1966 Italian Grand Prix

1966 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Date	September 4, 1966
Official name	XXXVII Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.750 km (3.573 miles)
Distance	68 laps, 391.000 km (242.964 miles)
Weather	Warm, dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Mike Parkes	Ferrari
Time	1:31.3
Fastest lap
Driver	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari
Time	1:32.4
Podium
First	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari
Second	Mike Parkes	Ferrari
Third	Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco
Lap leaders

The 1966 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on September 4, 1966. It was race 7 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the 36th Italian Grand Prix and the 32nd to be held at Monza. The race was held over 68 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a race distance of 391 kilometres.

The race was won by Italian driver Ludovico Scarfiotti driving a Ferrari 312 in his only Grand Prix victory. Scarfiotti led home his British team mate Mike Parkes by five seconds. Parkes only just defeated New Zealand racer Denny Hulme in his Brabham BT20, the pair separated by less than half a second.

While series points leader Jack Brabham stopped with an oil leak in his Brabham BT19 on lap seven, he secured his third world championship, and the unique achievement of becoming world champion in a car of his own make, when his only remaining points rival John Surtees stopped with a fuel leak in his Cooper T81 24 laps later.

Race report

Race winner Ludovico Scarfiotti inside his Ferrari 312 before the start

Jack Brabham was odds-on favourite for the Championship – only John Surtees could stop him and only then by winning all three remaining races. He was prevented from doing so by an impressive performance from his former employers Ferrari at their home track. Honda had brought a new 370 bhp 3 litre V12 engine for Richie Ginther, whilst Dan Gurney had his Weslake engine and Graham Hill had the BRM H16. Lorenzo Bandini and Mike Parkes led from the start, whilst Hill's engine gave up on the first lap, followed in retirement by Jackie Stewart on lap 5 with a fuel leak, and then Brabham on lap 8 with an engine failure which coated the car in oil. Jim Clark in the H16 Lotus was moving strongly through the field. On lap 17, Richie Ginther had a horrific accident, crashing heavily into the trees and being very fortunate to escape with his life. Once Clark had pitted, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Parkes, Surtees and Hill disputed the lead until Surtees withdrew with a split petrol tank which was pouring it all over his tyres and ending his championship chances. Denny Hulme had fought through the field to third place. But the race was Scarfiotti's, as he became the first Italian to win for Ferrari at Monza since Alberto Ascari in 1952. Parkes completed Ferrari's joy as he pipped Hulme by 0.3 seconds to claim second spot. Amidst all the celebrations, Jack Brabham was crowned champion. Apart from three NART entries in 1969 this race was the last time a Ferrari car was entered by a privateer team when Giancarlo Baghetti drove a private car entered by the British Reg Parnell team.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	4	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	1:31.3	—
2	6	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari	1:31.6	+0.3
3	20	Jim Clark	Lotus-BRM	1:31.8	+0.5
4	14	John Surtees	Cooper-Maserati	1:31.9	+0.6
5	2	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	1:32.0	+0.7
6	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1:32.2	+0.9
7	18	Richie Ginther	Honda	1:32.4	+1.1
8	16	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Maserati	1:32.7	+1.4
9	28	Jackie Stewart	BRM	1:32.81	+1.51
10	12	Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco	1:32.84	+1.54
11	26	Graham Hill	BRM	1:33.4	+2.1
12	38	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Maserati	1:33.7	+2.4
13	24	Peter Arundell	Lotus-BRM	1:34.1	+2.8
14	42	Mike Spence	Lotus-BRM	1:35.0	+3.7
15	40	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	1:35.3	+4.0
16	44	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	1:35.5	+4.2
17	36	Jo Siffert	Cooper-Maserati	1:36.3	+5.0
18	48	Bob Bondurant	BRM	1:36.9	+5.6
19	34	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	1:37.6	+6.3
20	22	Geki	Lotus-Climax	1:39.3	+8.0
DNQ	34	Phil Hill	Eagle-Climax	1:40.0	+8.7
DNQ	32	Chris Amon	Brabham-BRM	1:40.3	+9.0

• Clark, Geki, and Spence switched numbers for the race when they are driving the same cars.
• Phil Hill's car was driven by Gurney in practice, but he would drive car #30 of Eagle-Weslake for the race.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari	68	1:47:14.8	2	9
2	4	Mike Parkes	Ferrari	68	+ 5.8	1	6
3	12	Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco	68	+ 6.1	10	4
4	16	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Maserati	67	+ 1 lap	8	3
5	32	Mike Spence	Lotus-BRM	67	+ 1 lap	14	2
6	40	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	66	+ 2 laps	15	1
7	48	Bob Bondurant	BRM	65	+ 3 laps	18
8	24	Peter Arundell	Lotus-BRM	63	Engine	13
9	20	Geki	Lotus-Climax	63	+ 5 Laps	20
NC	44	Giancarlo Baghetti	Ferrari	59	Not Classified	16
Ret	22	Jim Clark	Lotus-BRM	58	Gearbox	3
Ret	36	Jo Siffert	Cooper-Maserati	46	Engine	17
Ret	2	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	33	Ignition	5
Ret	14	John Surtees	Cooper-Maserati	31	Fuel Leak	4
Ret	18	Richie Ginther	Honda	16	Accident	7
Ret	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	7	Oil Leak	6
Ret	30	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	7	Engine	19
Ret	28	Jackie Stewart	BRM	5	Fuel Leak	9
Ret	38	Jo Bonnier	Cooper-Maserati	3	Throttle	12
Ret	26	Graham Hill	BRM	0	Engine	11
DNQ	34	Phil Hill	Eagle-Climax
DNQ	32	Chris Amon	Brabham-BRM
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Jack Brabham	39
2	2	Jochen Rindt	18
1	3	Graham Hill	17
1	4	John Surtees	15
	5	Jackie Stewart	14
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Brabham-Repco	40 (43)
	2	Ferrari	31 (32)
	3	BRM	22
	4	Cooper-Maserati	20
	5	Lotus-Climax	7
Source:

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.