abstract
| - The 1964 Austrian Grand Prix, officially recognised as the II Großer Preis von Österreich, was the seventh round of the 1964 FIA Formula One World Championship, held on the 23rd of August. Using the Zeltweg Airfield as a circuit, the race would be remembered as the debut for future World Champion Jochen Rindt and for a fiery accident for former Champion Phil Hill. Practice and qualifying had seen an impressive battle for pole, with just a second covering the top seven drivers, and a little over three seconds for the entire field. Graham Hill was the man who claimed the prime grid position, lining up on a four wide front row with John Surtees, Jim Clark and Dan Gurney, while debutante Rindt found himself down in thirteenth. Off the line, it was advantage Gurney and Surtees, with Hill and Clark making poor starts with the latter suffering with a terminal problem. The early stages saw Surtees wrestle the lead away from Gurney while Lorenzo Bandini established himself in third ahead of an enticing battle for fourth. Clark was challenging Hill, Jack Brabham and Richie Ginther, until the fight was broken up by a series of mechanical failures, while Surtees retired from the lead with a suspension failure. Clark then chased down Bandini for second, only to have a total failure in his transmission. As Clark dropped out, so too did Gurney, handing victory seemingly to Bandini if he could survive the horrendous bumps of the airfield. Other retirements had promoted Ginther to second, and Swede Jo Bonnier to third, although the latter would fall soon after to put Bob Anderson onto the podium instead. As this was going on, Phil Hill crashed heavily and got thrown from his car, fortunate as the car suddenly burst into flame and burned to the ground. Bandini, meanwhile, ran on untroubled to claim a maiden victory, ahead of Ginther and Anderson, the latter making his first visit to the podium.
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