1962 Mexican Grand Prix

1962 Mexican Grand Prix
Non-championship race in the 1962 Formula One season
Race details
Date 4 November 1962
Official name I Gran Premio de Mexico
Location Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.000 km (3.107 miles)
Distance 60 laps, 300.000 km (186.411 miles)
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Climax
Time 2:00.1
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Jim Clark Lotus-Climax
Time 1:57.6
Podium
First Lotus-Climax
Second Brabham-Climax
Third Lotus-Climax

The I Gran Premio de Mexico (or 1st Mexican Grand Prix) was held on 4 November 1962 at the Magdalena Mixhuca circuit, Mexico City. The race was a non-championship event run to Formula One rules and attracted a large entry, including many top teams and drivers. The race was run over 60 laps of the main circuit, and was eventually won by Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor, sharing a drive in a Lotus 25. The race meeting was marred by the death during practice of local driving prodigy Ricardo Rodríguez. The circuit would later be renamed the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to honour him and his brother Pedro.

Race summary

Pole-sitter Clark suffered a flat battery, so his Lotus 25-Climax got a replacement, but still failed to start; mechanics gave it a push start to get the engine going. However, due to a lack of communication between the starting officials, the start flag was waved while marshals were still on the track.[citation needed] For John Surtees, the delay caused a cylinder to burn out and his race was over before it even started. The race stewards decided the push start had been illegal (despite it being done by race officials)[citation needed] and black-flagged Clark's car (leaking oil in addition, to unlikely to survive full distance in any case) on lap 10.

Clark took over the second works Lotus of Lotus team-mate, Trevor Taylor, during a pit stop, dropping him to third, behind Jack Brabham's Brabham and Bruce McLaren in the Cooper. The Scot put in a superb drive to claw back the 57 second deficit on the leaders, passing both with over one third of the race distance still remaining. McLaren's engine blew after half-distance, and as the Brabham was also having trouble, Clark completed the remainder of the race with very little opposition, scoring an easy win. This would prove to be the final time that a Grand Prix victory would be shared by two drivers.[citation needed]

Also notable was the participation of German driver Wolfgang Seidel, who competed despite having had his FIA licence suspended over two months previously. The Porsche works team did not attend, Porsche having withdrawn from motor sport at the end of the 1962 World Championship season.

Despite the starting confusion, the race earned the Mexican Grand Prix full World Championship status from 1963, which it would retain until 1970.

Results

Pos Driver Entrant Constructor Time/Retired Qual
1 United Kingdom Trevor Taylor / Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus-Climax 2:03:50.9 3
2 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Climax + 1:01.9 7
3 United Kingdom Innes Ireland UDT Laystall Racing Team Lotus-Climax + 1 lap 2
4 United States Jim Hall Jim Hall Lotus-Climax + 1 lap 10
5 United States Masten Gregory UDT Laystall Racing Team Lotus-BRM + 1 lap 9
6 United States Rob Schroeder John Mecom Lotus-Climax + 3 laps 11
7 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsche + 3 laps 12
8 United States Homer Rader Jim Hall Lotus-Climax + 3 laps 14
9 United States Jay Chamberlain Ecurie Excelsior Lotus-Climax + 7 laps 16
Ret United States Walt Hansgen Walter Hansgen Lotus-Climax Ignition 13
Ret United States Roger Penske Dupont Team Zerex Lotus-Climax Gearbox 6
Ret New Zealand Bruce McLaren Cooper Car Company Cooper-Climax Engine 5
DSQ United Kingdom Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus-Climax Push start 1
Ret United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team Lola-Climax Accident (Rear suspension) 8
Ret United States Alan Connell Alan Connell Cooper-Climax Engine 15
Ret Germany Wolfgang Seidel Autosport Team Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-BRM Gearbox 17
Ret United Kingdom John Surtees Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team Lotus-Climax Ignition 4
WD Mexico Moisés Solana Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team Cooper-BRM Car too slow
DNS Mexico Ricardo Rodríguez Rob Walker Racing Team Lotus-Climax Fatal accident
DNA United States Dan Gurney Porsche System Engineering Porsche
DNA Sweden Jo Bonnier Porsche System Engineering Porsche
  • Moisés Solana withdrew from the event during practice, complaining that his car was too slow. His fastest recorded time was faster than those of Seidel, Connell, Rader, Chamberlain and Hansgen.

This page was last updated at 2024-02-14 18:21 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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