1966 Formula One season

The 1966 Formula One season was the 20th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers which were contested concurrently over a nine-race series that commenced on 22 May and ended on 23 October. The season also included a number of non-championship races for Formula One cars.

The season was the first of the '3 litre formula', which saw maximum engine capacity doubled from the previous season. British constructors were forced to look elsewhere after Climax's withdrawal from racing. Ferrari appeared to be as well prepared as in 1961, but John Surtees, after winning the Belgian Grand Prix, left the team after a dispute at Le Mans to join Cooper. Under new regulations, cars completing less than 90% of the race distance were not classified and did not receive points, even if they finished in the top six.

Jack Brabham took his third and final Drivers' Championship, this time in a car of his own manufacture with an Australian engineered Repco V8 engine. In winning the championship in his own car, Australian Brabham became the first and (as of 2017) the only driver to ever win the World Championship in a car carrying his own name (the BT19 and BT20 models used were designed by Brabham's business partner Ron Tauranac). It is also the first time in the history of the World Championship dating back to 1950 that a non European or British car had won the championship. Although both Jack Brabham and his teammate, New Zealander Denny Hulme both retired from the season opening Monaco Grand Prix (won by Jackie Stewart in his BRM), Brabham with their Oldsmobile based Repco engine caught the rest of the teams on the hop with its speed and reliability. "Black Jack" finished fourth in Belgium, before winning his first race since the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix by winning the French Grand Prix at Reims (the last time the Reims-Gueux circuit was used in Formula One). He then won the next three Grands Prix in Britain, Holland and Germany to make it four wins in succession and virtually secure his third championship win (only a drivers five best results counted towards the championship). With Hulme finishing fourth in the Drivers' Championship on 18 points with a second in Britain and thirds in France, Italy and Mexico, Brabham won the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers with 42 points, 11 in front of second placed Ferrari.

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