STORY OF THE DAY: Hill Wins the World Championship in Tragedy

Phill Hill won the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in the number 2 Ferrari 156 F1/120 and thereby secured the World Drivers’ Championship. The result also confirmed Ferrari’s Constructors’ title, but both achievements were overshadowed by the accident that killed Hill’s teammate and championship rival Wolfgang von Trips and fifteen spectators.

Von Trips collided with Jim Clark on the approach to Parabolica during the second lap, sending the Ferrari into the spectator area. The race continued, and Hill led Richie Ginther home in a Ferrari one-two, but there was no conventional celebration: the championship had been decided amid one of motor racing’s gravest disasters.

The Ferrari 156 combined a rear-engined tubular chassis with a 1.5-litre V6; the 120-degree version lowered the centre of gravity and contributed to the car’s formidable performance. Its recognizable twin-nostril bodywork earned the “sharknose” nickname, and the model dominated the 1961 championship.

American Phill Hill was raised in California and became renowned for precision, mechanical sympathy and outstanding endurance-racing ability. A three-time Le Mans winner with Ferrari, he was the first United States-born World Drivers’ Champion; at Monza, his greatest single-seater achievement became inseparable from the loss of his teammate.