1968 Mexican Grand Prix

F1 Mexico Mexican November 3 1968 Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 1963.svg VII Gran Premio de Mexico Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City, Mexico Permanent racing facility 3.107 5.000 65 201.946 325.000 Sunny, Mild, Dry Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:45.22 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:44.23 52 Switzerland Graham Hill Lotus-Ford United Kingdom Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford New Zealand Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford United Kingdom MEX The 1968 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca on November 3, 1968. It was race 12 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This race was to determine the World Drivers' Championship, contested between Britons Graham Hill in the Lotus 49B-Ford and Jackie Stewart in the Matra MS10-Ford, and defending champion, New Zealander Denny Hulme in the McLaren M7A-Ford. The race was moved back a week so as not to clash with the Mexico City Summer Olympics, which ended on October 26. Hulme started with a mathematical chance of becoming world champion, but his McLaren broke a rear suspension member early, crashed, and caught fire.Kettlewell, Mike. "Grand Prix Racing South of the Border", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974) Volume 12, p.1332. Jo Siffert took the lead, but had to pit with a broken throttle cable.October 2018 Stewart fell back when his engine started to misfire, his car's handling began going off, and had a fuel-feed problem.October 2018 Hill won this race and his second Drivers' Championship, after Stewart fell back to seventh after an engine problem with his Matra.Kettlewell, p.1332. The Mexican government's effort to curb civil unrest led to a switch from military police to unarmed policemen and track marshals for crowd control; by race end, spectators were encroaching on the track itself. This was one reason for the ultimate cancellation of future Mexican Grands Prix. Championship permutations Coming into this race, Graham Hill led the Drivers' Championship by 39 points ahead of his title rivals Stewart and Hulme, with both trailing their respective frontrunners in the championship by three points each. It was the first time in four years that at least three drivers were still in contention of winning the drivers' title heading into the season finale. If Hill won the title, he would have won his second championship title after clinching his first one six years prior, whilst Stewart had the chance to claim his maiden drivers' title. If Hulme won, he would have become the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1960 to successfully defend his championship title. The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner: Hill would have won if: GBR Graham Hill GBR Jackie Stewart NZL Denny HulmePos. Position3rd or better2nd or lowerAny position4th 3rd or lower 2nd or lower5th6th4th or lowerlower than 6th5th or lower Stewart would have won if: GBR Jackie Stewart GBR Graham Hill NZL Denny HulmePos. Position1stAny positionAny position2nd4th or lower3rd or lower3rd6th or lower2nd or lower4th7th or lower3rd or lower Hulme would have won if: NZL Denny Hulme GBR Graham Hill GBR Jackie Stewart Pos. Position1st4th or lowerAny position Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 16 SUI Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:45.22 — 2 6 NZL Chris Amon Ferrari 1:45.62 +0.40 3 10 UK Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:46.01 +0.97 4 1 NZL Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:46.04 +0.82 5 14 USA Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 1:46.29 +1.07 6 5 UK John Surtees Honda 1:46.49 +1.27 7 15 UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:46.69 +1.47 8 3 AUS Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:46.80 +1.58 9 2 NZL Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:47.00 +1.78 10 4 AUT Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:47.07 +1.85 11 12 MEX Moisés Solana Lotus-Ford 1:47.67 +2.45 12 8 MEX Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:47.80 +2.58 13 21 FRA Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:48.38 +3.16 14 11 UK Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 1:48.44 +3.22 15 7 BEL Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:49.24 +4.02 16 23 FRA Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 1:49.27 +4.05 17 18 UK Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 1:49.48 +4.26 18 17 SWE Jo Bonnier Honda 1:49.96 +4.74 19 22 UK Piers Courage BRM 1:50.28 +5.06 20 9 FRA Henri Pescarolo Matra 1:50.43 +5.21 21 19 BEL Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 1:50.57 +5.35 Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 10 UK Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 65 1:56:43.95 3 9 2 2 NZL Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 65 + 1:19.32 9 6 3 11 UK Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 65 + 1:40.65 14 4 4 8 MEX Pedro Rodríguez BRM 65 + 1:41.09 12 3 5 17 SWE Jo Bonnier Honda 64 + 1 Lap 18 2 6 16 SUI Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 64 + 1 Lap 1 1 7 15 UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 64 + 1 Lap 7   8 18 UK Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 63 + 2 Laps 17   9 9 FRA Henri Pescarolo Matra 62 + 3 Laps 20   10 3 AUS Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 59 Oil pressure 8   Ret Retired 23 FRA Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 57 Ignition 16   Ret Retired 14 USA Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 28 Suspension 5   Ret Retired 22 UK Piers Courage BRM 25 Engine 19   Ret Retired 19 BEL Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 21 Engine 21   Ret Retired 5 UK John Surtees Honda 17 Overheating 6   Ret Retired 6 NZL Chris Amon Ferrari 16 Transmission 2   Ret Retired 12 MEX Moisés Solana Lotus-Ford 14 Broken wing 11   Ret Retired 1 NZL Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 10 Suspension 4   Ret Retired 21 FRA Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 10 Suspension 13   Ret Retired 7 BEL Jacky Ickx Ferrari 3 Ignition 15   Ret Retired 4 AUT Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 2 Ignition 10   DNS Did not start 17 SWE Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 0 EngineSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1968/559/ 1968 Mexican Grand Prix formula1.com 26 September 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150119000506/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1968/559/ 19 January 2015http://forix.autosport.com/8w/intltr66.html The start of the 3-litre era 8WForix January 12, 2019 Notes This was the first pole position for Jo Siffert and for a Swiss driver. This was the eleventh Grand Prix win of the season for a Ford-powered car. It set the record of the most Grand Prix wins in a season (11) and the highest percentage of Grand Prix wins in a season (92%) Final Championship standings Bold text indicates the World Champions. Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 United Kingdom Graham Hill 48 10px 2 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart 36 10px 3 New Zealand Denny Hulme 33 10px 4 Belgium Jacky Ickx 27 10px 5 NZL Bruce McLaren 22Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1968/mexique/championnat.aspx Mexico 1968 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 19 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 UK Lotus-Ford 62 10px 1 2 UK McLaren-Ford 49 10px 1 3 France Matra-Ford 45 10px 4 Italy Ferrari 32 10px 5 UK BRM 28Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Further reading Lang Mike Grand Prix! Vol 2 Haynes Publishing Group 1982 82–83 0-85429-321-3 Mexican Grand Prix 1968 1968 United States Grand Prix 1969 South African Grand Prix 1967 Mexican Grand Prix 1969 Mexican Grand Prix Mexican Grand Prix Category:Mexican Grand Prix Category:1968 in Mexican motorsport Category:November 1968 sports events in Mexico