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1963 Belgian Grand Prix

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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 miles)
Distance 32 laps, 451.200 km (280.363 miles)
Weather Wet and overcast
Pole position
Driver BRM
Time 3:54.1
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax
Time 3:58.1 on lap 16
Podium
First Lotus-Climax
Second Cooper-Climax
Third Brabham-Climax
Lap leaders

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. At the end of the race, Clark had not only lapped the entire field except for Bruce McLaren, but the margin to the second-placed Cooper driver was almost five minutes. The Scot's performance was made even more impressive by the fact that gearbox issues meant that 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 seven victories for Clark and Team Lotus that year.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Qualifying times Gap
Q1 Q2
1 7 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 4:01.6 3:54.1
2 18 United States Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 4:28.8 3:55.0 +0.9
3 10 Belgium Willy Mairesse Ferrari 3:56.2 3:55.3 +1.2
4 15 South Africa Tony Maggs Cooper-Climax 3:57.1 3:56.0 +1.9
5 14 New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 3:58.3 3:56.2 +2.1
6 17 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 3:56.6 4:00.7 +2.5
7 4 United Kingdom Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 4:05.3 3:56.9 +2.8
8 1 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 4:06.7 3:57.1 +3.0
9 8 United States Richie Ginther BRM 4:04.5 3:57.6 +3.5
10 9 United Kingdom John Surtees Ferrari 3:57.9 3:57.9 +3.8
11 2 United Kingdom Trevor Taylor Lotus-Climax 4:02.7 3:58.1 +4.0
12 5 United States Jim Hall Lotus-BRM 4:05.4 4:00.1 +6.0
13 12 Sweden Jo Bonnier Cooper-Climax 4:01.4 4:00.1 +6.0
14 28 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-BRM 4:03.9 4:02.3 +8.2
15 21 New Zealand Chris Amon Lola-Climax 4:17.2 4:04.9 +10.8
16 22 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Lola-Climax 4:08.5 4:06.5 +12.4
17 26 United States Phil Hill ATS 4:26.1 4:06.7 +12.6
18 29 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 4:14.6 6:55.2 +20.5
19 24 United States Tony Settember Scirocco-BRM 4:31.7 4:25.2 +31.1
20 27 Italy Giancarlo Baghetti ATS 8:34.8 4:33.6 +39.5
Source:[2]

Race

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

Notes

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  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British constructors Scirocco and BRP and for Italian constructor ATS.
  • It was also the first podium finish for the Brabham team.
  • This marked the 50th race for a Coventry Climax-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  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. ^ a b "Belgium 1963 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


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1963 season
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