1961 French Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Giancarlo Baghetti won on his World Championship debut after a thrilling final-lap contest with Dan Gurney at Reims. Ferrari’s newcomer rescued victory on a day when the established works drivers all ran into trouble.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Pole time	2:24.9
Fastest lap	Phil Hill	Ferrari
Fastest-lap time	2:27.100 on lap
First	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari
Second	Dan Gurney	Porsche
Third	Jim Clark	Lotus

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
28 June 1961	Wednesday timed practice	18:00–20:00
29 June 1961	Thursday timed practice	18:00–20:00
30 June 1961	Friday final qualifying	18:00–20:00
2 July 1961	Race	Start time unconfirmed

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

Phil Hill arrived at round 4 leading the 1961 F1 World Championship on 19 points, with Wolfgang von Trips on 18. Ferrari headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 22 points.

Race entries

Baghetti joined the regular Ferrari trio in the FISA-entered car. Lucien Bianchi replaced the injured Cliff Allison at UDT-Laystall, while De Tomaso appeared with an OSCA-powered machine for Giorgio Scarlatti. A large field was accepted without Monaco-style guaranteed qualifying places.

Wednesday timed practice

Ferrari dominated the opening evening, although Moss used von Trips’s slipstream to gain a valuable time. Phil Hill responded with the lap that would ultimately secure pole. Porsche had not arrived. Timing followed car numbers rather than the driver actually aboard, so Taylor’s lap in Bianchi’s car was wrongly attributed to the absent Belgian.

Thursday timed practice

Rising temperatures softened the road surface. Porsche arrived, while Clark suffered engine trouble and Surtees damaged his engine before struggling with the spare car’s gears. Baghetti accumulated experience among the established drivers. Ginther tested an alternative engine cover without finding an advantage, and an ordinary road car briefly entered the closed circuit.

Friday final qualifying

Ferrari mainly checked its cars rather than chasing faster times. Baghetti continued learning in close company, while the British and Porsche drivers searched for slipstream gains. Mairesse borrowed the spare works Lotus after Clark’s car was repaired. Hill’s opening-evening time remained unbeaten, giving Ferrari another front-row lockout.

Qualifying Classification

Qualifying comprised three evening practice sessions from Wednesday to Friday. Saturday was left free before Sunday’s race. The timing attribution problem involving Bianchi and Taylor is preserved in the accompanying classification notes.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Timed session 3	Best Time
1	16	Phil Hill	Ferrari	2:24.9	No time	2:30.0	2:24.9
2	20	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	2:26.4	No time	2:28.7	2:26.4
3	18	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	2:27.4	2:27.0	2:26.8	2:26.8
4	26	Stirling Moss	Lotus	2:27.6	2:31.0	2:32.3	2:27.6
5	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	2:30.3	2:33.7	2:29.0	2:29.0
6	22	Graham Hill	BRM	2:29.1	2:30.4	2:32.0	2:29.1
7	40	John Surtees	Cooper	2:33.3	2:32.2	2:29.1	2:29.1
8	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	2:31.3	2:30.4	2:29.4	2:29.4
9	12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	No time	2:31.1	2:29.6	2:29.6
10	6	Innes Ireland	Lotus	2:30.2	2:30.5	2:29.8	2:29.8
11	24	Tony Brooks	BRM	2:32.3	2:31.6	2:29.9	2:29.9
12	50	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	2:30.9	2:30.9	2:30.5	2:30.5
13	10	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	No time	No time	2:30.5	2:30.5
14	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper	2:31.0	2:33.1	2:33.0	2:31.0
15	42	Roy Salvadori	Cooper	2:31.2	2:31.3	2:35.3	2:31.2
16	36	Masten Gregory	Cooper	2:31.9	2:31.3	2:33.0	2:31.3
17	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	No time	2:33.2	2:31.8	2:31.8
18	44	Jackie Lewis	Cooper	2:33.0	2:32.0	No time	2:32.0
19	28	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus	2:33.8	2:33.4	2:34.2	2:33.4
20	48	Willy Mairesse	Lotus	No time	No time	2:35.8	2:35.8
21	52	Bernard Collomb	Cooper	2:39.1	No time	2:36.8	2:36.8
22	46	Michael May	Lotus	No time	2:40.2	2:37.9	2:37.9
23	32	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	No time	2:38.8	No time	2:38.8
24	38	Ian Burgess	Lotus	2:44.7	2:40.9	2:39.7	2:39.7
25	30	Henry Taylor	Lotus	No time	3:14.2	2:40.3	2:40.3
26	34	Giorgio Scarlatti	De Tomaso	No time	2:47.3	2:47.1	2:47.1

What happened in the 1961 French Grand Prix?

The works Ferraris initially controlled the race, but the heat and loose surface produced a succession of problems. Von Trips retired with engine trouble, Phil Hill spun and collided with the lapped Moss, and Ginther lost oil pressure.

Baghetti had been fighting in a tightly packed group behind them. As the leaders disappeared, his contest with the Porsches became the battle for victory. Bonnier encountered trouble, leaving Gurney and Baghetti to settle the race.

Baghetti used the slipstream on the final run to the line and beat Gurney by a tiny margin. Clark finished third ahead of Ireland, McLaren and Graham Hill. It was a remarkable championship debut, although Baghetti had already won non-championship Formula One races.

After the race, Phil Hill headed the drivers’ standings with 19 points, followed by Wolfgang von Trips on 18. Ferrari led the constructors’ table on 30, with Lotus – Climax on 16.

1961 French Grand Prix race results

The 1961 French Grand Prix was held on 2 July 1961.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	50	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	52	2:14:17.5	9
2	12	Dan Gurney	Porsche	52	+0.1	6
3	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	52	+1:01.0	4
4	6	Innes Ireland	Lotus	52	+1:10.3	3
5	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	52	+1:41.8	2
6	22	Graham Hill	BRM	52	+1:41.9	1
7	10	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	52	+3:15.4	0
8	42	Roy Salvadori	Cooper	51	+1 Lap	0
9	16	Phil Hill	Ferrari	50	+2 Laps	0
10	30	Henry Taylor	Lotus	49	+3 Laps	0
11	46	Michael May	Lotus	48	+4 Laps	0
12	36	Masten Gregory	Cooper	43	+9 Laps	0
13	32	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	42	+10 Laps	0
14	38	Ian Burgess	Lotus	42	+10 Laps	0
15	18	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	40	Oil Pressure	0
Ret	26	Stirling Moss	Lotus	31	Brakes	0
Ret	48	Willy Mairesse	Lotus	27	Engine	0
Ret	14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	23	Overheating	0
Ret	28	Lucien Bianchi	Lotus	21	Overheating	0
Ret	20	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	18	Engine	0
Ret	34	Giorgio Scarlatti	De Tomaso	15	Engine	0
Ret	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper	14	Oil Pressure	0
Ret	52	Bernard Collomb	Cooper	6	Engine	0
Ret	40	John Surtees	Cooper	4	Accident	0
Ret	24	Tony Brooks	BRM	4	Overheating	0
Ret	44	Jackie Lewis	Cooper	4	Overheating	0
DNS	46	Wolfgang Seidel	Lotus		Practice only – May’s car	0
DNS	28	Juan Manuel Bordeu	Lotus		Practice only – UDT Laystall T-car	0
WD	46	Olivier Gendebien	Emeryson		Entry taken by May	0
WD	14	Hans Herrmann	Porsche		Car taken by de Beaufort	0
DNA	54	Brian Naylor	JBW		Car not ready	0

1961 French Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	16	Phil Hill	Ferrari		2:27.100

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. No fastest-lap bonus point was awarded.

1961 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1961 French Grand Prix.

1961 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Phil Hill	American	Ferrari	19
2	Wolfgang von Trips	German	Ferrari	18
3	Stirling Moss	British	Lotus	12
4	Richie Ginther	American	Ferrari	12
5	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	Ferrari	9
6	Dan Gurney	American	Porsche	9
7	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	8
8	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus	3
9	Olivier Gendebien	Belgian	Emeryson / Ferrari	3
10	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	3
11	John Surtees	British	Cooper	2
12	Graham Hill	British	BRM	1
13	Jack Brabham	Australian	Cooper	1
–	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Porsche	0
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Cooper	0
–	Cliff Allison	British	Lotus	0
–	Roy Salvadori	British	Cooper	0
–	Tony Brooks	British	BRM	0
–	Hans Herrmann	German	Porsche	0
–	Jackie Lewis	British	Cooper	0
–	Masten Gregory	American	Cooper	0
–	Henry Taylor	British	Lotus	0
–	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	0
–	Michael May	Swiss	Lotus	0
–	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	0
–	Ian Burgess	British	Lotus	0
–	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	Cooper	0
–	Willy Mairesse	Belgian	Lotus	0
–	Lucien Bianchi	Belgian	Emeryson / Lotus	0
–	Giorgio Scarlatti	Italian	De Tomaso	0
–	Tony Marsh	British	Lotus	0
–	Wolfgang Seidel	German	Lotus	0
–	Bernard Collomb	French	Cooper	0
–	Juan Manuel Bordeu	Argentine	Lotus	0
–	Brian Naylor	British	JBW	0

1961 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Ferrari	30
2	Lotus – Climax	16
3	Porsche	9
4	Cooper – Climax	6
5	BRM – Climax	1
—	Cooper – Maserati	0
—	Emeryson – Maserati	0
—	De Tomaso – OSCA	0
—	JBW – Climax	0

Drivers and constructors counted their best 5 results. Only the highest-placed eligible car for each constructor could score constructor points. A victory earned nine driver points but eight constructor points.

1961 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1961 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	14 May
2	1961 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	22 May
3	1961 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	18 June
4	1961 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	2 July
5	1961 British Grand Prix	Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool	15 July
6	1961 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	6 August
7	1961 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	10 September
8	1961 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	8 October