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 (9–6–4–3–2–1 points). Arriving to the race, three drivers had a chance of winning the title: Graham Hill (BRM P261Kettlewell, Mike. "Grand Prix Racing South of the Border", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974) Volume 12, p.1332.) with 39 points, John Surtees (Ferrari) with 34, and Jim Clark (Lotus 33-Climax) 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 (Gurney had only ten points going into this race having won the French Grand Prix and scored a sixth place at the Belgian Grand Prix). 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 (40 to 39). 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 (rosso corsa) in Formula One.

Championship permutations For the first – and thus far – only time in Formula One history, 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. Hill was in the strongest position amongst the three contenders as he only needed a second place to win the title. Surtees had the opportunity to become both Formula One World Champion for the very first time and the third different British World Drivers' Champion consecutively, whilst Clark would have been able to successfully defend his title, becoming the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1960 to do so.

The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner:

Hill would have won if: Graham Hill John Surtees Jim Clark2nd or betterAny position Any position3rd2nd or lowerlower than 3rd3rd or lower2nd or lower

Surtees would have won if: John Surtees Graham Hill Jim Clark1stAny position Any position2nd4th or lower

Clark would have won if: Jim Clark Graham Hill John Surtees1st4th or lower3rd or lower

In another first, three constructors were fighting for the championship: Ferrari (43pts) 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 (42pts) needed: 1st Lotus-Climax (37pts) needed: 1st, with the top Ferrari 3rd or lower

Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 1:57.24 — 2 6 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 1:58.10 +0.86 3 8 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 1:58.60 +1.36 4 7 John Surtees Ferrari 1:58.70 +1.46 5 2 Mike Spence Lotus-Climax 1:59.21 +1.97 6 3 Graham Hill BRM 1:59.80 +2.56 7 5 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 1:59.99 +2.75 8 16 Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax 2:00.17 +2.93 9 18 Pedro Rodríguez Ferrari 2:00.90 +3.66 10 9 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 2:01.12 +3.88 11 4 Richie Ginther BRM 2:01.15 +3.91 12 15 Chris Amon Lotus-BRM 2:01.17 +3.93 13 22 Jo Siffert Brabham-BRM 2:01.37 +4.13 14 17 Moisés Solana Lotus-Climax 2:01.43 +4.19 15 10 Phil Hill Cooper-Climax 2:02.00 +4.76 16 11 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 2:02.35 +5.11 17 14 Mike Hailwood Lotus-BRM 2:04.11 +6.87 18 12 Trevor Taylor BRP-BRM 2:04.90 +7.66 19 23 Hap Sharp Brabham-BRM 2:06.90 +9.66

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax 65 2:09:50.32 2 9 2 7 John Surtees Ferrari 65 + 1:08.94 4 6 3 8 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 65 + 1:09.63 3 4 4 2 Mike Spence Lotus-Climax 65 + 1:21.86 5 3 5 1 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 64 Engine/Oil line 1 2 6 18 Pedro Rodríguez Ferrari 64 + 1 lap 9 1 7 9 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 64 + 1 lap 10 8 4 Richie Ginther BRM 64 + 1 lap 11 9 10 Phil Hill Cooper-Climax 63 Engine 15 10 17 Moisés Solana Lotus-Climax 63 + 2 laps 14 11 3 Graham Hill BRM 63 + 2 laps 6 12 11 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM 61 + 4 laps 16 13 23 Hap Sharp Brabham-BRM 60 + 5 laps 19 15 Chris Amon Lotus-BRM 46 Gearbox 12 5 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax 44 Electrical 7 14 Mike Hailwood Lotus-BRM 12 Overheating 17 22 Jo Siffert Brabham-BRM 11 Fuel pump 13 16 Jo Bonnier Brabham-Climax 9 Suspension 8 12 Trevor Taylor BRP-BRM 6 Overheating 18

Final Championship standings Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 1 John Surtees 40 1 2 Graham Hill 39 (41) 3 Jim Clark 32 1 4 Lorenzo Bandini 23 1 5 Richie Ginther 23Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 45 (49) 2 BRM 42 (51) 3 Lotus-Climax 37 (40) 4 Brabham-Climax 30 5 Cooper-Climax 16Source:

Notes: 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.

Notes

References

External links 1964 Mexican Grand Prix at statsf1.com 1964 Mexican Grand Prix at grandprix.com