Monaco traditionally saw a mixture of automatic qualifiers from the "factory" teams leaving the rest to fight for a further six qualifying spots, and it was the Team Lotus lead driver Jim Clark who claimed the coveted pole, his first in a World Championship Grand Prix. It was not to be the Scot's day, however, as he retired with a clutch failure at half distance having narrowly avoided the first corner pile up. That left Bruce McLaren to battle his way through to a third career win, although he would require an engine failure from future Mr. Monaco Graham Hill in the closing stages to take his first Monaco victory.