1968 United States Grand Prix

September 2025 F1 United States United States Watkins Glen International Track Map-1960-1970.svg XI United States Grand Prix October 6, 1968 1968 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race CourseWatkins Glen, New York Permanent road course 2.35 3.78 108 253.8 408.2 Temperatures reaching a maximum of 68 F C flip;wind speeds up to 9.21 mph km/h fliphttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/NY/Watkins%20Glen/1973-10-07 Weather information for the "1968 United States Grand Prix" The Old Farmers' Almanac November 10, 2013 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:04.20 UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:05.22 52 UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford UK Graham Hill Lotus-Ford UK John Surtees Honda USA right|thumb|250px|Denny Hulme finished 5th in a McLaren M7A The 1968 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 6, 1968, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 11 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 108-lap race was won by Matra driver Jackie Stewart after he started from second position. Graham Hill finished second for the Lotus team and Honda driver John Surtees came in third. This was the most recent occurrence of an all-British podium in the sport until the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, 58 years later. This was the debut race of the future world champion Mario Andretti, and his first Formula One pole position. Summary The first practice day was primarily a duel between Jackie Stewart and the Ferrari of Chris Amon, with Stewart posting the day's best time of 1:04.27. Stewart was unable to defend his provisional pole during the second practice day due to a broken stub-axle. However, Graham Hill bumped Amon from the second spot, before Mario Andretti—driving at Watkins Glen for the first time—rewarded the partisan crowd by taking the pole in his Gold Leaf Lotus, 0.07 seconds under Stewart's time. This was Andretti's first ever Formula One start. On race day, a huge crowd of 93,000 anticipated a strong home showing with two other Americans also on the grid—Dan Gurney, in seventh, and Bobby Unser, in nineteenth. Stewart used a better start to take the lead on the first lap from crowd favorite Andretti. After the first lap the order was: Stewart, Andretti, Amon, Hill, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme, Gurney, John Surtees and Bruce McLaren. By lap six, Andretti had opened up a gap to Amon and set off for Stewart. Three laps later, the nose on Andretti's Lotus was broken, with the right wing dragging on the ground. Andretti said though he had not touched anyone, the body had just cracked. However, he continued without losing his position until lap 13, when his pit crew taped the car back together, and dropped to thirteenth place. On lap 10, there was a fight for third place as Amon, now behind Hill, spun on his own water spillage. In lap 6, Hulme hit an oil patch, dropping from third to ninth. On lap 26, Gurney, running in third place, did a 360° spin and was overtaken by Surtees' Honda. After lap 33, Andretti retired with a broken clutch. Gurney then took over Surtees, as the two battled for the rest of the race. By lap 40, Stewart was 26 seconds ahead of Hill, with Gurney and Surtees another 10 seconds Hill. He then sent a message to the rest of the racers by posting the fastest lap of the race on lap 52, widening his lead to 31 seconds. Hill had struggled for a while with a loose steering column, to which he said he was driving crouched up. On lap 97, a minute and twenty seconds ahead of Bruce McLaren, Jo Siffert's Lotus began to sputter, and he signaled to his pit that he would stop to refuel in the next round. As Siffert then exited the pit lane, McLaren went by into fifth place. Siffert regained the position after two laps, before which McLaren too had to stop for fuel. Surtees then began to back off when he realised Gurney, just ahead in third place, was slowing down because he had a slow puncture and was also running very low on fuel. Surtees used the opportunity catch up with Gurney's McLaren in the last lap, as they both finished a lap down to the leaders. Stewart led every lap in his Matra-Ford and was threatened only once, when he rounded a corner to find two spectators walking across the track. "It's as close as I've ever come to running somebody over," he said, "I missed them by an inch." It was his first American Grand Prix victory and kept alive hopes for his first World Drivers' Championship with just one more race to go. "It was the first time in my F1 career I felt I could dictate the pace," he said, "When I went faster, the field went faster. When I went slower, they went slower. It was an extraordinary moment of realisation." The race promoters claimed that Stewart's prize of £8,300 for winning the race was the richest in F1 history. Andretti's Lotus teammate Hill, also in the running for the season's title along with Denny Hulme, finished 24 seconds behind Stewart in second place. This was the most recent all-British podium until the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in 2026.Statistics Nations - Podiums - By one-two-three - United Kingdom • STATS F1 https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/nation/podium/detail-united-kingdom--triple.aspx 2026-06-15 www.statsf1.com Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 12USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:04.20— 2 15UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:04.27 +0.07 3 10UK Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:04.28 +0.08 4 6New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 1:04.37 +0.17 5 1New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:04.57 +0.37 6 4Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:04.81 +0.61 7 14USA Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 1:05.23 +1.03 8 3Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:05.25 +1.05 9 5UK John Surtees Honda 1:05.32 +1.12 10 2New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:05.69 +1.49 11 8Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:06.10 +1.90 12 16Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:06.17 +1.97 13 21France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:06.96 +2.76 14 22UK Piers Courage BRM 1:07.02 +2.82 15 7UK Derek Bell Ferrari 1:07.06 +2.86 16 11UK Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 1:07.46 +3.26 17 18UK Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 1:08.56 +4.36 18 17Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 1:08.93 +4.73 19 9USA Bobby Unser BRM 1:09.60 +5.40 20 19Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 1:09.77 +5.57 21 21*France Henri Pescarolo Matra 1:10.43 +6.23Source:USA 1968 - Qualifications https://www.statsf1.com/en/1968/etats-unis/qualification.aspx July 6, 2025 StatsF1 * Pescarolo also drove car number 21 as a spare car. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 15 UK Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 108 1:59:20.29 2 9 2 10 UK Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 108 + 24.68 3 6 3 5 UK John Surtees Honda 107 + 1 lap 9 4 4 14 USA Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 107 + 1 lap 7 3 5 16 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 105 + 3 laps 12 2 6 2 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 103 + 5 laps 10 1 Ret Retired 22 UK Piers Courage BRM 93 Out of fuel 14   Ret Retired 1 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 92 Accident 5   NC Not classified 19 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 88 + 20 laps 20   Ret Retired 3 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 77 Engine 8   Ret Retired 4 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 73 Engine 6   Ret Retired 18 UK Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 71 Engine 17   Ret Retired 8 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 66 Suspension 11   NC Not classified 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 62 + 46 laps 18   Ret Retired 6 New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 59 Water pump 4   Ret Retired 21 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 44 Transmission 13   Ret Retired 9 USA Bobby Unser BRM 35 Engine 19   Ret Retired 12 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 32 Clutch 1   Ret Retired 7 UK Derek Bell Ferrari 14 Engine 15   DNS Did not start 11 UK Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 0 Non starter     DNS Did not start 20 France Henri Pescarolo Matra 0 Non starter Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1968/558/ 1968 United States Grand Prix formula1.com September 26, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150119003334/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1968/558/ January 19, 2015 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver and that year's Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser and American driver and future World Champion Mario Andretti. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 United Kingdom Graham Hill 39 10px 1 2 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart 36 10px 1 3 New Zealand Denny Hulme 33 10px 4 Belgium Jacky Ickx 27 10px 5 NZL Bruce McLaren 16Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1968/etats-unis/championnat.aspx United States 1968 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com March 21, 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 UK Lotus-Ford 53 10px 1 2 France Matra-Ford 45 10px 1 3 UK McLaren-Ford 43 10px 4 Italy Ferrari 32 10px 5 UK BRM 25Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. 0-7134-1263-1 Rob Walker (January 1969). "1968 U. S. Grand Prix: Money & The Scot". Road & Track, 29–34. External links Stewart beats Hill to set up finale http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/56654.html November 17, 2013 Photos from the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen United States Grand Prix 1968 1968 Canadian Grand Prix 1968 Mexican Grand Prix 1967 United States Grand Prix 1969 United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix Category:United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix