Date October 23, 1966 | Course length 5.000 km (3.107 mi) | |
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Official name V Gran Premio de Mexico Location Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez, Mexico City, Mexico Course Permanent racing facility Distance 65 laps, 325.000 km (201.96 mi) | ||
The 1966 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 23, 1966. It was the ninth and final round of the 1966 World Championship. The race was the fifth Mexican Grand Prix. The race was held over 65 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a race distance of 325 kilometres.
Contents
The race was won by British driver John Surtees driving a Cooper T81, his first such victory since leaving Scuderia Ferrari to join Cooper Car Company. Surtees lead home the newly crowned world champion Australian owner-driver Jack Brabham driving a Brabham BT20 by eight seconds. A lap down in third place, also driving a Brabham BT20 was Brabham's team mate New Zealander Denny Hulme.
Surtees victory promoted him to second place in the championship, vaulting past Austrian driver Jochen Rindt of the Cooper team.
Race report
John Surtees dominated to take his first win since transferring from Ferrari to Cooper in mid season. He took the lead from Jack Brabham on lap 6 and was never challenged. With Jim Clark suffering gearbox problems and both BRMs retiring, Richie Ginther was the only contender left. However he too had mechanical problems, and dropped back. Brabham rallied at the end to close, but Surtees had lapped the entire field up to second. The first year of 3-litre engines had resulted in wins for five different makes of car, using five different engines.