1964 Mexican Grand Prix


The 1964 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca in Mexico City on 25 October 1964. It was race 10 of 10 in both the 1964 World Championship of Drivers and the 1964 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
It was perhaps the most dramatic finale in the history of the World Championship. Championship points could only be scored by the first six finishers. Arriving to the race, three drivers had a chance of winning the title: Graham Hill with 39 points, John Surtees with 34, and Jim Clark with 30. In order to win the title, Clark had to win the race, with Surtees finishing not higher than third and Hill not higher than fourth. Surtees could only win the title by finishing first, in each case, or second, unless Hill finished as high as third.
The race began with Clark leading from pole position with Dan Gurney running second in the Brabham-Climax. Hill and Lorenzo Bandini, Surtees's teammate, were duelling for third place, with Surtees a distant fifth, seemingly with no chance at winning the title. Then Bandini ran into the back of Hill's BRM, causing him to spin into the Armco, damaging his exhaust and lose a few places. Thereafter Hill's car ran with a crimped exhaust pipe, causing him to lose power. The championship was now firmly in Clark's grasp. If the positions remained the same, he would be champion with four victories to Hill's two, although they would be tied on points at 39. On the penultimate lap, an oil line failed and Clark's engine seized as the Lotus crossed the line, with one lap left to go. The positions were now Gurney–Bandini–Surtees, meaning the championship would be Hill's, so long as Surtees placed no higher. Realizing Surtees could win the title by finishing second, the Ferrari team manager frantically signalled Bandini to slow down as he passed the pits to enter the last lap and let Surtees through. Bandini dutifully did so and Surtees finished second, thus winning the World Championship of Drivers by one point over Hill. Meanwhile, Gurney won the Grand Prix, almost unnoticed. The Ferrari cars were entered by the American NART team and painted white with blue lengthwise "Cunningham racing stripes", the national colours of the teams licensed in the United States. Since Ferrari cars entered in the and seasons by the American NART team and at the 1966 Italian Grand Prix by the British privateer Reg Parnell team kept wearing the red colour, this race was the last time Ferrari cars wore other than the traditional red colour in Formula One.

Championship scenarios

For the first time, three British drivers went into the last race with a chance of winning the championship. 1962 World Champion Hill, who had the chance of winning his second world championship in three years, was going into the final round of the season with a five-point-lead over Surtees, with Clark a further four points behind in third. Surtees had the opportunity to become both Formula One World Champion for the very first time and the third different British World Drivers' Championship consecutively, whilst Clark would have been able to successfully defend his title, becoming the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957 to do so.
The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner:
In another first, three constructors were fighting for the championship:
  • Ferrari needed either:
  • * 1st
  • * 2nd, with the top BRM 3rd or lower
  • * Any result, with the top Lotus-Climax 2nd or lower and the top BRM in 3rd or lower
  • BRM needed:
  • * 1st
  • Lotus-Climax needed:
  • * 1st, with the top Ferrari 3rd or lower

Final Championship standings

Bold text indicates the World Champions.
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standingsNotes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only best 6 results counted toward the championship. Numbers without parentheses are championship points, numbers in parentheses are total points scored.