Dutch GP 1969

Dutch GP, 1969

With the Belgian GP having been canceled because of a dispute over safety between the race organizers and the Grand Prix Drivers' Association there was a five week break before the teams gathered at Zandvoort for the Dutch GP. The ban on high rear wings at Monaco meant that once again there were some different interpretations of the rules as the designers struggled to find the most downforce they could. Team Lotus and Matra had been working hard to develop four-wheel-drive cars and both teams brought the prototypes to Holland: Graham Hill tried out the Lotus 63 and Jackie Stewart ran the Matra MS84. BRM also had the new P139 for John Surtees but it was rather disappointing. Antique Automobiles had replaced the ancient Cooper it had run for Vic Elford at Monaco with a rather modern McLaren

Qualifying resulted in Jochen Rindt taking pole position for Lotus with Stewart's regular Matra MS80 second and Hill's normal Lotus 49 sharing the front row. Chris Amon (Ferrari) and Jacky Ickx (Brabham) shared the second row while the third row was all-Antipodean with Jack Brabham (Brabham), Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren (McLarens).

Hill took the lead at the start with Rindt behind him and Stewart third then came Amon and a fast-starting Hulme. On the third lap Rindt scrambled ahead of Hill and within a couple of laps Stewart had followed, pushing Hill down to third place. Rindt then began to drive away from Stewart until lap 17 when his Lotus suffered driveshaft failure and Stewart was left in the lead. While this was happening Jo Siffert (Walker-Durlacher Lotus) had worked his way up to third place and so he found himself second when Rindt stopped. Hill eventually headed for the pits, unhappy with the handling of his car and that left Hulme, Amon, Ickx and Brabham to fight over third place. This became the center of attention until the closing laps when Amon finally managed to get the better of Hulme, who was left holding off Ickx for fourth place.

The result was not in doubt, however, with Stewart scoring a dominant victory over Siffert.

That weekend was marked by an announcement from Italy that Ferrari had begun a collaboration with Fiat. Although the Italian team looked weak, the money from the deal would help the team mount a much stronger challenge in the years that followed.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Jackie Stewart Matra-Cosworth MS80 90 2h06m42.080s  
10 Jo Siffert Lotus-Cosworth 49B 90 2h07m06.600s  10 
Chris Amon Ferrari 312 90 2h07m12.590s  
Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M7A 90 2h07m19.240s  
12 Jacky Ickx Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 90 2h07m19.750s  
11 Jack Brabham Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 90 2h07m52.890s  
Graham Hill Lotus-Cosworth 49B 88  
Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Cosworth MS80 87  11 
14 John Surtees BRM P138 87  12 
10 18 Vic Elford McLaren-Cosworth M7A 84  15 
17 Silvio Moser Brabham-Cosworth BT24 54 Engine 14 
Bruce McLaren McLaren-Cosworth M7C 24 Suspension 
Jochen Rindt Lotus-Cosworth 49B 16 Cv Joint 
16 Piers Courage Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 12 Clutch 
15 Jackie Oliver BRM P133 Gearbox 13