The 1968 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts Circuit on 7 July 1968. It was race 6 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. 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 third 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 as driver when regular Honda F1 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.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 2 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:56.1 — 2 28 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:57.3 +1.2 3 26 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:57.7 +1.6 4 8 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:57.7 +1.6 5 24 Chris Amon Ferrari 1:57.8 +1.7 6 10 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:58.0 +1.9 7 16 John Surtees Honda 1:58.2 +2.1 8 6 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:58.9 +2.8 9 12 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:59.1 +3.0 10 20 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:59.3 +3.2 11 14 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 2:00.2 +4.1 12 34 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 2:00.3 +4.2 13 22 Richard Attwood BRM 2:00.8 +4.7 14 4 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 2:00.8 +4.7 15 36 Piers Courage BRM 2:01.1 +5.0 16 32 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Cooper-BRM 2:01.2 +5.1 17 18 Jo Schlesser Honda 2:04.5 +8.4 18 30 Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 2:05.5 +9.4
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 26 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 20 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 53 + 7 laps 10 2 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 45 Fuel leak 1 4 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 15 Fuel pump 13 12 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 14 Halfshaft 9 32 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Cooper-BRM 14 Accident 15 18 Jo Schlesser Honda 2 Fatal accident 16 14 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford Accident in practice
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Vic Elford. This race saw the first pole position for Jochen Rindt and an Austrian driver, the first fastest lap for Pedro Rodríguez and a Mexican driver and the first Grand Prix win for Jacky Ickx and a Belgian driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 24 6 2 Jacky Ickx 16 1 3 Jackie Stewart 16 1 4 Denny Hulme 12 1 5 Pedro Rodríguez 10Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 29 2 McLaren-Ford 19 2 3 Ferrari 19 4 Matra-Ford 19 2 5 BRM 17Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
Further reading