1962 French Grand Prix

  1962 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 9 in the 1962 Formula One season
Date	8 July 1962
Official name	XLVIII Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
Location	Rouen-Les-Essarts Rouen, France
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.542 km (4.065 mi)
Distance	54 laps, 353.268 km (219.511 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Time	2:14.8
Fastest lap
Driver	Graham Hill	BRM
Time	2:16.9 on lap 32
Podium
First	Dan Gurney	Porsche
Second	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax
Third	Richie Ginther	BRM

The 1962 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Rouen-Les-Essarts on 8 July 1962. The race was won by Dan Gurney, his first Formula One victory, driving a Porsche, that company's only win as a constructor in a Formula One championship race coming after three years of racing. It was the third time that the French Grand Prix was held at Rouen, last time being 1957.^[1]

Race

Phil Hill, running second in the championship, was in the stands with a camera around his neck; a metal workers' strike in Italy meant that Ferrari could not take part. This left Graham Hill the fastest on track, taking the lead at the start and also setting a new lap record. The leading pack also included John Surtees (Lola), Jim Clark (Lotus), and Bruce McLaren (Cooper). These four pulled steadily away from Jack Brabham (Lotus) and Dan Gurney (Porsche). After only nine laps Brabham was out of the race with a broken rear suspension, while McLaren lost fourth gear and spun off the track, rejoining the race far down the field. Surtees had to stop four laps later with ignition problems, but was back on track in eighth place.^[1] Hill had pulled out a twenty-second lead ahead of Clark, but on the thirtieth lap he made contact with Jackie Lewis' Cooper when lapping him, allowing Clark to pass. Hill gave chase, netting the lap record, and re-took the lead on lap 33. On the next lap, Clark had to stop with a broken front suspension. Hill and BRM looked sure to win, but on lap 42 he stopped in a hairpin with fuel injection and throttle linkage troubles; he lost several laps and ended up dead last after also having stopped in the hairpin to pick up the engine cover that he had left behind during his earlier visit there.^[1]

All of a sudden Gurney found himself in the lead, he made no mistakes and gained what was to be Porsche's only Grand Prix victory with their own car. Tony Maggs had second place handed to him in what was only his second race in a V8 Cooper, while Surtees' Lola kept giving him trouble. With only fourth gear left, he was passed by Richie Ginther on the 43rd lap.^[2] Ginther's car had refused to start, setting him a half lap back at the start, but as cars ahead of him all began to break he drove harder and harder. His troubles were not over, however, with five laps left his throttle wire snapped and he had to control it with his hand - rather troublesome since his BRM's gear shifter was also on the right hand side.^[3] McLaren was forced to make another pit stop, but managed to get by the troubled Surtees on the very last lap. The last points scoring position went to the ever steady Carel Godin de Beaufort in his uncompetitive Porsche 718 from 1961.^[2]

Other contenders were Jo Bonnier, who had gearbox and engine troubles. Later he stopped with fuel starvation, but got the car started and was classified as the last finisher, in tenth. Maurice Trintignant had to make a number of pit stops in his Rob Walker Lotus 24. Trevor Taylor had not been able to practice and was taking it comparatively easy when his throttle return spring broke, leaving it fully open. After a pit stop, he finished eighth, six laps down.^[2] A rather confusing race ended even worse - Surtees was trying to eke his crippled car into the pits but was hindered by a wall of gendarmes, who were refusing to move. Trintignant moved over to the left, but Taylor arrived at a high speed and rear ended Trintignant. Both cars ended up in the haybales, badly damaged, but amazingly no one was injured.^[4]

At the end, Phil Hill took his countryman Gurney aside and thanked him for "driving so well for him", as both of his closest competitors ended the race without any points.^[4]

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	30	Dan Gurney	Porsche	54	2:07:05.5	6	9
2	24	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	53	+ 1 Lap	11	6
3	10	Richie Ginther	BRM	52	+ 2 Laps	10	4
4	22	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	51	+ 3 Laps	3	3
5	18	John Surtees	Lola-Climax	51	+ 3 Laps	5	2
6	38	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	51	+ 3 Laps	17	1
7	28	Maurice Trintignant	Lotus-Climax	50	+ 4 Laps	13
8	14	Trevor Taylor	Lotus-Climax	48	+ 6 laps	12
9	8	Graham Hill	BRM	44	+ 10 Laps	2
10	32	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	43	Gearbox	9
Ret	12	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	34	Suspension	1
Ret	42	Jackie Lewis	Cooper-Climax	28	Accident	16
Ret	20	Roy Salvadori	Lola-Climax	21	Oil Pressure	14
Ret	34	Masten Gregory	Lotus-BRM	15	Overheating	7
Ret	26	Jack Brabham	Lotus-Climax	11	Suspension	4
Ret	40	Jo Siffert	Lotus-BRM	6	Clutch	15
Ret	36	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	1	Puncture	8
WD	16	Peter Arundell	Lotus		No car
WD	-	Tony Marsh	BRM		No car
WD	-	Colin Davis	Porsche
WD	-	Carlo Abate	Lotus-Climax
WD	-	Ian Burgess	Cooper-Climax
Source:[5]

• Scuderia Ferrari withdrew from the event, and their allocated numbers of 2, 4 and 6 were not used. No drivers were named by the team as having been entered.

Notes

• This was the last win of a German constructor until BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica won the Canadian Grand Prix in 2008
• First and only win for an air-cooled engine

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 16 2 Phil Hill 14 1 3 Bruce McLaren 12 1 4 Jim Clark 9 18 5 Dan Gurney 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 BRM 20 2 2 Cooper-Climax 17 1 3 Lotus-Climax 15 1 4 Ferrari 14 1 5 Porsche 12

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References