Today marks 60 years since the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, held at the Circuit de Monaco Monte Carlo. It was held over 100 laps of the compact 3.145 km circuit for a race distance of just over 195 miles.
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Lotus’s Jim Clark claimed the first pole position of his career, ahead of BRM’s Graham Hill, Cooper’s Bruce McLaren and Ferrari’s Willy Mairesse. Mairesse got an excellent start from fourth on the grid and led into the first corner, the Gasworks hairpin, but braked too late and skidded around it. The concertina effect of the cars behind trying to avoid Mairesse’s skidding car led to a collision further behind which eliminated Dan Gurney, Maurice Trintignant and Richie Ginther. A marshal, Ange Baldoni, was killed by the dislodged right rear wheel of Richie Ginther’s BRM when it collided with the Lotuses of Maurice Trintignant, Innes Ireland and Trevor Taylor, as well as Dan Gurney’s Porsche at the Gasometer hairpin on lap 1.
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McLaren and Graham Hill both passed Mairesse on the exit of Gasworks hairpin; the New Zealander ended the first lap in the lead from the Englishman. Meanwhile, Mairesse spun at the station hairpin on the first lap, dropping down the order.
McLaren led until the seventh lap when he was passed by Graham Hill; the BRM driver held the lead all the way until lap 92, when an engine failure handed the lead back to McLaren who held on to win ahead of Ferrari’s Phil Hill, who recovered from a spin earlier in the race. Hill’s Ferrari team mate Lorenzo Bandini completed the podium places.
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