1962 South African Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Graham Hill became World Champion as South Africa hosted its first championship Grand Prix. Jim Clark had led convincingly before an oil leak ended his challenge, leaving Hill to win ahead of Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jim Clark	Lotus
Pole time	1:29.3
Fastest lap	Jim Clark	Lotus
Fastest-lap time	1:31.000 on lap 3
First	Graham Hill	BRM
Second	Bruce McLaren	Cooper
Third	Tony Maggs	Cooper

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
26 December 1962	Wednesday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
27 December 1962	Thursday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
28 December 1962	Friday final qualifying	06:00
29 December 1962	Race	15:00

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

Championship background

Graham Hill arrived at round 9 leading the 1962 F1 World Championship on 39 points, with Jim Clark on 30. BRM headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 39 points.

Race entries

The title contenders joined a strong local contingent at East London. Neville Lederle, Ernie Pieterse, John Love, Doug Serrurier and Mike Harris were among the newcomers. Gary Hocking’s fatal accident at the preceding Durban meeting cast a shadow over the event; his entry did not become a start here.

Wednesday timed practice

A strong coastal wind complicated the opening session. Hill switched back to his familiar BRM after the newer car’s engine tightened. Clark also stopped in his new Lotus, while the fuel-injected spare misfired. Harris damaged his engine bearings, and neither McLaren nor Taylor was ready to run. Hill nevertheless established the early benchmark.

Thursday timed practice

Threatening rain encouraged immediate running once filming laps had finished. Clark broke new ground in the fuel-injected Lotus, but Taylor spun twice on the slippery surface. Surtees lost gears, Ginther suffered an electrical fire in the pits, and McLaren’s cooling problems were traced partly to a cracked water pump. Rain arrived before the session ended.

Friday final qualifying

The early start offered calmer, cooler conditions. Clark recorded the outright fastest lap in the fuel-injected spare, but Lotus rejected that car for the race because of reliability concerns. His eligible race-car time still earned pole. Hill overcame further engine trouble to qualify alongside him, while Surtees ended the session without brakes.

Qualifying Classification

Three timed sessions preceded Saturday’s race. Times in the discarded fuel-injected Lotus did not count for Clark or Taylor’s race cars. Bruce Johnstone was admitted at the back without a qualifying time after engine trouble prevented practice.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Timed session 3	Best Time
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:38.5	1:29.8	1:29.3	1:29.3
2	3	Graham Hill	BRM	1:33.1	1:30.0	1:29.6	1:29.6
3	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham	No time	1:32.3	1:31.0	1:31.0
4	11	Innes Ireland	Lotus	No time	1:33.6	1:31.1	1:31.1
5	6	John Surtees	Lola	1:35.5	1:36.1	1:31.5	1:31.5
6	9	Tony Maggs	Cooper	1:39.7	1:31.7	1:32.7	1:31.7
7	4	Richie Ginther	BRM	1:34.0	1:32.8	1:31.7	1:31.7
8	8	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	No time	1:33.0	1:31.7	1:31.7
9	2	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	No time	1:32.7	(1:30.9)	1:32.7
10	20	Neville Lederle	Lotus	No time	1:36.0	1:33.6	1:33.6
11	7	Roy Salvadori	Lola	1:37.0	1:35.4	No time	1:35.4
12	18	John Love	Cooper	No time	1:36.4	1:37.6	1:36.4
13	14	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus	No time	1:37.3	1:36.8	1:36.8
14	21	Doug Serrurier	LDS	1:38.7	1:37.2	1:36.8	1:36.8
15	22	Mike Harris	Cooper	1:40.2	No time	1:39.1	1:39.1
16	15	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	No time	1:39.3	1:39.2	1:39.2
17	5	Bruce Johnstone	BRM	—	—	—	No time

Bruce Johnstone was unable to set a time in qualifying due to engine problems, and consequently had to start from the back of the grid.

What happened in the 1962 South African Grand Prix?

Clark made a clean start and steadily pulled away from Hill. Victory would have given him the title on retained results regardless of the BRM’s finishing position, so the championship remained finely poised despite Hill’s points lead.

The Lotus looked secure until an oil leak forced Clark to stop with twenty laps remaining. Hill inherited the lead and brought the BRM home, turning a difficult preparation into the decisive victory.

McLaren and local favourite Maggs completed the podium, followed by Brabham, Ireland and Lederle. Hill secured his first drivers’ title, and BRM also won the manufacturers’ championship.

After the race, Graham Hill headed the drivers’ standings with 42 points, followed by Jim Clark on 30. BRM led the constructors’ table on 42, with Lotus – Climax on 36.

1962 South African Grand Prix race results

The 1962 South African Grand Prix was held on 29 December 1962, with a scheduled start of 15:00 local time.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	3	Graham Hill	BRM	82	2:08:03.3	9
2	8	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	82	+ 49.8	6
3	9	Tony Maggs	Cooper	82	+ 50.3	4
4	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham	82	+ 53.8	3
5	11	Innes Ireland	Lotus	81	+ 1 Lap	2
6	20	Neville Lederle	Lotus	78	+ 4 Laps	1
7	4	Richie Ginther	BRM	78	+ 4 Laps	0
8	18	John Love	Cooper	78	+ 4 Laps	0
9	5	Bruce Johnstone	BRM	76	+ 6 Laps	0
10	14	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus	71	+ 11 Laps	0
11	15	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	70	Fuel System	0
Ret	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	61	Oil Leak	0
Ret	21	Doug Serrurier	LDS	62	Radiator	0
Ret	7	Roy Salvadori	Lola	56	Fuel Leak	0
Ret	22	Mike Harris	Cooper	31	Wheel Bearing	0
Ret	6	John Surtees	Lola	26	Engine	0
Ret	2	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	11	Gearbox	0
WD	12	Gary Hocking	Lotus		Driver killed prior to event	0
WD	16	Syd van der Vyver	Lotus		Car damaged	0
WD	17	Tony Settember	Emeryson			0
WD	19	Sam Tingle	Lotus		Driver competing elsewhere	0

1962 South African Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	3	1:31.000

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

1962 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1962 South African Grand Prix.

1962 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Graham Hill	British	BRM	42
2	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	30
3	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	27
4	John Surtees	British	Lola	19
5	Dan Gurney	American	Porsche / Lotus	15
6	Phil Hill	American	Ferrari	14
7	Tony Maggs	South African	Cooper	13
8	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	10
9	Jack Brabham	Australian	Lotus / Brabham	9
10	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	6
11	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	Ferrari	5
12	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	Ferrari	4
13	Ricardo Rodríguez	Mexican	Ferrari	4
14	Willy Mairesse	Belgian	Ferrari	3
15	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Porsche	3
16	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus	2
17	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	2
18	Masten Gregory	American	Lotus / Lotus	1
19	Neville Lederle	South African	Lotus	1
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Lotus	0
–	Jackie Lewis	British	Cooper / BRM / Cooper	0
–	John Love	Rhodesian	Cooper	0
–	Nino Vaccarella	Italian	Lotus / Porsche	0
–	Lucien Bianchi	Belgian	Lotus / ENB	0
–	Roger Penske	American	Lotus	0
–	Bruce Johnstone	South African	BRM	0
–	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus / Lotus	0
–	Rob Schroeder	British	Lotus	0
–	Ernie Pieterse	South African	Lotus	0
–	Ian Burgess	British	Cooper	0
–	Tony Settember	American	Emeryson	0
–	John Campbell-Jones	British	Lotus / Emeryson	0
–	Hap Sharp	American	Cooper	0
–	Heini Walter	Swiss	Porsche	0
–	Jay Chamberlain	American	Lotus	0
–	Roy Salvadori	British	Lola	0
–	Doug Serrurier	South African	LDS	0
–	Wolfgang Seidel	German	Emeryson / Lotus	0
–	Mike Harris	South African	Cooper	0
–	Timmy Mayer	American	Cooper	0
–	Peter Arundell	British	Lotus	0
–	Gary Hocking	Rhodesian	Lotus	0
–	Tony Marsh	British	BRM	0
–	Syd van der Vyver	South African	Lotus	0
–	Keith Greene	British	Lotus / Gilby	0
–	Ben Pon	Dutch	Porsche	0
–	Colin Davis	British	Porsche	0
–	Jim Hall	American	Lotus	0
–	Rob Slotemaker	Dutch	Porsche	0
–	Carlo Abate	Italian	Lotus	0
–	Tony Shelly	New Zealander	Lotus / Lotus	0
–	Sam Tingle	Rhodesian	Lotus	0
–	Roberto Bussinello	Italian	De Tomaso	0
–	Gerry Ashmore	British	BRM / Lotus	0
–	Heinz Schiller	Swiss	Porsche / Lotus	0
–	Bernard Collomb	French	Cooper	0
–	Kurt Kuhnke	German	Lotus	0

1962 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	BRM	42
2	Lotus – Climax	36
3	Cooper – Climax	29
4	Lola – Climax	19
5	Porsche	18
6	Ferrari	18
7	Brabham – Climax	6
8	Lotus – BRM	1
—	Emeryson – Climax	0
—	ENB – Maserati	0
—	Gilby – BRM	0
—	De Tomaso – OSCA	0
—	De Tomaso	0
—	LDS – Alfa Romeo	0
—	Cooper – Alfa Romeo	0

Drivers and constructors counted their best 5 results. Only the highest-placed eligible car for each constructor could score constructor points.

1962 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1962 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	20 May
2	1962 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	3 June
3	1962 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	17 June
4	1962 French Grand Prix	Rouen-les-Essarts, Rouen	8 July
5	1962 British Grand Prix	Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool	21 July
6	1962 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	5 August
7	1962 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	16 September
8	1962 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	7 October
9	1962 South African Grand Prix	Prince George Circuit, East London	29 December