1963 Belgian Grand Prix

1963 Belgian Grand Prix
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	Graham Hill;
Time	3:54.1
Fastest lap
Driver	Jim Clark
Time	3:58.1 on lap 16
Podium
First	Jim Clark;
Second	Bruce McLaren;
Third	Dan Gurney;
	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

Qualifying

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

Race

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

Notes

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

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
2	1	Bruce McLaren	10
6	2	Jim Clark	9
2	3	Graham Hill	9
2	4	Richie Ginther	9
5	5	Dan Gurney	4
Source: ^[4]

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	BRM	12
2	2	Lotus-Climax	10
1	3	Cooper-Climax	10
1	4	Brabham-Climax	4
2	5	Ferrari	3
Source: ^[4]

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

References

^ "Jim Clark's 1963 victory at Spa in the Belgian Grand Prix". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
^ "1963 Belgian GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
^ "1963 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Belgium 1963 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

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