1968 Belgian Grand Prix
| 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 |
 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
[edit]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
[edit]Qualifying
[edit]| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 |  Chris Amon
|
Ferrari | 3:28.6 | — |
| 2 | 7 | Jackie Stewart
|
Matra-Ford | 3:32.3 | +3.7 |
| 3 | 23 |  Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari | 3:34.3 | +5.7 |
| 4 | 20 | John Surtees
|
Honda | 3:35.0 | +6.4 |
| 5 | 6 | Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford | 3:35.4 | +6.8 |
| 6 | 5 | Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 3:37.1 | +8.5 |
| 7 | 14 | Piers Courage
|
BRM | 3:37.2 | +8.6 |
| 8 | 11 |  Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM | 3:37.8 | +9.2 |
| 9 | 3 |  Jo Siffert
|
Lotus-Ford | 3:39.0 | +10.4 |
| 10 | 16 | Brian Redman
|
Cooper-BRM | 3:41.4 | +12.8 |
| 11 | 12 | Richard Attwood
|
BRM | 3:45.2 | +16.6 |
| 12 | 15 | Lucien Bianchi
|
Cooper-BRM | 3:45.9 | +17.3 |
| 13 | 10 |  Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra | 3:52.9 | +24.3 |
| 14 | 1 | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford | 4:06.1 | +37.5 |
| 15 | 2 | Jackie Oliver
|
Lotus-Ford | 4:30.8 | +1:02.2 |
| 16 | 17 |  Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-BRM | 4:34.3 | +1:05.7 |
| 17 | 19 |  Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco | 4:46.7 | +1:18.1 |
| 18 | 18 |  Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | ||
| Source:[6][7] | |||||
Race
[edit]| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 28 | 1:40:02.1 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | 11 | Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM | 28 | + 12.1 | 8 | 6 |
| 3 | 23 | Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari | 28 | + 39.6 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 7 | Jackie Stewart
|
Matra-Ford | 27 | Out of fuel | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | Jackie Oliver
|
Lotus-Ford | 26 | Transmission | 15 | 2 |
| 6 | 15 | Lucien Bianchi
|
Cooper-BRM | 26 | + 2 Laps | 12 | 1 |
| 7 | 3 | Jo Siffert
|
Lotus-Ford | 25 | Oil pressure | 9 | |
| 8 | 10 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra | 25 | + 3 Laps | 13 | |
| Ret | 14 | Piers Courage
|
BRM | 22 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 6 | Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford | 18 | Halfshaft | 5 | |
| Ret | 20 | John Surtees
|
Honda | 11 | Suspension | 4 | |
| Ret | 22 | Chris Amon
|
Ferrari | 8 | Radiator | 1 | |
| Ret | 16 | Brian Redman
|
Cooper-BRM | 6 | Spun Off | 10 | |
| Ret | 12 | Richard Attwood
|
BRM | 6 | Oil Pipe | 11 | |
| Ret | 18 | Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 6 | Throttle | 18 | |
| Ret | 1 | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford | 5 | Halfshaft | 14 | |
| Ret | 19 | Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco | 5 | Engine | 17 | |
| Ret | 17 | Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-BRM | 1 | Wheel | 16 | |
Source:[8]
| |||||||
Notes
[edit]- This was the first of many Grand Prix wins for McLaren. Also, Bruce McLaren was the third driver to win in a car of his own making, after Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney.
Championship standings after the race
[edit]
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
[edit]- ^ Roebuck, Nigel (October 1998). "Legends". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 18. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- ^ Lawrence (1999) p.100
- ^ Nye (1986) p.72
- ^ "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- ^ "1966 ACF GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ "1966 French Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ "1968 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Belgium 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
Further reading
[edit]- Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
- Lawrence, Mike (1999). Brabham+Ralt+Honda: The Ron Tauranac story. Motor Racing Publications. ISBN 1-899870-35-0.
- Nye, Doug (1986). Autocourse history of the Grand Prix car 1966–85. Hazleton publishing. ISBN 0-905138-37-6.