1966 Belgian Grand Prix

Race summary

The race distance was shortened from the previous year, from 32 to 28 laps. More than half the field crashed out on the first lap due to a heavy rainstorm and only seven runners remained by the start of the second lap. Four drivers went off and crashed at the sweeping Burnenville corner, where the heavy wall of rain was. Jo Bonnier crashed with his Cooper T81 coming to rest balancing on a parapet, the front half car in the air. Jackie Stewart's BRM P261 crashed into a telephone pole and then landed in a ditch at Masta Kink, leading to him being stuck upside down in his BRM, halfway up to his waist in fuel, for 25 minutes. Graham Hill and Bob Bondurant, both of whom had gone off near Stewart, managed to rescue him with a spectator's toolkit. Jack Brabham slid his Brabham BT19 coming out of the Masta Kink at 135 mph, but regained control of the car and rejoined the race. There was so much water on the track that it got into and flooded the Climax engine in Jim Clark's Lotus 33, putting him out on the first lap too. The entire first lap was run under green flags.

The race was filmed for the motion picture Grand Prix. The eight-minute segment of the 1966 film uses a combination of live footage and mocked-up racing scenes. The live footage shows Surtees, Bonnier, Bandini, Ligier, Clark and Gurney in action. Surtees doubles in the scene for the fictional Jean-Pierre Sarti while Bandini doubles for the fictional Nino Barlini. The film is careful not to pick up Jackie Stewart in action as he doubles for the fictional character Scott Stoddard, who at this point in the film is recovering from a near fatal crash earlier in the season, although this was fairly easy since Stewart crashed on the first lap. James Garner's white "Yamura", a repainted McLaren, did not appear in the actual race and scenes showing it are part of the staged race filming.

Because of McLaren's withdrawal, Bob Bondurant's car had to be painted white overnight in order to have actual footage featuring the "Yamura" car. In addition, Phil Hill was allowed to do one lap of the track with his car having a camera mounted on its nose. He managed to avoid the entire first-lap carnage and was able to get pictures of the scene.

After his accident in this race, Jackie Stewart began his efforts for safer racing which continued for decades; particularly after his influence as a Formula One racing driver grew through the next seven seasons he competed in the sport.

Classification

Qualifying

• Bondurant drove car #8 in practice alongside Wilson, but he would drive car #24 in the race.

Race

Notes

• This was the 100th Formula One World Championship race wherein a Frenchman participated. In those 100 races, French drivers won 2 Grands Prix, achieved 23 podiums, and 2 fastest laps.
• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American constructor Eagle.
• This was Ferrari's 5th win of a Belgian Grand Prix in the Formula One World Championship era. In total, the Scuderia had 17 podiums, 5 pole positions, 5 fastest laps and 2 Grand Slams at Spa-Francorchamps.
• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian engine supplier Serenissima.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

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

References

References

1. (31 May 2011). "Grand Prix The Movie: A Complete History".
2. "1966 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com.
3. "Belgium 1966 - Championship • STATS F1".