British GP 1968

British GP, 1968

The dreadful 1968 season had seen four Formula 1 drivers killed between April and July in a variety of racing machinery. British fans has lost both Jim Clark and Mike Spence but Graham Hill arrived at Brands Hatch with a big lead in the World Championship and with seven other British drivers in the 20-car field there was plenty for the fans to cheer.

The only major change from the miserable French GP (where Honda driver Jo Schlesser had been killed) was the arrival in the Cooper-BRM team of Robin Widdows.

The cars had sprouted increasingly dramatic rear wings in an effort to get as much downforce as possible.

Qualifying showed that Team Lotus was dominant with Hill fastest by half a second and Jack Oliver alongside him. Chris Amon completed the front row in his Ferrari. On the second row Jo Siffert (Rob Walker Lotus) lined up alongside Jochen Rindt's Brabham while the third row featured Dan Gurney (back in action after missing several races in his Eagle-Weslake because of engine problems), Jack Stewart in Ken Tyrrell's Matra-Ford and Jack Brabham's Brabham.

There was light rain at the start (for the third consecutive race) and Oliver took the lead from Hill and Siffert. The leading Lotus was trailing smoke and on the fourth lap Oliver was overtaken by Hill. Despite the smoke trail Oliver remained second. On the 27th lap. however, Hill went out with a rear suspension failure and so Oliver went back into the lead. behind him Siffert fought for second place with Amon but gradually the Lotus driver moved away.

On lap 44 Oliver came to a halt with a transmission failure and so Siffert inherited the lead and went on to win Rob Walker's first victory in seven years. The Ferraris of Amon and Ickx came home second and third.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 22 Jo Siffert Lotus-Cosworth 49B 80 2h01m20.300s  4 
2 5 Chris Amon Ferrari 312 80 2h01m24.700s  3 
3 6 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312 79  12 
4 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M7A 79  11 
5 7 John Surtees Honda RA301 78  9 
6 14 Jackie Stewart Matra-Cosworth MS10 78  7 
7 2 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Cosworth M7A 77  10 
8 20 Piers Courage BRM P126 72  16 
r 4 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco BT26 55 Fuel System 5 
r 10 Pedro Rodriguez BRM P133 52 Mechanical 13 
nc 19 Silvio Moser Brabham-Repco BT20 52  19 
r 9 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Cosworth 49B 43 Transmission 2 
r 16 Robin Widdows Cooper-BRM T86 34 Ignition 18 
r 15 Vic Elford Cooper-BRM T86B 26 Engine 17 
r 8 Graham Hill Lotus-Cosworth 49B 26 Mechanical 1 
r 18 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra MS11 11 Engine 14 
r 11 Richard Attwood BRM P126 10 Radiator 15 
r 24 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake T1G 8 Fuel Pump 6 
r 23 Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM M5A 6 Engine 20 
r 3 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco BT26 0 Engine 8