The 1961 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 June 1961 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 3 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The organizers of the race invited 25 entries, but were only going to pay starting money to 19: sixteen pre-selected cars plus the 3 fastest of the remaining 9. Three of the cars without starting money decided not to race after practising. A fourth entry was a single car for Cliff Allison and Henry Taylor. UDT Laystall decided to let the fastest driver in practice compete, but Allison wrecked the car on his first practice lap. The Emeryson cars were also discarded by Equipe Nationale Belge after discovering terminal chassis damage on one of them, although Willy Mairesse gained the use of a Team Lotus spare machine to post a better time on Saturday. The team eventually reached a deal for Mairesse and Lucien Bianchi to compete in the race with the older, yet proven, Lotus 18s of non-starters Marsh and Seidel.

The race was completely dominated by Ferrari cars, with the four Ferrari cars finishing 1-2-3-4. This was the last time any constructor achieved this score in a F1 race. Of the four Ferrari cars, three cars were entered by the Scuderia Ferrari works team itself and therefore painted red in the tradition of rosso corsa, the national racing colour of Italy, and privately entered Olivier Gendebien's car was painted in a Belgian racing yellow. Apart from two NART entries in the season this was the last time a Ferrari car wore other than the traditional red colour in Formula One. While Graham Hill took the lead at the start from sixth on the grid, he could not hold off the Italian cars and all had passed him by the end of the first lap. Hill fought with John Surtees for fifth place until he retired with an oil leak on the 24th lap.

Classification Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorGapQ1Q21 4 Phil Hill Ferrari4:06.3 3:59.3—2 2 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari4:04.0 4:00.1 +0.83 8 Olivier Gendebien Ferrari4:05.8 4:03.0 +3.74 24 John Surtees Cooper-Climax4:09.1 4:06.0 +6.756 Richie GintherFerrari4:10.5 4:06.1 +6.86 36 Graham Hill BRM-Climax4:07.6 unknown +8.37 38 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax4:09.8 4:07.9 +8.68 14 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax4:14.3 4:08.2 +8.99 18 Jo Bonnier Porsche4:12.3 4:08.3 +9.010 20 Dan Gurney Porsche4:08.4 4:10.9 +9.111 28 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax4:12.2 4:08.6 +9.31244 Masten GregoryCooper-Climax4:13.5 4:10.2 +10.91340 Jackie LewisCooper-Climax4:18.0 4:11.1 +11.81422 Carel Godin de BeaufortPorsche4:18.7 4:16.7 +17.415 30 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax4:22.9 4:17.4 +18.116 34 Jim Clark Lotus-ClimaxNo time 4:17.7 +18.41746 Lorenzo BandiniCooper-Maserati4:20.8 4:19.0 +19.718 32 Innes Ireland Lotus-ClimaxNo time 4:20.0 +20.719 10 Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax4:27.3 4:20.6 +21.320 26 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati8:54.2 4:21.4 +22.12142 Tony MarshLotus-Climax4:26.8 4:23.2 +23.922 12 Lucien Bianchi Emeryson-Maserati4:27.3 4:49.3 +28.02348 Wolfgang SeidelLotus-Climax4:33.0 4:27.4 +28.12450 Ian BurgessLotus-Climax4:57.2 4:34.6 +35.316 Cliff AllisonLotus-ClimaxNo time No time Source: Drivers that were not guaranteed full starting money: only the top 3 non-guaranteed drivers would receive it. Despite this, Godin de Beaufort and Bandini chose to compete anyway.

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Phil Hill Ferrari 30 2:03:03.8 1 9 2 2 Wolfgang von Trips Ferrari 30 +0.7 secs 2 6 3 6 Richie Ginther Ferrari 30 +19.5 secs 5 4 4 8 Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 30 +45.6 secs 3 3 5 24 John Surtees Cooper-Climax 30 +1:26.8 4 2 6 20 Dan Gurney Porsche 30 +1:31.0 10 1 7 18 Jo Bonnier Porsche 30 +2:47.1 9 8 14 Stirling Moss Lotus-Climax 30 +3:55.6 8 9 40 Jackie Lewis Cooper-Climax 29 +1 Lap 13 10 44 Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 29 +1 Lap 12 11 22 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 28 +2 Laps 14 12 34 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 24 +6 Laps 16 13 38 Tony Brooks BRM-Climax 24 +6 Laps 7 36 Graham Hill BRM-Climax 24 Ignition 6 26 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Maserati 23 Gearbox 20 46 Lorenzo Bandini Cooper-Maserati 20 Wheel Bearing 17 28 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 12 Engine 11 30 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 9 Ignition 15 32 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 9 Engine 18 12 Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 9 Oil Leak 21 10 Willy Mairesse Lotus-Climax 7 Ignition 19 42 Tony Marsh Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute 48 Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute 50 Ian Burgess Lotus-Climax Start Money Dispute 16 Cliff Allison Lotus-Climax Car Damaged in Practice 16 Henry Taylor Lotus-Climax Car Damaged by Allison

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 2 1 Phil Hill 19 2 Wolfgang von Trips 18 2 3 Stirling Moss 12 4 Richie Ginther 12 5 Jim Clark 4Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 22 2 Lotus-Climax 12 1 3 Cooper-Climax 4 1 4 Porsche 3Source:

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

References