…a title he won 50 years ago in the Italian Grand Prix.
September 10, 1961, Monza, Italy: Phil Hill became the first American to win the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship. Piloting a 1.5-liter V-6 Ferrari, Phil captured the Italian Grand Prix, a race in which his teammate and rival, German Count Wolfgang von Trips, was killed.
Those are the basic facts from a half-century ago. Native Californian Phil Hill earned his way onto the Ferrari Formula 1 team during one of the deadliest periods in Grand Prix racing history. At Monza in 1960, he became the last driver to win a GP using a front-engine car and continued to win the next year in the all-new mid-engine “shark nose” F1 Ferrari. In one of the following links, you can read, in Phil’s own words, what it took to earn the title, a feat matched by only one other American – the great Mario Andretti. In the other link, Phil’s widow, Alma, tells what it was like to be married to such a remarkable man.
1962 Road & Track magazine
But before you begin, as a U.S. fan of F1 you must know that the greatest disappointment of Phil’s GP career was that he was never allowed to race his title car in front of his countrymen at the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Ever-irascible Enzo Ferrari wouldn’t send the title-winning cars to the U.S. and later had them all destroyed, ruining what would have been an important moment in racing history. Shame on him.
In Celebration of Phil Hill:
- Petersen Automotive Museum Exhibit: Phil Hill: The Life of a Legend >>
- Road & Track gallery of Phil Hill prints >>
- Special Edition Commemorative Phil Hill F1 Champion print >>
- A Road & Track Tribute to Phil: A Man Like No Other >>
- From the R&T Vault: Phil Hill in his own words >>
- From the R&T Vault: Life with a Champion >>
Related posts:
- Phil Hill’s Formula 1 Title – 50 Years Later
- Phil Hill Remembered at Monza
- Rick Mears Receives the 2011 Phil Hill Award
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