1966 Belgian Grand Prix | |||
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Race details | |||
Date | 12 June 1966 | ||
Official name | XXVI Grand Prix de Belgique | ||
Location | Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Belgium | ||
Course | Permanent racing circuit | ||
Course length | 14.120 km (8.770 miles) | ||
Distance | 28 laps, 395.36 km (245.56 miles) | ||
Weather | Overcast and wet | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Ferrari | ||
Time | 3:38:0 | ||
Fastest lap | |||
Driver | John Surtees | Ferrari | |
Time | 4:18:7 | ||
Podium | |||
First | Ferrari | ||
Second | Cooper-Maserati | ||
Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders |
The 1966 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 12 June 1966. It was race 2 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the 26th Belgian Grand Prix and was held over 28 laps of the 14.1-kilometre circuit for a race distance of 395 kilometres.
The race was won by British driver and 1964 world champion, John Surtees, driving a Ferrari 312 in a race that saw the field decimated by weather in the early laps. It was Surtees' fourth Grand Prix victory and his first since the 1964 Italian Grand Prix. Surtees won by 42 seconds over Austrian driver Jochen Rindt driving a Cooper T81, Rindt achieving his first podium finish and the first for the new Cooper-Maserati combination as the works Cooper Car Company team looked to the three-litre Maserati V12 sports car engine for the new regulations. Surtees' Italian team mate Lorenzo Bandini finished third in his Ferrari 246.
With a pair of podiums, Bandini took the lead in the championship by a point over the two race winners, Surtees and Jackie Stewart.