1962 French GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Rouen-Les-Essarts
* Location – France
* Corners – 10
* Laps – 54
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 3:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 2:14.800 (Jim Clark & Alberto Ascari)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 2:13.237 (Bob Gerard)
* Pit Lane Length – 30 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – Medium
* Tyre Wear – Medium

## Qualifying & Grid

A jumbled up grid at this circuit where everyone was on a level footing to begin with in terms of circuit knowledge, with only a few having raced here before...and those individuals used to a different circuit configuration! On Pole Position it is Graham Hill who manages to take the Gilby to new heights by securing their 1st ever Pole and only finishing around 1/10 of a second off Bob Gerard's lap record here on that previous configuration...

Roy Salvadori is one of those few that has raced here before (finishing 7th in 1957) and uses that to great effect to put his BRM 2nd on the grid in what is generally a more competitive showing for the British marque here, as Surtees starts 5th and Lippi 8th overall!

Cooper also look re-energised here, with Bonnier (who had a torrid race in 1957 to finish 21st) starting from 3rd and Rodríguez from 6th, although McLaren ends up spending most of his qualifying in the garage and so only sets a couple of lap-times to start from 16th on the grid. Meanwhile von Trips (who finished 8th in that 1957 race) and Gregory (who finished 22nd) start from 4th and 9th respectively, with Ferrari certainly in the mix again.

Vaccarella starts 7th and Love 10th, with the other two Gilby's likely to be looking for their 1st points of the season here - while we are certainly seeing a pattern on this grid of several drivers further back who put time and effort in for their teams early in the session, starting with Love in 10th who did some of the hard work for Gilby. Baghetti in 12th and Gurney in 13th for Emeryson and Lotus respectively are also prime examples of that...

...and thanks to that hard work, Siffert starts 11th for Lotus though Ginther again misses the grid for Emeryson, as the American continues to live his playboy lifestyle! Maggs and Phil Hill start 14th and 15th for Brabham after they continue to get to grips with that car, while Porsche have another tough qualifying session characterised by none of their drivers coming close to finishing their available laps, despite in theory being able to do so! Trintignant goes from 17th with Clark 19th and de Beaufort 21st, sandwiching the Lola duo of Mairesse in 18th and Ireland in 20th, while the grid is rounded out by the sole LDS of Greene, who at least makes the effort to turn up unlike his team-mates Bianchi and Bandini!

## Race Link

https://race.f1revisited.co.uk/results/rouen/1962/4a6b3f52-b711-4a1b-ad55-0bc868dd7f39

## Race Results

Across the line comes Hill to claim Pole Position and a 1st ever race victory! Vaccarella claims 2nd place for his first points, with Love becoming the 1st driver from Rhodesia to score points by claiming 3rd position!

Von Trips finishes 4th JUST ahead of team-mate Gregory, as the intra-team battle at Ferrari continues to rage! Gurney manages to take 6th place for Lotus, as his title challenge takes a small knock here.

Salvadori finishes 7th for BRM after a solid display early in the race, while Baghetti out-performs the car to take 8th for Emeryson.

Cooper just did not have the pace today, with Bonnier finishing 9th from McLaren and Rodríguez, as the Swede can at least comfort himself with Fastest Lap today, set on Lap 28.

Lippi records his best result of the season in 12th, with Siffert 13th and the Brabham duo of Hill and Maggs in 14th and 15th respectively.

Surtees is classified in 16th after his late mishap, while Trintignant, Mairesse, Ireland and Clark complete the Top 20. Greene at least finishes the race (albeit by pushing his car over the line) in 21st, though will not be classified!

The next race of the season will be the British GP at Aintree, as we reach the halfway point of the season...

## Milestones

* Trintignant moves up to 2nd place for Most Entries ever, at the expense of Stirling Moss
* Bonnier and von Trips move up to 6th and 7th respectively in Most Entries ever, at the expense of Peter Collins, Mike Hawthorn and Hans Herrmann
* Trintignant starts for his 50th Race Start
* Greene and Mairesse both start for their 20th Race Starts
* von Trips starts and moves ahead of Jack Fairman and into 4th for the Most Race Starts Ever
* Bonnier starts and moves ahead of Mike Hawthorn and into 8th for the Most Race Starts Ever
* As Graham Hill wins, Gregory takes his place in the Top 10 for Most Races without a Win
* Clark moves up to 6th place for Most Races without Points, at the expense of Eugenio Castellotti and André Simon
* Von Trips made it two wins in a row at the French GP last season (having won here at Reims in 1960 and 1961 – but it’s a different circuit this time!), which means that a 3rd win here will move him into the Top 10 for Most Wins at the same GP. Meanwhile Maurice Trintignant (in 1959) and Roy Salvadori (in 1954) are the only active winners of the French GP on the grid this time, with other former winners as Bob Gerard (retired) in 1958, 1953 and 1951, Jean Behra (’57 – retired), Peter Collins (’56 – retired), Giuseppe Farina (’52 – retired) and Toulo de Graffenried (’50 - retired).
* A points finish for Gregory makes it his 4th consecutive points finish
* A points finish for Gurney makes it his 3rd consecutive points finish
* A points finish for von Trips and Graham Hill makes it their 2nd consecutive points finish
* Bonnier takes FL this time around (his 1st ever FL!), while Von Trips set FL at the French GP in 1960 and last season in 1961, which means that a Fastest Lap here would move him up to 5th for the Most Fastest Laps at the expense of Peter Whitehead and one of Bob Gerard’s efforts. Meanwhile, in 1950, 1951, 1957 and 1958 it was Bob Gerard (retired); other past FLs were André Testut (’59 – retired), Peter Collins (’56 – retired), Onofre Marimón (’54 – retired), Chico Landi (’53 – retired) and Piero Taruffi (‘52 – retired)
* Graham Hill takes Pole this season, while Gurney took his 1st ever Pole here last season, while Pole at the French GP in 1960 was Gregory, in 1959 was von Trips and in 1958 was Bonnier. Other past Pole-Sitters were Bob Gerard (’51, ’52 and ’57 - retired), Toulo de Graffenried (’56 – retired), Hermann Lang (’54 – retired), Umberto Maglioli (’53 – retired) and Yves-Girard Cabantous (’50 – retired).
* 1st ever Podiums for both Love and Vaccarella here