1960 Belgian Grand Prix

1960 Belgian Grand Prix
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Race details
Date	19 June 1960
Official name	XXI Grote Prijs Van Belgie
Location	Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Belgium
Course	Grand Prix Circuit
Course length	14.12 km (8.774 miles)
Distance	36 laps, 508.32 km (315.864 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Time	3:50.0
Fastest lap
Driver	Jack Brabham Innes Ireland Phil Hill	Cooper-Climax Lotus-Climax Ferrari
Time	3:51.9
Podium
First	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax
Second	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Third	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax
Lap leaders

The remains of Alan Stacey's car after his fatal accident in the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix. In the inset, Stacey before the race.

The 1960 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 19 June 1960. It was race 5 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 4 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Stirling Moss and Mike Taylor were seriously injured in crashes during practice, and Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey were killed in accidents during the race. With the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, it is one of two occasions in which two driver fatalities have occurred at a Formula One race meeting, and the only one where both occurred during the race itself.

Practice and race laps 1-19

Practice for the event saw Stirling Moss and Mike Taylor injured in separate accidents, with Taylor suffering injuries after a crash at Stavelot which ended his racing career, and Moss injured seriously enough (two broken legs) after crashing at Burnenville to keep him out of racing for a number of months including the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the race itself, the Lotus drivers Innes Ireland and Jim Clark got off to good starts before Ireland eventually spun out with clutch trouble on lap 14.

Fatal accidents

On lap 20 Chris Bristow, driving a year-old Cooper for the British Racing Partnership, went off line at Malmedy while battling for sixth place with the Ferrari of Mairesse. Bristow lost control, crashing into a four-foot high embankment and was thrown from his car, and landed on a barbed wire fence which decapitated him.

Five laps later, Alan Stacey was hit in the face by a bird at Masta, causing him to lose control with his car somersaulting off the track and landing in a field. The car then caught fire and Stacey, still trapped inside, was burned to death. It was the only Formula One race meeting in which two drivers were killed until the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Race conclusion

The race distance had been lengthened to 36 laps from 24 laps. The results highlight an unusual quirk in the rules regarding classification of non-finishers. Under modern rules, Graham Hill would have been classified third, since he completed lap 35 before the lapped Olivier Gendebien. Hill then retired, in the pits, but was not classified since he did not push his car over the line after the winner took the finish (as required by the rules of the time). In fact the rule about crossing the finishing line was inconsistently applied – at the 1959 German Grand Prix, Harry Schell was classified seventh despite only completing 49 of the race's 60 laps.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	3:50.0	—
2	38	Tony Brooks	Cooper-Climax	3:52.5	+2.5
3	12	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	3:52.6	+2.6
4	24	Phil Hill	Ferrari	3:53.3	+3.3
5	34	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax	3:53.5	+3.5
6	10	Graham Hill	BRM	3:54.2	+4.2
7	6	Jo Bonnier	BRM	3:54.8	+4.8
8	14	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	3:55.4	+5.4
9	36	Chris Bristow	Cooper-Climax	3:56.3	+6.3
10	18	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	3:57.5	+7.5
11	26	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	3:57.8	+7.8
12	8	Dan Gurney	BRM	3:58.3	+8.3
13	22	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	3:58.9	+8.9
14	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	4:00.0	+10.0
15	32	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-Climax	4:00.6	+10.6
16	28	Lance Reventlow	Scarab	4:09.7	+19.7
17	16	Alan Stacey	Lotus-Climax	4:17.6	+27.6
18	30	Chuck Daigh	Scarab	4:18.5	+28.5
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	36	2:21:37.3	1	8
2	4	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	36	+ 1:03.3	14	6
3	34	Olivier Gendebien	Cooper-Climax	35	+ 1 Lap	5	4
4	24	Phil Hill	Ferrari	35	+ 1 Lap	4	3
5	18	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	34	+ 2 Laps	10	2
6	32	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-Climax	28	+ 8 Laps	15	1
Ret	10	Graham Hill	BRM	35	Engine	6
Ret	16	Alan Stacey	Lotus-Climax	24	Fatal accident	17
Ret	22	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	23	Transmission	13
Ret	26	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	22	Transmission	11
Ret	36	Chris Bristow	Cooper-Climax	19	Fatal accident	9
Ret	30	Chuck Daigh	Scarab	16	Engine	18
Ret	6	Jo Bonnier	BRM	14	Engine	7
Ret	14	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	13	Spun Off/Clutch	8
Ret	8	Dan Gurney	BRM	4	Engine	12
Ret	38	Tony Brooks	Cooper-Climax	2	Gearbox	2
Ret	28	Lance Reventlow	Scarab	1	Engine	16
DNS	12	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax		Accident	3
DNS	20	Mike Taylor	Lotus-Climax		Accident
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut race for Belgian driver Willy Mairesse.
• Excluding the eleven Indianapolis 500 races - that were part of the Formula One World Championship between 1950-1960 - this was the first Formula One World Championship race where a Frenchman did not participate. In all the other 77 races, a Frenchman had participated. A British driver had been present at 75 of those races.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Bruce McLaren	20
2	2	Jack Brabham	16
1	3	Stirling Moss	11
1	4	Jim Rathmann	8
	5	Innes Ireland	7
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Cooper-Climax	30
	2	Lotus-Climax	17
	3	Ferrari	15
	4	BRM	6
	5	Cooper-Maserati	3
Source:

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