1963 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1963 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held at Spa-Francorchamps on 9 June 1963. It was race 2 of 10 in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Jim Clark won the race in extremely wet and rainy conditions. After starting eighth on the grid Clark passed all of the cars in front of him, including early leader Graham Hill. About 17 laps into the race, with the rain coming down harder than ever, Clark had not only lapped the entire field except for Bruce McLaren, but he was almost five minutes ahead of McLaren and his Cooper. The Scot's performance was made even more impressive by the fact that gearbox issues meant the he had to hold his gear lever in place, thus driving one-handed, whenever fifth gear was selected on this high-speed circuit. Given the rainy conditions, Clark eventually chose not to engage fifth gear at all, leaving him with only four gears.[1] This would be the first of 7 victories for Clark and Team Lotus that year.

1963 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 9 June 1963
Official name XXIII Grote Prijs van Belgie
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 14.100 km (8.761 mi)
Distance 32 laps, 451.200 km (280.363 mi)
Weather Wet and overcast
Pole position
Driver
BRM
Time 3:54.1
Fastest lap
Driver Jim Clark Lotus-Climax
Time 3:58.1 on lap 16
Podium
First
Lotus-Climax
Second
Cooper-Climax
Third
Brabham-Climax

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 7 Graham Hill BRM 3:54.1 —
2 18 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 3:55.0 +0.9
3 10 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 3:55.3 +1.2
4 15 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 3:56.0 +1.9
5 14 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 3:56.2 +2.1
6 17 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 3:56.6 +2.5
7 4 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 3:56.9 +2.8
8 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 3:57.1 +3.0
9 8 Richie Ginther BRM 3:57.6 +3.5
10 9 John Surtees Ferrari 3:57.9 +3.8
11 2 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 3:58.1 +4.0
12 5 Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 4:00.1 +6.0
13 12 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 4:00.1 +6.0
14 28 Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 4:02.3 +8.2
15 21 Chris Amon Lola-Climax 4:04.9 +10.8
16 22 Lucien Bianchi Lola-Climax 4:06.5 +12.4
17 26 Phil Hill ATS 4:06.7 +12.6
18 29 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 4:14.6 +20.5
19 24 Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM 4:25.2 +31.1
20 27 Giancarlo Baghetti ATS 4:33.6 +39.5
Source:[2]

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 32 2:27:47.6 8 9
2 14 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 32 + 4:54.0 5 6
3 18 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 31 + 1 lap 2 4
4 8 Richie Ginther BRM 31 + 1 lap 9 3
5 12 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 30 + 2 laps 13 2
6 29 Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 30 + 2 laps 18 1
7 15 Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 27 Accident 4
8 24 Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM 25 Accident 19
Ret 9 John Surtees Ferrari 19 Injection 10
Ret 7 Graham Hill BRM 17 Gearbox 1
Ret 22 Lucien Bianchi Lola-Climax 17 Accident 16
Ret 5 Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 16 Accident 12
Ret 28 Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 16 Accident 14
Ret 26 Phil Hill ATS 13 Gearbox 17
Ret 17 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 12 Injection 6
Ret 21 Chris Amon Lola-Climax 10 Oil Leak 15
Ret 4 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 9 Gearbox 7
Ret 10 Willy Mairesse Ferrari 7 Injection 3
Ret 27 Giancarlo Baghetti ATS 7 Gearbox 20
Ret 2 Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 5 Physical 11
WD 3 Peter Arundell Lotus-Climax No car
WD 11 Ludovico Scarfiotti Ferrari No car
WD 19 Lorenzo Bandini BRM Car retained by BRM
WD 25 Ian Burgess Scirocco-BRM Car not ready
Source:[3]

Notes
  • First podium: Brabham
  • Chris Amon was 19 years old when he started in this race.

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

References
  1. "Jim Clark's 1963 victory at Spa in the Belgian Grand Prix". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  2. "1963 Belgian GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  3. "1963 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  4. "Belgium 1963 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
Previous race:
1963 Monaco Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1963 season		 Next race:
1963 Dutch Grand Prix
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1964 Belgian Grand Prix
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