Mexican GP 1969
OCTOBER 19, 1969
Mexican GP, 1969
The final Grand Prix of the 1960s took place in Mexico City, two weeks after the United States GP at Watkins Glen. That had been won by Team Lotus's Jochen Rindt but his team mate Graham Hill had broken both his legs in an accident. Hill was not replaced in Mexico City although Lotus did run a second car for John Miles (who continued his development of the four-wheel-drive Lotus 63) as Mario Andretti was busy racing USAC cars (and winning) at Kent.
The field was otherwise unchanged with only one Ferrari being run by NART for Pedro Rodriguez.
The Brabham team was dominant in practice with Jack Brabham fastest, ahead of his team mate Jacky Ickx. Jackie Stewart was third fastest in his Matra and shared the second row with Denny Hulme's McLaren, while the Lotus 49s of Jo Siffert and Jochen Rindt were on row three.
For the second consecutive race Bruce McLaren's car failed to make the start and so there were only 16 cars in the race. Stewart made the best start to take the lead but Ickx and Brabham gave chase. Rindt was fourth but had Hulme trying to pass him. On the second lap Hulme moved to fourth while Ickx began to put pressure on Stewart. On lap six Stewart was forced to give way and on the same lap Hulme passed Brabham to take third. Hulme was clearly the man on the move and during the seventh lap he overtook Stewart and chased after Ickx. On lap 10 the McLaren moved ahead. Stewart had dropped behind Brabham and the top four positions then remained stable although the way to the finish. Rindt ran fifth early on but bent his suspension hitting a curb and had to retire and so fifth place went to Beltoise with Jackie Oliver finishing sixth in the BRM, to score his first point of the year (despite the fact that he was two laps behind).
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 5 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Cosworth M7A | 65 | 1h54m08.800s | 4 |
2 | 7 | Jacky Ickx | Brabham-Cosworth BT26A | 65 | 1h54m11.360s | 2 |
3 | 8 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Cosworth BT26A | 65 | 1h54m47.280s | 1 |
4 | 3 | Jackie Stewart | Matra-Cosworth MS80 | 65 | 1h54m55.840s | 3 |
5 | 4 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra-Cosworth MS80 | 65 | 1h55m47.320s | 8 |
6 | 15 | Jackie Oliver | BRM P139 | 63 | 12 | |
7 | 12 | Pedro Rodriguez | Ferrari 312 | 63 | 15 | |
8 | 16 | Johnny Servoz-Gavin | Matra-Cosworth MS84 | 63 | 14 | |
9 | 21 | Peter Lovely | Lotus-Cosworth 49B | 62 | 16 | |
10 | 18 | Piers Courage | Brabham-Cosworth BT26A | 61 | 9 | |
11r | 19 | Silvio Moser | Brabham-Cosworth BT24 | 60 | Fuel Leak | 13 |
r | 14 | John Surtees | BRM P139 | 53 | Gearbox | 10 |
r | 2 | Jochen Rindt | Lotus-Cosworth 49B | 21 | Suspension | 6 |
r | 22 | George Eaton | BRM P138 | 6 | Gearbox | 17 |
r | 10 | Jo Siffert | Lotus-Cosworth 49B | 4 | Accident | 5 |
r | 9 | John Miles | Lotus-Cosworth 63 | 3 | Fuel Pump | 11 |
r | 6 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Cosworth M7C | -1 | Fuel Injection | 7 |