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 |
 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 edit
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 edit
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  John Surtees
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:53.18 | — |
| 2 | 1 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-BRM | 1:53.50 | +0.32 |
| 3 | 12 | Richie Ginther
|
Honda | 1:53.56 | +0.38 |
| 4 | 5 |  Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 1:53.95 | +0.77 |
| 5 | 8 |  Jochen Rindt
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:54.19 | +1.01 |
| 6 | 6 |  Denny Hulme
|
Brabham-Repco | 1:54.21 | +1.03 |
| 7 | 3 | Graham Hill
|
BRM | 1:54.61 | +1.43 |
| 8 | 11 |  Pedro Rodríguez
|
Lotus-Climax | 1:54.78 | +1.60 |
| 9 | 15 | Dan Gurney
|
Eagle-Climax | 1:54.93 | +1.75 |
| 10 | 4 | Jackie Stewart
|
BRM | 1:55.90 | +2.72 |
| 11 | 18 | Mike Spence
|
Lotus-BRM | 1:55.98 | +2.80 |
| 12 | 19 |  Jo Siffert
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:55.99 | +2.81 |
| 13 | 22 |  Jo Bonnier
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:56.49 | +3.31 |
| 14 | 14 | Ronnie Bucknum
|
Honda | 1:56.59 | +3.41 |
| 15 | 17 | Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 1:56.84 | +3.66 |
| 16 | 9 | Moisés Solana
|
Cooper-Maserati | 1:57.44 | +4.26 |
| 17 | 10 | Innes Ireland
|
BRM | 1:57.46 | +4.28 |
| 18 | 2 | Peter Arundell
|
Lotus-BRM | 2:00.79 | +7.61 |
| 19 | 16 | Bob Bondurant
|
Eagle-Weslake | 2:02.88 | +9.70 |
| Source:[4][5] | |||||
Race edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | John Surtees
|
Cooper-Maserati | 65 | 2:06:35.34 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 5 | Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 65 | + 7.88 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 6 | Denny Hulme
|
Brabham-Repco | 64 | + 1 lap | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 12 | Richie Ginther
|
Honda | 64 | + 1 lap | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 15 | Dan Gurney
|
Eagle-Climax | 64 | + 1 lap | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 | Jo Bonnier
|
Cooper-Maserati | 63 | + 2 laps | 12 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 | Peter Arundell
|
Lotus-BRM | 61 | + 4 laps | 17 | |
| 8 | 14 | Ronnie Bucknum
|
Honda | 60 | + 5 laps | 13 | |
| Ret | 11 | Pedro Rodríguez
|
Lotus-Climax | 49 | Differential | 8 | |
| Ret | 17 | Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 40 | Engine | 14 | |
| Ret | 19 | Jo Siffert
|
Cooper-Maserati | 33 | Suspension | 11 | |
| Ret | 8 | Jochen Rindt
|
Cooper-Maserati | 32 | Suspension | 5 | |
| Ret | 10 | Innes Ireland
|
BRM | 28 | Transmission | 16 | |
| Ret | 4 | Jackie Stewart
|
BRM | 26 | Oil Leak | 10 | |
| Ret | 16 | Bob Bondurant
|
Eagle-Weslake | 24 | Fuel System | 18 | |
| Ret | 3 | Graham Hill
|
BRM | 18 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 1 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-BRM | 9 | Gearbox | 2 | |
| Ret | 9 | Moisés Solana
|
Cooper-Maserati | 9 | Overheating | 15 | |
| DNS | 18 | Mike Spence
|
Lotus-BRM | 0 | Accident | ||
Source:[6]
| |||||||
Championship standings after the race edit
|
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- 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 edit
- ^ Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 424
- ^ Kettlewell, Mike. "Grand Prix Racing South of the Border", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974) Volume 12, p.1332.
- ^ Kettlewell, p.1332.
- ^ "1966 Mexican GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ "1966 Mexican Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ "1966 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Mexico 1966 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.