German GP 1968

German GP, 1968

After Jo Siffert's unexpected victory for Rob Walker at Brands Hatch, the F1 teams headed off to the Nurburgring and more bad weather, the previous four races having all been affected by rain. The field was much as normal with the only major additions being Kurt Ahrens, driving a third Brabham and Hubert Hahne entered in a BMW-entered Lola-BMW Formula 2 car, the Munich manufacturer having a look at the state of competitiveness in F1.

It rained throughout practice and Jacky Ickx took pole position in his Ferrari by a full 10 seconds with Chris Amon (Ferrari) second and Jochen Rindt third in his Brabham. Graham Hill was on the second row in his Lotus, alongside the Cooper-BRM of Vic Elford. The third row featured Jackie Stewart's Matra-Ford, John Surtees in the Honda and Piers Courage in a Reg Parnell Racing BRM.

At the start of the race - in pouring rain - Hill took the lead from Amon, Rindt and Stewart. In the course of the first lap, however, Stewart moved to the front and built a nine second lead, using his Dunlop wet tires to maximum effect. By the end of the second lap his lead was out to 34 seconds and after 14 laps he was over four minutes ahead of second-placed Graham Hill, who spun at one point but was able to get out of the car, push it back into the right direction and get it restarted before Rindt arrived, third-placed Amon having spun off earlier on the same lap. Hill managed to keep Rindt behind him third, while fourth place fell to Ickx.

It was Stewart's greatest Grand Prix victory.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 6 Jackie Stewart Matra-Cosworth MS10 14 2h19m03.200s  6 
2 3 Graham Hill Lotus-Cosworth 49B 14 2h23m06.400s  4 
3 5 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco BT26 14 2h23m12.600s  3 
4 9 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312 14 2h24m58.400s  1 
5 4 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco BT26 14 2h25m24.300s  15 
6 10 Pedro Rodriguez BRM P133 14 2h25m28.200s  14 
7 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M7A 14 2h25m34.200s  11 
8 22 Piers Courage BRM P126 14 2h26m59.600s  8 
9 14 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake T1G 14 2h27m16.900s  10 
10 18 Hubert Hahne Lola-BMW T102 14 2h29m14.600s  18 
11 21 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Cosworth 49B 13  13 
12 17 Kurt Ahrens Jr Brabham-Repco BT24 13  17 
13 2 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Cosworth M7A 13  16 
14 11 Richard Attwood BRM P126 13  20 
r 8 Chris Amon Ferrari 312 11 Accident 2 
r 12 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra MS11 8 Accident 12 
r 19 Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM T86B 7 Fuel Tank 19 
r 16 Jo Siffert Lotus-Cosworth 49B 6 Ignition 9 
r 7 John Surtees Honda RA301 3 Ignition 7 
r 20 Vic Elford Cooper-BRM T86B 0 Accident 5 
ns 23 Silvio Moser Brabham-Repco BT20  Oil Pump 21