1968 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 9 June 1968
Official name XXVIII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 14.100 km (8.761 miles)
Distance 28 laps, 394.800 km (245.317 miles)
Weather Overcast, Dry
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 3:28.6
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom John Surtees Honda
Time 3:30.5 on lap 5
Podium
First
McLaren-Ford
Second
BRM
Third
Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1968 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on 9 June 1968. It was race 4 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 28-lap race was won by McLaren driver Bruce McLaren after he started from sixth position. Pedro Rodríguez finished second for the BRM team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.

On the seventh lap Brian Redman went off the circuit when his suspension failed and he crashed into and over a concrete barrier and into a parked car. His Cooper caught fire but Redman escaped with a severely broken right arm and a few minor burns.

Background

After the introduction of 'dive plane' wings on the nosecone on a Formula One car by Lotus at the previous race, the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari added a strut mounted negative incidence wing - to their lead driver Chris Amon's car[1] and he nabbed pole position, and was 4 seconds faster in qualifying than the next fastest car of Jackie Stewart, though Amon claimed to have performed similar lap times without the wings.[2] Amon's teammate Jacky Ickx did not have wings on his car.[3] The Brabham team also fitted a rear wing to Jack Brabham's car, paired with dive planes on the nose to counteract lift; he qualified 10th.[4] Wings were added to Ickx's car (and many other teams copied the idea for their cars) for the next race, the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. As 1968 season progressed many F1 teams utilized strut mounted wings attached directly to suspension elements - copying Chaparral sports car practice - to increase cornering speeds, reducing lap times. Ferrari never utilized strut mounted wings attached to suspension, as Enzo Ferrari considered it far too dangerous,[5] continuing with strut mounted wings mounted directly to the chassis.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 22 New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 3:28.6 —
2 7 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 3:32.3 +3.7
3 23 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 3:34.3 +5.7
4 20 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 3:35.0 +6.4
5 6 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 3:35.4 +6.8
6 5 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 3:37.1 +8.5
7 14 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 3:37.2 +8.6
8 11 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 3:37.8 +9.2
9 3 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 3:39.0 +10.4
10 16 United Kingdom Brian Redman Cooper-BRM 3:41.4 +12.8
11 12 United Kingdom Richard Attwood BRM 3:45.2 +16.6
12 15 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 3:45.9 +17.3
13 10 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 3:52.9 +24.3
14 1 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 4:06.1 +37.5
15 2 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 4:30.8 +1:02.2
16 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 4:34.3 +1:05.7
17 19 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 4:46.7 +1:18.1
18 18 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco
Source:[6][7]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 28 1:40:02.1 6 9
2 11 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 28 + 12.1 8 6
3 23 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 28 + 39.6 3 4
4 7 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 27 Out of fuel 2 3
5 2 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 26 Transmission 15 2
6 15 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 26 + 2 Laps 12 1
7 3 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 25 Oil pressure 9  
8 10 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 25 + 3 Laps 13  
Ret 14 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 22 Engine 7  
Ret 6 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 18 Halfshaft 5  
Ret 20 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 11 Suspension 4  
Ret 22 New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 8 Radiator 1  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Brian Redman Cooper-BRM 6 Spun Off 10  
Ret 12 United Kingdom Richard Attwood BRM 6 Oil Pipe 11  
Ret 18 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 6 Throttle 18  
Ret 1 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 5 Halfshaft 14  
Ret 19 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 5 Engine 17  
Ret 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 1 Wheel 16  
Source:[8]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. ^ Roebuck, Nigel (October 1998). "Legends". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 18. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. ^ Lawrence (1999) p.100
  4. ^ Nye (1986) p.72
  5. ^ "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. ^ "1966 ACF GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  7. ^ "1966 French Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  8. ^ "1968 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Belgium 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

Further reading


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