1968 Belgian Grand Prix

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.

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	Chris Amon	Ferrari
Time	3:28.6
Fastest lap
Driver	John Surtees	Honda
Time	3:30.5 on lap 5
Podium
First	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford
Second	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM
Third	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari
Lap leaders

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	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

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

• 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

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 24 2 Denny Hulme 10 14 3 Bruce McLaren 9 1 4 Jim Clark 9 10 5 Pedro Rodríguez 6 Source:[9]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 29 2 McLaren-Ford 17 1 3 BRM 12 1 4 Cooper-BRM 9 1 5 Ferrari 7 Source:[9]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

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. "Belgium 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

Further reading

• 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.

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