1966 French Grand Prix

Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report The 1966 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 3 July 1966. It was race 3 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the "60th Anniversary race" of Grand Prix racing, which had started with the GP of France in 1906. It was also the 16th and last time the French Grand Prix was held on variations of French highways near Reims, following a three-year absence from the region. The race was held over 48 laps of the Template:Convert circuit for a race distance of Template:Convert.

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 and his first since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix, six years earlier. It was also his first win since establishing his Brabham team, and the first win for the Australian-developed Repco-Brabham V8 engine. Brabham became the first driver to win a World Championship Grand Prix in a car bearing his own name. British driver Mike Parkes finished second in a Ferrari 312, 9.5 seconds behind, while Brabham's team-mate, New Zealander Denny Hulme, finished third in his Brabham BT20, albeit two laps down.

Brabham now led the Driver's 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 in succession for Brabham as he began his march towards his third world title.

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 watch this race.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	20	Template:Flagicon Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	2:07.8	—
2	10	Template:Flagicon John Surtees	Cooper-Maserati	2:08.4	+0.6
3	22	Template:Flagicon Mike Parkes	Ferrari	2:09.1	+1.3
4	12	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	2:10.2	+2.4
5	6	Template:Flagicon Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Maserati	2:10.9	+3.1
6	38	Template:Flagicon Jo Siffert	Cooper-Maserati	2:12.2	+4.4
7	8	Template:Flagicon Chris Amon	Cooper-Maserati	2:12.4	+4.6
8	16	Template:Flagicon Graham Hill	BRM	2:12.8	+5.0
9	14	Template:Flagicon Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco	2:13.3	+5.5
10	32	Template:Flagicon Mike Spence	Lotus-BRM	2:14.2	+6.4
11	42	Template:Flagicon Guy Ligier	Cooper-Maserati	2:15.4	+7.6
12	36	Template:Flagicon Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	2:15.6	+7.8
13	2	Template:Flagicon Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	2:15.6	+7.8
14	2	Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus-Climax	2:16.5	+8.7
15	26	Template:Flagicon Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	2:17.9	+10.1
16	44	Template:Flagicon John Taylor	Brabham-BRM	2:19.2	+11.4
17	4	Template:Flagicon Peter Arundell	Lotus-BRM	2:19.6	+11.8
18	30	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	2:23.5	+15.7
Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	48	1:48:31.3	4	9
2	22	Template:Flagicon Mike Parkes	Ferrari	48	+ 9.5	3	6
3	14	Template:Flagicon Denny Hulme	Brabham-Repco	46	+ 2 Laps	9	4
4	6	Template:Flagicon Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Maserati	46	+ 2 Laps	5	3
5	26	Template:Flagicon Dan Gurney	Eagle-Climax	45	+ 3 Laps	14	2
6	44	Template:Flagicon John Taylor	Brabham-BRM	45	+ 3 Laps	15	1
7	36	Template:Flagicon Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	44	+ 4 Laps	12
8	8	Template:Flagicon Chris Amon	Cooper-Maserati	44	+ 4 Laps	7
NC	42	Template:Flagicon Guy Ligier	Cooper-Maserati	42	+ 6 Laps	11
Ret	2	Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez	Lotus-Climax	40	Oil Leak	13
NC	20	Template:Flagicon Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	37	+ 11 Laps	1
NC	30	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	32	+ 16 Laps	17
Ret	16	Template:Flagicon Graham Hill	BRM	13	Engine	8
Ret	38	Template:Flagicon Jo Siffert	Cooper-Maserati	10	Fuel System	6
Ret	32	Template:Flagicon Mike Spence	Lotus-BRM	8	Clutch	10
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon John Surtees	Cooper-Maserati	5	Fuel System	2
Ret	4	Template:Flagicon Peter Arundell	Lotus-BRM	3	Gearbox	16
DNS	2	Template:Flagicon Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax		Accident	(18)
Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
File:1uparrow green.svg 6	1	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	12
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	2	Template:Flagicon Lorenzo Bandini	10
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	3	Template:Flagicon John Surtees	9
File:1downarrow red.svg 2	4	Template:Flagicon Jackie Stewart	9
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	5	Template:Flagicon Jochen Rindt	9
Source: <ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	1	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	21
File:1uparrow green.svg 2	2	Template:Flagicon Brabham-Repco	12
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	3	Template:Flagicon BRM	9
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	4	Template:Flagicon Cooper-Maserati	9
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	5	Template:Flagicon Eagle-Climax	2
Source: <ref name="champ"/>

• Template:Small

References

Template:S-start |- style="text-align:center" |width="35%"|Previous race:
1966 Belgian Grand Prix |width="30%"|Template:Nowrap
Template:Ifnumber |width="35%"|Next race:
1966 British Grand Prix |- style="text-align:center" |width="35%"|Previous race:
1965 French Grand Prix |width="30%"|French Grand Prix |width="35%"|Next race:
1967 French Grand Prix |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: | Template:Succession box }} |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: 1965 Belgian Grand Prix | Template:Designated European Grand Prix }} |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: | Template:S-ach }} |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: | Template:F1 Promotional Trophy }} |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: | | {{ #if: | Template:S-ach }} }} |- style="text-align:center" {{#if: | Template:Succession box }} Template:S-end Template:F1GP 60-69