1964 Mexican Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Dan Gurney won a dramatic Mexican Grand Prix as John Surtees secured the World Championship by a single point. Jim Clark’s late retirement and Ferrari’s final-lap reshuffle transformed the title outcome.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jim Clark	Lotus
Pole time	1:57.24
Fastest lap	Jim Clark	Lotus
Fastest-lap time	1:58.370 on lap
First	Dan Gurney	Brabham
Second	John Surtees	Ferrari
Third	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
23 October 1964	Friday timed practice	13:00–17:00
24 October 1964	Saturday final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
25 October 1964	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 10 leading the 1964 F1 World Championship on 39 points, with John Surtees on 34. Ferrari headed the constructors’ standings after the preceding race with 43 points.

Race entries

Hill, Surtees and Clark arrived with a chance of becoming champion. Ferrari retained its North American Racing Team colours and added Rodriguez, while Solana joined Lotus. Honda was absent. The thin air required extensive changes to mixture and cooling across the field.

Friday timed practice

Clark compared the older and newer Lotus cars and found strong pace in the latter. Surtees suffered an engine failure and struggled with his alternative Ferrari. Overheating and fuel-system problems affected much of the field, while Phil Hill’s long-running electrical difficulty was finally traced more closely. A fault in the electronic timing equipment required hand-recorded times to replace unreliable readings.

Saturday final qualifying

Clark committed to the Lotus 33 and retained pole. Neither Ferrari driver improved on Friday, and Hill remained short of pace before engine trouble struck both his BRMs. Taylor needed a replacement engine, while Spence continued investigating excessive fuel-pump current. McLaren and several independent entrants improved, but Clark remained the clear qualifying benchmark.

Qualifying Classification

Two afternoon sessions determined the grid. The championship used each driver’s best six results, so retained points—not simply all points earned—would decide the title.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Best Time
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:57.24
2	6	Dan Gurney	Brabham	1:58.10
3	8	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1:58.60
4	7	John Surtees	Ferrari	1:58.70
5	2	Mike Spence	Lotus	1:59.21
6	3	Graham Hill	BRM	1:59.80
7	5	Jack Brabham	Brabham	1:59.99
8	16	Jo Bonnier	Brabham	2:00.17
9	18	Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari	2:00.90
10	9	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	2:01.12
11	4	Richie Ginther	BRM	2:01.15
12	15	Chris Amon	Lotus	2:01.17
13	22	Jo Siffert	Brabham	2:01.37
14	17	Moisés Solana	Lotus	2:01.43
15	10	Phil Hill	Cooper	2:02.00
16	11	Innes Ireland	BRP	2:02.35
17	14	Mike Hailwood	Lotus	2:04.11
18	12	Trevor Taylor	BRP	2:04.90
19	23	Hap Sharp	Brabham	2:06.90

What happened in the 1964 Mexican Grand Prix?

Clark led from pole, with Gurney second. Hill and Bandini fought behind them until contact sent Hill spinning and damaged his exhaust. With Hill delayed and Surtees further back, Clark appeared on course to retain the championship.

An oil-system failure then stopped Clark’s Lotus near the finish. Gurney inherited the lead, but Surtees still needed to pass Bandini to take the title. Ferrari signalled its drivers, and Bandini allowed Surtees through.

Gurney won, Surtees finished second and Bandini third. Surtees became champion with 40 retained points to Hill’s 39, despite Hill having earned more points before dropped scores were applied. Ferrari also secured the constructors’ championship in a remarkable finale.

After the race, John Surtees headed the drivers’ standings with 40 points, followed by Graham Hill on 39. Ferrari led the constructors’ table on 45, with BRM on 42.

1964 Mexican Grand Prix race results

The 1964 Mexican Grand Prix was held on 25 October 1964.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	6	Dan Gurney	Brabham	65	2:09:50.32	9
2	7	John Surtees	Ferrari	65	+ 1:08.94	6
3	8	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	65	+ 1:09.63	4
4	2	Mike Spence	Lotus	65	+ 1:21.86	3
5	1	Jim Clark	Lotus	64	Engine/Oil line	2
6	18	Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari	64	+ 1 lap	1
7	9	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	64	+ 1 lap	0
8	4	Richie Ginther	BRM	64	+ 1 lap	0
9	10	Phil Hill	Cooper	63	Engine	0
10	17	Moisés Solana	Lotus	63	+ 2 laps	0
11	3	Graham Hill	BRM	63	+ 2 laps	0
12	11	Innes Ireland	BRP	61	+ 4 laps	0
13	23	Hap Sharp	Brabham	60	+ 5 laps	0
Ret	15	Chris Amon	Lotus	45	Gearbox	0
Ret	5	Jack Brabham	Brabham	44	Electrical	0
Ret	14	Mike Hailwood	Lotus	11	Overheating	0
Ret	22	Jo Siffert	Brabham	10	Fuel pump	0
Ret	16	Jo Bonnier	Brabham	9	Suspension	0
Ret	12	Trevor Taylor	BRP	5	Overheating	0

1964 Mexican Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	1	Jim Clark	Lotus		1:58.370

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

1964 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1964 Mexican Grand Prix.

1964 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	John Surtees	British	Ferrari	40
2	Graham Hill	British	BRM	39
3	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	32
4	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	Ferrari	23
5	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	23
6	Dan Gurney	American	Brabham	19
7	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	13
8	Jack Brabham	Australian	Brabham	11
9	Peter Arundell	British	Lotus	11
10	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus / Brabham / Brabham	7
11	Bob Anderson	British	Brabham	5
12	Mike Spence	British	Lotus	4
13	Tony Maggs	South African	BRM	4
14	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus / BRP	4
15	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Cooper / Brabham / Brabham	3
16	Chris Amon	New Zealander	Lotus / Lotus	2
17	Maurice Trintignant	French	BRM	2
18	Walt Hansgen	American	Lotus	2
19	Phil Hill	American	Cooper	1
20	Trevor Taylor	British	BRP / Lotus	1
21	Mike Hailwood	British	Lotus	1
22	Pedro Rodríguez	Mexican	Ferrari	1
–	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	BRM	0
–	Gerhard Mitter	German	Lotus	0
–	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Italian	Ferrari	0
–	Moisés Solana	Mexican	Lotus	0
–	Peter Revson	American	Lotus / Lotus	0
–	Hap Sharp	American	Brabham	0
–	Ronnie Bucknum	American	Honda	0
–	John Taylor	British	Cooper	0
–	Jochen Rindt	Austrian	Brabham	0
–	André Pilette	Belgian	Scirocco	0
–	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Portuguese	Derrington-Francis	0
–	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	0
–	Ian Raby	British	Brabham	0
–	Edgar Barth	German	Cooper	0
–	Frank Gardner	Australian	Brabham	0
–	Richard Attwood	British	BRM	0

1964 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Ferrari	45
2	BRM	42
3	Lotus – Climax	37
4	Brabham – Climax	30
5	Cooper – Climax	16
6	Brabham – BRM	7
7	BRP – BRM	5
8	Lotus – BRM	3
—	Honda	0
—	Cooper – Ford	0
—	Scirocco – Climax	0
—	Porsche	0
—	Brabham – Ford	0
—	ATS	0

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

1964 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1964 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	10 May
2	1964 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	24 May
3	1964 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	14 June
4	1964 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	28 June
5	1964 British Grand Prix	Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown	11 July
6	1964 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	2 August
7	1964 Austrian Grand Prix	Zeltweg Airfield, Zeltweg	23 August
8	1964 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	6 September
9	1964 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	4 October
10	1964 Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	25 October