1961 Season

Driver changes

Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney leave BRM for Porsche, who make their full-season Formula One debut. BRM signs Tony Brooks to partner Graham Hill. John Surtees moves from the Lotus works team to Reg Parnell’s privately entered Cooper. Lotus does not replace Surtees and reduces to two cars.

Both Aston Martin and Vanwall, which each competed in only one race in 1960, withdraw from Formula One entirely before this season.

Team changes

Porsche makes their full-season Formula One entry, running two cars for Bonnier and Gurney. BRM, having lost both their race drivers to Porsche, turns to a Coventry Climax engine — the same unit used by Lotus and Cooper — having not had time to prepare their own engine for the new regulations. Maserati, whose 250F chassis had continued to be raced by private teams since the works withdrawal in 1958, now supplies engines only.

Calendar

The season runs over eight races, opening at Monaco on 14 May. The Argentine and Portuguese Grands Prix are dropped. The Moroccan Grand Prix is cancelled for the third consecutive year due to monetary reasons. The British Grand Prix moves from Silverstone to Aintree, in keeping with the two-circuit rotation. The German Grand Prix returns to the Nürburgring after the 1959 race was held at AVUS and the 1960 event ran as a Formula Two race. The United States Grand Prix moves from Riverside International Raceway to Watkins Glen, which offered better prize money and stronger attendance. The Indianapolis 500, part of the World Championship calendar since 1950 but run under AAA/USAC rules, is dropped and becomes solely a domestic American championship event.

Regulation changes

Formula One adopts the engine regulations used in Formula Two since 1957: naturally aspirated engines only, with a maximum capacity of 1,500 cc and a minimum of 1,300 cc. The English teams threatened a boycott, arguing the rule change was communicated too late for them to build competitive cars. Their protests subsided. Ferrari had anticipated the new formula by designing the mid-engined 156 “Sharknose” and arrives prepared while rivals adapt Formula Two units.

The minimum car weight is initially set at 500 kg, later lowered to 450 kg. Adding oil or water to a car during a race is banned. Wheels may not be covered by bodywork.

Several safety measures become mandatory: roll bars wider than the driver’s shoulders (and no higher or further forward than their head), automatic starter motors operable by the seated driver, an electrical master switch as a fire precaution, a dual front braking system allowing independent operation of the front wheels, seat belt mounting points (wearing the belt remains optional), and fuel tank fillers that sit flush with the body panels.

The points awarded to a race winner increase from 8 to 9.

Pre-season non-championship races

Pre-season racing ran from late March through early May. Jack Brabham won at Snetterton and at the Aintree 200 in wet conditions. John Surtees won the Glover Trophy at Goodwood ahead of Graham Hill, Roy Salvadori, and Stirling Moss. Jim Clark won at Pau for the Lotus works team. Moss won in Vienna. The Syracuse Grand Prix on 25 April was won by Giancarlo Baghetti in a Ferrari — his first Formula One race.