lap and incurred a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, demoting him to sixth after the race.

At the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen was able to beat Leclerc to pole at his home race. On lap 45, Tsunoda pulled over with an issue on the front-left tyre. Tsunoda was told to continue and came in a lap later, for a change of tyres and to tighten his seatbelt, which he had loosened as he prepared to abandon his car. On lap 47, Tsunoda retired with a differential issue. This brought out a virtual safety car, allowing Verstappen to make a pit stop to keep the lead ahead of the two Mercedes. On lap 55, Bottas retired with an engine issue, bringing out a full safety car. Verstappen overtook Hamilton at the restart almost immediately, while Sainz received a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during his pit stop. After Russell made a split-second decision to pit again for faster softs, he overtook Hamilton, who fell to fourth after being overtaken by Leclerc as well. Following the race, a conspiracy theory emerged accusing Red Bull Racing strategist Hannah Schmitz of conspiring with sister team AlphaTauri to ensure a favourable result for Verstappen, after questioning the nature of Tsunoda's retirement. The incident was looked into by race stewards, whose only action was to reprimand Tsunoda for having his belts undone.

Leclerc took pole at the Italian Grand Prix with Verstappen taking second. He, alongside Sainz and Hamilton, took penalties for replacing components. Verstappen started from seventh, but reached second by lap 5, behind Leclerc who had held successfully defended first position. After Vettel experienced an engine failure on lap 10, Leclerc pitted under the virtual safety car. Verstappen would then lead the race until he pitted on lap 26. Alonso's Alpine would then be retired because of a water pressure issue on lap 31, but was returned to the pit lane to avoid any disruptions to the race. Leclerc made a second pit stop on lap 34, again giving Verstappen the lead. Stroll retired on lap 39 and on lap 47, Ricciardo stopped his car on the side of the track and a safety car was deployed. Verstappen held the position and won under the safety car.

The Singapore Grand Prix was the first race wherein Verstappen could mathematically win the championship. He had to outscore Leclerc by 22 points, Pérez by 13 and George Russell by six. If Verstappen came first with the fastest lap while Leclerc came eighth or lower and Pérez came fourth or lower, or if Verstappen came first without the fastest lap while Leclerc came ninth or lower and Pérez came either fourth without the fastest lap or fifth with, Verstappen would be the champion. Leclerc was on pole after Verstappen abandoned two qualifying laps, the first due to traffic, and the second to ensure there would be enough fuel for the governing body to take a sample at the end of the session, thus avoiding a disqualification from the qualifying session. Verstappen started in eighth. The race was delayed by over an hour due to thunderstorms. Pérez won the race, followed by Leclerc and Sainz. Verstappen came seventh.

Following Verstappen's failure to secure the championship at the Singapore Grand Prix, several permutations could net him the championship at the following Japanese Grand Prix. He needed to outscore Leclerc by eight points and Pérez by six. Verstappen would secure pole, in front of Leclerc, Sainz, and Pérez. The race began on time despite poor weather and was red-flagged after two laps following an accident involving Sainz. The deployment of the recovery vehicle during the red flag was criticised; Gasly narrowly missed it in poor weather conditions. Gasly angrily remonstrated that "[he] could have killed [himself]" if he had lost control and hit the vehicle, even at reduced speed. The race resumed at 16:15 local time behind the safety car. Only twenty-eight laps were completed before the race was curtailed due to it passing the three-hour time limit. Verstappen won by just under 27 seconds, with Leclerc coming second and Pérez coming third. After an investigation involving the latter two in the final lap, Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty, meaning he came third behind Pérez. As the race was completed, full points were awarded despite the confusion that only partial points were on offer due to the reduced total length of the race. Verstappen was crowned World Champion, having an insurmountable lead of 113 points, with only 112 still available.

With the Drivers Championship secured, Red Bull Racing set about securing their first Constructors Championship since 2013, which they did by outscoring Ferrari by twenty-two points at the United States Grand Prix. Sainz took his third pole position of the season, and was spun by George Russell into turn one and forced to retire due to the resulting damage. Mercedes had a chance at winning after Lewis Hamilton took the lead through a very slow pit stop for Verstappen. Verstappen overturned a four-second gap to retake the lead on lap 50. This race was notable for a collision between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, which sent Alonso airborne. Alonso continued and finished the race in seventh, only to receive a thirty-second penalty post-race after Haas protested the decision not to show Alonso a black and orange flag due to his right wing mirror dislodging during the race. This penalty was overturned four days later, as the FIA determined that Haas did not submit their protest within thirty minutes of the race finishing and therefore was not admissible.

Verstappen took his sixth pole position and his fourteenth race win of the season at the Mexico City Grand Prix, breaking the record for most wins in a Formula One season, previously held jointly by Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013). Daniel Ricciardo made his way from thirteenth to seventh in sixteen laps while also dealing with a ten-second time penalty due to a collision with Yuki Tsunoda.

The São Paulo Grand Prix was the third and final sprint weekend of the season, meaning qualifying was on Friday, in wet conditions. Kevin Magnussen took the first pole position of his Formula One career, as well as Haas' first. Magnussen was unable to keep the faster cars at bay during the sprint, and Mercedes were able to lock out the front row for the Grand Prix on Sunday, which they converted into their first one-two finish since the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with Russell taking his first win in Formula One. The race involved collisions between Magnussen and Ricciardo, Verstappen and Hamilton and, Norris and Leclerc. At the conclusion of the race, Verstappen rejected a team order to let teammate Pérez pass him for sixth place, stating that he told the team in the summer to not give Pérez any preferential team orders.

Verstappen took a seventh pole position at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and a fifteenth win on the season, extending the record he set in Mexico City. Charles Leclerc held off a faster Sergio Pérez to claim second place, which also got him second in the Drivers Championship. Two Constructors Championship places came down to the final race of the season; Mercedes was unable to pass Ferrari for second after Russell finished fifth and Hamilton retired with a gearbox failure, while Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo finished tied on points, with Alfa Romeo claiming sixth on countback. The race was the final one for Sebastian Vettel, who retired, and for Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, and Mick Schumacher, who were unable to secure a race seat for 2023.



1961 - Race 1: Monaco
Practice saw Clark crash his Lotus heavily at turn one, and Lotus's woes continued when Innes Ireland crashed in the tunnel during the final session, destroying his car and breaking his leg. Moss took pole in his Rob Walker Lotus with Richie Ginther's Ferrari and Clark's Lotus sharing the front row. Graham and Phil Hill shared the second row. This particular Monaco Grand Prix turned out to be a classic, with one of the greatest driving performances in the history of Formula One by Stirling Moss in a privately entered Lotus against three Ferraris with a lot more power but worse handling than the Lotus.

At the start, Ginther took the lead from Clark and Moss, but Clark soon had to pit with fuel pump problems, and so Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney took third and fourth in their Porsches. On Lap 14, both Moss and Bonnier were able to pass Ginther, and 10 laps later Phil Hill passed both Ginther and Bonnier to move into second but there was no way he was going to catch Moss, who was driving one of the greatest races of his illustrious career. Towards mid-distance Ginther fought back, passing Hill for second and chasing after Moss, closing the gap to just three seconds. Moss responded, driving on the limit the entire way and eventually won the race. Hill finished third and Wolfgang von Trips was classified fourth despite crashing on the last lap.

Race 2: Netherlands
There were just eight days between Monaco and the Dutch Grands Prix. The Dutch race was held at the Zandvoort circuit located in small sand dunes right next to a popular beach 20 miles west of Amsterdam.

At the start, von Trips took the lead with Graham Hill in a works BRM and Phil Hill behind him. Graham Hill soon began to fall back, dropping quickly behind Phil Hill and Clark, who had stormed through the field from the fourth row to run fourth at the end of the first lap. Clark proceeded to battle for second place with the Ferrari and they exchanged places several times before Phil Hill finally asserted himself. Further back Graham Hill battled with Moss and Ginther, but it was von Trips who emerged ahead for most of the race, and won it. On the last lap, however, Ginther went wide when his throttle stuck open and Moss was able to grab fourth.

Race 3: Belgium
A year after the traumatic 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, the F1 teams gathered again at the very fast and frighteningly daunting 8.7 mile Spa-Francorchamps public road circuit near Liège with a few changes from the Dutch Grand Prix three weeks previously. Innes Ireland, who had broken his leg at Monaco, was back in action for Team Lotus, which had new Lotus 21s for Ireland and Jim Clark. Ferrari had a fourth car painted up in Belgian racing yellow for Olivier Gendebien, which was being run by Ecurie Nationale Belge, which also had a pair of Emeryson chassis for Lucien Bianchi and Willy Mairesse. These were both damaged in practice and so Bianchi and Mairesse took over the non-qualified Lotus 18's with Tony Marsh and Wolfgang Seidel. British Racing Partnership was also in trouble with only one Lotus 18 to be shared by Cliff Allison and Henry Taylor. The team decided that the fastest driver would race, and as a result Allison went too fast, crashed heavily at Blanchimont, rolled the car and suffered severe leg injuries which would end his F1 career.

Phil Hill took the lead at the start but was then passed by Gendebien while von Trips and Ginther joined in. The four Ferrari cars, well suited to this power circuit thanks to the formidable performance of their 120-degree V6 engines dominated the race and the lead changed several times before Phil Hill took the lead from von Trips and Ginther. Gendebien was fourth giving Ferrari a straight 1-2-3-4 result. Phil Hill fought von Trips all the way and the Phil Hill finished 0.7 seconds ahead of von Trips. Surtees was fifth although he had to battle early in the race with Graham Hill's BRM which eventually went out with electrical trouble. Gurney finished sixth in his Porsche.

Race 4: France
The race weekend was held in extremely hot conditions, and the track began to break up at the track's 2 hairpins. The ambient temperature on Sunday/race day was 102°F (39°C), and the race turned out to be yet another classic. Hill led from the start with Ginther and Von Trips giving chase but when Ginther spun Moss was able to take third for a while before the American recovered. Further back, there was an exciting slipstreaming battle between seven cars: the two Porsches of Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier, the factory Lotuses of Clark and Ireland, Graham Hill's BRM (Tony Brooks went out early in the other car with engine trouble), Bruce McLaren's Cooper and the fourth Ferrari of Baghetti. Eventually Ginther passed Moss and he dropped back into this fight because of brake trouble. Then the Ferrari team faltered. Von Trips, who had taken the lead under team orders, stopped with engine trouble on lap 18. Hill took over but spun on lap 38 and stalled his engine, re-joining a lap behind. Ginther lasted only three laps in the lead before he stopped with an engine problem and suddenly the seething battle for fourth place was a fight for the lead. Gradually the challengers dropped away leaving Gurney's Porsche against Baghetti's Ferrari. They changed places lap after lap and on the final lap Baghetti dived out of Gurney's slipstream to pass the American a couple of hundred yards before the finish line. Baghetti thus became the first and, to date, only man to win his first World Championship event.

Race 5: Britain
Thirteen days later the British Grand Prix was held at the Aintree circuit in Liverpool, site of England's Grand National horse race. The field at Aintree was not very different from that which had been seen at Reims, although Rob Walker ran a four-wheel-drive Ferguson for Jack Fairman, although this was also driven by Stirling Moss during practice. There were four Ferraris again, with the unbeaten Giancarlo Baghetti joining the works trio. Qualifying saw Phil Hill, Ritchie Ginther, Jo Bonnier (Porsche) and Wolfgang Von Trips all set identical lap times, while Moss was alongside Von Trips on the second row in his Walker Lotus 18.

The race began in heavy rain with Phil Hill, Von Trips and Ginther getting ahead at the start, chased by Moss and Bonnier. Von Trips took the lead after seven laps, passing Hill. Moss moved to third when Ginther ran wide at one point and then managed to get past Hill for second. He chased Von Trips but was never able to pass him. When the rain stopped Moss began to drop back and would retire with brake problems. This allowed the Ferraris to finish 1-2-3 with Von Trips winning over Hill and Ginther. Jack Brabham, Bonnier and Roy Salvadori (Reg Parnell Cooper) completed the top six. The unbeaten Baghetti crashed out early in the race. Moss took over Fairman's Ferguson after he had retired but was eventually called into the pits and disqualified for having received a push-start.

Race 6: Germany
The German Grand Prix, held at the fearsome, twisty, very dangerous and extremely challenging 14.2 mile Nürburgring circuit for the first time since 1958 featured a huge field of cars with Ferrari turning up with four cars, Wolfgang Von Trips, Phil Hill and Ritchie Ginther being joined by Willy Mairesse, although the Belgian had an older engine in his car. Jack Brabham had the new Climax V8 FWMV engine for the first time in his factory Cooper, while Porsche had four cars, Edgar Barth joining Jo Bonnier, Dan Gurney and Hans Herrmann. Qualifying saw Hill record a remarkable lap of 8:55.2 – the first time anyone had lapped the Nordschleife in under nine minutes. This time which was nearly six seconds faster than Brabham's best, with Moss third quickest in his Rob Walker Lotus 18. Bonnier completed the front row in his Porsche. The second row featured Von Trips, Graham Hill in his BRM and Gurney.

The race started in damp conditions and Brabham led the field away only to spin out and crash on that first lap. Phil Hill charged up and took the lead, but Moss passed the American before they reached the finish line to start the second lap. Moss would stay ahead for the rest of the race while Von Trips came up and overtook Hill for second after a long battle. Towards the end of the race it started to rain, but Moss never took off his intermediate tires, and this allowed Moss to extend his lead, and won a superb victory with a Lotus that had superior handling to the Ferrari – essential at the Nürburgring.

Race 7: Italy
The penultimate race of the 1961 World Championship was to be a showdown between two Ferrari drivers. The team had already won the Constructors' title so it was a straight fight between Wolfgang Von Trips and Phil Hill for the Drivers' title although Moss still had a mathematical chance of victory if he won both races. The advantage lay with Wolfgang Von Trips who had 33 points to Phil Hill's 29. The Ferrari team had a new recruit at the Monza Autodrome near Milan, 19-year old Mexican Ricardo Rodriguez taking over the team's fourth car while Giancarlo Baghetti re-appeared in a private Ferrari. Once again Jack Brabham was the only driver with the new Climax V8 engine. Stirling Moss ran his usual Lotus 18 but was not happy with it and Innes Ireland let him have his factory Lotus 21. The organisers, wanting to give the advantage to the Ferrari team decided to use the combined oval/road course again making this Monza the fastest circuit of the year. This circuit had been boycotted by the British teams last year because of the terrible quality of the extremely rough and bumpy concrete banking, which was of such poor quality and design that it even went as far as to badly affect the structural strength and reliability of the cars, particularly in regards to the cars' chassis and suspension but the British teams relented and they all competed in this year's event. As expected the powerful Ferraris were impressive, Von Trips was on pole with Rodriguez second (becoming the youngest driver ever to start a World Championship Grand Prix) ahead of Ginther and Phil Hill with Graham Hill's BRM sharing the third row with Baghetti.

This Italian Grand Prix was to be marred by one of the worst tragedies in the history of motor racing, and would cast a shadow over the Italian Grand Prix for years. At the start, Phil Hill and Ginther managed to get into first and second places followed by Rodriguez, the fast-starting Jim Clark and Von Trips. Approaching the Parabolica the two cars collided. Clark crashed without injury but the Ferrari went through a spectator fence, went up an embankment on the left and was tossed into a roll, into where spectators were standing. Von Trips was thrown from the car, landed on the track, broke his neck and was killed along with 14 spectators. The race organisers decided not to stop the race and the Ferrari team put on a display until Rodriguez, Baghetti and Ginther all stopped with mechanical trouble. This left Phil Hill to win. Of the rest, Brabham went out with engine trouble while Surtees retired after running to the back of Bonnier who had slowed his Porsche at the site of Von Trips's accident. Moss went out with a broken wheel which left Dan Gurney second for Porsche and Bruce McLaren third for Cooper. Jack Lewis drove a marvellous race in his private Cooper to finish fourth ahead of Tony Brooks (BRM) and Roy Salvadori (Parnell Cooper). Von Trips's fatal retirement meant that Phil Hill became the first American to win the Formula 1 World Championship.

Race 8: United States
The only non-European championship race of 1961 was the United States GP, which was being held at the 2.3 mile Watkins Glen circuit in upstate New York for the first time 4 weeks after the tragic Italian race. Having won both World Championships Ferrari decided not to bother crossing the Atlantic, denying Phil Hill the chance to race at the Glen. Not counting the famous Indianapolis 500, run to totally different regulations and not included again on the Grand Prix calendar from 1961 onwards, this was the 3rd time the US GP had been held since the international championship started in 1950, with one off-spells at Sebring in Florida and Riverside in southern California failing to achieve any success. Watkins Glen would continuously host the US GP up until 1980.

Both Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss had the new Climax V8 engine on this occasion but Moss decided after practice not to race it. The field was joined by a number of local stars, notably Hap Sharp and Roger Penske in Coopers and Jim Hall and Ken Miles in Lotuses. Brabham took pole position with Graham Hill alongside while Moss shared the second row with Bruce McLaren in the second factory Cooper.

At about one-third distance, on lap 34, Brabham's V8 began to leak water and overheat. With puffs of smoke appearing from the left-side exhaust, the Cooper dropped back from Moss and finally entered the pits on lap 45. After taking on water and returning to the race, Brabham completed only seven more laps before retiring.

Leading now by over 40 seconds, Moss seemed on his way to a comfortable victory. Only he knew, however, that his oil pressure was dropping, and on lap 59, the dark blue Lotus peeled off and retired suddenly, handing the lead to Ireland. Hill was right on the tail of the Scot, hounding him for 15 laps, until he, too, suddenly coasted down the pit lane with a loose magneto wire. The next challenger was Roy Salvadori, who began trimming the lead from 20 seconds down to five with only five laps left. But it was Ireland's day. With just over three laps remaining, Salvadori's privately entered Cooper blew its engine, just as his teammate John Surtees' car had done on the first lap.

Ireland came home under the waving chequered flag of Tex Hopkins, less than five seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney, as Britain's Tony Brooks finished the last GP of his career in third.

[S griffin]

2022 vs 1961. Hmm, one driver dominating vs one team dominating. No brainer there! Plus we saw two of the greatest drives ever by Sir Stirling

[Aysedasi]

Agree no contest. There is no way 2022 could be considered one of the greatest seasons of history - IMO.

[S griffin]

And to think we were in for a classic season after the first few races of this year