Mexican Grand Prix 1966 - Race Schedule and Countdown

John Surtees claimed victory at the Mexico City finale in his Cooper-Maserati, but the race belonged to Jack Brabham who secured his third World Championship despite finishing second. The 40-year-old Australian's runner-up finish at the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez provided enough points to clinch the title, achieving the unique feat of winning a World Championship in a car bearing his own name - an accomplishment that remains unmatched in Formula 1 history. Brabham led home his teammate Denny Hulme for a perfect Brabham-Repco one-two-three result when combined with Surtees on the podium, securing both the drivers' and constructors' championships for the Australian team. The Mexican Grand Prix marked the culmination of Brabham's bold gamble on the compact Australian-built Repco V8 engine in the first year of the new 3.0-liter formula, a decision that had been widely questioned but proved triumphantly correct. The season finale witnessed one of motorsport's greatest individual achievements as Brabham combined his skills as driver, constructor, and team owner to reach the pinnacle of success.

Surtees drove brilliantly to win the race, the former motorcycle champion demonstrating his versatility with Cooper-Maserati despite a difficult season that had seen him leave Ferrari mid-year following political disputes. The British driver's victory provided a bright spot at the end of a tumultuous year, showcasing his ability to extract maximum performance from machinery that wasn't championship-competitive. Brabham controlled the title race masterfully, running in second place throughout the afternoon and never taking unnecessary risks that might jeopardize his championship. His tactical intelligence and experience shone through as he managed the race situation perfectly, knowing exactly what he needed to do to secure the title. Hulme completed an excellent afternoon for Brabham-Repco with third place, the New Zealander demonstrating the depth of talent in the Australian team's driver lineup. The race unfolded at Mexico's challenging 7,350-foot altitude, where the Repco V8's simple, reliable design proved ideally suited to the thin air that challenged the more complex European engines.

Brabham's championship triumph at age 40 made him Formula 1's oldest World Champion, a record that would stand for decades and may never be broken in the modern era. His achievement of designing, building, and racing his own car to championship success remains unique in motorsport history, combining technical vision with driving excellence in a way that demonstrated the complete package of skills. The title validated Brabham's conservative approach to the new 3.0-liter regulations, proving that reliability and consistency could overcome the raw horsepower advantages of Ferrari and BRM's more powerful but less reliable engines. Brabham's third championship cemented his legacy as one of Formula 1's all-time greats, establishing him alongside Fangio and Clark in the pantheon of the sport's greatest champions. The 1966 season demonstrated that success came from intelligent engineering and strategic thinking as much as driving talent, with Brabham's triumph representing the perfect marriage of constructor innovation and driver skill. As the paddock celebrated in Mexico, Formula 1 had witnessed a feat that would likely never be repeated - a driver winning the World Championship in a car of his own design and construction.