1968 French Grand Prix
| Racing data | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6th of 12 races of the 1968 World Automobile Championship | ||
|
||
| Surname: | LIV Grand Prix de France | |
| Date: | 7th July 1968 | |
| Place: | Rouen and Grand Couronne | |
| Course: | Rouen-les-Essarts | |
| Length: | 392.52 km in 60 laps of 6.542 km
|
|
| Weather: | rain | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver: |
 Jochen Rindt
|
 Brabham
|
| Time: | 1: 56.1 min | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver: |
.svg){kind=small} Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM
|
| Time: | 2: 11.5 min | |
| Podium | ||
| First: |
 Jacky Ickx
|
 Ferrari
|
| Second: |
John Surtees
|
 Honda
|
| Third: |
Jackie Stewart
|
 Matra
|
The 1968 French Grand Prix took place on July 7th at the Rouen-les-Essarts circuit and was the sixth race of the 1968 World Automobile Championship .
Reports
background
After the French Grand Prix had taken place one after the other at the Circuit de Charade , the Circuit de Reims-Gueux and the Circuit Bugatti in previous years, it was held near Rouen for the first time since 1964 in 1968 .
Honda planned to use the newly developed Type 302 with an air-cooled engine for the first time , which factory driver John Surtees had tested in the weeks before. Since Surtees thought the car was not yet fully developed, he refused to contest the race with it and was entered for the Grand Prix with the already proven Type 301. However, since CEO Sōichirō Honda attended the race, the new racing car should definitely be brought to the start. It was decided to register him under the team name "Honda France" and to have the popular French racing driver Jo Schlesser drive as a guest starter.
Since Brian Redman was still absent due to an injury, the Cooper works team hired Formula 1 newcomer Vic Elford and also loaned Johnny Servoz-Gavin to cast the second car from Matra .
Dan Gurney took a break this weekend because he still did not have any Weslake engines available for his Eagle team and, unlike the Dutch Grand Prix , he did not have the opportunity to compete as an additional driver in a works team two weeks beforehand .
training
During training, Jackie Oliver had an accident at high speed without seriously injuring himself. His Lotus 49 was so badly damaged in the process that it was no longer possible to repair it before the race and Oliver had to forego the start.
Jochen Rindt scored in the factory Brabham the first pole position of his Grand Prix career and shared the front row with the Matra MS10 of Jackie Stewart and the Ferrari 312 of Jacky Ickx . Denis Hulme and Chris Amon qualified for the second row.
run
The race started in light rain. Almost all drivers chose intermediates as tires. Only Jacky Ickx started on full-fledged rain tires , which turned out to be the right decision after the first lap, as he was able to take the lead and easily pull away. Behind them, Rindt and Stewart fought for second place, followed by Surtees.
At the beginning of the third lap, Schlesser lost control of the new Honda. The car rolled over and caught fire. The petrol from the still full tanks and the chassis made of magnesium burned so intensely that any help came too late for Schlesser. After Jim Clark , Mike Spence and Ludovico Scarfiotti , he was the fourth Formula 1 driver to die that year. Among the four, however, he was the only one who had a fatal accident during a Grand Prix.
Although the blazing wreck was partly on the track, the race was not canceled. Jochen Rindt suffered a tire damage while passing the scene of the accident due to the heat and debris lying around, which forced him to make a pit stop. Meanwhile, Surtees overtook runner-up Stewart and held that position until he was overtaken by Pedro Rodríguez on lap seven . Graham Hill , who was leading in the world championship and started from ninth place, eventually overtook Stewart and took fourth place until he retired due to a broken drive shaft.
On the 19th lap, Ickx came off the track briefly and was overtaken by Rodríguez and Surtees as a result. Within just one lap, however, he fought his way back to the top, defended this position to the finish and thus secured his first victory in his only eighth Grand Prix. Rodríguez lost second place to Surtees due to an extensive pit stop, which Surtees held, although he also had to make a short stop.
Vic Elford finished his Grand Prix debut in fourth place. Pedro Rodríguez had the fastest race lap credited for the first time in his Formula 1 career.
Registration list
Classifications
Starting grid
| Item | driver | constructor | time | Ø speed | begin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco
|
1: 56.1 | 202.853 km / h | 1 |
| 2 |
Jackie Stewart
|
Matra Ford
|
1: 57.3 | 200.777 km / h | 2 |
| 3 |
Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari
|
1: 57.7 | 200.095 km / h | 3 |
| 4th |
 Denis Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 57.7 | 200.095 km / h | 4th |
| 5 |
Chris Amon
|
Ferrari
|
1: 57.8 | 199.925 km / h | 5 |
| 6th |
Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 58.0 | 199.586 km / h | 6th |
| 7th |
John Surtees
|
Honda
|
1: 58.2 | 199.249 km / h | 7th |
| 8th |
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra
|
1: 58.9 | 198.076 km / h | 8th |
| 9 |
Graham Hill
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 59.1 | 197.743 km / h | 9 |
| 10 |
Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM
|
1: 59.3 | 197.412 km / h | 10 |
| 11 |
Jackie Oliver
|
Lotus Ford
|
2: 00.2 | 195.933 km / h | DNS |
| 12 |
 Joseph Siffert
|
Lotus Ford
|
2: 00.3 | 195.771 km / h | 11 |
| 13 |
Richard Attwood
|
BRM
|
2: 00.8 | 194.960 km / h | 12 |
| 14th |
 Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco
|
2: 00.8 | 194.960 km / h | 13 |
| 15th |
Piers Courage
|
BRM
|
2: 01.1 | 194.477 km / h | 14th |
| 16 |
Johnny Servoz-Gavin
|
Cooper-BRM
|
2: 01.2 | 194.317 km / h | 15th |
| 17th |
Jo Schlesser
|
Honda
|
2: 04.5 | 189.166 km / h | 17 1 |
| 18th |
Vic Elford
|
Cooper-BRM
|
2: 05.5 | 187.659 km / h | 16 1 |
1 Due to a mistake by the race management, the starting positions of Vic Elford and Jo Schlesser were swapped.
run
| Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari
|
60 | 0 | 2: 25: 40.9 | 3 | ||
| 2 |
John Surtees
|
Honda
|
60 | 1 | +1: 58.6 | 7th | ||
| 3 |
Jackie Stewart
|
Matra Ford
|
59 | 1 | + 1 lap | 2 | ||
| 4th |
Vic Elford
|
Cooper-BRM
|
58 | 0 | + 2 rounds | 16 | ||
| 5 |
Denis Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford
|
58 | 1 | + 2 rounds | 4th | ||
| 6th |
Piers Courage
|
BRM
|
57 | 0 | + 3 rounds | 14th | ||
| 7th |
Richard Attwood
|
BRM
|
57 | 1 | + 3 rounds | 12 | ||
| 8th |
Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford
|
56 | 1 | + 4 rounds | 6th | ||
| 9 |
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra
|
56 | 0 | + 4 rounds | 8th | ||
| 10 |
Chris Amon
|
Ferrari
|
55 | 1 | + 5 rounds | 5 | ||
| 11 |
Joseph Siffert
|
Lotus Ford
|
54 | 0 | + 6 rounds | 11 | ||
| - |
Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM
|
53 | 1 | NC | 10 | 2: 11.5 | Unrated |
| - |
Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco
|
45 | 1 | DNF | 1 | Fuel leak | |
| - |
Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco
|
15th | 0 | DNF | 13 | defective fuel pump | |
| - |
Graham Hill
|
Lotus Ford
|
14th | 0 | DNF | 9 | broken drive shaft | |
| - |
Johnny Servoz-Gavin
|
Cooper-BRM
|
14th | 0 | DNF | 15th | accident | |
| - |
Jo Schlesser
|
Honda
|
2 | 0 | DNF | 17th | deadly accident |
World Cup stands after the race
The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.
Driver ranking
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Constructors' championship
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Individual evidence
- ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 14, 2011)
- ^ "Report" (accessed on August 14, 2011)
- ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 14, 2011)
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