# 1966 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E﻿ / ﻿43.7346500°N 7.421333°E﻿ / 43.7346500; 7.421333
The 1966 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Monaco on 22 May 1966. It was race 1 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the first World Championship event of a new era for Formula One, for which engine regulations were altered from 1.5 litres of maximum engine displacement to 3.0 litres. The race was the 24th Monaco Grand Prix.
The race was won by British driver Jackie Stewart driving a BRM P261. He took a forty-second victory over the Ferrari 246 of Italian driver Lorenzo Bandini. It was Stewart's second Grand Prix victory after winning the Italian Grand Prix the previous year. Stewart's team-mate, fellow Briton Graham Hill finished a lap down in third position in his BRM P261. The only other driver to be classified as a finisher was American driver Bob Bondurant driving a BRM P261 entered privately by Team Chamaco Collect.

## Race report

The first World Championship race of the new 3-litre engine formula was held in Monaco. No team was ready for the new regulations, not even those who built their own engines, like Ferrari and BRM, with several teams starting the race with 1965 engines still in place, some of them enlarged Coventry Climax V8. Even pre-1961 engines of the 2.5 litre era were used again, namely the 4cyl Coventry Climax. Some had downsized sports car racing engines to suit, but these were heavy and lacked power. As a 4.2 litre DOHC Ford Indy V8 engine had helped Jim Clark and Team Lotus win the 1965 Indianapolis 500, Bruce McLaren had contracted third parties to make the smaller 3.0 L (180 cu in) Ford 406 that had been chosen by Team McLaren for the F1 constructor debut with the McLaren M2B. It lasted for only 9 laps in the race before leaking oil.
Some sessions were filmed for the movie Grand Prix. Thus, the British-licensed as well as based and New Zealand-owned McLaren team debuted not in British racing green nor in New Zealand's traditional racing colours of green, black and silver, but instead in white and green in order for Grand Prix director John Frankenheimer to be able to use the McLaren as a double for the fictional Yamura cars in the film.
Another new engine based on an American Buick V8 was the Australian Repco V8 in the back of Brabham's new 1966 BT19 chassis. John Surtees, though still recovering from a crash at Mosport Park, led for 14 laps from Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt and Denny Hulme until his differential broke, handing the lead to Stewart. Hulme retired whilst Graham Hill and Jim Clark disputed third place before Clark's suspension gave out. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Bandini was smashing the lap record before having to ease off to prevent the front brakes wearing out. Stewart won from Bandini with Graham Hill third and Bob Bondurant fourth the only other car past the line in a race of extreme attrition. New rules meant that cars had to complete 90% of the race distance to be classified and eligible for points, meaning that whilst Guy Ligier and Jo Bonnier were still racing, they were considered far enough behind to have actually retired. To this day, this race holds the record for having the fewest classified finishers in a single race in Formula One history.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 4 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax | 1:29.9 | — |
| 2 | 17 | John Surtees | Ferrari | 1:30.1 | +0.2 |
| 3 | 12 | Jackie Stewart | BRM | 1:30.3 | +0.4 |
| 4 | 11 | Graham Hill | BRM | 1:30.4 | +0.5 |
| 5 | 16 | Lorenzo Bandini | Ferrari | 1:30.5 | +0.6 |
| 6 | 8 | Denny Hulme | Brabham-Climax | 1:31.1 | +1.2 |
| 7 | 10 | Jochen Rindt | Cooper-Maserati | 1:32.2 | +2.3 |
| 8 | 15 | Bob Anderson | Brabham-Climax | 1:32.5 | +2.6 |
| 9 | 9 | Richie Ginther | Cooper-Maserati | 1:32.6 | +2.7 |
| 10 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 1:32.8 | +2.9 |
| 11 | 7 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 1:32.8 | +2.9 |
| 12 | 6 | Mike Spence | Lotus-BRM | 1:33.5 | +3.6 |
| 13 | 14 | Jo Siffert | Brabham-BRM | 1:34.4 | +4.5 |
| 14 | 18 | Jo Bonnier | Cooper-Maserati | 1:35.0 | +5.1 |
| 15 | 21 | Guy Ligier | Cooper-Maserati | 1:35.2 | +5.3 |
| 16 | 19 | Bob Bondurant | BRM | 1:37.3 | +7.4 |
| DNS | 20 | Phil Hill | Lotus-Climax | 1:42.2 | +12.3 |

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 12 | Jackie Stewart | BRM | 100 | 2:33:10.5 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | 16 | Lorenzo Bandini | Ferrari | 100 | + 40.2 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 11 | Graham Hill | BRM | 99 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 19 | Bob Bondurant | BRM | 95 | + 5 Laps | 16 | 3 |
| Ret | 9 | Richie Ginther | Cooper-Maserati | 80 | Transmission | 9 | |
| NC | 21 | Guy Ligier | Cooper-Maserati | 75 | + 25 Laps | 15 | |
| NC | 18 | Jo Bonnier | Cooper-Maserati | 73 | + 27 Laps | 14 | |
| Ret | 4 | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax | 60 | Suspension | 1 | |
| Ret | 10 | Jochen Rindt | Cooper-Maserati | 56 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 14 | Jo Siffert | Brabham-BRM | 35 | Clutch | 13 | |
| Ret | 6 | Mike Spence | Lotus-BRM | 34 | Suspension | 12 | |
| Ret | 7 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 17 | Gearbox | 11 | |
| Ret | 17 | John Surtees | Ferrari | 16 | Transmission | 2 | |
| Ret | 8 | Denny Hulme | Brabham-Climax | 15 | Transmission | 6 | |
| Ret | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 9 | Oil Leak | 10 | |
| Ret | 15 | Bob Anderson | Brabham-Climax | 3 | Engine | 8 | |
| DNS | 20 | Phil Hill | Lotus-Climax | | Camera car | | |
| WD | 1 | Chris Amon | McLaren-Ford | | | | |
| WD | 3 | Peter Arundell | Lotus-BRM | | | | |
| WD | 5 | Richard Attwood | BRM | | | | |
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