1960 Belgian Grand Prix
The fourth round of the 1960 Formula One World Championship took place on June 19 at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The Belgian Grand Prix had been absent from the championship calendar the previous year due to financial difficulties, but now the magnificent 14-kilometre circuit was back on the Formula One schedule, having undergone virtually no changes over the preceding two years. The only notable difference was the increased race distance: this year, the competitors once again faced the traditional 36-lap distance, covering almost 500 kilometres at full speed.
Formula One’s return to legendary Spa-Francorchamps was a major occasion, drawing virtually every works team to Belgium — the notable exception being Aston Martin, which had seemingly lost interest in continuing its championship campaign after a disappointing outing at Zandvoort. Championship-leading Cooper was back with its pair of lowline T53s for Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham; following the Australian’s victory in the Netherlands, both drivers were now equally in contention for the title. Scuderia Ferrari, as at the previous round, fielded three of its front-engined Ferrari 246 Dinos, entrusted to Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips and local driver Willy Mairesse, who replaced Richie Ginther in the team.
The Team Lotus line-up remained unchanged: Innes Ireland, Alan Stacey and Jim Clark were back in action, each at the wheel of a Lotus 18.
Meanwhile, Alfred Owen’s team arrived at Spa with a new transporter making its first appearance, carrying three rear-engined P48s for Jo Bonnier, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney. The latter, however, was far from fully recovered after his accident at the previous round and was forced to start the race with his right arm still encased in plaster.
The final works team on the Belgian entry list was Lance Reventlow’s American outfit, which was making its third attempt to get two Scarabs onto the Grand Prix grid, with the familiar pairing of Reventlow himself and Chuck Daigh behind the wheel.
The works teams were joined, as usual, by a number of private outfits, the strongest of them undoubtedly being Rob Walker’s team, which entered Stirling Moss as its sole driver.
As in the previous two rounds, the Englishman once again drove a Lotus 18, but this time his car featured a notable modification: a long air duct ran from the left side of the nose to the Weber carburettors. Yeoman Credit Racing, meanwhile, brought three Cooper T51-Climaxes to Spa: two went to the team’s regular drivers, Tony Brooks and Chris Bristow, while the third was entrusted to local driver Olivier Gendebien.
As for Scuderia Centro Sud, the team was unexpectedly denied entry to the Grand Prix, leaving the final two places on the grid to private entrants — Mike Taylor in a Lotus 18 and Lucien Bianchi in a Cooper T45.
Qualification
Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix was held over two days, Friday and Saturday, but the Saturday session was badly disrupted by two major accidents involving Stirling Moss and Mike Taylor. On the exit of the fast right-hand Burnenville corner, Moss’s Lotus hit a bump in the track, the impact breaking the left-rear suspension and almost instantly ripping the wheel off.
The Englishman’s Lotus spun around instantly, slammed into the embankment and bounced back into a series of violent somersaults, ejecting Stirling from the cockpit. Almost at the same moment, across the circuit at La Carriere, the steering column on Mike Taylor’s Lotus broke, sending the uncontrollable car straight off the track and into the woods, where it smashed into several trees before being reduced to a twisted wreck.
When neither driver appeared at the end of the lap, a deathly silence descended over Spa, while scattered reports coming in from the crash sites only heightened the tension. To everyone’s immense relief, however, both drivers had survived — although they were taken to hospital with serious injuries: Moss suffered fractures to both legs, his nose, three vertebrae and several ribs, while Taylor sustained multiple fractures of his arms, legs and spine, as well as a punctured lung.
“I was holding the car in a sweeping right-hand bend at 140mph when the left rear wheel snapped off. The car spun several times and hit an embankment backwards. I don’t remember getting thrown out or flying through the air. The next thing I remember is being on my hands and knees in the dirt. I was scared and thought I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe, you see. I couldn’t see either, and that worried me, but mostly I couldn’t breathe,” – Stirling Moss.
Naturally, the mood at Spa changed dramatically after the accidents, and hardly any of the drivers were able to better their Friday performances. Pole position ultimately went to reigning World Champion Jack Brabham, who set a best lap of exactly 3'50 and shattered the existing circuit record by seven seconds!
Jack’s nearest rival this time was Tony Brooks, the last winner of the Belgian Grand Prix, who once again displayed superb pace around his favourite circuit and finally delivered the kind of performance expected of a World Championship runner-up. The other Yeoman drivers were not far behind either: local favourite Olivier Gendebien set the fourth-fastest time, while Chris Bristow, making his first appearance at Spa, qualified eighth.
Meanwhile, Phil Hill claimed third place, clearly relishing Spa-Francorchamps’ high-speed corners, while his Ferrari teammates Wolfgang von Trips and Willy Mairesse were unable to match the American’s pace, qualifying only tenth and twelfth respectively.
The BRM drivers also put in a strong showing: Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier qualified fifth and sixth, while Dan Gurney, still competing with his right arm in plaster, unsurprisingly had to settle for eleventh.
Meanwhile, qualifying proved a frustrating affair for the Lotus drivers, a string of technical problems leaving Innes Ireland seventh, Jim Clark ninth and Alan Stacey down in sixteenth. In contrast, spirits were high in Lance Reventlow’s camp: despite the Scarabs being more than 20 seconds slower than Brabham, both Americans finally made the cut and, for the first time, earned their places on the Grand Prix grid.
Race
Race morning greeted the drivers with a grey, overcast sky, and after the gruelling qualifying session, the mood in the paddock was, to put it mildly, far from cheerful. Yet as soon as the drivers set off on the traditional parade lap in their sports cars, the sun broke through and the atmosphere immediately brightened. With the circuit’s considerable length, however, the parade took rather longer than expected, forcing the organisers to make up the lost time immediately before the start...
Start. The final preparations are still underway, Lotus mechanics swarming around Clark’s car, when the race official suddenly waves the national flag — and the race is on! The cars surge towards the first corner, and those starting further back narrowly avoid disaster as they weave past Clark’s stationary Lotus and the mechanics gathered around it! Brabham nevertheless leads the field into Eau Rouge, but a flying Olivier Gendebien comes within inches of passing the Australian after a brilliant start from the second row!
As for Clark, he sets off at the back of the field, with Bianchi alongside him forced to stall his engine while trying to avoid a collision with the Scot!
Lap 1: The field completes the opening lap in a tightly bunched pack, with McLaren emerging as the star of the early stages: making another brilliant start, the New Zealander pulls off several bold overtakes and ends the lap already up to seventh!
For Brooks, however, the opening lap is a complete disaster: starting from the front row, the Englishman loses position after position and ends the lap down in eighth! Meanwhile, Clark and Bianchi, delayed at the start, quickly fight their way back into contention, catching the field before the end of the opening lap and passing both Scarabs of Daigh and Reventlow.
Order after Lap 1: Brabham, Gendebien, Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Ireland, Bonnier, McLaren, Brooks, Bristow, Mairesse.
Lap 2: Sweeping past the pits, the field heads into the second lap, as the leading group of seven cars, headed by Brabham, begins to pull away from the rest.
It is within this group, however, that the fiercest battle is unfolding, and after a series of exchanges and overtakes, the order settles as follows: Brabham — Ireland — Phil Hill — Bonnier — Gendebien — Graham Hill — McLaren. Meanwhile, on the same lap, von Trips moves ahead of Mairesse to take tenth, while Bianchi gains another place by passing Stacey.
At the same time, the race loses its first competitor, as Reventlow is forced to pull off the track with a broken connecting rod.
Lap 3: The battle at the front shows no sign of letting up, with Graham Hill emerging as the star of the lap: he picks off Bonnier and Gendebien one after another to break into fourth!
Meanwhile, Bianchi continues to impress as well, with the Belgian passing Gurney to move up to eleventh!
For Brooks, however, the Grand Prix ends in complete disappointment: the gearbox on his Cooper fails, and after losing pace, the Englishman limps back to the pits to retire from the race.
Lap 4: Another reshuffle at the front: Phil Hill attacks Ireland and overtakes the Lotus driver to take second!
Meanwhile, the battle is also heating up behind this pair: Bonnier loses two places in quick succession, being passed first by Gendebien and then by McLaren!
Lap 5: Now up to second, Phil Hill attacks Brabham for the lead on the Masta straight, but the Australian defends flawlessly, refusing to let the Ferrari driver through! Meanwhile, McLaren gains another place by passing Gendebien, while von Trips also moves up after overtaking Bristow.
Meanwhile, another competitor is out of the race: Gurney’s BRM suffers an engine failure, leaving the American with no choice but to pull his car off the track and watch the battle unfold from the sidelines.
Lap 6: Trouble for Ireland! With his clutch slipping, Innes is forced to stop at the Lotus pits, where, after a brief discussion, Chapman’s mechanics decide to remove the hydraulic-drive restrictor. The procedure takes quite some time, however, and the Scot rejoins the track second-to-last, ahead of only Daigh’s lone Scarab! Meanwhile, following Ireland’s pit stop, none other than McLaren moves up to third: the New Zealander not only capitalises on his rival’s misfortune but also pulls off another masterful overtake, passing Graham Hill!
At the same time, the battle is also raging behind this pair: Bonnier fights back against Gendebien and retakes fifth!
Lap 7: With Phil Hill hot on his heels, Brabham sets a new fastest lap of the race — 3:52.9 — and the leading pair begin to pull decisively away from the chasing group, headed by McLaren!
The battle within the group, however, shows no sign of letting up: Gendebien fights back against Bonnier and moves back ahead!
Meanwhile, at the back of the field, Clark catches Stacey and Bianchi battling each other and picks them off one after another!
Lap 8: After his forced pit stop, Ireland catches the field once again and immediately gains a place by passing Bianchi!
Lap 9: McLaren makes a small mistake, and Graham Hill, Gendebien and Bonnier immediately sweep past, dropping the New Zealander all the way down to sixth!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, Ireland rapidly catches his teammates Clark and Stacey and, passing them both with ease, moves up to tenth!
Order after 10 laps: Brabham, Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Gendebien, Bonnier, McLaren, von Trips, Bristow, Mairesse, Ireland.
After ten laps, Brabham still leads the race, with Phil Hill just a couple of seconds behind, while the following group of Graham Hill, Gendebien, Bonnier and McLaren is already 12 seconds adrift!
Lap 11: Graham Hill does not hold on to third for long, as Gendebien sweeps past him to take third amid a roar of applause from his fellow Belgians!
Lap 12: Determined to catch the cars ahead, Ireland pushes harder and sets a new fastest lap of the race — 3:51.9!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, Daigh is forced into the pits by an oil leak from the exhaust camshaft housing, and the lengthy repair costs the American another ten minutes against his rivals!
Lap 13: McLaren is back on the attack after his earlier mistake — and leaves Bonnier in his wake!
Lap 14: Losing the position clearly unsettles Bonnier: the Swede makes a mistake during a gear change, sending the BRM engine screaming to extremely high revs! Realising the gravity of his error, Jo pits at the end of the lap for an engine check, and the stop proves hugely costly — he rejoins the track third from last! Meanwhile, Bonnier is joined in the pits by Ireland, Clark and Bianchi: Innes is once again suffering from clutch trouble, Jim is dealing with carburetion problems, while Lucien’s Cooper develops a failure of the inboard universal joint on the right-hand drive shaft. After lengthy repairs, all three drivers get back to the track, but Ireland’s return to the race is short-lived: at Blanchimont, the Scot loses control of his Lotus, spins several times, runs off the track and badly damages the car — fortunately, not himself.
Lap 15: After a lengthy battle with von Trips, Bristow finally gets the better of the German, passing him at the La Source hairpin to take a place in the points!
Meanwhile, Bonnier’s hopes of even finishing the race go up in smoke with a loud engine blowout, forcing the Swede to pull off the track and become the latest retirement!
Lap 16: Struggling with clutch problems, von Trips begins to lose pace, and his teammate Mairesse immediately takes advantage — the Belgian passes Taffy and moves up to seventh!
Lap 17: Bristow has no time to catch his breath after passing von Trips before Mairesse is upon him, the Belgian launching a decisive attack to knock the Englishman back out of the points!
Meanwhile, with his engine overheating, Daigh finally gives in and heads for the pits to retire from the race. On the way, however, the American comes to Bonnier’s rescue, picking up the Swede, who had already begun to wonder if he would ever make it back to the pits before the end of the Grand Prix!
Lap 19: Bristow refuses to accept the loss of sixth, clinging tenaciously to Mairesse’s Ferrari and launching a counterattack on the exit of the hairpin — the two cars cross the finish line almost side by side!
Lap 20: Taking the inside line through Eau Rouge, Bristow finally gets past Mairesse, but the Belgian immediately latches onto the Cooper’s tail, threatening another counterattack! Desperate to keep the Ferrari behind, Chris takes too wide a line into Burnenville and finds himself on the outside of the track, and as he tries to move back onto the racing line, the Englishman suddenly loses control of the Cooper! At the very same spot where Moss crashed just a day earlier, the Cooper leaves the track, slams into the embankment, rolls over and crashes into a barbed-wire fence, which almost decapitates the unfortunate driver!
After several more violent rolls, the mangled Cooper finally comes to rest in a field, while Bristow’s mutilated body is thrown from the cockpit and lands right in the middle of the track. The following cars miraculously avoid running over the lifeless driver until a marshal rushes over and drags him to the side of the track. Meanwhile, Mairesse, one of the main witnesses to the tragedy, slows near the pits at the end of the lap to deliver the terrible news to his team.
Order after 20 laps: Brabham, Phil Hill, Gendebien, Graham Hill, McLaren, Mairesse, Stacey, von Trips, Clark, Bianchi.
Despite Bristow’s horrific crash, the race goes on, with Brabham still leading the way and extending his advantage over Phil Hill to eight seconds by the 20th lap.
Lap 22: The only real battle on track is now for third place, and Graham Hill once again moves ahead in the three-car scrap, passing Gendebien!
Lap 23: Transmission problems on von Trips’ Ferrari finally lead to a broken driveshaft, leaving the German stranded at Stavelot, on the farthest section of the circuit.
Lap 24: Just one lap after von Trips’ retirement, Mairesse also falls victim to a transmission failure, ending the Belgian’s hopes of scoring points in his Grand Prix debut!
Lap 25: Gendebien has no intention of giving up third place: he fights back against Graham Hill and once again leaves the BRM driver behind!
Yet only moments later, the race is struck by another tragedy: at Malmedy, a bird bursts out of the woods and flies straight into the path of Alan Stacey’s Lotus, striking the Englishman full in the face at full speed! Knocked unconscious instantly, Stacey becomes a passenger in his own uncontrollable car, which leaves the track at tremendous speed, crashes into an embankment and, flying across the road, tumbles down a ravine into a field on the other side. The impact ruptures the fuel tank, and the wrecked Lotus at the bottom of the ravine bursts into flames, leaving the trapped driver with no chance of escape. When the marshals, at great personal risk, fight their way through the flames and pull Alan from the burning car, he dies in their arms just minutes later.
Lap 27: Still unaware of the death of a second driver, the field races on, with Graham Hill once again getting the better of Gendebien in the battle for third!
Lap 29: A ruptured capillary tube leading to the fuel pressure gauge allows petrol to seep into Phil Hill’s Ferrari cockpit, forcing the American to stop on the track and fight the flames! Once the fire is out, Hill restarts the engine and makes his way back to the pits, where the Scuderia mechanics repair the damage, but the lost time drops the American to fifth, handing second place to his namesake, Graham Hill!
Lap 35: With just two laps remaining, gearbox trouble forces Gendebien to slow, and, left with only two working gears, the Belgian becomes easy prey for McLaren, who sweeps past at speed! Meanwhile, at Blanchimont, Graham Hill’s BRM engine gives up in a cloud of smoke, but the Englishman still manages to coast to the hairpin and roll down the finishing straight! However, it is here that Hill makes a fatal mistake: instead of stopping before the finish line alongside Gendebien and waiting for the winner to cross, he crosses it himself and heads for his pit — throwing away the chequered flag and a place in the points!
Final lap: Having led from start to finish, Brabham finally crosses the line first to claim his second victory of the season, but the triumph gives way to grief almost instantly: just after the finish, Jack is told of the deaths of two of his fellow drivers, and at the podium ceremony, the Australian can manage only a strained smile.
Meanwhile, second place goes rather unexpectedly to McLaren: following the problems that befell Gendebien and Graham Hill on the penultimate lap, it is the New Zealander who collects six valuable points, allowing him to retain the championship lead. As for Gendebien, he waits for Brabham to finish before manually pushing his Cooper across the line, deservedly taking third place on the podium in front of his home fans and achieving the biggest result of his Formula 1 career to date. Phil Hill, meanwhile, finishes fourth, with his three points offering the American some consolation for what has been a truly magnificent performance today. The final two places in the points go to Clark and Bianchi, with both drivers scoring the first points of their fledgling careers. Yet all these achievements inevitably fade into the background in the face of the tragic events of this weekend, which, alongside the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, will forever remain one of the darkest chapters in Formula 1 history…
"It was a terribly dangerous race. Not only were the speeds so high and the hazards along the circuit so great, but we all narrowly escaped disaster from low-flying birds. I just managed to miss two, and I finished with one stuck to my radiator” – Jack Brabham.
“I was almost put off racing completely, for I was the first to arrive on the scene at Burnenville when Chris Bristow lost control of his car and was killed. The car rolled over and over, killing him instantly before throwing his body out on the circuit. It was horrible and I’ll never forget the sight of this mangled body being dragged to the side by a marshal. I was almost sick on the spot. I remember at the end of the race finding that my car was spattered with blood,” – Jim Clark.
“I suppose I should feel grateful to be still alive” – Stirling Moss.
“After Stirling’s experience with his Lotus yesterday, I shall definitely take it carefully today. Stirling’s accident has not made me feel nervous. I love racing too much for that” – Alan Stacey.
Interesting facts:
- Innes Ireland’s first fastest lap;
- Olivier Gendebien’s first podium;
- Jim Clark’s first points;
- Lucien Bianchi’s first points;
- Cooper's 10th victory.
Driver standings
Constructor standings
Alternative GP results
