1965 Season

The 1965 season is the 19th FIA Formula One season. The World Championship of Drivers runs over ten rounds between 1 January and 24 October, alongside seven non-championship Formula One races.

John Surtees, the 1964 Drivers’ Champion, returns with Ferrari. Jim Clark, champion in 1963, is the man Surtees must beat again in a Lotus-Climax.

Driver changes

Jackie Stewart replaces Richie Ginther at BRM. Ginther has been invited to join the Honda factory team, marking Honda’s entry into Grand Prix racing as a constructor. Denny Hulme joins Brabham alongside team owner Jack Brabham and veteran Dan Gurney. Jochen Rindt, who made a single appearance in 1964, takes a full-time seat at Cooper after Phil Hill retired from single-seater racing.

Calendar

The season opens on 1 January with the South African Grand Prix at East London — originally scheduled as the final round of 1964, the race was pushed back a week and becomes the first round of 1965 instead. As a result, the cars competing at East London are 1964-specification machines; no team has had time to complete 1965 development.

The French Grand Prix moves from Rouen-Les-Essarts to the Circuit de Charade near Clermont-Ferrand for this season. The British Grand Prix returns to Silverstone, alternating with Brands Hatch under the two-circuit arrangement. The Dutch Grand Prix shifts from mid-May to mid-July. The Austrian Grand Prix is not a Formula One championship round this year, running instead as a sports car race.

Regulation changes

This is the final season under the 1.5-litre engine formula introduced in 1961.