#109 1962 Italian Grand Prix

One year ago, after the terrible disaster in which the German driver Wolfgang von Trips and fourteen spectators lost their lives, it seemed that the fate of the famous Lombard racetrack was sealed. And with it, the fate of Italian motorsport with Monza as its cornerstone. Many months passed; though the Italian government had appointed a commission of inquiry to study the safety of the audience at motor racing events, it also seemed unable to take a clear and definitive position. Then, at the beginning of the summer, the government finally announced the general measures to be taken for the protection of spectators on the racetrack. The managers of the racetrack in Monza are already working on transforming the facilities, after an in-depth study of the safety systems adopted in Daytona (United States), which seem to be the best among the permanent tracks. The ministerial provisions coincide with the conclusions of the managers, so there are no further obstacles to the progress of the work. The transformation of the safety systems will be carried out in three phases (only the first one has been completed) and might be completed by next spring. However, only the renovation works completed during the summer - and with a positive result - can be considered satisfactory or at least reassuring for those responsible for the safety of the audience. In short, the works to adapt the circuit (which, according to estimates, will cost 332.000.000 lire) include: placement of a 2.20/3-metre-high metallic net, made of strong cables and supported by iron poles, along great part of the track. In the areas with the highest speeds, the net is placed ten meters further compared to the existing wall; placement of a large number of guardrails, single or double, on the sides of all turns; elimination of the existing concrete kerbs, along with filling ditches; placement of fences around large lawn areas to prevent the audience from accessing (who, among other things, cannot access the embankment along the straight where Von Trips suffered the accident last year). In short, there’s nothing to worry about, within the limits of what can be foreseen: with the measures put in place this year, spectators will be able to watch the Italian Grand Prix without worrying. This organizational (and human) aspect of the most important Italian motorsport event outweighs even the technical and sporting prospects of the race itself during the preparation phase. 

Though the fans’ anticipation doesn’t seem as high as it was in the past. There is a reason for this: in this year’s World Championship races for Formula 1 cars - of which the Italian Grand Prix will be the seventh race of the season - the Italian cars, meaning Ferrari, haven’t managed to win once. Union difficulties have hindered the activities of the manufacturer from Maranello, but aside from that, the British cars have dominated the scene so far, leaving no margin to the Italian cars. The British cars were beaten only in the French Grand Prix, at Rouen-Les Essarts, by the German Porsche. And since it wasn’t just a single manufacturer from across the Channel which won Formula 1 races, but B.R.M., Lotus and Cooper (and the newcomer - Lola - came close), the obvious conclusion is that the British way of doing things, which managed to overthrow Ferrari’s dominance from one year to the other, is superior. Will things go differently on Sunday 16^th September 1962? This question interests the audience of the Italian Grand Prix. Logic would have it that Monza confirms the existing situation, with the only doubt being the name of the winning British car. But Enzo Ferrari is not a man that accepts adverse events and the British green cars may find a worthy opponent in Monza. In fact, it’s not a mystery that the Modenese company has prepared new cars for the occasion: it has completely redesigned the chassis and the suspensions of its six cylinders, whose inferiority compared to the British has been confirmed. Ferrari enters five cars at Monza, driven by Phil Hill, Baghetti, Bandini, Ricardo Rodríguez and Willy Mairesse. The latter will race with a hybrid car, tested by Bandini during August, which has many changes and a new rear suspension. Jim Clark, Innes Ireland, Trevor Taylor and Maurice Trintignant will race with the official Lotus. The current leader of the world standings, Graham Hill, and Richie Ginther will be driving for B.R.M. The Coopers will be driven by Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs. The new Brabham will be driven by its constructor, Jack Brabham (whose registration, on 11^th August, hasn’t been received yet). Joachim Bonnier and Dan Gurney will be racing for Porsche, and John Surtees and Roy Salvadori will be driving Lola. There are more than two dozen entries; apart from the official teams, there are other important drivers such as Masten Gregory (Lotus-B.R.M.), Joseph Siffert (Lotus-B.R.M.), the Italians Carlo Mario Abate, Nino Vaccarella (who will race with a Porsche or a Lotus), and Roberto Lippi (Osca-De Tomaso). 

On Sunday, August 26, 1962, while waiting for the Italian Grand Prix to take place, in front of an audience of over forty thousand people, Ludovico Scarfiotti becomes the new European champion of uphill motor racing. At the Ollon-Villars race, held in the afternoon over a distance of eight kilometers and an altitude of over 500 meters, the driver places his Ferrari 3000 in second place. Scarfiotti collects enough points in the European Hill-Climb Championship rankings that his opponents can no longer surpass him during the last race in Gaisberg (Austria). The Swiss race is extremely hard, partly because of the heat. But since he’s practically sure of conquering the European title, Scarfiotti can face the race with a certain caution, without excessively pushing his powerful car. In the two heats, the Italian driver sets a time of 9'14"1. The first place goes to the German driver Greger who precedes the Italian driver by two tenths of a second, driving a Porsche 2000. Scarfiotti, however, shows impeccable style, especially in the many turns of the track. Approached by reporters, the Ferrari driver is very satisfied with conquering the European title, and says:

"I was very confident, so I didn't want to stress my car too much: next year I hope to be able to compete, always for Ferrari, in Formula 1 races; the two most fearful opponents in this European Hill-Climb Championship certainly are the German Greger and the Swiss Walter".

In addition to Ludovico Scarfiotti's second place, Carlo Mario Abate's placing (fifth overall) was excellent, driving a Ferrari 3000. The Swiss driver Heini Walter, holder of the 1960 and 1961 European titles, had a rather disappointing performance. He did not match his usual results: suffice it to say that, compared to Scarfiotti, he lost exactly ten seconds and then close to eleven seconds in the two heats. Joachim Bonnier is the absolute winner of the Olon-Villars uphill race. In the Formula 1 car category Bonnier runs an excellent 4'87"8 heat, with an average speed of 107.500 km/h. With this time the Swedish racer, driving a 1500 cubic centimeters Porsche, breaks the previous track record, held by the late French driver Behra in 4'46"6. It should be noted that Scarfiotti, completing the first run in 4'37"4, also improves on the Frenchman’s record. As the Italian Grand Prix draws closer, it turns out that the Maranello workshops did not have enough time to finish the new Formula 1 car. The work had been set up when the technical implementation had looked alarming for the team from Modena, which was still dominating over its rivals last year. However, the car which Ferrari will line up could be defined as half-way between the old and the future car, meaning it will have an updated chassis but will still be powered by the well-known six-cylinder (though, in terms of available power, it has nothing to fear from the British 8-cylinder). This car will be assigned to Willy Mairesse, who proved to be the most efficient driver in Scuderia Ferrari this year, up until the frightening accident at Spa. The Belgian will be driving, provided that he has completely recovered.

As for the other Ferrari driver, the World Champion Phil Hill doesn’t seem to be in the best shape, both physically and mentally, during the season. On Sunday 16^th September 1962 the American driver will drive the car with the new six-speed gearbox and he will be on a circuit that is congenial to him. Three young drivers remain in the team: Lorenzo Bandini, Giancarlo Baghetti and Ricardo Rodríguez. The first is the fittest of the group; the other two prefer very fast circuits, such as Monza, even though the Grand Prix will be run on the 5.750 meters long track, with the ring of elevated turns being excluded. This only increases Graham Hill's hopes of becoming the World Champion in Monza, even though he has a little less class compared to Clark and Surtees. But the British driver is a solid, tenacious racer and has first-rate mechanical equipment. On Friday 14^th September 1962, Jim Clark unfortunately will be invited by two policemen to show up at the court of Monza, in front of the judge who is still conducting the formal investigation on last year’s disaster. The Scotsman was involved in the incident but miraculously remained unharmed. After the terrible event he had immediately left to go back home and could not, or perhaps didn’t want to, defend himself from the vague accusation of having contributed to fatally crashing against Trips' Ferrari with an incautious maneuver. But the judicial system is slow and Clark will have to tell again his dramatic memories of that day, September 10, 1961, to a court clerk. He will then return to the pits, put his overalls on and get into his Lotus. 

He will look calm, demonstrating that these youngsters wouldn’t be here if they didn't have nerves of steel. It is precisely Jim Clark who is believed to be Stirling Moss’ successor, with regards to values. As for the former motorcycling World Champion, he is perfectly in harmony with the four-wheeled vehicle, and the Lola seems to have reached a very high level of efficiency. During the weekend we learn, among other things, that the future Serenissima A.T.S. team has hired the British driver John Fairman to test the new car that will be competing in the World Championship in 1963, currently being assembled in Bologna. Fairman's engagement is supported by Dick Jeffrey of Dunlop, who will supply the team with tires. This year two major changes have been introduced for the Italian Grand Prix: first, the abandonment of the old part of the circuit - in order for the Grand Prix to be held on the road circuit only - and, second, the increase of the race length to almost 500 kilometers. 31 cars will take part to qualifying, but only 22 of them will line up on the grid. Ferrari line up with Phil Hill, Baghetti, Bandini, Rodríguez and Mairesse; but apart from the lightweight car introduced at the Nürburgring, no development has been made on the 120-degree-engined cars, the old 65-degree-engined car, and the interim 1962 model with central gearbox. At the factory, three brand new cars with rear suspension arre getting ready to be taken to the track, but while copying the geometry a major mistake was made and, having no time to correct it, these cars have to be left behind. On the other hand, B.R.M. are well prepared, lining up Graham Hill and Ginther’s cars and a third one as spare. They all arrive early at Monza, in order to do an unofficial practice the day before the meeting - having Ferrari also spent some time going on track earlier in the week. Porsche also takes part to the race weekend with three cars - Gurney on the newest one, Bonnier on the second and the third kept as spare. The team made an interesting change to the cooling-fan drive, with the incorporation of a thermostatically controlled clutch so that at maximum speed the drive to the fan could be disengaged, leaving the impeller windmilling at maximum rpm, hence saving all the power losses involved in the drive. Other attempts at achieving more speed can be noticed in streamlining, which recalls Brooklands in 1920s; the wheels have flush-fitting aluminum discs bolted on to the fixing studs; fairings are fitted over suspension members and rear wishbones are taped over to present a smooth surface. 

In order to check float levels, the Weber carburetors are fitted with small external glass riser-tubes, which indicate the petrol level. Meanwhile, Lotus are trying to get both their drivers in the monocoque Type 25 cars, Clark on the same single seater he won with in Oulton Park and Taylor in the newest one, but the team has a space-frame Type 24 as spare, all three cars having Coventry-Climax V8 engines. The RCC Walker team built a brand-new Lotus 24 with Climax V8 engine and 6-speed Colotti gearbox, which was given to Vaccarella, while the original Walker car, completely rebuilt on two occasions, was reserved for Trintignant. Cooper have two cars as usual, which have Climax V8 engines; McLaren and Maggs are driving them. McLaren’s car has been fitted with oversize fuel tanks alongside the cockpit, making the car bigger; both cars have 15 inches front wheels on this fast circuit. This weekend, though, John Cooper will be missing due to his father being seriously ill. UDT-Laystall have three Lotus cars, two with Climax V8 engines and one with B.R.M. V8 engine, all with 5-speed Colotti gearboxes. Ireland drives the Climax-engined car, while Gregory has the B.R.M. engined one, which is the team’s original one. Bowmaker brings all three Lola-Climax V8 cars, Surtees having the latest one, with a more resistant front suspension; the cars present tanks alongside the cockpit as a safeguard for the increased race length, while they also have provision for fitting knock-off rear hubs, should the necessity for tire changes in a race of 500 kilometres emerge during free practice. The rest of the entries to the 1962 Italian Grand Prix is made up of private owners, or small racing teams, with the exception of Jack Brabham, since the driver can’t reach an agreement with the organizers money wise. An interesting entry which makes a brief appearance during the first practice is the new 8-cylinder de Tomaso car, driven by an Argentinian driver named Estefano. This car has been entirely built in Modena, designed by Alessandro de Tomaso and Massimino and developed by a tiny factory with limited resources. This car isn’t really ready to race, since it has been recently tested only in Modena, but makes its appearance in Italy as a sign of good faith. With such a variety of new projects, the starting grid has been limited to 22 cars, all of which have to be within 10% of the time of the second fastest overall. For this reason, the prediction for private-owners’ qualifying results appears to be not a positive one, especially for those with obsolete cars or 4-cylinder engines.

Even though it seems to be more than enough time for practice and for preparation, some teams still appear unprepared when practice begins on Friday afternoon, September 14, 1962, at 3:00 p.m.. to 6:30 p.m.. The sun is shining, and the weather conditions are splendid for the audience which is enjoying their time at the track, but terribly hot for anyone who’s working. Ferrari puts Phil Hill out in the center-gearbox car and Mairesse in the lightweight one; the two Ferrari drivers race respectively with number 10 and 8, changing completely the published lists of drivers and numbers, which creates doubts and confusion about lap times. B.R.M. is the first team to set the pace in Italy, Graham Hill being much faster than anyone else and setting a lap in 1'40"0, almost equal to the absolute lap record for the road circuit in Monza, set by Phil Hill with a 2.5-litre Ferrari in 1959. B.R.M. ae using their newest car (the same that Johnstone drove at Oulton Park) as a spare, while Porsche and Lola both brought their training cars, which carry the letter T, but their times don’t count for qualifying. Team Lotus is struggling as Clark’s car being overgeared, and after having another gearbox fitted quickly, this breaks before the driver gets going; in spite of all, he sets a lap of 1'41"0, the second fastest. His teammate Taylor, who’s also driving a Lotus 25, is having just as bad of a time, as a rear suspension ball-race breaks, forcing him to stand while the suspension unit gets changed. Meanwhile, the UDT-Laystall team is getting on with the job, Gregory being just a tiny bit faster than Ireland, and the B.R.M.-engined Lotus working very well. Troubles for Mairesse as well, who hits Gregory with his lightweight Ferrari and squares up the tail going into the South Curve, not realizing that Gregory has only just gone on track and is still warming up. The Belgian is currently making his first reappearance after his crash in Spa and is pushing as hard as he can. Fortunately, there is no damage on the Lotus-B.R.M. and the Ferrari only has a crumpled nose cowling, which is soon fixed. In the meantime, Scuderia Venezia finds out that the brand-new Lotus-Climax V8 is far from being ready to race, Burgess notices that his specially prepared 4-cylinder Climax engine misfires, Prinoth disappears into the paddock with water pouring from the tail pipe of his old Lotus and Chamberlain has his 4-cylinder Climax engine in pieces. 

Cooper have been a bit late in showing up for this Italian weekend, but McLaren soon gets into the groove and laps in 1'41"0. On the other side, the Lolas are not going as fast as expected: the best Surtees can do is a lap in 1'42"0, while Porsche are barely any quicker, their power-saving fan not showing as much gain on the track as it had on the test-bed. With his own car abandoned on the circuit due to gearbox issues, Clark runs a few laps in Taylor’s car, just to see if it’s working well. As practice is ending, the new flat 8-cylinder de Tomaso car makes a brief appearance, but the clutch immediately starts working badly, so it only runs a few laps, stopping at the pits each time, which explains the very long official time registered in the end. On Saturday, practice begins again at 3.00 p.m. and once more temperature is quite high. Lotus notice another issue on Clark’s car, and it’s late afternoon when the team is finally able to fix it and send Clark out on track to practice. But, as soon as he goes on track, the Climax engine breaks a tappet. Meanwhile, BRM seem to be in control of the situation, though Graham Hill doesn’t improve the time set yesterday and Ginther’s engine is losing water internally and not giving full power. All B.R.M.s have been fitted with small tanks alongside the gearbox into which the engine breather pipes are fed. Porsche had already fitted similar catch-tanks in Rouen earlier in the season. Right now, Ireland is testing two Climax-engine cars while Gregory is still trying the B.R.M.-engine Lotus, but both of them are among the elite who got below 1'42"0. Ferrari are suffering from an increase of understeer, especially on the center-gearbox car, but while some of the drivers think that the situation is hopeless, others just drive without complaining, though even Mairesse couldn’t set a good lap time. Gurney is driving the Porsche really hard through the corners and setting some good times, his best being 1'41"0. As the afternoon ends and the air gets cooler, almost everyone goes on track to try to improve their times, and so much traffic forms on the track that all drivers stop equally quickly. The Lotus pit is deeply gloomy as neither driver is able to do any serious practice. In desperation, the team puts Clark’s number 20 on Taylor’s car and the Scotsman goes on track for a final lap; in seven laps he improves Graham Hill’s time, equaling the absolute record for the road circuit with a time of 1'40"0, and an average speed of 206.175 km/h.

The timekeepers look closer at the timing and officially declare that Hill has set a time of 1'40"38 and Clark 1'40"35, so Lotus set the fastest time of the day. Meanwhile Ginther is on track with the spare car setting a time of 1'41"0, which allows him to set the third fastest time. Just as practice ends, Taylor goes out in Clark’s Lotus, the broken tappet has been replaced. But he only runs a few laps before the gearbox locks-up. When all the times are analyzed, it’s found that only 19 cars got within 10% of Graham Hill’s time, so the starting grid is reduced to 21 cars, all of them have multicylinder engines or official cars, with the exception of the last two (de Beaufort’s with his 4-cylinder Porsche and Settember with the 4-cylinder Emeryson-Climax, and both can feel proud for getting into one of the fiercest starting grids as 4 seconds covered the first 19 cars). Although the race is not due to start until 3.00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, there is plenty of work to do; Trintignant’s engine has blown up, McLaren had a gearbox issue on the Cooper, Lotus is still struggling with gearboxes, while the question of fuel consumption is still in the minds of some team managers. The Italian Grand Prix will start at 3.00 p.m. and will consist of 86 laps, for a total of 494.500 kilometers. The race record belongs to Stirling Moss, and was set in 1959 on a Cooper 2500 (which is the old Formula 1, the current rules allow a maximum displacement of 1500 cubic centimeters) at an average speed of 200.177 km/h; instead, the lap record belongs to Phil Hill on a Ferrari, once again 2500 cubic centimeters, in 1'40"4, at an average speed of 206.475 km/h. In spite of the weather and other local attractions, a very large crowd fills the Autodrome in Monza and as starting time approaches, the race conditions appear to be perfect, having completely overcast skies, no wind and a cool temperature. The field of 21 cars is lined up in pairs, row by row, and everyone is ready to go when the flag is lowered. Down comes the flag and Clark makes a perfect start and takes the lead, while Surtees comes through from the fourth row. Clark’s lead lasted just the time it took Graham Hill to get under way and the B.R.M. leads the first lap with twenty cars behind. After the opening lap, the field divides into two groups, the first one includes Graham Hill (B.R.M.), Clark (Lotus), Ginther (B.R.M.), Surtees (Lola), McLaren (Cooper), Bonnier and Gurney (Porsches) and Maggs (Cooper). 

After them, Masten Gregory leads the second group, having the three red Ferraris of Baghetti, Rodríguez and Phil Hill right behind him, his team-mate Ireland, still in trouble with the engine that doesn’t work properly. There isn’t any change in the first group on the second lap; it is obvious even at this early stage that nobody will be able to keep Graham Hill’s pace. On lap three, Clark’s Lotus has issues with its transmission, and he goes back to the pits after everyone has gone by. Ireland is already at the pits getting a carburetor fixed, and soon they both rejoin the race, Clark almost a lap behind. A few moments later, Ireland rejoins the race not far from the hard battling second group of cars. Graham Hill is drawing away, while Ginther is engaged in a battle with Surtees, and keeps a clever pace. As they are getting away from the two Porsche and the two Cooper, the situation for B.R.M. appears very satisfactory. Meanwhile, Hill increases to 5 seconds his gap over Ginther, who has Surtees right alongside him. Then comes McLaren, with Gurney closing on him fast, followed by Bonnier, while Maggs has dropped back from the leading group, being threatened by the second group which, at this point, has engaged him in a fantastic battle. Ireland and Gregory are working together to try to get an advantage for UDT. Ginther has to deal with Surtees, whereas Ireland is trying to fend off Mairesse, Rodríguez, Baghetti, Salvadori and Phil Hill, although the last two are not giving him much trouble. This little group is gaining on the Cooper/Porsche. On lap 13, Clark isn’t behind the leading B.R.M. anymore as he arrives slowly at the pits to retire. Gurney forces his way past McLaren and Bonnier, who is beginning to drop back so that on lap 19 he is engulfed by the UDT-Ferrari battle. At the tail of the field there is another battle going on between Taylor (Lotus), Vaccarella (Lotus), Bandini (Ferrari) and Trintignant (Lotus), and right at the back the two 4-cylinder cars can do little but tag along. Trintignant’s run comes to an end when his electrical system stops working, and though he pushes the car to the pits nothing can be done, and shortly afterwards Taylor as well. Gurney is leading McLaren but on the next lap the situation is reversed, and Gregory with Ireland alongside lead Bonnier, Maggs, Mairesse, Baghetti and Rodríguez. Slipstreaming always helps, but it means that not so much air is going into the radiator and, because of that, Gregory gets in trouble on lap 23, his water temperature getting dangerously high. 

On lap 25, he has to stop. Ireland continues to put pressure on the fight between Cooper, Porsche and Ferrari, as he and Maggs then manage to shake off Bonnier and the Ferrari and promptly catch Gurney and McLaren; Maggs finds himself back where he started, and on lap 27 he leads this group, being in fourth place overall. Behind them, Bonnier is surrounded by Ferraris. Salvadori has dropped back, suffering from the nasty experience of his fire-extinguisher exploding in the cockpit, while Phil Hill has clearly given up hope, so much so that he is lapped by the leading Hill on lap 31, well before half-distance. At lap 40, Graham Hill has a gap of 20 seconds over Ginther, who is no longer worried by Surtees. Ireland still leads on Gurney, McLaren and Maggs, with only a few feet separating them. Within sight of this trio come Bonnier and the three Ferrari. At half-distance, Graham Hill is running regularly at about 1'43"0. Meanwhile, Salvadori goes on track with a broken engine and Gregory stops again, this time with a gear-selector issue which causes him to continue racing at a much reduced pace. Graham Hill’s average speed is gradually increasing from 200.1kph to 200.4kph, while Ginther laps Phil Hill. At the end of lap 47, Gurney leads the two Cooper and Bonnier the three Ferrari. There is about 1 second between the two groups, but Ireland is missing from the front and goes back into the pits to retire with a cracked front suspension, leaving seven drivers to battle for third place. Now McLaren leads Gurney and Maggs and right behind them are Bonnier and Mairesse, racing side by side, followed by Baghetti and Rodríguez, and quite behind follows Gurney. The XXXIII Italian Grand Prix - the seventh round of the World Championship - ends as expected. But expectations were only partially met: while the English cars did win - B.R.M., to be precise - with Graham Hill and Richie Ginther in the first two places and McLaren driving a Cooper in third place, the feared debacle of Ferrari didn’t occur. 

The team placed very honorably in fourth position with the Belgian Willy Mairesse and in fifth place with Giancarlo Baghetti, who drove beautifully in the final moments of the race. On the race’s eve, the Ferrari drivers had placed their hopes in their 6-cylinder cars, which proved to have resistance to distance. This was a discrete success: four out of five cars reached the severe distance of almost five hundred kilometers (only Rodríguez retired). This is only a small satisfaction, because the events of the Grand Prix confirmed the English cars’ clear superiority this season: they only fought among themselves for the top positions. This is because of the pace set by B.R.M. drivers - who led the race since the first laps – and that some of the other favorites, such as Clark (Lotus), Surtees (Lola), Ireland (Lotus), Gurney (Porsche) had to abandon the race, with their cars worn down by the effort. In the first twenty laps (out of 86) the Ferraris were all below the tenth position, leaving little hope to the audience. This victory mathematically declares Graham Hill, the thirty-three-year-old driver from London, 1962 World Champion, since he’s collected 36 points against McLaren’s 22 and Clark’s 21. There’s nothing to say: Graham deserved to win the highest motor racing title. He had studied at an English college and become a rowing champion, a less dangerous - and less profitable - sport than the one he is currently competing in. B.R.M., on the other hand, has reached an extraordinary level of efficiency; it has been rewarded after a decade of disappointments, overcoming them with British tenacity. Lotus and Lola, instead, collapsed; the cars were perhaps more brilliant than B.R.M.’s but certainly less resistant, while Cooper have kept the usual standard. Porsche dropped off greatly after a promising beginning. In this regard, Monza is once again the race that reveals the truth: the greatest disappointment was Jim Clark, the driver who was predicted to be Stirling Moss’ successor, both in popularity and skill. Stirling Moss is in Monza too, smiling and apparently serene, focused on photographing the details of all the cars. Many, if not everybody, of those present ask him if he will ever return racing.

"I'm desperate for it, but I don't know if I can do it again".

This is the British driver’s only answer, but he doesn’t add what many are thinking: he could have reached the world title he unsuccessfully chased for seven years with this year’s unbeatable English cars. Nevertheless, even though the English teams do miss Moss's feats, they are lucky to have excellent drivers who continue to stand out season after season. 

On the track in Monza there are two men, two solitary drivers, with the same surname: the Englishman Graham Hill and the American Phil Hill. The first is in front of everyone, at an average speed of 208 km/h; the second is an unrecognizable outgoing world champion, struggling and not even fighting for good positions. The symbolic exchange of the title of best driver of the year could not have had a more melancholic scenario. B.R.M.'s Hill was strong, self-confident and inexorable; Ferrari's Hill was insignificant, the kind of driver hired by Grand Prix organizers just to increase the number of drivers. Nevertheless, many people in Monza think that it’s not right, that the events of the race - on a sporting and human level - don’t provide the truth. Because Phil's class is certainly not inferior to Graham's class. So what? Once again, the cars were the determining factor. The English, as was known before Monza, have first-rate cars this year and have been able to overturn Ferrari's dominance in just one season. The difference in performance between the British and Italian cars was worrying, especially in the first half of the race. Even drivers who are not (or are not yet) stars, such as Maggs, Ireland or Taylor, were easily able to stay ahead of higher-class drivers such as Baghetti, Mairesse, Rodríguez, Bandini. The Ferraris proved to be incapable of following a race pace as fast as the one set by Graham Hill. In Phil Hill’s case it’s not difficult to understand that his car was inferior to his teammates’. Even if we had to admit that the American 1961 World Champion has lost last season’s brilliance and perhaps is tired, worn out by a not very long but very intense career, the car must have played an important role. Phil has also lived his own intimate sporting drama, and those who know him have certainly shared his disappointment. As the season comes to an end, Ferrari technicians only have to prepare the winter work programs: it’s clear that new weapons are needed to face the English (and the German Porsche, which will be quite fearsome next year). The manufacturer from Maranello are preparing several innovations: we can confidently wait for the results.