On the eve of the final race in Mexico, the 1964 Formula 1 World Championship was still wide open. Graham Hill led the standings with 39 points, followed by John Surtees on 34 and Jim Clark on 30, all three still firmly in contention for the title. After a race packed with dramatic twists, it was Surtees who ultimately emerged victorious, becoming the only driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship after having already been crowned world champion in motorcycle racing.
The sporting results
During the 1964 season, Jim Clark and his Lotus cars, the 25 and later the 33, had clearly shown something extra in terms of outright performance. Clark secured five pole positions and three victories, compared to two poles and two wins for John Surtees, and one pole position with two victories for Graham Hill. Despite this, the championship standings were heavily influenced by the points system in place at the time, which awarded points down to sixth position (9-6-4-3-2-1).
There was also the rule stipulating that only the six best results would count towards the final championship classification. As a consequence, the title fight remained extremely close and complex. In the end, only Hill, Surtees and Clark were left battling for the championship. Hill appeared to be the favourite, but his margin was far slimmer than it looked on paper because of the dropped scores: two points had already been discounted from his total, and another three would have been dropped had he finished better than fourth.
At the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, the final race of the season, Jim Clark lined up on pole position and quickly established himself at the front. Meanwhile, Graham Hill, driving for BRM, was defending third place from a charging Lorenzo Bandini. In doing so, Graham Hill remained provisionally at the top of the World Championship standings, while John Surtees, running fifth, seemed largely out of contention.
The first major twist came on lap 31, when contact between Hill and Bandini sent Hill into a spin. The incident bent an exhaust pipe on the BRM and dropped Hill to the back of the field, dramatically altering the championship picture.
At that point, Jim Clark moved into a virtual lead of the World Championship. Just as the outcome appeared to be settled, a second and decisive twist arrived on the penultimate lap: an oil pipe failed on Clark’s Lotus. The race was won by Dan Gurney in a Brabham, with Surtees finishing second after Bandini ceded the position to him. That single act allowed John Surtees to become World Champion, beating Hill by just one point, with Hill the only driver ultimately penalised by the dropped-score system.
The finale was overflowing with emotion. Graham Hill was furious, suspecting that he had been deliberately hit, while Jim Clark was left devastated. In stark contrast, John Surtees could barely contain his joy. Given the way the race unfolded, the final result came as something of a surprise for Ferrari, but the titles were fully deserved. Alongside the Drivers’ Championship, Ferrari also secured the Constructors’ Cup, thanks in part to Bandini’s contributions with both the 156 and the 1512.
The Ferrari 1512, used in the final two races of the season, was showing clear signs of progress. In Mexico, it was fighting for a podium finish, aided by the fact that its twelve-cylinder engine performed particularly well at high altitude. Expectations for the 1965 season were therefore high. However, those hopes were soon dashed by a rival field that had evolved even further. Ferrari failed to secure a single victory. Surtees achieved no more than a second place and two third places with the 158, plus another third with the 1512, while Bandini’s best result was a second place with the 1512.
The 1512 itself, which was considered Ferrari’s main weapon for the 1965 season, failed to deliver the hoped-for step forward compared to the 158. At Monza, a circuit that should have highlighted its superior power, the car effectively met its moment of reckoning. Surtees pushed hard in qualifying, but Jim Clark took pole position by two tenths of a second. Any hope of redemption in the race vanished almost immediately when Surtees suffered a clutch failure at the start.
There was little that could be done. The 1965 season was defined by the dominance of Jim Clark and the Lotus 33. Six victories and six pole positions in ten races were clear evidence of a superiority that was never seriously challenged. To further underline their strength, Lotus even skipped the Monaco Grand Prix in order to focus on winning the Indianapolis 500.
Faced with such an extraordinary talent, Ferrari’s attempt to counter Clark with the twelve-cylinder project is understandable. However, the effort ended up absorbing too many resources, leaving insufficient energy to refine every detail with the obsessive attention that Formula 1 was beginning to demand at that time. On the other hand, this proved to be a gift for enthusiasts. Even decades later, fans can still admire a true masterpiece of mechanical engineering, an unrepeatable jewel from a golden era of Formula 1.
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