1962 United States Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Jim Clark kept the title contest alive with victory at Watkins Glen. Graham Hill finished second, leaving the championship to be decided in South Africa, while Bruce McLaren completed the podium.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jim Clark	Lotus
Pole time	1:15.8
Fastest lap	Jim Clark	Lotus
Fastest-lap time	1:15.000 on lap 70
First	Jim Clark	Lotus
Second	Graham Hill	BRM
Third	Bruce McLaren	Cooper

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
5 October 1962	Friday timed practice	13:00–17:00
6 October 1962	Saturday final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
7 October 1962	Race	Start time unconfirmed

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 8 leading the 1962 F1 World Championship on 36 points, with Bruce McLaren on 22. BRM headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 37 points.

Race entries

Ferrari missed the trip, leaving Phil Hill without a race entry at home. Roger Penske, Timmy Mayer, Hap Sharp, Jim Hall and Bob Schroeder joined the visiting teams. Brabham returned with his own car after further development, while Lotus hoped rebuilt gearboxes would cure its Monza problems.

Friday timed practice

The track dried after morning rain, allowing an increasingly fierce contest for pole. Teams worked on suspension settings for the bumps, while Jo Bonnier struggled with back pain. Clark eventually beat the outright circuit record. Surtees then crashed heavily after a steering arm failed; he escaped serious injury, but his Lola was wrecked.

Saturday final qualifying

Rain prevented improvements and shifted the emphasis to wet-weather preparation. Hill was initially much quicker than Clark, although they matched times as conditions improved. Ireland and Gregory arrived late after engine work. Surtees took over Salvadori’s Lola, while Phil Hill tried Bonnier’s Porsche in case the Swede’s back prevented him from racing.

Qualifying Classification

Friday’s dry times determined the leading grid positions. Clark took pole ahead of Ginther and Hill; the two timed days were not modern knockout qualifying sessions.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Best Time
1	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:15.8	1:22.1	1:15.8
2	5	Richie Ginther	BRM	1:16.6	1:24.0	1:16.6
3	4	Graham Hill	BRM	1:16.7	1:22.1	1:16.7
4	10	Dan Gurney	Porsche	1:16.9	1:24.2	1:16.9
5	17	Jack Brabham	Brabham	1:16.9	1:27.8	1:16.9
6	21	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	1:17.1	1:24.5	1:17.1
7	16	Masten Gregory	Lotus	1:17.9	No time	1:17.9
8	9	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	1:18.0	1:28.7	1:18.0
9	11	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	1:19.0	1:28.4	1:19.0
10	22	Tony Maggs	Cooper	1:19.7	1:30.8	1:19.7
11	19	Roy Salvadori	Lola	1:19.8	1:33.5	1:19.8
12	23	Timmy Mayer	Cooper	1:20.7	1:29.2	1:20.7
13	14	Roger Penske	Lotus	1:21.3	1:28.9	1:21.3
14	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1:21.8	1:26.3	1:21.8
15	24	Hap Sharp	Cooper	1:22.4	No time	1:22.4
16	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus	1:24.0	1:25.8	1:24.0
17	26	Rob Schroeder	Lotus	1:24.0	1:28.8	1:24.0
18	25	Jim Hall	Lotus	1:24.7	No time	1:24.7
19	6	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus	1:25.8	1:28.5	1:25.8
20	18	John Surtees	Lola	(1:18.1)	1:29.2	1:29.2
	11	Phil Hill	Porsche	—	1:32.6	1:32.6

What happened in the 1962 United States Grand Prix?

Clark led away, with Hill moving into second. Traffic briefly allowed the BRM into the lead, but Clark regained control and steadily increased his advantage. Ginther’s promising run ended when gearbox trouble led to an engine failure.

McLaren passed Gurney for third as the Porsche began losing performance. Brabham also moved ahead of Gurney, earning the first championship points for a car bearing his own name.

Clark won from Hill, with both men a lap clear of McLaren. Brabham, Gurney and Gregory completed the points. Clark remained nine points behind Hill, but the retained-results rules meant a victory at the finale could still make him champion.

After the race, Graham Hill headed the drivers’ standings with 39 points, followed by Jim Clark on 30. BRM led the constructors’ table on 39, with Lotus – Climax on 36.

1962 United States Grand Prix race results

The 1962 United States Grand Prix was held on 7 October 1962.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	100	2:07:13.0	9
2	4	Graham Hill	BRM	100	+ 9.2	6
3	21	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	99	+ 1 Lap	4
4	17	Jack Brabham	Brabham	99	+ 1 Lap	3
5	10	Dan Gurney	Porsche	99	+ 1 Lap	2
6	16	Masten Gregory	Lotus	99	+ 1 Lap	1
7	22	Tony Maggs	Cooper	97	+ 3 Laps	0
8	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus	96	+ 4 Laps	0
9	14	Roger Penske	Lotus	96	+ 4 Laps	0
10	26	Rob Schroeder	Lotus	93	+ 7 Laps	0
11	24	Hap Sharp	Cooper	91	+ 9 Laps	0
12	9	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	85	+ 15 Laps	0
13	11	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	79	+ 21 Laps	0
Ret	5	Richie Ginther	BRM	35	Engine	0
Ret	6	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus	32	Brakes	0
Ret	23	Timmy Mayer	Cooper	31	Ignition	0
Ret	18	John Surtees	Lola	19	Engine	0
Ret	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	9	Accident	0
DNS	19	Roy Salvadori	Lola		Car raced by Surtees	0
DNS	25	Jim Hall	Lotus		Engine in practice	0
DNS	11	Phil Hill	Porsche		Car raced by Bonnier	0

1962 United States Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	70	1:15.000

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 United States Grand Prix.

1962 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Graham Hill	British	BRM	39
2	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	30
3	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	24
4	John Surtees	British	Lola	19
5	Dan Gurney	American	Porsche / Lotus	15
6	Phil Hill	American	Ferrari	14
7	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	10
8	Tony Maggs	South African	Cooper	9
9	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	6
10	Jack Brabham	Australian	Lotus / Brabham	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	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	2
17	Masten Gregory	American	Lotus / Lotus	1
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Lotus	0
–	Jackie Lewis	British	Cooper / BRM / Cooper	0
–	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus	0
–	Nino Vaccarella	Italian	Lotus / Porsche	0
–	Lucien Bianchi	Belgian	Lotus / ENB	0
–	Roger Penske	American	Lotus	0
–	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus / Lotus	0
–	Rob Schroeder	British	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
–	Wolfgang Seidel	German	Emeryson / Lotus	0
–	Timmy Mayer	American	Cooper	0
–	Peter Arundell	British	Lotus	0
–	Tony Marsh	British	BRM	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
–	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	39
2	Lotus – Climax	36
3	Cooper – Climax	27
4	Lola – Climax	19
5	Porsche	18
6	Ferrari	18
7	Brabham – Climax	3
8	Lotus – BRM	1
—	Emeryson – Climax	0
—	ENB – Maserati	0
—	Gilby – BRM	0
—	De Tomaso – OSCA	0
—	De Tomaso	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