1961 Belgian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Spa-Franchorchamps
* Location – Belgium
* Corners – 13
* Laps – 30
* 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

## Qualifying & Grid

Ferrari again look to have some pretty stellar pace round this track...but they are outdone by the sheer determination of Lotus to get Moss out first, which means he manages to complete a crucial 16th lap that only he puts in - in order to take back-to-back Pole Positions; here's hoping it goes better for him than last race...!

Ferrari claim a 2-3-4-5 here, with Fairman leading Naylor, von Trips and Greene as they look to move back to the top of the Teams Championship. Next up the strong Lotus showing continues with Gurney in 6th, after bad traffic means the American only completes 13 laps (compared to 15 for most of those around him) and is one to watch in the GP!!!

Bonnier is a strong 7th for JBW, with team-mates Scarlatti and Rodríguez in 10th and 11th in another demonstration of punching above their weight for the British manufacturer. Meanwhile, Emeryson are another British team looking well positioned with Championship Leader Brooks in 8th, Baghetti in 12th and Marsh in 14th - although Brabham in 28th has such an almighty crash that it looks likely he will make it out for the race proper.

Better news for BRM here, with Gregory in a strong 9th place on the grid and both the Hills inside the Top 20 (Graham in 16th, Phil in 18th), while it's not quite as good for Porsche who can only manage 13th for Salvadori, 15th for de Beaufort, 21st for Mairesse and 27th Ireland. Rounding out the Top 20 are Allison in 17th for Lotus (as he can't quite match the endeavours of team-mate Moss), Herrmann in a solid 18th for De Tomaso and Bianchi in 20th for JBW.

Completing the grid are Maggs in the De Tomaso (22nd), the Cooper trio of Surtees (23rd), Clark (25th) and Lippi (26th), Bandini in the De Tomaso (24th) and Vaccarella in the De Tomaso (29th) that complete the line-up here...

Both Brabham in the Emeryson and Allison in the Lotus will both not start the race however, as the former has too much damage and the latter up with injuries sustained in a qualifying lap crash that caused his session to finish prematurely!

## Race Link

https://race.f1revisited.co.uk/results/spa/1961/d9726e46-fc6c-45d1-8a50-9188b745725b

## Race Results

Naylor wins in a Ferrari 1-3-4, as von Trips claims a Podium (plus the Fastest Lap of the race) and Fairman does well to respond to the adversity he faced in 4th place.

Gurney is an impressive 2nd for Lotus, after keeping his head to concentrate and perform admirably vs the Prancing Horses! Baghetti comes home 5th, still with damage, for Emeryson while Bonnier's pursuit of Rodríguez proves successful, as he uses his dry tyres to easily drive around the outide of the Mexican driver and claim the final points position.

Greene finishes a respectable 8th for Ferrari, with Bianchi coming home 9th after keeping Scarlatti behind him for a number of easy-to-repel overtaking manouevres.

Brooks finishes 11th from Phil Hil 12th, then Mairesse, de Bueafort, Graham Hill, Salvadori, Surtees, Clark and Vaccarella.

Behind them, another collision between Lippi and Bandini - only this time it is the Cooper driver who emerges on top as he also claims a Top 20 finish as a result.

Finally, we have those who retired due to the rain at La Source and crashed as they were unable to adapt to the conditions.

The next race will be the French GP in Reims...

## Race Setups

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

No Data Available

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

## Milestones

* 50th race entry for both Brabham and Fairman
* 30th race entry for Graham Hill
* 20th race entry for Allison, Bianchi, Gurney, Ireland and Naylor
* Fairman moves up to 5th for Most Starts ever, at the expense of Mike Hawthorn
* 30th Race Start for Tony Brooks
* 20th Race Start for Gurney, Ireland and Naylor
* Fairman up to 3rd for Most Races without a Win, at the expense of Ron Flockhart
* Scarlatti up to 10th for Most Races without a Win, at the expense of Alberto Ascari
* Allison up to 5th for Most Races without Points, at the expense of Eugenio Castellotti and André Simon
* 1st ever win for Naylor
* Ireland won the Belgian GP in 1960, though the most successful driver here is Bob Gerard (retired), who 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).
* Naylor’s win means that Karl Kling and Rudi Fischer move up to 4th and 5th respectively for Most Points without a Win
* Gurney’s 6 points haul means he is now up to 6th for Most Points without a Win, at the expense of Umberto Maglioli, Luigi Musso, Mike Hawthorn, Cesare Perdisa and Georges Grignard
* A last lap pass sees Bonnier make it his 6th consecutive points finish
* Points  for Naylor makes it his 2nd consecutive points finish
* FL for von Trips moves him up to 4th in Most Fastest Laps, at the expense of Giuseppe Farina and Brabham
* Gregory set FL in Belgium in 1960, but the most successful driver by this metric was again Bob Gerard (retired), who set FL in Belgium in 1950, ’56 and ‘58 (making Belgium his 3rd best track on the calendar for setting Fastest Lap!), while Peter 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), Toulo de Graffenried (’52 – retired) and John James (’51 – retired)
* Pole for Moss makes him only the 10th driver to take any consecutive Pole Positions
* Bonnier secured Pole Position here in 1960, while von Trips secured his 1st ever Pole Position here in ’58.  Bob 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)