Richie Ginther is a racing driver from United States who last raced in Formula 1 for Honda. Ginther has recorded 1 win and 14 podiums from 53 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 5,503 ranks Ginther 176th of 15,348 indexed drivers, on an Elo scale where the strongest reach the low five figures. It is built from every indexed race in the driver's file, decayed for time since their last race.
| 1966-10-23 | Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez | P4 | +67 |
| 1966-10-02 | Watkins Glen | DNF | +5 |
| 1966-09-04 | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | DNF | −106 |
| 1966-06-12 | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | P5 | +51 |
| 1966-05-22 | Circuit de Monaco | DNF | +43 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | ▸Formula 1 | Honda | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | P11 | +62 | 6,207 |
| 1965 | ▸Formula 1 | Honda | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 11 | P7 | −356 | 6,145 |
| 1964 | ▸Formula 1 | BRM | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 23 | P4 | +399 | 6,501 |
| 1963 | ▸Formula 1 | BRM | 10 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 34 | P2 | +534 | 6,102 |
| 1962 | ▸Formula 1 | BRM | 9 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 10 | P8 | +87 | 5,568 |
| 1961 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | P5 | +539 | 5,481 |
| 1960 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | P8 | +143 | 4,943 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 Graham Hill | 5,097 | 26 | 7 | 19 | 27% |
| 🇺🇸 Dan Gurney | 4,902 | 26 | 14 | 12 | 54% |
| 🇬🇧 Jim Clark | 5,692 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 28% |
| 🇳🇿 Bruce McLaren | 5,136 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 41% |
| 🇸🇪 Jo Bonnier | 4,402 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 77% |
| 🇬🇧 John Surtees | 4,899 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 33% |
| 🇦🇺 Jack Brabham | 5,211 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 45% |
| 🇮🇹 Lorenzo Bandini | 5,294 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 53% |
| 🇬🇧 Innes Ireland | 4,610 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 69% |
| 🇳🇱 Carel Godin de Beaufort | 4,952 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 100% |
Richie Ginther was an American Formula 1 driver who competed in the championship from 1960 to 1966, accumulating 53 starts across seven seasons. He scored a single victory, which came at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix and marked the first Formula 1 win for both Honda and Goodyear as manufacturers. Across his career he finished on the podium 14 times, posting an average finishing position of fifth among classified races. His Racer Rating of 5,503 places him as a professional-level driver of the era, competitive in a field that included multiple champions.[1]
Ginther's most consistent rival relationship was with Jo Bonnier, a field-leading driver whom he regularly outpaced; across 22 shared races, he finished ahead of Bonnier 17 times. He also had a notable record against Lorenzo Bandini, beating him 9 times in direct competition. His head-to-head records against stronger contemporaries tell a different story. Against Jim Clark, a two-time champion rated substantially higher, Ginther finished ahead only 7 times in 25 meetings while trailing 18 times. Similarly, he managed only 7 wins against three-time champion Graham Hill across 26 races, finishing behind him 19 times. He proved more evenly matched with Dan Gurney, a front-ranking professional, finishing ahead 14 times and behind 12 times in 26 shared races.[2]
Ginther spent the bulk of his Formula 1 career with BRM, which fielded him for 29 of his 53 starts. His final season, 1966, saw diminishing competitiveness; he failed to score points across five rounds and finished eleventh in the championship. His singular Grand Prix victory has endured as a landmark in motorsport history, particularly for Honda's emergence as a manufacturer in the sport.