1960 Formula One season

The 1960 Formula One season was the 14th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 11th World Championship of Drivers , the third International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and five non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over ten races between 7 February and 20 November 1960.

Jack Brabham driving for Cooper won his second consecutive Drivers' Championship. [ 1 ] Cooper secured their second consecutive Manufacturers' title. [ 2 ]

It was the last year of the 2.5 litre formula, the FIA mandating 1.5 litre engines from 1961 on. Rear-engined cars (from Cooper, Lotus, Porsche and BRM ) were distinctly more successful than the front-engined designs (from Ferrari, Scarab and Aston Martin). Ferrari did win their home race when the British teams boycotted the event, opposing the organisers' decision to use the banked circuit. It was the last victory for a front-engined car in a World Championship race.

It was also the last season to include the Indianapolis 500 .

Three drivers died in racing accidents: American Harry Schell during practice for the 1960 BRDC International Trophy , and Britons Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey , both killed at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

The teams came down to Argentina from Europe in February to start the 1960 season, having competed at the last round of the 1959 championship in Sebring, Florida, in the United States only two months previously. Stirling Moss was on pole position in Buenos Aires in his Rob Walker Cooper-Climax with Team Lotus driver Innes Ireland alongside, although he had been 1.6 seconds slower in qualifying. Completing the four-person front row were the BRMs of Hill and Jo Bonnier. The Lotus team had come out...

At the start, Ireland made a fantastic start and had a good lead at the end of the first lap over Bonnier, Graham Hill, and Phil Hill (no relation to Graham), who had started from the second row in his Ferrari Dino 246. Moss made a poor start and was eighth at the end of the first lap. On the second lap, Ireland spun, and as he was doing this, Moss was driving a blinding lap, passing the Cooper of Carlos Menditeguy, Froilan Gonzalez's Ferrari, Jack Brabham's Cooper, Phil Hill's Ferrari, and Irel...

There had been a non-championship round at the Goodwood circuit near the southern English coast, the Glover Trophy, won by Innes Ireland in a Lotus. During this time, most drivers were competing in sportscar races, such as the 12 Hours of Sebring in March; and the Targa Florio and the Nurburgring 1000km in May.

Moss took pole by a second with Jack Brabham's Cooper and Chris Bristow's BRP Cooper alongside, while Jo Bonnier shared the second row with Tony Brooks's BRP Cooper. Bonnier took the lead at the start, with Brabham second and Moss third ahead of Brooks and Bristow in the BRP Coopers. Moss took Brabham on lap 5 and then shadowed Bonnier until lap 17, when he took the lead. Further back Bristow went out with gearbox trouble. Brabham passed Bonnier on lap 20, but the Swede fought back and, on lap 2...

Although there were disputes over prize money and several teams withdrew after qualifying, there was still a decent field for the race with Stirling Moss on pole position in his Walker Lotus-Climax. Jack Brabham was alongside in his Cooper-Climax, and Innes Ireland was on the outside of the front row in his factory Lotus 18. The BRMs of Jo Bonnier and Graham Hill shared the second row. Brabham made the best start and led Moss and Ireland with Team Lotus's Alan Stacey up from the third row on the...

The Belgian Grand Prix of 1960 was one of the most disastrous races in Formula 1 history, with the weekend claiming two drivers and two others suffering serious injuries in practice. This race, which took place at the second-fastest and perhaps the most dangerous circuit of the year, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the southern part of Belgium, saw two significant accidents on Friday, with Moss suffering an axle failure at the super-fast Burnenville corner and being thrown from the car in the e...

Three weeks after the disastrous Belgian Grand Prix, the World Championship contenders gathered at the super-fast straights of Reims. Stirling Moss was out of action. Tony Brooks had switched from the BRP Cooper team to try the new Vanwall VW11, while Team Lotus had hired Ron Flockhart to replace Alan Stacey. BRP had two new drivers in, Henry Taylor and Bruce Halford. In practice, both Scarabs blew their engines, so neither Lance Reventlow nor Chuck Daigh was able to race. Jack Brabham was on po...

Although there was only a fortnight between the French and British GPs, several changes occurred when the F1 circus arrived at Silverstone. The Vanwall VW11 did not re-appear: Tony Brooks went back to his BRP Cooper, and with both Scarabs having blown up at Reims, they were not present, although Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow shared a third factory Cooper, Daigh being faster and thus getting to race. Aston Martin showed up with DBR5s for Roy Salvadori and Maurice Trintignant. At the same time, ...

With the German Grand Prix being cancelled after safety concerns and complaints about the general quality of the AVUS track in Berlin, there was a month between the British and Portuguese GPs. At the challenging and dangerous Boavista street circuit in Porto , Stirling Moss made his F1 comeback after being out of action since the disastrous Belgian GP in June. The only other change of note was that local hero Mario Cabral was found a drive in the second Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper-Maserati. In pr...

With the World Championship settled in favour of Jack Brabham and the Italian authorities deciding that the Italian Grand Prix would be held on the combined road and oval course at the Monza Autodrome near Milan (making it the fastest circuit of the year), all the big British teams boycotted the event, citing the fragility, extreme roughness and poor construction of the concrete banking and the field consisted of the works Ferraris, the Coopers of Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti and Scuderia Centro...

The powerful Ferraris dominated, with Phil Hill sharing the front row with fellow American Ritchie Ginther and Willy Mairesse with a couple of Coopers on the second row. In the race, Ginther and Hill led while Mairesse was slowed by team orders to help tow a fourth Ferrari – an F2 car driven by Wolfgang Von Trips – away from the two Porsches. This allowed Giulio Cabianca to run third in his Castellotti Cooper. Mairesse eventually returned to third place while Hill passed early leader Ginther to ...

The final World Championship event of the year took place in the United States 10 weeks after the penultimate event. Ferrari did not travel to the Riverside circuit just east of Los Angeles, California, but Phil Hill found a ride in a fourth BRP Cooper at his home circuit, and Wolfgang Von Trips found a ride in a Cooper-Maserati run by Scuderia Centro Sud. In the sunny and pleasant southern California weather, Ron Flockhart turned up in the third factory Cooper and Jim Hall made his F1 debut in ...

Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. Only the best six results counted towards the championship. This was the first season in which points for fastest laps were not awarded. No points were awarded for shared drives.

The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. Indy 500 results did not count towards the cup. Additionally, like the Drivers' Championship, only the best six results counted towards the cup.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

Other Formula One races were held in 1960, which did not count towards the World Championship.