By the 1961 season, von Trips had fully matured as a Grand Prix driver, and with teammate Phil Hill, began to dominate the new 1.5 liter formula with the 156. Caught sleeping, the British constructors watched in disbelief as the new Ferrari with it's potent rear-engined V-6 simply outpowered the rest of the field. Trips won the Dutch GP, Hill the Belgian GP, Baghetti won in France, von Trips took the British GP. The world championship would be decided between Hill and von Trips at Monza.

Amazingly, there are no surviving F1 156 Ferraris. British entertainer Chris Rea, totally fascinated by the von Trips saga, not only produced a video about von Trips, but also re-created the 156, using a V-6 Dino engine. It has now been sold and reportedly will be equipped with one of the original 120 degree F1 engines of the era.

The Fatal Accident

On September 10th, 1961 the Grand Prix of Italy started on the circuit of Monza at 15:00 sharp. There were 43 rounds to be driven with a total of 431 kms. Wolfgang had pole-position, followed by Phil Hill (4), Gra-ham Hill (5), Jim Clark (7), Stirling Moss (11), John Surtees (19) and Seidel (28) of von Trips' Scuderia Colonia. Shortly after the start, von Trips was overtaken by Hill, Ginther, Clark and Brabham. According to some insiders, the von Trips Ferrari 156 F1 wasn't running well. At the beginning of the second lap, Phil Hill was leading and von Trips drove through the Vialone curve with a speed of approximately 150 miles per hour. At the straight between the Vialone curve and the Vedano curve (now Parabolica curve) there were banks on both sides with a fence on top of it to keep the spectators at a safe distance. Just at this part of the track, the left rear wheel of the Ferrari hit the front wheel of the Lotus of Clark. Next, the Ferrari hit the embankment, flipped through the air, and hit the spectators standing close to the fence. The Ferrari hurled back on the track, a total loss. von Trips was thrown out of his car and killed on the spot. Eleven spectators were killed. Hill eventually won and became champion, not knowing until the finish that his teammate had been killed. The world of auto-sport mourned the loss of the great German driver.