The 1962 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 17 June 1962. It was race 3 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This race was notable for being the first Grand Prix win for Jim Clark, and the first of four consecutive victories at Spa for the Scotsman (despite thoroughly disliking the circuit) and Team Lotus. It was also the first win for the famous Lotus 25, and the beginning of the famous 6-year-long rivalry between Clark and Graham Hill. This race was held the same day as the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final in Santiago, Chile, but that event took place later in the day from this Grand Prix.

The Porsche factory team skipped this race due to large metal workers' union strikes in (West) Germany. While Carel Godin de Beaufort raced his private 718, Jo Bonnier remained absent and Dan Gurney practised with a private Lotus-BRM, but did not start.

Ricardo Rodríguez became the youngest driver to score championship points (20 years, 123 days), a record which stood for 38 years before Jenson Button, aged 20 years, 67 days, broke it at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix. Trevor Taylor and Willy Mairesse were fighting for 2nd place until the 2 cars touched, crashed into a ditch and Mairesse's car landed upside down and caught fire. Both drivers were thrown out of their cars, but were unhurt.

Classification

Qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorGapQ1Q21 1 Graham Hill BRM4:01.23:57.0—2 25 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax4:04.73:58.8 +1.83 17 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax3:59.34:00.5 +2.34 9 Phil Hill Ferrari3:59.83:59.6 +2.65 20 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax4:05.13:59.8 +2.86 10 Willy Mairesse Ferrari4:01.43:59.8 +2.87 12 Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari4:05.14:01.0 +4.08 21 Masten Gregory Lotus-BRM4:05.74:01.0 +4.09 2 Richie Ginther BRM4:04.34:01.4 +4.410 26 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax4:22.64:03.6 +6.611 5 John Surtees Lola-Climax4:29.04:04.4 +7.412 16 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax4:09.24:04.9 +7.913 7 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche4:12.64:07.7 +10.714 11 Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari4:08.0No time +11.015 15 Jack Brabham Lotus-ClimaxNo time4:08.2 +11.216 18 Maurice Trintignant Lotus-Climax4:35.54:09.2 +12.217 22 Jo Siffert Lotus-Climax4:11.64:17.1 +14.618 19 Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax4:25.44:18.0 +21.019 4 John Campbell-Jones Lotus-ClimaxNo time4:26.9 +29.920 23 Dan Gurney Lotus-BRMNo time6:42.2 +2:45.2Source:

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 16 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 32 2:07:32.3 12 9 2 1 Graham Hill BRM 32 + 44.1 1 6 3 9 Phil Hill Ferrari 32 + 2:06.5 4 4 4 12 Ricardo Rodríguez Ferrari 32 + 2:06.6 7 3 5 5 John Surtees Lola-Climax 31 + 1 Lap 11 2 6 15 Jack Brabham Lotus-Climax 30 + 2 Laps 15 1 7 7 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 30 + 2 Laps 13   8 18 Maurice Trintignant Lotus-Climax 30 + 2 Laps 16   9 19 Lucien Bianchi Lotus-Climax 29 + 3 Laps 18   10 22 Jo Siffert Lotus-Climax 29 + 3 Laps 17   11 4 John Campbell-Jones Lotus-Climax 16 + 16 Laps 19   17 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 25 Accident 3   10 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 25 Accident 6   2 Richie Ginther BRM 22 Gearbox 9   26 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 22 Gearbox 10   25 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 19 Wheel bearing 2   21 Masten Gregory Lotus-BRM 13 Withdrew 8   20 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 8 Suspension 5   11 Giancarlo Baghetti Ferrari 3 Ignition 14   23 Dan Gurney Lotus-BRM Car unraceworthy 3 Tony Marsh BRM Car not ready 4 Jackie Lewis BRM 4 Gerry Ashmore BRM 6 Roy Salvadori Lola-Climax 8 Heinz Schiller Porsche 24 Jo Bonnier Porsche

Dan Gurney practiced in a Lotus-BRM owned by Wolfgang Seidel, but after a few laps he deemed the car unraceworthy. Gurney was also entered by the works Porsche team, along with Jo Bonnier, but the team withdrew after the factory was hit by strike action. The #4 entry was originally allocated to Lewis, then to Ashmore on Lewis' withdrawal. After Ashmore also withdrew, the slot was filled by John Campbell-Jones. Lucien Bianchi was originally entered as #14, in a Porsche prepared by Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia, but withdrew. He later took #19 and drove Equipe National Belge's Lotus.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Graham Hill 16 2 Phil Hill 14 11 3 Jim Clark 9 1 4 Bruce McLaren 9 1 5 Trevor Taylor 6Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 BRM 16 2 2 Lotus-Climax 15 3 Ferrari 14 3 4 Cooper-Climax 11 5 Lola-Climax 5Source:

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

References