1961 Formula One season

The 1961 Formula One season was the 15th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 12th World Championship of Drivers, the 4th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over eight races between 14 May and 8 October 1961.

Phil Hill driving for Ferrari won his first and only Drivers' Championship after his teammate and rival Wolfgang von Trips was killed during the Italian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season.^[1] Hill was the first American-born champion (and, so far, the only one, because 1978 champion Mario Andretti was born in Italy). Ferrari won its first Manufacturers' Championship.^[2]

New regulations only allowed naturally aspirated engines with a maximum capacity of 1,500 cc (92 cu in),^[3] effectively adopting the Formula Two engine rules as used from 1957 to 1960. The English teams threatened to boycott, because the change was communicated only shortly before the season started, but the protests subsided.^[4] Although Enzo Ferrari was opposed as well, the manufacturer got it right by designing their first mid-engined car, the legendary 156 "Sharknose", and won five out of the eight championship races.^[5]

Besides Wolfgang von Trips, two other F1 drivers died this year: Italian Giulio Cabianca during a test at the Modena Autodrome and Briton Shane Summers during the non-championship Silver City Trophy.