1969 Grand Prix of South Africa

 1969 Grand Prix of South Africa

Racing data
1st of 11 races of the 1969 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	South African Grand Prix
Date:	March 1, 1969
Place:	Midrand
Course:	Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit
Length:	327.503 km in 80 laps of 4.094 km
Weather:	hot
Pole position
Driver:	Jack Brabham	Brabham
Time:	1: 20.0 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Matra
Time:	1: 21.6 min
Podium
First:	Jackie Stewart	Matra
Second:	Graham Hill	lotus
Third:	Denis Hulme	McLaren

The 1969 South African Grand Prix took place on March 1 at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and was the first race of the 1969 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

The first race of the season did not take place in early January, as in the two previous years, but in early March. This resulted in a field of vehicles that could be viewed as representative of the season, while in previous years, due to the early dates, most of the vehicles from the previous year were used at this Grand Prix.

Ferrari only started one car, which was driven by Chris Amon . The other well-known works teams reported two drivers each, Lotus with Mario Andretti even a third. There were also some customer teams, each of which registered one or two drivers, including the local teams and drivers that have been typical of the South African Grand Prix for several years and who only competed in this Grand Prix.

training

Already in the first training session it became apparent how meticulously the designers had worked on the aerodynamics of the vehicles over the winter. In addition to the wings that protruded high above the rear of the car, which were newly introduced last year, there were now also similar designs in the front axle area of ​​some vehicles. Some issues related to this arose during the training sessions.

Jack Brabham , who had switched his own team from Repco to Ford-Cosworth engines, set the fastest lap time and thus secured pole position. Jochen Rindt in a Lotus and Denis Hulme in a McLaren also achieved a starting position in the first row, which consists of three vehicles. With Jackie Stewart on Matra and Ferrari driver Chris Amon, who formed the second row, five different vehicles were in the first five starting positions.

The occasional drivers Basil van Rooyen and John Love achieved remarkable results with starting positions nine and ten.

John Surtees did not achieve a classified lap time, but was allowed to compete in the race and started from last place.

run

After the start, Jack Brabham initially took the lead without being able to break away from his direct pursuer Jackie Stewart. Rindt, Hill, Hulme, and McLaren followed. During the first lap, Stewart overtook Brabham and did not give up the lead he had gained until the finish. Brabham initially stayed second until he had to head for the pits due to a broken rear wing. As a result, Rindt first came second, but was overtaken by Graham Hill shortly afterwards and shortly afterwards also fell behind Hulme. After a duel for third place between Hulme and Jo Siffert , which Hulme won, the first positions remained unchanged in the second half of the race.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Gold Leaf Team Lotus	1	Graham Hill	Lotus 49B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	2	Jochen Rindt
	3	Mario Andretti
Rob Walker Racing Team	4th	Jo Siffert
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	6th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren M7A		G
	7th	Denis Hulme
Matra International (Tyrrell)	20th	Jackie Stewart	Matra MS80 1		D.
	7th		Matra MS10
	8th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	9	Chris Amon	Ferrari 312 (1969)	Ferrari 255C 3.0 V12	F.
Owen Racing Organization	10	John Surtees	BRM P138	BRM P142 3.0 V12	D.
	11	Jackie Oliver	BRM P133
Reg Parnell Racing	12	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM P126		G
Motor Racing Developments	14th	Jack Brabham	Brabham BT26A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	15th	Jacky Ickx
Team Gunston	16	John Love	Lotus 49		D.
	17th	Sam Tingle	Brabham BT24	Repco 620 3.0 V8	F.
Team Lawson	18th	Basil van Rooyen	McLaren M7A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	D.
Jack Holme	19th	Peter de Klerk	Brabham BT20	Repco 620 3.0 V8	D.

¹ Jackie Stewart only drove the Matra MS80 with starting number 20 in practice

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford	1: 20.0	184.230 km / h	01
02	Jochen Rindt	Lotus Ford	1: 20.2	183.771 km / h	02
03	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 20.3	183.542 km / h	03
04th	Jackie Stewart	Matra Ford	1: 20.4	183.313 km / h	04th
05	Chris Amon	Ferrari	1: 20.5	183.086 km / h	05
06th	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 20.8	182.406 km / h	06th
07th	Graham Hill	Lotus Ford	1: 21.1	181.731 km / h	07th
08th	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	1: 21.1	181.731 km / h	08th
09	Basil van Rooyen	McLaren-Ford	1: 21.8	180.176 km / h	09
10	John Love	Lotus Ford	1: 22.1	179.518 km / h	10
11	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra Ford	1: 22.2	179.299 km / h	11
12	Jo Siffert	Lotus Ford	1: 22.2	179.299 km / h	12
13	Jacky Ickx	Brabham-Ford	1: 23.1	177.357 km / h	13
14th	Jackie Oliver	BRM	1: 24.1	175.249 km / h	14th
15th	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1: 25.2	172.986 km / h	15th
16	Peter de Klerk	Brabham-Repco	1: 27.2	169.018 km / h	16
17th	Sam Tingle	Brabham-Repco	1: 50.4	133.500 km / h	17th
18th	John Surtees	BRM	-	-	18th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jackie Stewart	Matra Ford	80	0	1: 59: 39.1	04th	1: 21.6
02	Graham Hill	Lotus Ford	80	0	+ 18.8	07th	1: 22.0
03	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	80	0	+ 31.8	03	1: 22.3
04th	Jo Siffert	Lotus Ford	80	0	+ 49.2	12	1: 22.4
05	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	79	0	+ 1 lap	08th	1: 23.1
06th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	11	1: 24.3
07th	Jackie Oliver	BRM	77	0	+ 3 rounds	14th	1: 25.3
08th	Sam Tingle	Brabham-Repco	73	0	+ 7 rounds	17th	1: 28.0
-	Peter de Klerk	Brabham-Repco	67	1	NC	16	1: 29.3	Unrated
-	Jochen Rindt	Lotus Ford	44	0	DNF	02	1: 22.6	defective fuel pump
-	John Surtees	BRM	40	0	DNF	18th	1: 24.6	Engine failure
-	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	38	0	DNF	15th	1: 27.0	Cooling water loss
-	Chris Amon	Ferrari	34	0	DNF	05	1: 23.3	Engine failure
-	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford	32	1	DNF	01	1: 22.5	Handling problems
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	31	0	DNF	06th	1: 22.7	Gearbox damage
-	John Love	Lotus Ford	31	0	DNF	10	1: 24.7	Misfire
-	Jacky Ickx	Brabham-Ford	20th	0	DNF	13	1: 24.2	Misfire
-	Basil van Rooyen	McLaren-Ford	12	0	DNF	09	1: 24.6	Brake defect

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  Jackie Stewart Matra 9 02  Graham Hill lotus 6th 03  Denis Hulme McLaren 4th 04th  Jo Siffert lotus 3 05  Bruce McLaren McLaren 2 06th  Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Matra 9 02  lotus 6th 03  McLaren 4th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 18, 2011)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on June 18, 2011)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 18, 2011)