Date 4 September 1960 Course length 10.000 km (6.214 mi) | Course Permanent road course | |
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Official name XXXI Gran Premio d'Italia Location Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy Distance 50 laps, 500.023 km (310.700 mi) | ||
The 1960 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 4 September 1960. The race was won by American driver Phil Hill driving a Ferrari 246 F1.
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Race summary
The 1960 season had been a frustrating one for Ferrari's Formula 1 program as they campaigned their obsolete Dino 246, a front engined car as the rear engined design established supremacy. The championship had already been decided for Jack Brabham and Ferrari had gone without a victory. Seeing an opportunity, the Italian organizers decided to maximize Ferrari's one advantage —straightline speed— by using the combined Monza road and banked oval circuit, making the fast Monza even faster.
Citing the fragility of their cars and the dangers of the banking, the major British factory teams of the day—Lotus, B.R.M., and Cooper, all boycotted the event, leading to a cobbled together field of private entrants and Formula 2 cars.
The race was a processional affair, with Ginther leading at the start and eventually being overtaken by Hill. The pair with teammate Willy Mairesse raced on to a rare 1–2–3 team result for Scuderia Ferrari. The boycott also allowed Scuderia Castellotti to score its only world championship points with Giulio Cabianca finishing fourth in his Cooper T51, two laps behind Hill and ahead of Scuderia Ferrari's fourth entry, Wolfgang von Trips.
It was the first victory by an American driver in a Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy in 1921, and the first by an American in the modern era, post codification of the Formula One championship in 1950. It would also be the last Formula One victory by a front-engined car.