# 1966 Mexican Grand Prix

The 1966 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca on 23 October 1966. It was race 9 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the fifth Mexican Grand Prix and the first to be run under the new three-litre Formula. It was held over 65 laps of the 5 km (3.1 mi) circuit for a race distance of 325 km (202 mi).
The race was won by British driver John Surtees driving a Cooper T81-Maserati, his first victory since leaving Scuderia Ferrari to join Cooper. Surtees led home reigning world champion Australian owner-driver Jack Brabham, driving a Brabham BT20-Repco, by eight seconds. A lap down in third place, also driving a Brabham BT20, was Brabham's teammate New Zealander Denny Hulme.
Surtees's victory promoted him to second place in the championship, vaulting past Austrian driver Jochen Rindt of the Cooper works team.

## Race report

John Surtees dominated to take his first win since transferring from Ferrari to Cooper in mid season. He took the lead from Jack Brabham on lap 6 and was never challenged. With Jim Clark suffering gearbox problems and both BRMs retiring, Richie Ginther was the only contender left. However he too had mechanical problems, and dropped back. Brabham rallied at the end to close, but Surtees had lapped the entire field up to second. The first year of 3-litre engines had resulted in wins for five different makes of car, using five different engines.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 7 | John Surtees | Cooper-Maserati | 1:53.18 | — |
| 2 | 1 | Jim Clark | Lotus-BRM | 1:53.50 | +0.32 |
| 3 | 12 | Richie Ginther | Honda | 1:53.56 | +0.38 |
| 4 | 5 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 1:53.95 | +0.77 |
| 5 | 8 | Jochen Rindt | Cooper-Maserati | 1:54.19 | +1.01 |
| 6 | 6 | Denny Hulme | Brabham-Repco | 1:54.21 | +1.03 |
| 7 | 3 | Graham Hill | BRM | 1:54.61 | +1.43 |
| 8 | 11 | Pedro Rodríguez | Lotus-Climax | 1:54.78 | +1.60 |
| 9 | 15 | Dan Gurney | Eagle-Climax | 1:54.93 | +1.75 |
| 10 | 4 | Jackie Stewart | BRM | 1:55.90 | +2.72 |
| 11 | 18 | Mike Spence | Lotus-BRM | 1:55.98 | +2.80 |
| 12 | 19 | Jo Siffert | Cooper-Maserati | 1:55.99 | +2.81 |
| 13 | 22 | Jo Bonnier | Cooper-Maserati | 1:56.49 | +3.31 |
| 14 | 14 | Ronnie Bucknum | Honda | 1:56.59 | +3.41 |
| 15 | 17 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 1:56.84 | +3.66 |
| 16 | 9 | Moisés Solana | Cooper-Maserati | 1:57.44 | +4.26 |
| 17 | 10 | Innes Ireland | BRM | 1:57.46 | +4.28 |
| 18 | 2 | Peter Arundell | Lotus-BRM | 2:00.79 | +7.61 |
| 19 | 16 | Bob Bondurant | Eagle-Weslake | 2:02.88 | +9.70 |
| Source: ||||||

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 7 | John Surtees | Cooper-Maserati | 65 | 2:06:35.34 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 5 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 65 | + 7.88 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 6 | Denny Hulme | Brabham-Repco | 64 | + 1 lap | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 12 | Richie Ginther | Honda | 64 | + 1 lap | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 15 | Dan Gurney | Eagle-Climax | 64 | + 1 lap | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 | Jo Bonnier | Cooper-Maserati | 63 | + 2 laps | 12 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 | Peter Arundell | Lotus-BRM | 61 | + 4 laps | 17 | |
| 8 | 14 | Ronnie Bucknum | Honda | 60 | + 5 laps | 13 | |
| Ret | 11 | Pedro Rodríguez | Lotus-Climax | 49 | Differential | 8 | |
| Ret | 17 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 40 | Engine | 14 | |
| Ret | 19 | Jo Siffert | Cooper-Maserati | 33 | Suspension | 11 | |
| Ret | 8 | Jochen Rindt | Cooper-Maserati | 32 | Suspension | 5 | |
| Ret | 10 | Innes Ireland | BRM | 28 | Transmission | 16 | |
| Ret | 4 | Jackie Stewart | BRM | 26 | Oil Leak | 10 | |
| Ret | 16 | Bob Bondurant | Eagle-Weslake | 24 | Fuel System | 18 | |
| Ret | 3 | Graham Hill | BRM | 18 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 1 | Jim Clark | Lotus-BRM | 9 | Gearbox | 2 | |
| Ret | 9 | Moisés Solana | Cooper-Maserati | 9 | Overheating | 15 | |
| DNS | 18 | Mike Spence | Lotus-BRM | 0 | Accident | | |
| Source: ||||||||