Zeltweg - a pithy point

Eagle-eyed students of results will have noticed that Surtees had his rear suspension collapse while he was on lap eight, so that the timekeepers would have only marked his passing for seven laps, yet in the results he is credited with having retired after nine laps, or while he was on his 10th lap. What happened was that after he had walked back to the pits for a jack, some spanners and parts he repaired the car and drove round to the pits, which meant that as he crossed the timing line he was credited with having completed lap eight, even though the leader was on lap 35 at the time. Later in the race, when Bandini was leading and was on lap 66, only 12 sec. ahead of Ginther, with the B.R.M. driver trying to close the gap. Surtees set off from the pits and did one solitary lap, so that the timekeepers now recorded that, he had completed his ninth lap and had started off on his 10^th, but as he then returned to the pits and stopped for good he did not complete his 10th lap, so was officially credited with nine laps completed, having retired on lap 10. The interesting question was why he did that extra lap late in the race; was it to see if his repair was done properly? was it to see how the race was getting on out on the circuit ? or was it to provide some fighter cover for Bandini who was being attacked ?—the more cars on the circuit, the more “traffic” for those who were racing. Whatever the reason, it was confined to a solitary lap, which explains the discrepancy in the results and the apparent facts.