1966 Formula One season
The 1966 Formula One season was the 20th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 17th World Championship of Drivers, the 9th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and four non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over nine races between 22 May and 23 October 1966.
Jack Brabham won the Drivers' Championship in a Brabham-Repco.[1] It was his third and last championship. Brabham was also awarded the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, their first title.[2]
John Taylor collided with Formula Two driver Jacky Ickx during the German Grand Prix. Taylor was badly burned in the accident and succumbed to his injuries four weeks later.
The season saw "the return to power", with the FIA doubling the maximum allowed engine displacement from 1.5 to 3 litres.
Championship teams and drivers
The following
- Pink background denotes F2 entrants to the German Grand Prix
Team and driver changes
Dubbed "the return to power", the new formula of 3
- V8was ready in time.
- Cooper worked with Maserati to receive an updated version of their 1957 engines.
- H16 engine design from BRM, but it was finished too late and very heavy. So they began the season with a hastily prepared and uncompetitive 2 litre Climax V8. (The team would return to their winning form after a switch to Cosworth DFV engines for 1967.) Peter Arundell was back at Lotus, having recovered from his crash during the 1964 season. Mike Spence, who had replaced him in 1965, was signed by the private Reg Parnell Racingteam.
Two teams made their debut this year:
- V8 and a SerenissimaV8, switching around multiple times but not finding the right recipe.
- four-stroke enginesuntil then.
Mid-season changes
- Honda missed a good part of the races in 1966 but was back on the grid with a new 3 litre V12 engine in the Italian Grand Prix. Richie Ginther left Cooper after two races to make his return to the Japaneseteam.
- CEO Enzo Ferrari also did not support Surtees, the Brit left the team, thereby also abandoning his F1 drive. Mike Parkesand Scarfiotti, who both did drive the Le Mans race, were promoted to the F1 team, while Surtees took Ginther's place at Cooper.
Calendar
Round | Grand Prix | Circuit | Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Monaco Grand Prix | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo | 22 May |
2 | Belgian Grand Prix | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot | 12 June |
3 | French Grand Prix | Reims-Gueux, Gueux | 3 July |
4 | British Grand Prix | Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown | 16 July |
5 | Dutch Grand Prix | Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort
|
24 July |
6 | German Grand Prix | Nürburgring, Nürburg | 7 August |
7 | Italian Grand Prix | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
|
4 September |
8 | United States Grand Prix | Watkins Glen International, New York | 2 October |
9 | Mexican Grand Prix | Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City | 23 October |
Calendar changes
- The South African Grand Prix at the Prince George Circuit was relegated to non-championship status, because 1.5 litre engines were allowed on the grid while that was no longer the case in the F1 championship.[8]
- The Charade Circuit to Reims-Gueux.
- The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.
Regulation changes
Technical regulations
- A new engine formula was introduced, heralded as "the return of power". The maximum allowed naturally-aspirated engines. Compressed engines (using a turbocharger or supercharger) were allowed for the first time since 1960, with a maximum engine displacement of 1.5 litres.[9][10][11]
- The minimum weight was raised from 450 kg (990 lb) to 500 kg (1,100 lb).[9][10][11]
Sporting regulations
- Driver completing less than 90% of the race distance would not be classified and did not receive points, even if they finished in the top six.[12][13]
- The maximum race distance was reduced from 500 km (310 mi) to 400 km (250 mi).[14]
Championship report
Rounds 1 to 3
The 1966 season started off with the
At first, Stewart was setting the pace during
When Surtees was not granted a drive with Ferrari in the
In the Drivers' Championship, Jack Brabham (Brabham-Repco) took the lead with 12 points, ahead of Lorenzo Bandini (Ferrari, 10 points), followed by Surtees, Stewart and Rindt (all 9 points). In the Manufacturers' Championship, Ferrari had the lead with 21 points, ahead of Brabham (12) and BRM and Cooper (both 9).
Rounds 4 to 6
The British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch saw the Brabham duo of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme qualify at the front, ahead of Dan Gurney in the Eagle, Graham Hill for BRM and Jim Clark for Lotus. Next came John Surtees in the Cooper, to make it five different constructors in the top six. At the start, it was Brabham and Hill who led away, until it started raining and Jochen Rindt pitted for rain tyres. Rindt got up to second place, pressing Brabham for the lead, while Surtees was third. As the rain dried, however, Rindt fell back and Surtees retired, leaving Brabham and Hulme to finish first and second. Behind them came Hill, Clark and Rindt.[18]
Brabham and Hulme again qualified first and second for the
The
After winning four consecutive races, Jack Brabham (Brabham) had a sizeable lead in the Drivers' Championship with 39 points, ahead of Graham Hill (BRM, 17 points) and John Surtees and Jochen Rindt (teammates at Cooper, both on 15 points). In the Manufacturers' Championship, Brabham led with 39 points, ahead of Ferrari (23) and BRM (22).
Rounds 7 to 9
The teams that had had to make due with limited power until now, could finally take delivery of new 3
As per usual, the championship ended overseas, firstly with the United States Grand Prix. Freshly crowned champion Brabham qualified on pole with last year's champion Clark next to him. Bandini started third but quickly took the lead, before Brabham went back through on lap 10. Bandini later repassed the Australian but then retired with an engine failure. Half way through the race, Brabham retired as well. Clark had been left behind by the leading duo but inherited the race win. Rindt ran out of fuel and slowed down. He did finish the race, but his last lap took so long that it was forfeited, putting him a lap behind but still second in the classification, as Surtees in third was even further behind.[22]
The last round of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix, saw Surtees back on pole, for the first time in a Cooper, ahead of Clark and Ginther. The Honda driver took the lead at the start, leading fifth-starting Rindt and fourth-starting Brabham. Surtees fell down to fifth but had charged back to first at the half-way point. He won the race, seven seconds ahead of Brabham and at least a lap ahead of Hulme and the rest of the field.[23]
Jack Brabham had won the Drivers' Championship with 42 points, ahead of John Surtees (28) and Jochen Rindt (22). Jack It was Brabham's third Drivers' Championship (following wins in 1959 and 1960), moving him into the second place in the record standings, behind five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio. He became the first and, so far, only driver to win the championship in a car carrying his own name. This was also the first time that a non-European or -British car had won the championship. The Brabham team also scored 42 points in the Manufacturers' Champions and won the title, ahead of Ferrari (31 points) and Cooper (30 points).
Results and standings
Grands Prix
World Drivers' Championship standings
Points towards the 1966 World Championship of Drivers were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first six places at each race. Only the best five race results could be retained by each driver.
|
|
- 1 – Ineligible for Formula One points, because he drove with a Formula Two car.
International Cup for F1 Manufacturers standings
Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis at each round with only the best five round results retained. Only the best placed car from each manufacturer at each round was eligible to score points.
Pos. | Manufacturer | MON |
BEL |
FRA |
GBR |
NED |
GER |
ITA |
USA |
MEX |
Pts.[a] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brabham-Repco | Ret | (4) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (3) | Ret | 2 | 42 (49) |
2 | Ferrari | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | (6) | 1 | Ret | 31 (32) | ||
3 | Maserati
|
NC | 2 | 4 | (5) | 7 | 2 | (4) | 2 | 1 | 30 (35) |
4 | BRM | 1 | Ret | Ret | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 22 |
5 | Lotus-BRM | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
6 | Lotus-Climax | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 9 | 6 | Ret | 8 |
7 | Eagle-Climax
|
NC | 5 | Ret | Ret | 7 | DNQ | DSQ | 5 | 4 | |
8 | Honda | Ret | NC | 4 | 3 | ||||||
9 | McLaren-Ford
|
Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | 2 | |||||
10 | Brabham-Climax | Ret | Ret | 7 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 6 | 1 | ||
= | Brabham-BRM | Ret | 6 | 8 | 8 | Ret | DNQ | 1 | |||
= | McLaren-Serenissima
|
DNS | 6 | DNS | 1 | ||||||
— | Cooper-Ferrari | 11 | Ret | 0 | |||||||
— | Eagle-Weslake
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||
— | Shannon-Climax
|
Ret | 0 | ||||||||
Pos. | Manufacturer | MON |
BEL |
FRA |
GBR |
NED |
GER |
ITA |
USA |
MEX |
Pts. |
- Bold results counted to championship totals.
Non-championship races
Four other Formula One races were held in 1966, which did not count towards the World Championship.
Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
South African Grand Prix | Prince George | 1 January | Mike Spence | Climax
|
Report |
Gran Premio di Siracusa | Syracuse | 1 May | John Surtees | Ferrari | Report |
BRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 14 May | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | Report
|
International Gold Cup
|
Oulton Park | 17 September | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | Report |
Grand Prix – the movie of the 1966 Formula One season
The film Grand Prix is a fictionalized version of the 1966 season, which includes footage of the actual races edited together with footage of actors in staged racing scenes.
Notes
References
- ^ "1966 Driver Standings". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ "1966 Constructor Standings". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ "Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, 12 Jun 1966". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "McLaren M3A car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ Setright, L.J.K. "Lotus: The Golden Mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p. 1232.
- ^ Benson, Andrew (10 March 2017). "John Surtees: Former F1 world champion was a 'towering figure'". BBC. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
- ^ Taylor, Simon (October 2015). "Lunch with... John Surtees". Motor Sport. Vol. 91, no. 10. pp. 68–76. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
- ^ Tom Prankerd. "A Second A Lap: GP '66 - XII South African Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ a b Steven de Groote (1 January 2009). "F1 rules and stats 1960-1969". F1Technical. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Formula One 1966 Season". Unique Cars And Parts. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Engine rule changes through the years". Formula1 Dictionary. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Points system definitions". Formula 1 Points. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Martin Jones (20 July 2022). "A look back at Formula 1's unawarded points". GP Rejects. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Stefan Kristensen (23 February 2022). "How Long Is a Formula 1 Race?". Motorsport Explained. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (22 May 1966). "1966 Monaco Grand Prix race report: Stewart finds winning formula". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (12 June 1966). "1966 Belgian Grand Prix race report: Surtees slides to victory". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (3 July 1966). "1966 French Grand Prix race report: Aussie rules". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (16 July 1966). "1966 British Grand Prix race report - A clean sweep". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (24 July 1966). "1966 Dutch Grand Prix race report: Brabham beats them on the beaches". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (7 August 1966). "1966 German Grand Prix race report: Brabham goes forth". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Denis Jenkinson (4 September 1966). "1966 Italian Grand Prix race report: Scarfiotti brings it home but Brabham is champion". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Michael Tee (2 October 1966). "1966 United States Grand Prix race report: Clark prevails at last". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Michael Tee (23 October 1966). "1966 Mexican Grand Prix race report: Scintillating Surtees". Motorsport Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2024.