1960 Belgian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Spa-Franchorchamps
* Location – Belgium
* Corners – 13
* Laps – 36
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 5:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 3:50.000 (Jack Brabham)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 3:56.704 (Wolfgang von Trips – T Wagner)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds\*
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

* Note that this season pit-stops will last longer than in previous seasons; this number represents the time it takes to travel down the pit-lane NOT including the time you will spend stationary.

## Qualifying & Grid

A wet qualifying session under treacherous conditions sees most of the field elect to wait in their garages until very late on - partly due to the misadventures of the likes of Gould in the Ferrari (with a big crash on both his 1st and 2nd laps) and Mairesse in the Vanwall (a crash early on that only allows him to get 3 laps in), which causes those two to start from 30th and 29th respectively. Also, the teams had clearly seen that there would likely be some dry running this weekend…and were hoping for some in qualifying - though ultimately this is not realised before the end of the session.

That creates a late surge of drivers on track, where experience tells for the most part - as no rookies are represented inside the Top 10! Maserati also look like the class of the field in qualifying again, with Bonnier claiming his 4th career Pole Position to become the 2nd most successful driver in qualifying within F1R history!!!

Gurney is in a solid 2nd, with von Trips preventing the Maserati's from claiming a 1-2-3 with a great late effort to demote McLaren to 4th overall. Reigning Champion Brabham is 5th, after kick-starting his championship challenge with victory last time out - with Trintignant and Gendebien in a solid 6th and 7th for Porsche respectively. Bianchi qualifies well in 8th, with Aston Martin completing the Top 10 for Salvadori and Flockhart.

BRM had some difficulties in qualifying, with Graham Hill managing to get out on time and recording 11th place, with Gregory 14th (as the man 2nd in the Championship has a lot of work to do…) and Phil Hill not making it out on time and so not setting a lap-time! Surtees is the top Rookie in 12th, with Brooks 13th for Aston Martin, Taylor another strong performance for Scarab in 15th from Fairman with a decent 16th for Vanwall here.

JBW are next up in 17th to 19th place, with de Beaufort leading the line vs Burgess and Greene - while Team Principal Fernandes will be delighted to see three of his drivers out-qualifying the Championship Leader, as Naylor only manages to get 9 qualifying laps in and will start in 20th.

The grid is completed by Ireland, Barth, Scarlatti, Moss, Clark, Allison, Creus, Gamble and the unlucky aforementioned duo of Mairesse and Gould. Missing out this race are Menditeguy in the Scarab (who does at least make an attempt to qualify this time out), Phil Hill and Jim Hall (not for the 1st time this season…).

## Race Link

After a lengthy delay to the start of the race thanks to the weather slowing down proceedings, the track is still incredibly wet and the rain is still pouring - though the Maserati team (and in particular Bonnier and Gurney lining up 1-2) look in good spirits nevertheless! They will be looking to convert their qualifying domination into race pace this time around…

Von Trips looks handily placed here - considering that 5th placed in the Championship Phil Hill is not on the grid, 4th placed Brabham is 2 places behind the Ferrari (who is the 3rd placed man in the title hunt), 2nd placed Gregory is in 14th and Championship leader Naylor is way down in 20th position!

https://1960.f1revisited.co.uk/results/spa/1960/g7Xsz1LCuUidi2fO

## Race Results

IRELAND WINS FOR VANWALL! That is the 1st points finish for the British marque since Collins' podium at the 1957 Pescara GP (not counting Collins' point for Fastest Lap at the 1958 Italian GP). It is the 1st time a Vanwall has won an F1R race since the 1956 French GP, once again at the hands of Collins!

Ireland takes his 1st ever points, podium and victory by nearly 20 seconds from Graham Hill in 2nd position, with Surtees 3rd for Cooper (now firmly in the Championship hunt), Bianchi 4th just 0.1 seconds ahead of Gregory in 5th (who with Fastest Lap today becomes the new Championship Leader!) - and von Trips also helps his own Championship hopes by claiming the final point on offer today in 6th.

Brabham comes home 7th and will be left thinking about what could have been if he had pitted earlier for wet tyres, while Naylor's 8th position was almost crucial - as he would have retained his Championship lead over Gregory if it wasn't for the BRM's Fastest Lap point!

Gurney and Bonnier round out the Top 10 in another race where Maserati looked like the class of the field, but didn't quite hook up the strategy to their advantage. Gould recovered well to 11th, with Scarlatti the best JBW in 12th (which doesn't happen often!). Moss comes home a respectable 13th for Lotus (their first Top 20 finish of the season in fact), with Greene 14th the last man on the lead lap, and de Beaufort making the last lap pass at the final corner (La Source) on Flockhart to take 15th over the line.

Salvadori, Brooks, Clark and the Scarab of Taylor round out the Top 20, with Barth, Fairman (having made at least 1 stop too many), McLaren (lacking pace in the dry), Mairesse, Burgess (both of whom will be blaming Gould for their woes today!), Trintignant, Gendebien, Creus (with all Porsche's floundering in the dry conditions), Gamble and Allison completing the finishers today.

On to the French GP at Reims next - another race where changeable conditions have been known to occur in the past…

## Race Setups

**How close setups were to perfect - WET**

**How close setups were to perfect - DRY**

## Milestones

* Salvadori’ 58th race entry makes him the joint most experienced driver in F1R history
* 30th race entry for Brooks
* 20th race entry for Gendebien
* Graham Hill, Gendebien and Scarlatti all reach 20 race starts
* Scarlatti up to 4th in Most Races without Points, at the expense of Paco Godia
* Ireland’s 1st ever victory from 21st on the grid breaks Salvadori’s record of winning from 19th place from French GP ‘54
* Gerard (retired) won the Belgian GP in 1951, 1953 and 1956, while Herrmann (retired) won in 1954 and 1958. Other past winners are Pietsch (’50 - retired), Rol (’52 - retired) and Wharton (’55 – retired).
* Von Trips finishes in the points, meaning the German moves up to 2nd for Most Points Finishes ever at the expense of his countryman Paul Pietsch
* Gregory manages to record his 3rd race in a row in the points, while for Surtees it is his 2nd race in a row
* FL for Gregory moves him into the Top 10 for Most Fastest Laps, at the expense of von Trips
* Gerard (retired) set FL in Belgium in 1950, ’56 and ‘58 (making Belgium his 3rd best track on the calendar for setting Fastest Lap!), while Collins (retired) managed FL in 1956; other past Fastest Laps are held by Ken Wharton (’55 – retired), Onofre Marimón (’54 – retired), Sergio Mantovani (’53 – retired), de Toulo de Graffenried (’52 – retired) and John James (’51 – retired)
* Pole for Bonnier moves him up to 2nd in Most Pole Positions ever, at the expense of Salvadori, Yves-Girard Cabantous and Paul Pietsch
* Von Trips secured his 1st ever Pole Position here in ‘58, while Gerard (retired) has achieved Pole in Belgium in 1951 and ’56; other past Pole Sitters were Paul Pietsch (’50 – retired), Élie Bayol (’52 – retired), Sergio Mantovani (’53 – retired), Onofre Marimón (’54 – retired) and Ken Wharton (’55 – retired)
* Podiums Surtees makes it two consecutive Podium finishes for him