1968 British Grand Prix

 1968 British Grand Prix

Racing data
7th of 12 races of the 1968 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXI RAC British Grand Prix
Date:	20th July 1968
Place:	Fawkham
Course:	Brands Hatch Circuit
Length:	341.2 km in 80 laps of 4.265 km
Weather:	initially rainy, later dry and warm
Pole position
Driver:	Graham Hill	lotus
Time:	1: 28.9 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jo Siffert	lotus
Time:	1: 29.7 min
Podium
First:	Jo Siffert	lotus
Second:	Chris Amon	Ferrari
Third:	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari

The 1968 British Grand Prix took place on July 20 and was the seventh race of the 1968 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

A field of 20 drivers competed in the British Grand Prix. Among them were eight local pilots to the delight of the audience. Changes compared to the French Grand Prix were the commitment of Robin Widdows as a Cooper factory driver, who thus came to his first and only Grand Prix competition, as well as the return of Dan Gurney with his own Eagle team.

The trend to equip vehicles with ever higher wing constructions in order to generate more downforce reached a new high point.

training

The training sessions revealed a superiority of the Lotus racing cars, with world championship leader Graham Hill securing pole position ahead of teammate Jackie Oliver . The third Lotus 49 in the field, which was used privately by Rob Walker and driven by Jo Siffert , qualified for fourth place on the grid behind Chris Amon in a Ferrari 312 , alongside Jochen Rindt on Brabham .

run

For the third time in a row after the Dutch Grand Prix and the French GP, the race began in wet conditions. Oliver took the lead ahead of Hill and Siffert, which meant that all of the participating Lotus vehicles were on the podium at first. After a few minutes, however, the leader's engine began to smoke. Despite the impending engine failure, Oliver only slowed slightly so that only Hill was able to overtake him at first. However, this was canceled on lap 27 due to the break of a half-wave, which brought Oliver back to the top position. Behind them, Siffert and Amon dueled for second place, with the Swiss having a slight advantage and finally being able to pull away a little.

On lap 44, the leader Oliver finally dropped out due to a fault in the power transmission. Siffert took the lead and held it to the finish. Ferrari drivers Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx completed the podium.

The Rob Walker Racing Team achieved their first Grand Prix victory in seven years and their ninth overall. Although private teams were still allowed in Formula 1 up to and including the 1980 season , this was the last victory for a vehicle without factory support.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	1	Denis Hulme	McLaren M7A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Bruce McLaren
Brabham Racing Organization	3	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT26	Repco 860 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Jochen Rindt
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	5	Chris Amon	Ferrari 312 (1968)	Ferrari 242C 3.0 V12	F.
	6th	Jacky Ickx
Honda Racing	7th	John Surtees	Honda RA301	Honda RA301E 3.0 V12	F.
Gold Leaf Team Lotus	8th	Graham Hill	Lotus 49B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	9	Jackie Oliver
Owen Racing Organization	10	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM P133	BRM P142 3.0 V12	G
	11	Richard Attwood	BRM P126
Matra International (Tyrrell)	14th	Jackie Stewart	Matra MS10	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	D.
Cooper Car Company	15th	Vic Elford	Cooper T86B	BRM P142 3.0 V12	G
	16	Robin Widdows
Matra Sports	18th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra MS11	Matra MS9 3.0 V12	D.
Charles Vögele Racing	19th	Silvio Moser	Brabham BT20	Repco 620 3.0 V8	G
Reg Parnell Racing	20th	Piers Courage	BRM P126	BRM P142 3.0 V12	G
Rob Walker Racing	22nd	Jo Siffert	Lotus 49B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
Joakim Bonnier Racing Team	23	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren M5A	BRM P142 3.0 V12	G
Anglo American Racers	24	Dan Gurney	Eagle T1G	Weslake 58 3.0 V12	G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Graham Hill	Lotus Ford	1: 28.9	172.711 km / h	01
02	Jackie Oliver	Lotus Ford	1: 29.4	171.745 km / h	02
03	Chris Amon	Ferrari	1: 29.5	171.553 km / h	03
04th	Jo Siffert	Lotus Ford	1: 29.7	171.171 km / h	04th
05	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	1: 29.9	170.790 km / h	05
06th	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	1: 30.0	170.600 km / h	06th
07th	Jackie Stewart	Matra Ford	1: 30.0	170.600 km / h	07th
08th	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1: 30.2	170.222 km / h	08th
09	John Surtees	Honda	1: 30.3	170.033 km / h	09
10	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	1: 30.4	169.845 km / h	10
11	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 30.4	169.845 km / h	11
12	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1: 31.0	168.725 km / h	12
13	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1: 31.6	167.620 km / h	13
14th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1: 31.6	167.620 km / h	14th
15th	Richard Attwood	BRM	1: 31.7	167.437 km / h	15th
16	Piers Courage	BRM	1: 32.3	166.349 km / h	16
17th	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	1: 33.0	165.097 km / h	17th
18th	Robin Widdows	Cooper-BRM	1: 34.0	163.340 km / h	18th
19th	Silvio Moser	Brabham-Repco	1: 35.4	160.943 km / h	19th
20th	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren BRM	1: 36.8	158.616 km / h	20th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jo Siffert	Lotus Ford	80	0	2: 01: 20.3	04th	1: 29.7
02	Chris Amon	Ferrari	80	0	+ 4.4	03	1: 29.9
03	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	79	0	+ 1 lap	12	1: 31.3
04th	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	79	0	+ 1 lap	11	1: 31.3
05	John Surtees	Honda	78	0	+ 2 rounds	09	1: 31.6
06th	Jackie Stewart	Matra Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	07th	1: 31.1
07th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	77	0	+ 3 rounds	10	1: 32.9
08th	Piers Courage	BRM	72	0	+ 8 rounds	16	1: 33.4
-	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	55	0	DNF	05	1: 31.6	Fuel leak
-	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	52	1	DNF	13	1: 31.9	Engine failure
-	Silvio Moser	Brabham-Repco	52	2	NC	19th	1: 37.1	Unrated
-	Jackie Oliver	Lotus Ford	43	0	DNF	02	1: 30.3	defective power transmission
-	Robin Widdows	Cooper-BRM	34	0	DNF	18th	1: 34.4	Suspension damage
-	Graham Hill	Lotus Ford	26th	0	DNF	01	1: 30.9	broken half-wave
-	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	26th	0	DNF	17th	1: 33.7	Engine failure
-	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	11	0	DNF	14th	1: 33.5	Engine failure
-	Richard Attwood	BRM	10	0	DNF	15th	1: 32.9	defective water cooler
-	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	08th	0	DNF	06th	1: 33.2	defective fuel pump
-	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren BRM	06th	0	DNF	20th	1: 39.8	Engine failure
-	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	00	0	DNF	08th	-	Engine failure

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

Item driver constructor Points 01  Graham Hill lotus 24 02  Jacky Ickx Ferrari 20th 03  Jackie Stewart Matra 17th 04th  Denis Hulme McLaren 15th 05  Pedro Rodríguez BRM 10 06th  Chris Amon Ferrari 10 07th  Jo Siffert lotus 9 08th  Bruce McLaren McLaren 9 09  Jim Clark lotus 9 10  Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 9

Item driver constructor Points 11  John Surtees Honda 8th 12  Richard Attwood BRM 6th 13  Ludovico Scarfiotti cooper 6th 14th  Lucien Bianchi cooper 5 15th  Brian Redman cooper 4th 16  Jochen Rindt Brabham 4th 17th  Vic Elford cooper 3 18th  Jackie Oliver lotus 2 19th  Silvio Moser Brabham 2 20th  Piers Courage BRM 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 38 02  Ferrari 25th 03  McLaren 22nd 04th  Matra 20th

Item constructor Points 05  BRM 17th 06th  cooper 12 07th  Honda 8th 08th  Brabham 6th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "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)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on August 14, 2011)
3. ↑ "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)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website