» F1 Rewind: A Grand Prix on New Year’s Day

We’re so used to Formula 1 seasons kicking off in March that the very notion of a championship season starting much earlier in the year would seem completely foreign to many F1 fans. But there were twice – back in 1965 and 1968 – a World Championship Grand Prix on New Year’s Day…

The races in question were the South African Grand Prix, which acted as the curtain-raiser for the new championship season, with 1965’s race (which this article focuses on) a mere five weeks after John Surtees famously clinched his Drivers’ Championship at Mexico in a dramatic finale.

This race would be the last held at the high-speed East London circuit, and a field of 32 drivers – of whom half would be either local drivers or from the formerly-known colony of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) – would take to the track in 1964 machinery, it being too short a period of time to create new cars.

One driver making his Grand Prix debut would be a young Scot called Jackie Stewart, who would make his first championship start in a BRM, partnered alongside Graham Hill. A young Austrian called Jochen Rindt would also make his first start for the Cooper team, having made a one-off appearance at the previous year’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Qualifying saw Jim Clark (Lotus) claim pole position by over a second, sharing the three-car front row with Surtees (Ferrari) and Jack Brabham (Brabham).

Clark led the race from the off, shadowed closely by team-mate Mike Spence, who would spin on the 43rd lap and fall into the clutches of third-placed Surtees.

Spence would spin again before the end of the race, allowing Surtees and Hill through to complete the podium.

Clark was shown the chequered flag one lap earlier than scheduled, but he correctly ignored it and still went on to claim his fourteenth win from Surtees and Hill.

Spence finished fourth, ahead of Bruce McLaren and F1 debutante Stewart.

The sport’s last New Year’s Day race, in 1968, would also be won by Clark. It would be the Scot’s last World Championship success, for he would be killed at Hockenheim in April before the European leg of the championship season got underway.

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1965 South African Formula 1 Grand Prix – Final Classification (85 laps):

	Driver	Team	Laps	Result	Grid
1.	Jim Clark	Team Lotus Climax V8 33	85	2:06:46.0	1
2.	John Surtees	Scuderia Ferrari V12 158	85	+ 29.0	2
3.	Graham Hill	Owen BRM V8 P261	85	+ 31.8	5
4.	Mike Spence	Team Lotus Climax V8 33	85	+ 54.4	4
5.	Bruce McLaren	Cooper Climax V8 T77	84	+ 1 lap	8
6.	Jackie Stewart	Owen BRM V8 P261	83	+ 2 laps	11
7.	Jo Siffert	Walker Racing Brabham BRM V8 BT11	83	+ 2 laps	14
8.	Jack Brabham	Brabham Climax V8 BT11	81	+ 4 laps	3
9.	Paul Hawkins	John Willment Brabham Ford V8 BT10	81	+ 4 laps	16
10.	Peter de Klerk	Otelle Nucci Alfa Romeo 4cyl Special	79	+ 6 laps	17
11.	Tony Maggs	Reg Parnell Lotus BRM V8 25	77	+ 8 laps	13
12.	Frank Gardner	John Willment Brabham BRM V8 BT11	75	+ 10 laps	15
13.	Sam Tingle	Sam Tingle LDS Alfa Romeo 4cyl MK1	73	+ 12 laps	20
14.	David Prophet	David Prophet Brabham Ford V8 BT10	71	+ 14 laps	19
15.	Lorenzo Bandini	Scuderia Ferrari V12 1512	66	Ignition	6

	NOT CLASSIFIED
NC.	Bob Anderson	DW Racing Brabham Climax V8 BT11	50	+ 35 laps	12
DNF.	Jo Bonnier	Walker Racing Brabham BRM V8 BT7	42	Clutch	7
DNF.	Jochen Rindt	Cooper Climax V8 T73	39	Electrical	10
DNF.	John Love	John Love Cooper Climax 4cyl T55	20	Halfshaft	18
DNF.	Dan Gurney	Brabham Climax V8 BT11	11	Ignition	9

	NON-QUALIFIERS
DNQ.	Trevor Blokdyk	Trevor Blokdyk Cooper Ford 4cyl T59
DNQ.	Neville Lederle	Scribante Lotus Climax 4cyl 21
DNQ.	Doug Serrurier	Otelle Nucci LDS Climax 4cyl MK2
DNQ.	Brausch Niemann	Ted Lanfear Lotus Ford 4cyl 22
DNQ.	Ernest Pieterse	Lawson Lotus Climax 4cyl 21
NPQ.	Clive Puzey	Clive Puzey Lotus Climax 4cyl 18/21
NPQ.	Jackie Pretorius	Pretorius LDS Alfa Romeo 4cyl MK1
NPQ.	Dave Charlton	Dave Charlton Lotus Ford 4cyl 20		Practice Fire
WD.	Ray Reed	Realpha Alfa Romeo 4cyl RE1
WD.	Brian Raubenheimer	Raubenheimer Lotus Ford 4cyl 20		Engine
WD.	David Clapham	Lawson Cooper Maserati 4cyl T51
WD.	Alex Blignaut	Blignaut Cooper Climax 4cyl T55

	FASTEST LAP
	Jim Clark	Team Lotus Climax V8 33	80	1:27.6