He is the driver Red Bull are paying tribute to with Japanese Grand Prix livery, he got into F1 ‘by accident’

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The path to Formula 1 is conditioned for drivers with many taking the route by starting in karting and then moving through junior formulas.

In the 1960s this was very different, with many drivers either taking part in Grands Prix on weekends off or stumbling into it having been a test driver.

For American Richie Ginther, this is exactly how he got his F1 debut with Ferrari in 1960, having been a mechanic for a Southern California Ferrari importer.

Ginther would go on to make his debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix, kickstarting a career that would last seven years at the top flight of motorsport driving for Ferrari, BRM and Honda.

Richie Ginther gets into Formula 1 debut ‘by accident’

Born in Hollywood on 5th August 1930, Ginther followed his father and went to work at Douglas Aircraft, originally as a mechanic. In his spare time, he helped 1961 World Champion Phil Hill repair and maintain his collection of old cars.

According to his obituary in the LA Times, Ginther got into F1 “by accident” when he was asked to test drive a car because the driver who usually did it was ill, and he was so impressive that he was later asked to join Ferrari.

Ginther joined Ferrari at the same time as Hill, having helped his fellow compatriot develop their cars into race-winning machines.

When testing for Ferrari, Ginther noticed that a lot of the handling problems they were suffering was being caused by aerodynamic lift. He solved the problem by adding spoiler to improve the air flow across the rear of the car, thus reducing the amount of lift it generated.

Making his F1 debut at Monaco, Ginther placed second to Hill having briefly led the race from the start until Lap 25, when Hill overtook him for the win. The following year he would finish second to Stirling Moss at Monaco, just 3.6 seconds behind on the road in the new rear-engine Ferrari.

In 1962, following the death of Ferrari teammate Wolfgang Von Trips at Monza and the Italian team’s withdrawal from a few Grands Prix, Ginther switched BRM to race alongside Graham Hill.

His reputation as a ‘team player’ would earn him an invitation to join the works Honda F1 team for 1965, where he would secure his and the Japanese car-makers first victory.

• READ MORE: He is the last Japanese driver to score a Formula 1 podium, Lewis Hamilton thought he was an ‘amazing’ overtaker

Richie Ginther secures Honda’s first F1 victory

Ginther scored his first and only win in F1 at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. Held in Mexico City at what was known then as Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, today it is the site of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

It was also Honda’s first victory in F1 having been competing in the championship for just over a year, and was the only manufacturer other than Ferrari and BRM to make their own engine and chassis.

Winning the 65-lap race in the Honda RA272, Ginther would eclipse the average speed record set by Dan Gurney in 1964 at 93.321mph.

Ginther only contested eight of the 10 races in 1965 with Honda, going on to do another three with them in 1966 before calling time on his racing career at the end of 1967 due to the death of his friend Lorenzo Bandini.

Paying tribute to the victory and their engine partnership with Honda, Red Bull will run a special livery on the RB21 during the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix.