1966 Mexican Grand Prix

The 1966 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca on 23 October 1966. It was race 9 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the fifth Mexican Grand Prix[1] and the first to be run under the new three-litre Formula.[2] It was held over 65 laps of the 5 km (3.1 mi) circuit for a race distance of 325 km (202 mi).

1966 Mexican Grand Prix
Race details
Date October 23, 1966
Official name V Gran Premio de Mexico
Location Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City, Mexico
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.000 km (3.107 miles)
Distance 65 laps, 325.000 km (201.946 miles)
Weather Warm, clear
Pole position
Driver
Cooper-Maserati
Time 1:53.18
Fastest lap
Driver United States Richie Ginther Honda
Time 1:53.75
Podium
First
Cooper-Maserati
Second
Brabham-Repco
Third
Brabham-Repco
Lap leaders

The race was won by British driver John Surtees driving a Cooper T81-Maserati, his first victory since leaving Scuderia Ferrari to join Cooper. Surtees led home reigning world champion Australian owner-driver Jack Brabham, driving a Brabham BT20-Repco,[3] by eight seconds. A lap down in third place, also driving a Brabham BT20, was Brabham's teammate New Zealander Denny Hulme.

Surtees's victory promoted him to second place in the championship, vaulting past Austrian driver Jochen Rindt of the Cooper works team.

Race report

John Surtees dominated to take his first win since transferring from Ferrari to Cooper in mid season. He took the lead from Jack Brabham on lap 6 and was never challenged. With Jim Clark suffering gearbox problems and both BRMs retiring, Richie Ginther was the only contender left. However he too had mechanical problems, and dropped back. Brabham rallied at the end to close, but Surtees had lapped the entire field up to second. The first year of 3-litre engines had resulted in wins for five different makes of car, using five different engines.

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 7 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 1:53.18 —
2 1 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-BRM 1:53.50 +0.32
3 12 United States Richie Ginther Honda 1:53.56 +0.38
4 5 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:53.95 +0.77
5 8 Austria Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 1:54.19 +1.01
6 6 New Zealand Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 1:54.21 +1.03
7 3 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 1:54.61 +1.43
8 11 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez Lotus-Climax 1:54.78 +1.60
9 15 United States Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 1:54.93 +1.75
10 4 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart BRM 1:55.90 +2.72
11 18 United Kingdom Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 1:55.98 +2.80
12 19 Switzerland Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 1:55.99 +2.81
13 22 Sweden Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 1:56.49 +3.31
14 14 United States Ronnie Bucknum Honda 1:56.59 +3.41
15 17 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:56.84 +3.66
16 9 Mexico Moisés Solana Cooper-Maserati 1:57.44 +4.26
17 10 United Kingdom Innes Ireland BRM 1:57.46 +4.28
18 2 United Kingdom Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 2:00.79 +7.61
19 16 United States Bob Bondurant Eagle-Weslake 2:02.88 +9.70
Source:[4][5]

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 7 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 65 2:06:35.34 1 9
2 5 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 65 + 7.88 4 6
3 6 New Zealand Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 64 + 1 lap 6 4
4 12 United States Richie Ginther Honda 64 + 1 lap 3 3
5 15 United States Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 64 + 1 lap 9 2
6 22 Sweden Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 63 + 2 laps 12 1
7 2 United Kingdom Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 61 + 4 laps 17
8 14 United States Ronnie Bucknum Honda 60 + 5 laps 13
Ret 11 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez Lotus-Climax 49 Differential 8
Ret 17 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 40 Engine 14
Ret 19 Switzerland Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 33 Suspension 11
Ret 8 Austria Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 32 Suspension 5
Ret 10 United Kingdom Innes Ireland BRM 28 Transmission 16
Ret 4 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart BRM 26 Oil Leak 10
Ret 16 United States Bob Bondurant Eagle-Weslake 24 Fuel System 18
Ret 3 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 18 Engine 7
Ret 1 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-BRM 9 Gearbox 2
Ret 9 Mexico Moisés Solana Cooper-Maserati 9 Overheating 15
DNS 18 United Kingdom Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 0 Accident
Source:[6]

Championship standings after the race
  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References
  1. Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 424
  2. Kettlewell, Mike. "Grand Prix Racing South of the Border", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974) Volume 12, p.1332.
  3. Kettlewell, p.1332.
  4. "1966 Mexican GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  5. "1966 Mexican Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  6. "1966 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  7. "Mexico 1966 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
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