# 1961 French Grand Prix

The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims. It was race 4 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
By winning the race, Giancarlo Baghetti became only the third driver to win his first World Championship race, the other two being Nino Farina, who won the first World Championship race (the 1950 British Grand Prix) and Johnnie Parsons, who won the 1950 Indianapolis 500 (the Indianapolis 500 was part of the World Championship from 1950 to 1960), though both Farina and Parsons had competed at future World Championship races before the creation of the championship, while this was Baghetti's first start at a major Grand Prix. This was Baghetti's only World Championship race win. He would never finish in the top 3 again.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Gap |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Gap |
| 1 | 16 | Phil Hill | Ferrari | 2:24.9 | No time | 2:30.0 | — |
| 2 | 20 | Wolfgang von Trips | Ferrari | 2:26.4 | No time | 2:28.7 | +1.5 |
| 3 | 18 | Richie Ginther | Ferrari | 2:27.4 | 2:27.0 | 2:26.8 | +1.9 |
| 4 | 26 | Stirling Moss | Lotus-Climax | 2:27.6 | 2:31.0 | 2:32.3 | +2.7 |
| 5 | 8 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax | 2:30.3 | 2:33.7 | 2:29.0 | +4.1 |
| 6 | 22 | Graham Hill | BRM-Climax | 2:29.1 | 2:30.4 | 2:32.0 | +4.2 |
| 7 | 40 | John Surtees | Cooper-Climax | 2:33.3 | 2:32.2 | 2:29.1 | +4.2 |
| 8 | 4 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax | 2:31.3 | 2:30.4 | 2:29.4 | +4.5 |
| 9 | 12 | Dan Gurney | Porsche | No time | 2:31.1 | 2:29.6 | +4.7 |
| 10 | 6 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax | 2:30.2 | 2:30.5 | 2:29.8 | +4.9 |
| 11 | 24 | Tony Brooks | BRM-Climax | 2:32.3 | 2:31.6 | 2:29.9 | +5.0 |
| 12 | 50 | Giancarlo Baghetti | Ferrari | 2:30.9 | 2:30.9 | 2:30.5 | +5.6 |
| 13 | 10 | Jo Bonnier | Porsche | No time | No time | 2:30.5 | +5.6 |
| 14 | 2 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | 2:31.0 | 2:33.1 | 2:33.0 | +6.1 |
| 15 | 42 | Roy Salvadori | Cooper-Climax | 2:31.2 | 2:31.3 | 2:35.3 | +6.3 |
| 16 | 36 | Masten Gregory | Cooper-Climax | 2:31.9 | 2:31.3 | 2:33.0 | +6.4 |
| 17 | 14 | Carel Godin de Beaufort | Porsche | No time | 2:33.2 | 2:31.8 | +6.9 |
| 18 | 44 | Jackie Lewis | Cooper-Climax | 2:33.0 | 2:32.0 | No time | +7.1 |
| 19 | 28 | Lucien Bianchi | Lotus-Climax | 2:33.8† | 2:33.4 | 2:34.2 | +8.5 |
| 20 | 48 | Willy Mairesse | Lotus-Climax | No time | No time | 2:35.8 | +10.9 |
| 21 | 52 | Bernard Collomb | Cooper-Climax | 2:39.1 | No time | 2:36.8 | +11.9 |
| 22 | 46 | Michael May | Lotus-Climax | No time | 2:40.2 | 2:37.9 | +13.0 |
| 23 | 32 | Maurice Trintignant | Cooper-Maserati | No time | 2:38.8 | No time | +13.9 |
| 24 | 38 | Ian Burgess | Lotus-Climax | 2:44.7 | 2:40.9 | 2:39.7 | +14.8 |
| 25 | 30 | Henry Taylor | Lotus-Climax | No time† | 3:14.2 | 2:40.3 | +15.4 |
| 26 | 34 | Giorgio Scarlatti | De Tomaso-Osca | No time | 2:47.3 | 2:47.1 | +22.2 |
| Source: ||||||||
† Bianchi was absent for the first day of qualifying. Taylor qualified on Day 1 with Bianchi's car, but French timekeepers only tied the laptimes of a given car to the driver listed alongside in the programme, and his laptime was attributed to Bianchi.

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 50 | Giancarlo Baghetti | Ferrari | 52 | 2:14:17.5 | 12 | 9 |
| 2 | 12 | Dan Gurney | Porsche | 52 | +0.1 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 8 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax | 52 | +1:01.0 | 9 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax | 52 | +1:10.3 | 10 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax | 52 | +1:41.8 | 8 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 | Graham Hill | BRM-Climax | 52 | +1:41.9 | 6 | 1 |
| 7 | 10 | Jo Bonnier | Porsche | 52 | +3:15.4 | 13 | |
| 8 | 42 | Roy Salvadori | Cooper-Climax | 51 | +1 Lap | 15 | |
| 9 | 16 | Phil Hill | Ferrari | 50 | +2 Laps | 1 | |
| 10 | 30 | Henry Taylor | Lotus-Climax | 49 | +3 Laps | 25 | |
| 11 | 46 | Michael May | Lotus-Climax | 48 | +4 Laps | 22 | |
| 12 | 36 | Masten Gregory | Cooper-Climax | 43 | +9 Laps | 16 | |
| 13 | 32 | Maurice Trintignant | Cooper-Maserati | 42 | +10 Laps | 23 | |
| 14 | 38 | Ian Burgess | Lotus-Climax | 42 | +10 Laps | 24 | |
| 15 | 18 | Richie Ginther | Ferrari | 40 | Oil Pressure | 3 | |
| Ret | 26 | Stirling Moss | Lotus-Climax | 31 | Brakes | 4 | |
| Ret | 48 | Willy Mairesse | Lotus-Climax | 27 | Engine | 20 | |
| Ret | 14 | Carel Godin de Beaufort | Porsche | 23 | Overheating | 17 | |
| Ret | 28 | Lucien Bianchi | Lotus-Climax | 21 | Overheating | 19 | |
| Ret | 20 | Wolfgang von Trips | Ferrari | 18 | Engine | 2 | |
| Ret | 34 | Giorgio Scarlatti | De Tomaso-Osca | 15 | Engine | 26 | |
| Ret | 2 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | 14 | Oil Pressure | 14 | |
| Ret | 52 | Bernard Collomb | Cooper-Climax | 6 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 40 | John Surtees | Cooper-Climax | 4 | Accident | 7 | |
| Ret | 24 | Tony Brooks | BRM-Climax | 4 | Overheating | 11 | |
| Ret | 44 | Jackie Lewis | Cooper-Climax | 4 | Overheating | 18 | |
| DNS | 46 | Wolfgang Seidel | Lotus-Climax | | Practice only - May's car | | |
| DNS | 28 | Juan Manuel Bordeu | Lotus-Climax | | Practice only - UDT Laystall T-car | | |
| WD | 46 | Olivier Gendebien | Emeryson-Maserati | | Entry taken by May | | |
| WD | 14 | Hans Herrmann | Porsche | | Car taken by de Beaufort | | |
| DNA | 54 | Brian Naylor | JBW-Climax | | Car not ready | | |
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