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1963 French Grand Prix

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1963 French Grand Prix
Race details
Date 30 June 1963
Official name XLIX Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
Location Reims, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 8.302 km (5.159 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 440.006 km (273.407 miles)
Weather Sunny, then rain
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Climax
Time 2:20.2
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax
Time 2:21.6 on lap 12
Podium
First Lotus-Climax
Second Cooper-Climax
Third BRM
Lap leaders

The 1963 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 30 June 1963. It was race 4 of 10 in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by Jim Clark driving a Lotus 25-Climax 1.5 litre V8.[1]

Race report

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Jim Clark took the lead at the start from Richie Ginther in the BRM. All Graham Hill's hard work in qualifying second despite mechanical problems in practice came to nothing when his engine died on the grid and his car had to be push started. The subsequent one-minute penalty dropped him well back. Clark led dominantly, his lead being extended when a stone pierced Ginther's radiator, forcing him into the pits. Jack Brabham took second place after a strong fight with Trevor Taylor, who also suffered mechanical problems.

Brabham then began to gain significantly on Clark as the Scot's Climax engine started to splutter, however this proved to be a sporadic fault and he had enough of a lead to maintain the position. Brabham himself was delayed when an ignition lead came loose,[2] handing second and third to Tony Maggs and a delighted Hill. Clark was over a minute ahead of them after yet another start-to-finish victory. Graham Hill was push started, incurring a one-minute penalty from the organisers, and was awarded no championship points for his third place. By finishing 7th, at 19 years and 345 days old, Chris Amon became the youngest driver to finish a world championship race. This record would hold for another 38 years, until it was broken by Fernando Alonso at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Qualifying times Gap
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 18 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 2:21.0 No time 2:20.2
2 2 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 3:13.4 2:36.4 2:20.9 +0.7
3 8 United States Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax No time 3:02.4 2:21.7 +1.5
4 16 United Kingdom John Surtees Ferrari 2:24.4 2:33.8 2:21.9 +1.7
5 6 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax No time 2:39.2 2:21.9 +1.7
6 10 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 2:25.1 No time 2:22.5 +2.3
7 20 United Kingdom Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 2:23.7 No time 2:25.1 +3.5
8 12 South Africa Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 2:24.5 No time 2:24.4 +4.2
9 32 United Kingdom Innes Ireland BRP-BRM No time 2:41.8 2:25.1 +4.9
10 36 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 2:26.9 No time 2:25.2 +5.0
11 44 Sweden Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 2:26.5 2:40.5 2:25.7 +5.5
12 4 United States Richie Ginther BRM 2:26.8 2:40.0 2:25.9 +5.7
13 14 Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari 2:27.0 2:41.6 No time +6.8
14 42 United States Phil Hill Lotus-BRM No time No time 2:27.7 +7.5
15 28 France Maurice Trintignant Lotus-Climax No time 2:49.5 2:28.3 +8.1
16 22 United Kingdom Peter Arundell Lotus-Climax 2:28.5 +8.3
17 30 New Zealand Chris Amon Lola-Climax No time 2:53.1 2:30.5 +10.3
18 34 United States Jim Hall Lotus-BRM No time 3:25.2 2:30.9 +10.7
19 48 United States Masten Gregory Lotus-BRM No time No time 2:33.2 +13.0
20 38 United States Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM No time 2:54.5 2:36.7 +16.5
21 46 Italy Lorenzo Bandini BRM No time No time 2:37.8 +17.6
Source:[3]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 18 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 53 2:10:54.3 1 9
2 12 South Africa Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 53 + 1:04.9 8 6
3 2 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 53 + 1:13.9 2
4 6 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 53 + 2:15.2 5 3
5 8 United States Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 53 + 2:33.4 3 2
6 36 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 52 + 1 lap 10 1
7 30 New Zealand Chris Amon Lola-Climax 51 + 2 laps 17
8 28 France Maurice Trintignant Lotus-Climax 50 + 3 laps 15
9 32 United Kingdom Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 49 + 4 laps 9
10 46 Italy Lorenzo Bandini BRM 45 + 8 laps 21
11 34 United States Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 45 + 8 laps 18
12 10 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 42 Ignition 6
13 20 United Kingdom Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 41 Suspension 7
NC 42 United States Phil Hill Lotus-BRM 34 Not Classified 14
NC 44 Sweden Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 32 Not Classified 11
Ret 48 United States Masten Gregory Lotus-BRM 30 Gearbox 19
Ret 16 United Kingdom John Surtees Ferrari 12 Fuel Pump 4
Ret 38 United States Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM 5 Wheel Bearing 20
Ret 4 United States Richie Ginther BRM 4 Radiator 12
DNS 14 Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari Practice Accident
DNS 22 United Kingdom Peter Arundell Lotus-Climax Entry denied; support race
WD 26 Italy Giancarlo Baghetti ATS
WD 40 United Kingdom Ian Burgess Scirocco-BRM Car not ready
WD 50 Argentina Nasif Estéfano De Tomaso Car not ready
Source:[4]
  • Phil Hill was originally entered as car #24, to drive the ATS. When the ATS team withdrew, he switched to drive the Scuderia Filipinetti Lotus-BRM.

Notes

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  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Peter Arundell.
  • This was the 100th Formula One World Championship race where a British driver participated. By 1963, Great Britain was the most successful nation in Formula One. Of those 100 races, British drivers had won 39, had 95 podiums, 38 pole positions, 43 fastest laps and 3 World Championships. Only Argentinians had more World Championships - by courtesy of Juan Manuel Fangio's five titles - but by the end of 1965 the British drivers would surpass that record as well.

Championship standings after the race

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  • Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 109. ISBN 0851127029.
  2. ^ Mike Lang, Grand Prix!, Volume 1 1950 to 1965, page 222
  3. ^ "1963 French Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  4. ^ "1963 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b "France 1963 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


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1963 Dutch Grand Prix
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