Qualifying

The erratic yearly variations in Monaco's qualifying regulations saw grid places guaranteed for works teams and past winners in 1961.^[2] Therefore, the five works teams were awarded two places each on the grid, while Stirling Moss and Maurice Trintignant earned spots. This left nine drivers to fight over four remaining slots. A fifth opened up when Innes Ireland crashed during the final practice session, breaking his leg. Moss took pole position from Richie Ginther and Jim Clark, with Graham Hill and Phil Hill on the second row.

Race

Ginther led Clark and Moss into the first corner but Clark quickly ran into trouble with a faulty fuel pump. Ginther dropped to third on lap 14, when Moss and Bonnier passed him in quick succession.^[2] At quarter distance, Moss had an impressive 10 second lead (in the underpowered Lotus 18-Climax)^[3] but the Ferraris of Hill and then Ginther found their way around Bonnier and began to close the gap. At half distance, Moss' lead was 8 seconds, and down to 3 seconds on lap 60. Ginther moved into second on lap 75 and tried to close the gap, but Moss proved able to match his lap times, despite the 156's horsepower advantage.^[4]

Qualifying

More information Pos, No ...

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Gap
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	20	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	1:41.1	1:41.4	1:39.1	—
2	36	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	1:41.0	1:39.3	1:41.7	+0.2
3	28	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	1:39.6	No time	No time	+0.5
4	18	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	1:42.8	1:40.0	1:39.6	+0.5
5	38	Phil Hill	Ferrari	1:41.0	1:39.8	1:40.2	+0.7
6	40	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	1:41.7	1:40.3	1:39.8	+0.7
7	26	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	1:44.7	1:41.3	1:39.8	+0.7
8	16	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	1:44.6	1:42.1	1:40.1	+1.0
9	2	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	No time	1:41.9	1:40.3	+1.2
10	30	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	1:41.5	1:40.5	1:40.7	+1.4
11	4	Dan Gurney	Porsche	No time	1:42.7	1:40.6	+1.5
12	22	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	1:44.3	1:41.1	2:09.1	+2.0
13	6	Hans Herrmann	Porsche	No time	1:42.4	1:41.1	+2.0
14	8	Michael May	Lotus-Climax	1:45.4	1:42.0	1:43.8	+2.9
15	32	Cliff Allison	Lotus-Climax	1:56.7	1:42.3	1:43.2	+3.2
16	42	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Maserati	1:47.6	1:43.2	1:42.4	+3.3
17	34	Henry Taylor	Lotus-Climax	1:45.5	1:43.7	1:42.6	+3.5
18	14	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax	1:45.7	1:42.7	1:42.7	+3.6
19	10	Lucien Bianchi	Emeryson-Maserati	1:44.0	1:42.9	1:44.5	+3.8
20	12	Olivier Gendebien	Emeryson-Maserati	1:45.4	1:43.7	1:45.0	+4.6
21	24	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	1:44.0	No time	No time	+4.9
Source:[5]

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  Drivers that had to qualify on speed: only the five fastest (four before Ireland's injury) would race.

Race

More information Pos, No ...

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	100	2:45:50.1	1	9
2	36	Richie Ginther	Ferrari	100	+3.6 secs	2	6
3	38	Phil Hill	Ferrari	100	+41.3 secs	5	4
4	40	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	98	Accident	6	3
5	4	Dan Gurney	Porsche	98	+2 Laps	10	2
6	26	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	95	+5 Laps	7	1
7	42	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Maserati	95	+5 Laps	15
8	32	Cliff Allison	Lotus-Climax	93	+7 Laps	14
9	6	Hans Herrmann	Porsche	91	+9 Laps	12
10	28	Jim Clark	Lotus-Climax	89	+11 Laps	3
11	22	John Surtees	Cooper-Climax	68	Engine	11
12	2	Jo Bonnier	Porsche	59	Injection	9
13	16	Tony Brooks	BRM-Climax	54	Engine	8
Ret	8	Michael May	Lotus-Climax	42	Oil Pipe	13
Ret	24	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	38	Ignition	16
Ret	18	Graham Hill	BRM-Climax	11	Fuel Pump	4
DNS	30	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax		Injury in Practice
DNQ	34	Henry Taylor	Lotus-Climax
DNQ	14	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax
DNQ	10	Lucien Bianchi	Emeryson-Maserati
DNQ	12	Olivier Gendebien	Emeryson-Maserati
Source:[6]

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