1968 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

Monaco  1968 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 12 in the 1968 Formula One season
Date May 26, 1968
Official name XXVI Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street Circuit
Course length 3.145 km (1.954 mi)
Distance 80 laps, 251.600 km (156.337 mi)
Weather Sunny, Mild, Dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:28.2
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Richard Attwood BRM
Time 1:28.1 on lap 80
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second BRM
Third Cooper-BRM

The 1968 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Monte Carlo Circuit on May 26, 1968. It was the third round of the 1968 Formula One season. The race was won by Lotus driver Graham Hill, who started from pole position. Richard Attwood, driving for BRM, gained second place and fastest lap, while Lucien Bianchi finished in third position in a Cooper, in what was to be these drivers' only podium finishes.

Report

Background

Following the fatal accident of Lorenzo Bandini a year earlier, the track was altered with the harbour chicane being tightened and the race shortened by 20 laps. Ferrari still chose not to attend the race since they felt the safety measures to be insufficient.[1] While Graham Hill stated Lotus were still "in despair" over the losses of Jim Clark and Mike Spence, the team nevertheless introduced their new Lotus 49B for the race. The B specifications introduced a wedge shape and a front wing. 1968 would prove to be the season in which wings became a common place on Formula One cars. Jackie Stewart was still sidelined by his wrist injury and was replaced by Johnny Servoz-Gavin. With France in political unrest, the race organizers borrowed power generators from a local film production company in order to ensure that the tunnel would stay illuminated even in case of a power outage.[2] Richard Attwood was promoted from Reg Parnell Racing to the BRM works team after Mike Spence's replacement, Chris Irwin, suffered career-ending head injuries at the 1000km Nürburgring endurance race. Brian Redman, who had produced a solid performance in the previous race by finishing third, was racing at the 1000 km Spa and was therefore replaced at Cooper by Lucien Bianchi. With the Indianapolis 500 taking place just five days after the grand prix, McLaren's Denny Hulme was busy flying back and forth to attend both the Monaco Grand Prix as well as qualifying at Indianapolis.[1]

Qualifying

During qualifying, Graham Hill, a previous three time-winner at Monaco, set the pace and secured pole position 0.6 seconds ahead of the strong Johnny Servoz-Gavin. The Frenchman proved once more the Matra MS10, which had recorded the fastest lap for Jean-Pierre Beltoise in Spain, was highly competitive.[1]

Race

Johnny Servoz-Gavin took the lead from Hill at the start, while Bruce McLaren took out the other Lotus of Jackie Oliver at the chicane on the first lap. Servoz-Gavin was struck by bad luck on lap 3 when he suffered a drive shaft failure and crashed. This set the tone for the rest of the race, when after a series of accidents and mechanical failures, only five cars finished the race, with everyone from 3rd-place finishing at least four laps down on eventual winner Hill, who cemented his reputation as "Mr. Monaco"[3] by taking his fourth win in the principality. It was however a close finish, with BRM replacement Richard Attwood surprising by finishing just 2 seconds behind the Englishman. Even though Hill broke the Monaco lap record three times during the race, it was Attwood who ultimately recorded fastest lap, the only one of his career.[2] This would also be his one and only podium finish at a Formula One race, just as for Belgian Lucien Bianchi, who finished third.

Disaster would strike Formula One again just one month later as fourth-placed Ludovico Scarfiotti was killed during the Rossfeld hillclimb event.[1]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 9 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:28.2
2 11 France Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 1:28.8 +0.6
3 17 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:28.8 +0.6
4 8 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 1:29.1 +0.9
5 3 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:29.2 +1.0
6 15 United Kingdom Richard Attwood BRM 1:29.6 +1.4
7 14 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:29.6 +1.4
8 1 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:29.7 +1.5
9 4 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:30.4 +2.2
10 12 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:30.4 +2.2
11 16 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 1:30.6 +2.4
12 2 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:31.2 +3.0
13 10 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 1:31.7 +3.5
14 7 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 1:31.9 +3.7
15 6 Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Cooper-BRM 1:32.9 +4.7
16 19 United States Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 1:32.9 +4.7
DNQ 18 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 1:32.1 +3.9
DNQ 21 Switzerland Silvio Moser Brabham-Repco 1:32.4 +4.2

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 9 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 80 2:00:32.3 1 9
2 15 United Kingdom Richard Attwood BRM 80 + 2.2 6 6
3 7 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 76 + 4 Laps 14 4
4 6 Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Cooper-BRM 76 + 4 Laps 15 3
5 12 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 73 + 7 Laps 10 2
Ret 8 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 16 Gearbox 4  
Ret 4 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 16 Accident 9  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 12 Chassis 11  
Ret 17 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 11 Differential 3  
Ret 1 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 11 Accident 8  
Ret 19 United States Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 9 Engine 16  
Ret 3 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 8 Accident 5  
Ret 2 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 7 Suspension 12  
Ret 11 France Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 3 Halfshaft 2  
Ret 14 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 0 Accident 7  
Ret 10 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 0 Accident 13  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United Kingdom Graham Hill 24
1 2 New Zealand Denny Hulme 10
1 3 United Kingdom Jim Clark 9
22 4 United Kingdom Richard Attwood 6
2 5 Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti 6

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 27
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 8
1 3 United Kingdom Cooper-BRM 8
7 4 United Kingdom BRM 6
2 5 United Kingdom Brabham-Repco 4

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "GRAND PRIX RESULTS: MONACO GP, 1968". grandprix.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Hill cements Monaco reputation". espnf1.com. ESPN. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  3. "Graham Hill takes his fifth win at Monaco". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  4. "1968 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.

Further reading

Previous race:
1968 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1968 season
Next race:
1968 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1967 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
1969 Monaco Grand Prix
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