1968 French Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 12 in the 1968 Formula One season | |||
 The Rouen Les Essarts circuit in 1968 | |||
| Date | 7 July 1968 | ||
| Official name | LIV Grand Prix de France | ||
| Location | Rouen-Les-Essarts, Grand-Couronne, France | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 6.542 km (4.065 mi) | ||
| Distance | 60 laps, 392.520 km (243.901 mi) | ||
| Weather | Wet | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Brabham-Repco | ||
| Time | 1:56.1 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Pedro Rodríguez | BRM | |
| Time | 2:11.5 on lap 19 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Honda | ||
| Third | Matra-Ford | ||
The 1968 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts Circuit on 7 July 1968. It was the sixth round of the 1968 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx after he started from third position. John Surtees finished second for the Honda team and Matra driver Jackie Stewart came in third.
The French driver Jo Schlesser had a fatal accident on the second lap of the race. His car crashed and caught fire, the car's magnesium chassis contributing to the fire.
Classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | .svg.png){kind=small} Jacky Ickx |
Ferrari | 60 | 2:25:40.9 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | 16 |  John Surtees |
Honda | 60 | + 1:58.6 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | 28 | Jackie Stewart |
Matra-Ford | 59 | + 1 Lap | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 30 | Vic Elford |
Cooper-BRM | 58 | + 2 Laps | 17 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 |  Denny Hulme |
McLaren-Ford | 58 | + 2 Laps | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 36 | Piers Courage |
BRM | 57 | + 3 Laps | 14 | 1 |
| 7 | 22 | Richard Attwood |
BRM | 57 | + 3 Laps | 12 | |
| 8 | 10 | Bruce McLaren |
McLaren-Ford | 56 | + 4 Laps | 6 | |
| 9 | 6 |  Jean-Pierre Beltoise |
Matra | 56 | + 4 Laps | 8 | |
| 10 | 24 | Chris Amon |
Ferrari | 55 | + 5 Laps | 5 | |
| 11 | 34 |  Jo Siffert |
Lotus-Ford | 54 | + 6 Laps | 11 | |
| NC | 20 | Pedro Rodríguez |
BRM | 53 | Not Classified | 10 | |
| Ret | 2 |  Jochen Rindt |
Brabham-Repco | 45 | Fuel Leak | 1 | |
| Ret | 4 |  Jack Brabham |
Brabham-Repco | 15 | Fuel Pump | 13 | |
| Ret | 12 | Graham Hill |
Lotus-Ford | 14 | Halfshaft | 9 | |
| Ret | 32 | Johnny Servoz-Gavin |
Cooper-BRM | 14 | Accident | 15 | |
| Ret | 18 | Jo Schlesser |
Honda | 2 | Fatal Accident | 16 | |
| DNS | 14 | Jackie Oliver |
Lotus-Ford | Accident in practice | |||
Notes
Jo Schlesser's Honda RA302 crashes at Virage des Six Frères, igniting the magnesium body and killing Schlesser.
- Milestones:
- 1st Win - Jacky Ickx
- 1st Pole Position - Jochen Rindt
- 1st Fastest Lap - Pedro Rodríguez
- Jo Schlesser had a fatal accident on the second lap of the race, when he lost control in the then-new Honda RA302 chassis which overturned and caught fire partially due to its magnesium content. He was chosen when normal Honda driver John Surtees refused to drive the new car, opting for the older RA301 chassis, on the grounds that the new car was unsafe.
- This race was a turning point in Formula One as the death of Schlesser prompted many safety precautions in later races. This was also the last F1 race to take place at Rouen-Les Essarts.
- On lap 14, after Graham Hill retired from the race, Hill gave his helmet visor to Jo Siffert on-track due to Siffert's helmet did not have a visor.
Championship standings after the race
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ↑ "1968 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ↑ "Grand Prix Results: French GP, 1968". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
Further reading
- Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
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FIA Formula One World Championship 1968 season |
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French Grand Prix | Next race: 1969 French Grand Prix |
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