1962 South African Grand Prix

  1962 South African Grand Prix

Race details
Race 9 of 9 in the 1962 Formula One season
Date	29 December 1962
Official name	IX South African Grand Prix
Location	Prince George Circuit East London, South Africa
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.920 km (2.436 mi)
Distance	82 laps, 321.415 km (199.718 mi)
Weather	Dry, windy
Pole position
Driver	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Time	1:29.3
Fastest lap
Driver	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Time	1:31.0 on lap 3
Podium
First	Graham Hill	BRM
Second	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Third	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax

The 1962 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at East London on 29 December 1962. It was the ninth and final race of the 1962 Formula One season. Jim Clark led the race until 20 laps from the finish, when an oil leak forced him to retire. Had this not occurred and Clark finished the race in first, he would have been crowned world champion.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Graham Hill	BRM	82	2:08:03.3	2	9
2	8	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	82	+ 49.8	8	6
3	9	Tony Maggs	Cooper-Climax	82	+ 50.3	6	4
4	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	82	+ 53.8	3	3
5	11	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	81	+ 1 Lap	4	2
6	20	Neville Lederle	Lotus-Climax	78	+ 4 Laps	10	1
7	4	Richie Ginther	BRM	78	+ 4 Laps	7
8	18	John Love	Cooper-Climax	78	+ 4 Laps	12
9	5	Bruce Johnstone	BRM	76	+ 6 Laps	17
10	14	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus-Climax	71	+ 11 Laps	13
11	15	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche	70	Fuel system	16
Ret	1	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	62	Oil Leak	1
Ret	21	Doug Serrurier	LDS-Alfa Romeo	62	Radiator	14
Ret	7	Roy Salvadori	Lola-Climax	56	Fuel Leak	11
Ret	22	Mike Harris	Cooper-Alfa Romeo	31	Wheel bearing	15
Ret	6	John Surtees	Lola-Climax	26	Engine	5
Ret	2	Trevor Taylor	Lotus-Climax	11	Gearbox	9
WD	12	Gary Hocking	Lotus-Climax		Driver killed prior to event
WD	16	Syd van der Vyver	Lotus-Climax		Car damaged
WD	17	Tony Settember	Emeryson-Climax
WD	19	Sam Tingle	Lotus-Climax		Driver competing elsewhere
Source:[1]

Notes

• Pole position: Jim Clark - 1:29.3
• Fastest Lap: Jim Clark - 1:31.0
• Graham Hill (39pts) and Jim Clark (30pts) both had championship hopes coming into this race.
  • Graham Hill needed Clark 2nd or lower
  • Clark needed to win
• BRM won the Constructors' Championship. Lotus-Climax needed to win the race to win the championship.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 42 (52) 2 Jim Clark 30 3 Bruce McLaren 27 (32) 4 John Surtees 19 5 Dan Gurney 15

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 BRM 42 (56) 2 Lotus-Climax 36 (38) 3 Cooper-Climax 29 (37) 4 Lola-Climax 19 5 Porsche 18 (19)

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References