1966 French Grand Prix

France  1966 French Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 9 in the 1966 Formula One season

Reims layout
Date 3 July 1966
Official name XXII Grand Prix de l'ACF
Location Reims, France
Course Temporary road course
Course length 8.348 km (5.187 mi)
Distance 48 laps, 400.694 km (248.980 mi)
Weather Hot, dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 2:07.8
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari
Time 2:11.3
Podium
First Brabham-Repco
Second Ferrari
Third Brabham-Repco

The 1966 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 3 July 1966. It was the '60th Anniversary race' of Grand Prix racing, which had started with the GP of France in 1906. It was the third round of the 1966 World Championship. It was also the 16th and last time the French Grand Prix had been held on variations of French highways near Reims after a three-year absence from the region. The race was held over 48 laps of the eight kilometre circuit for a race distance of 400 kilometres.

The race was won by the 1959 and 1960 world champion, Australian driver Jack Brabham driving his Brabham BT19. It was Brabham's eighth Grand Prix victory, his first since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix, six years earlier. It was his first win since establishing his own team, Brabham Racing Organisation and the first win for the Australian developed Repco V8 engine. He became the first driver to win a World Championship grand prix in a car bearing his own name. Brabham took a nine-second victory over British driver Mike Parkes driving a Ferrari 312. New Zealand driver Denny Hulme backed up team leader Brabham with third place in his Brabham BT20.

Brabham now led the championship on 12 points, two ahead of Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini and three ahead of BRM's Jackie Stewart and Ferrari's John Surtees. The win was the first of four consecutive victories for Brabham as he began his march towards his third World Championship.

Race summary

Jim Clark was a non-starter, recovering from an accident after he was hit in the eye by a bird during practice. Qualifying was firmly in the hands of Ferrari and especially Lorenzo Bandini with a pole set at 2:07.8 in his 3-litre 312/66, averaging 146.112 mph (233.780 km/h). After the start, Bandini duly led, with Jack Brabham in what would later be nicknamed his 'Old Nail' BT19 – which had a bit less straightline speed – following in his slipstream for a while. Mike Parkes, who had taken over at Ferrari from John Surtees acquitted himself well, duelling with Graham Hill for third place, becoming second when Hill's camshaft broke. When the Italian had to retire due to a broken throttle linkage, Brabham took first place at the finish – his first win since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix and the first driver to win a championship Grand Prix in his own car. It was also the last race ever at Reims-Gueux, the original venue of the Formula One French Grand Prix.

1950 World Champion Nino Farina died in a car accident while on his way to spectate this race.[1]

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 48 1:48:31.3 4 9
2 22 United Kingdom Mike Parkes Ferrari 48 + 9.5 3 6
3 14 New Zealand Denny Hulme Brabham-Repco 46 + 2 laps 9 4
4 6 Austria Jochen Rindt Cooper-Maserati 46 + 2 laps 5 3
5 26 United States Dan Gurney Eagle-Climax 45 + 3 laps 14 2
6 44 United Kingdom John Taylor Brabham-BRM 45 + 3 laps 15 1
7 36 United Kingdom Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax 44 + 4 laps 12
8 8 New Zealand Chris Amon Cooper-Maserati 44 + 4 laps 7
NC 42 France Guy Ligier Cooper-Maserati 42 Not Classified 11
Ret 2 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez Lotus-Climax 40 Oil Leak 13
NC 20 Italy Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 37 Not Classified 1
NC 30 Sweden Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax 32 Not Classified 17
Ret 16 United Kingdom Graham Hill BRM 13 Engine 8
Ret 38 Switzerland Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 10 Fuel System 6
Ret 32 United Kingdom Mike Spence Lotus-BRM 8 Clutch 10
Ret 10 United Kingdom John Surtees Cooper-Maserati 5 Fuel System 2
Ret 4 United Kingdom Peter Arundell Lotus-BRM 3 Gearbox 16
DNS 2 United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax Accident (18)
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
6 1 Australia Jack Brabham 12
1 2 Italy Lorenzo Bandini 10
3 United Kingdom John Surtees 9
2 4 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart 9
1 5 Austria Jochen Rindt 9

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 21
2 2 United Kingdom Brabham-Repco 12
1 3 United Kingdom BRM 9
1 4 United Kingdom Cooper-Maserati 9
5 United States Eagle-Climax 2

References

  1. "Giuseppe Farina Profile - Drivers - GP Encyclopedia - F1 History on Grandprix.com". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  2. "1966 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
Previous race:
1966 Belgian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1966 season
Next race:
1966 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1965 French Grand Prix
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1967 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1965 Belgian Grand Prix
European Grand Prix
(Designated European Grand Prix)
Next race:
1967 Italian Grand Prix
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