1963 United States Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Graham Hill won at Watkins Glen after John Surtees retired from the lead. Richie Ginther completed a BRM one-two, while Jim Clark recovered from a delayed start to finish third.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Graham Hill	BRM
Pole time	1:13.4
Fastest lap	Jim Clark	Lotus
Fastest-lap time	1:14.500 on lap 50
First	Graham Hill	BRM
Second	Richie Ginther	BRM
Third	Jim Clark	Lotus

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
4 October 1963	Friday timed practice	13:10–17:00
5 October 1963	Saturday final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
6 October 1963	Race	Start time unconfirmed

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

Championship background

Jim Clark arrived at round 8 leading the 1963 F1 World Championship on 51 points, with Richie Ginther on 24. Lotus – Climax headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 51 points.

Race entries

Ferrari attended Watkins Glen for the first time. Rodriguez joined Lotus, and local entrants included Ward, Sharp and Broeker, whose Stebro made its championship debut. Ireland was absent after injury, leaving Hall as BRP’s representative. ATS brought further revisions to its cars.

Friday timed practice

Cold conditions did not prevent Hill, Clark and Surtees from breaking the previous benchmark. Hill survived an excursion after his gearbox jumped out of gear and finished fastest. Gurney encountered water in the oil, de Beaufort broke an engine and Ward suffered an oil-pump failure. Several teams faced substantial overnight repairs.

Saturday final qualifying

Oil from Broeker’s car forced a stoppage for cleaning and prevented the leaders improving on Friday. Surtees suffered a suspension-mounting failure and changed cars. Gurney needed another engine, while both Coopers encountered trouble. Taylor’s Lotus briefly caught fire after practice, adding to an already busy preparation period.

Qualifying Classification

The quickest lap across two sessions set the grid. Friday’s times remained decisive after Saturday’s oil spill. The race introduced a dummy-grid procedure before cars rolled forward to their starting positions.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Best Time
1	1	Graham Hill	BRM	1:13.4	1:14.0	1:13.4
2	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:13.5	1:13.9	1:13.5
3	23	John Surtees	Ferrari	(1:13.6)	1:13.7	1:13.7
4	2	Richie Ginther	BRM	1:14.0	1:14.2	1:14.0
5	5	Jack Brabham	Brabham	1:14.3	1:14.2	1:14.2
6	6	Dan Gurney	Brabham	1:15.5	1:14.5	1:14.5
7	9	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	1:15.6	1:16.1	1:15.6
8	17	Masten Gregory	Lola	1:15.6	1:19.0	1:15.6
9	24	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1:15.8	1:16.3	1:15.8
10	4	Tony Maggs	Cooper	1:16.4	1:15.8	1:15.8
11	3	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	1:15.9	1:17.1	1:15.9
12	11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	1:16.4	1:16.3	1:16.3
13	10	Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus	1:17.5	1:16.5	1:16.5
14	14	Jo Siffert	Lotus	1:18.4	1:16.5	1:16.5
15	25	Phil Hill	ATS	1:17.1	1:19.6	1:17.1
16	16	Jim Hall	Lotus	1:18.5	1:17.7	1:17.7
17	18	Rodger Ward	Lotus	1:19.2	No time	1:19.2
18	22	Hap Sharp	Lotus	1:28.5	1:20.0	1:20.0
19	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	1:46.8	1:22.3	1:22.3
20	26	Giancarlo Baghetti	ATS	1:25.2	1:28.7	1:25.2
21	21	Peter Broeker	Stebro	1:28.6	1:28.9	1:28.6

What happened in the 1963 United States Grand Prix?

Clark’s battery failed before the start, leaving him behind while repairs were made. Surtees passed the BRMs and took the lead, with Hill pursuing him and Gurney briefly joining the contest.

Gurney retired, and Hill’s handling deteriorated when an anti-roll-bar mounting came loose. Surtees appeared secure until his Ferrari lost power and retired. Hill inherited the lead while Clark continued a determined recovery.

Hill won ahead of Ginther. Clark passed the troubled Brabham to finish third, followed by Brabham, Bandini and Bonnier. BRM repeated its Monaco one-two as Hill began a successful run of results at Watkins Glen.

After the race, Jim Clark headed the drivers’ standings with 51 points, followed by Richie Ginther on 28. Lotus – Climax led the constructors’ table on 51, with BRM on 35.

1963 United States Grand Prix race results

The 1963 United States Grand Prix was held on 6 October 1963.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	1	Graham Hill	BRM	110	2:19:22.1	9
2	2	Richie Ginther	BRM	110	+ 34.3	6
3	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	109	+ 1 lap	4
4	5	Jack Brabham	Brabham	108	+ 2 laps	3
5	24	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	106	+ 4 laps	2
6	12	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	99	+ 11 laps	1
7	21	Peter Broeker	Stebro	88	+ 22 laps	0
8	11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	85	+ 25 laps	0
9	23	John Surtees	Ferrari	82	Engine	0
10	16	Jim Hall	Lotus	76	Gearbox	0
11	3	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	74	Fuel pump	0
Ret	14	Jo Siffert	Lotus	56	Gearbox	0
Ret	4	Tony Maggs	Cooper	44	Ignition	0
Ret	18	Rodger Ward	Lotus	44	Gearbox	0
Ret	6	Dan Gurney	Brabham	42	Chassis	0
Ret	10	Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus	36	Engine	0
Ret	9	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	24	Electrical	0
Ret	17	Masten Gregory	Lola	14	Engine	0
Ret	22	Hap Sharp	Lotus	6	Retirement	0
Ret	25	Phil Hill	ATS	4	Oil pump	0
Ret	26	Giancarlo Baghetti	ATS	0	Oil Pump	0
WD	7	Walt Hansgen	Lotus			0
WD	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus		Driver injured	0
WD	19	Ernie de Vos	Stebro		No car	0

1963 United States Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	8	Jim Clark	Lotus	50	1:14.500

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

1963 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1963 United States Grand Prix.

1963 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	51
2	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	28
3	Graham Hill	British	BRM	22
4	John Surtees	British	Ferrari	22
5	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	14
6	Dan Gurney	American	Brabham	12
7	Tony Maggs	South African	Cooper	9
8	Jack Brabham	Australian	Lotus / Brabham	8
9	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus / BRP	6
10	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	BRM / Ferrari	4
11	Gerhard Mitter	German	Porsche	3
12	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Cooper	3
13	Jim Hall	American	Lotus	3
14	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	2
15	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus	1
16	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	1
17	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Italian	Ferrari	1
–	Chris Amon	New Zealander	Lola	0
–	Peter Broeker	Canadian	Stebro	0
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Lola / Lotus / BRM	0
–	Mike Hailwood	British	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Tony Settember	American	Scirocco	0
–	Bernard Collomb	French	Lotus	0
–	Phil Hill	American	ATS / Lotus	0
–	Masten Gregory	American	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Bob Anderson	British	Lola	0
–	John Campbell-Jones	British	Lotus / Lola	0
–	Mike Spence	British	Lotus	0
–	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	ATS	0
–	Willy Mairesse	Belgian	Ferrari	0
–	Lucien Bianchi	Belgian	Lola	0
–	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Portuguese	Cooper	0
–	Rodger Ward	American	Lotus	0
–	Ian Burgess	British	Scirocco	0
–	Pedro Rodríguez	Mexican	Lotus	0
–	Ian Raby	British	Gilby	0
–	Hap Sharp	American	Lotus	0
–	Peter Arundell	British	Lotus	0
–	Walt Hansgen	American	Lotus	0
–	Nasif Estéfano	Argentine	De Tomaso	0
–	Ernie de Vos	Dutch	Stebro	0
–	Günther Seiffert	German	Lotus	0
–	Carlo Abate	Italian	Porsche	0
–	Gaetano Starrabba	Italian	Lotus	0

1963 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Lotus – Climax	51
2	BRM	35
3	Ferrari	24
4	Cooper – Climax	21
5	Brabham – Climax	18
6	BRP – BRM	6
7	Porsche	5
8	Lotus – BRM	4
—	Lola – Climax	0
—	Stebro – Ford	0
—	Scirocco – BRM	0
—	ATS	0
—	Gilby – BRM	0
—	Lotus – Borgward	0
—	Cooper – Maserati	0
—	De Tomaso – Ferrari	0

Drivers and constructors counted their best 6 results. Only the highest-placed eligible car for each constructor could score constructor points.

1963 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1963 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	26 May
2	1963 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	9 June
3	1963 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	23 June
4	1963 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	30 June
5	1963 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	20 July
6	1963 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	4 August
7	1963 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	8 September
8	1963 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	6 October
9	1963 Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	27 October
10	1963 South African Grand Prix	Prince George Circuit, East London	28 December