1965 South African Grand Prix

  1965 South African Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 10 in the 1965 Formula One season
Date	1 January 1965
Official name	XI South African Grand Prix
Location	Prince George Circuit East London, South Africa
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.920 km (2.436 mi)
Distance	85 laps, 333.175 km (207.025 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Time	1:27.2
Fastest lap
Driver	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Time	1:27.6 on lap 80
Podium
First	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax
Second	John Surtees	Ferrari
Third	Graham Hill	BRM

The 1965 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at East London on 1 January 1965. It was the first race of the 1965 Formula One season.

Race report

Jim Clark celebrated Hogmanay by dominating the race, leading from pole and breaking the 100 mph barrier, winning by half a minute from Graham Hill and John Surtees and even had time to complete an extra lap after the chequered flag was waved a lap too early. Mike Spence, Bruce McLaren and débutant Jackie Stewart completed the points positions. Goodyear made their Grand Prix début with the Brabham team, challenging the Dunlop monopoly.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	85	2:06:46.0	1	9
2	1	John Surtees	Ferrari	85	+29.0 secs	2	6
3	3	Graham Hill	BRM	85	+31.8 secs	5	4
4	6	Mike Spence	Lotus-Climax	85	+54.4 secs	4	3
5	9	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	84	+1 Lap	8	2
6	4	Jackie Stewart	BRM	83	+2 Laps	11	1
7	12	Jo Siffert	Brabham-BRM	83	+2 Laps	14
8	7	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	81	+4 Laps	3
9	18	Paul Hawkins	Brabham-Ford	81	+4 Laps	16
10	20	Peter de Klerk	Alfa Romeo	79	+6 Laps	17
11	15	Tony Maggs	Lotus-BRM	77	+8 Laps	13
12	16	Frank Gardner	Brabham-BRM	75	+10 Laps	15
13	25	Sam Tingle	LDS-Alfa Romeo	73	+12 Laps	20
14	19	David Prophet	Brabham-Ford	71	+14 Laps	19
15	2	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	66	Ignition	6
NC	14	Bob Anderson	Brabham-Climax	50	+35 Laps	12
Ret	11	Jo Bonnier	Brabham-Climax	42	Clutch	7
Ret	10	Jochen Rindt	Cooper-Climax	39	Electrical	10
Ret	17	John Love	Cooper-Climax	20	Halfshaft	18
Ret	8	Dan Gurney	Brabham-Climax	11	Ignition	9
DNQ	28	Trevor Blokdyk	Cooper-Ford
DNQ	23	Neville Lederle	Lotus-Climax
DNQ	21	Doug Serrurier	LDS-Climax
DNQ	27	Brausch Niemann	Lotus-Ford
DNQ	22	Ernie Pieterse	Lotus-Climax
DNPQ	24	Clive Puzey	Lotus-Climax
DNPQ	29	Jackie Pretorius	LDS-Alfa Romeo
DNPQ	32	Dave Charlton	Lotus-Ford		Fire in practice
WD	26	Ray Reed	RE-Alfa Romeo		Driver killed prior to event
WD	30	Brian Raubenheimer	Lotus-Ford		Engine not available
WD	31	David Clapham	Cooper-Maserati
WD	33	Alex Blignaut	Cooper-Climax
Source:

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Jim Clark 85 laps (1-85).
• Grand Prix debut for: Dave Charlton, Paul Hawkins, Jackie Pretorius, and Jackie Stewart. Only Grand Prix appearance for Clive Puzey.
• Last Grand Prix appearance for: Trevor Blokdyk, Neville Lederle, Tony Maggs, Brausch Niemann, Ernie Pieterse, David Prophet, and Doug Serrurier.
• Career Firsts: Jackie Stewart (points).
• First time a podium exactly repeated an earlier podium (Clark, Surtees, G.Hill - 1963 British Grand Prix)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jim Clark	9
2	John Surtees	6
3	Graham Hill	4
4	Mike Spence	3
5	Bruce McLaren	2

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Lotus-Climax	9
2	Ferrari	6
3	BRM	4
4	Cooper-Climax	2

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

Previous race: 1964 Mexican Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1965 season	Next race: 1965 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race: 1963 South African Grand Prix	South African Grand Prix	Next race: 1966 South African Grand Prix