1968 Monaco Grand Prix
43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E
| 1968 Monaco Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 26 May 1968 | ||
| Official name | XXVI Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco | ||
| Location | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco | ||
| Course | Street Circuit | ||
| Course length | 3.145 km (1.954 miles) | ||
| Distance | 80 laps, 251.600 km (156.337 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny, Mild, Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Lotus-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:28.2 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Richard Attwood | BRM | |
| Time | 1:28.1 on lap 80 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Lotus-Ford | ||
| Second | BRM | ||
| Third | Cooper-BRM | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 1968 Monaco Grand Prix was a
BRM, gained second place and fastest lap, while Lucien Bianchi
finished in third position in a Cooper, in what was to be these two drivers' only podium finishes.
Report
Background
Following the fatal accident of
Lotus 49B for the race. This race was the first race where wings were used on a Formula One car since the B specifications introduced a wedge shape and a front wing. 1968 would prove to be the season in which wings became a common place on Formula One cars. Jackie Stewart was still sidelined by his wrist injury and was replaced by Johnny Servoz-Gavin, after Ferrari refused to allow Chris Amon to enter for the Matra International team.[2]
1000 km Spa and was therefore replaced at Cooper by Lucien Bianchi. With the Indianapolis 500 taking place just five days after the grand prix, McLaren's Denny Hulme was busy flying back and forth to attend both the Monaco Grand Prix as well as qualifying at Indianapolis.[1]
With France in
political unrest, the race organizers borrowed power generators from a local film production company in order to ensure that the tunnel would stay illuminated even in case of a power outage.[3]
The race length was reduced from the traditional 100 laps (315 kilometres (196 mi)) to 80 laps (250 kilometres (160 mi)) and marked the first time a Grand Prix was shorter than 300 km in scheduled distance.
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Matra as an engine supplier.
Qualifying
During qualifying, Graham Hill, a previous three time-winner at Monaco, set the pace and secured pole position 0.6 seconds ahead of the strong Johnny Servoz-Gavin. The Frenchman proved once more the Matra MS10, which had recorded the fastest lap for Jean-Pierre Beltoise in Spain, was highly competitive.[1]
Race
BRM replacement Richard Attwood surprising by finishing just 2 seconds behind the Englishman. Even though Hill broke the Monaco lap record three times during the race, it was Attwood who ultimately recorded fastest lap, the only one of his career.[3] This would also be his one and only podium finish at a Formula One race, just as for Belgian Lucien Bianchi, who finished third. This was the 50th podium finish for Lotus
.
Disaster would strike Formula One again just two weeks later as fourth-placed Ludovico Scarfiotti was killed during the Rossfeld hillclimb event.[1]
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:28.2 | — |
| 2 | 11 |  Johnny Servoz-Gavin
|
Matra-Ford | 1:28.8 | +0.6 |
| 3 | 17 |  Jo Siffert
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:28.8 | +0.6 |
| 4 | 8 | John Surtees
|
Honda
|
1:29.1 | +0.9 |
| 5 | 3 |  Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco | 1:29.2 | +1.0 |
| 6 | 15 | Richard Attwood
|
BRM | 1:29.6 | +1.4 |
| 7 | 14 |  Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 1:29.6 | +1.4 |
| 8 | 1 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra | 1:29.7 | +1.5 |
| 9 | 4 |  Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM | 1:30.4 | +2.2 |
| 10 | 12 | Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford | 1:30.4 | +2.2 |
| 11 | 16 | Piers Courage
|
BRM | 1:30.6 | +2.4 |
| 12 | 2 |  Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 1:31.2 | +3.0 |
| 13 | 10 | Jackie Oliver
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:31.7 | +3.5 |
| 14 | 7 |  Lucien Bianchi
|
Cooper-BRM | 1:31.9 | +3.7 |
| 15 | 6 |  Ludovico Scarfiotti
|
BRM
|
1:32.9 | +4.7 |
| 16 | 19 |  Dan Gurney
|
Eagle-Weslake
|
1:32.9 | +4.7 |
| DNQ | 18 |  Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-BRM | 1:32.1 | +3.9 |
| DNQ | 21 | Silvio Moser
|
Brabham-Repco | 1:32.4 | +4.2 |
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford | 80 | 2:00:32.3 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 15 | Richard Attwood
|
BRM
|
80 | + 2.2 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 | Lucien Bianchi
|
BRM
|
76 | + 4 Laps | 14 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 | Ludovico Scarfiotti
|
BRM
|
76 | + 4 Laps | 15 | 3 |
| 5 | 12 | Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford | 73 | + 7 Laps | 10 | 2 |
| Ret | 8 | John Surtees
|
Honda
|
16 | Gearbox | 4 | |
| Ret | 4 | Pedro Rodríguez
|
BRM
|
16 | Accident | 9 | |
| Ret | 16 | Piers Courage
|
BRM
|
12 | Chassis | 11 | |
| Ret | 17 | Jo Siffert
|
Lotus-Ford | 11 | Differential | 3 | |
| Ret | 1 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra | 11 | Accident | 8 | |
| Ret | 19 | Dan Gurney
|
Eagle-Weslake
|
9 | Engine | 16 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jochen Rindt
|
Brabham-Repco | 8 | Accident | 5 | |
| Ret | 2 | Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 7 | Suspension | 12 | |
| Ret | 11 | Johnny Servoz-Gavin
|
Matra-Ford | 3 | Halfshaft | 2 | |
| Ret | 14 | Bruce McLaren
|
McLaren-Ford | 0 | Accident | 7 | |
| Ret | 10 | Jackie Oliver
|
Lotus-Ford | 0 | Accident | 13 | |
Source:[5]
| |||||||
Championship standings after the race
|
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ a b c d "Grand Prix Results: Monaco GP, 1968". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ "Looking back: 1968 - Chris Amon's unluckiest year". talkingaboutf1.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Hill cements Monaco reputation". espnf1.com. ESPN. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ "Graham Hill takes his fifth win at Monaco". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ "1968 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Monaco 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
Further reading
- Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.