The Lotus 33 was a development of the earlier 25 model, which was also based on the 1500cc Climax engine. It took Jim Clark to his second F1 World title in 1965.

Compared to the 25, the suspension was improved, the Climax engine had a bit more power (about 210 - 220 BHP compared to the older Climaxes in the 25, which gave about 200 BHP) and wider tyres were used.

A detailed virtual recreation of this famous Lotus model appeared around 2004 in the '1965 Mod' for the Grand Prix Legends [[1]] pc-based F1 racing simulation.