Date 4 November 1962 | Course length 5.004 km (3.109 mi) | |
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Official name I Gran Premio de Mexico Location Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City Course Permanent racing facility Distance 60 laps, 300.239 km (186.560 mi) | ||
The I Gran Premio de Mexico (or 1st Mexican Grand Prix) was held on 4 November 1962 at the Magdalena Mixhuca circuit, Mexico City. The race was a non-Championship event run to Formula One rules and attracted a large entry, including many top teams and drivers. The race was run over 60 laps of the main circuit, and was eventually won by Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor, sharing a drive in a Lotus 25. The race meeting was marred by the death during practice of local driving prodigy Ricardo Rodríguez. The circuit would later be renamed the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to honour him and his brother Pedro.
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Race summary
Pole-sitter Clark suffered a flat battery and so required a push start to get his engine going. However, due to a lack of communication between the starting officials, the start flag was waved while marshalls were still on the track. For John Surtees, the delay caused a cylinder to burn out and his race was over before it even started. The race stewards decided that the push start had been illegal (despite it being caused by race officials) and black-flagged Clark's car on lap 10.
Clark's Lotus team-mate Trevor Taylor was lying third, behind Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, and Clark took his car over during a pit stop. The Scot put in a superb drive to claw back the 57 second deficit on the leaders, passing both with over one third of the race distance still remaining. Clark completed the remainder of the race with very little opposition, scoring an easy win. This would prove to be the final time that a Grand Prix victory would be shared by two drivers, a situation that was relatively common in the 1950s.
Also notable was the participation of German driver Wolfgang Seidel, who competed despite having had his FIA licence suspended over two months previously. The Porsche works team did not attend, Porsche having withdrawn from motor sport at the end of the 1962 World Championship season.
Despite the starting confusion, the race earned the Mexican Grand Prix full World Championship status from 1963, which it would retain until 1970.