The 1968 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on 9 June 1968. It was race 4 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 28-lap race was won by McLaren driver Bruce McLaren after he started from sixth position. Pedro Rodríguez finished second for the BRM team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.

On the seventh lap Brian Redman went off the circuit when his suspension failed and he crashed into and over a concrete barrier and into a parked car. His Cooper caught fire but Redman escaped with a severely broken right arm and a few minor burns.

Background After the introduction of 'dive plane' wings on the nosecone on a Formula One car by Lotus at the previous race, the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari added a strut mounted negative incidence wing – to their lead driver Chris Amon's car and he nabbed pole position, and was 4 seconds faster in qualifying than the next fastest car of Jackie Stewart, though Amon claimed to have performed similar lap times without the wings. Amon's teammate Jacky Ickx did not have wings on his car.Lawrence (1999) p.100 The Brabham team also fitted a rear wing to Jack Brabham's car, paired with dive planes on the nose to counteract lift. Wings were added to Ickx's car (and many other teams copied the idea for their cars) for the next race, the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. As 1968 season progressed, many F1 teams utilized strut mounted wings attached directly to suspension elements – copying Chaparral sports car practice – to increase cornering speeds, reducing lap times. Ferrari never utilized strut mounted wings attached to suspension, as Enzo Ferrari considered it far too dangerous, continuing with strut mounted wings mounted directly to the chassis.

Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap1 22 Chris Amon Ferrari 3:28.6—2 7 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 3:32.3 +3.73 23 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 3:34.3 +5.74 20 John Surtees Honda 3:35.0 +6.45 6 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 3:35.4 +6.86 5 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 3:37.1 +8.57 14 Piers Courage BRM 3:37.2 +8.68 11 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 3:37.8 +9.29 3 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 3:39.0 +10.410 16 Brian Redman Cooper-BRM 3:41.4 +12.811 12 Richard Attwood BRM 3:45.2 +16.612 15 Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 3:45.9 +17.313 10 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 3:52.9 +24.314 1 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 4:06.1 +37.515 2 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 4:30.8 +1:02.216 17 Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 4:34.3 +1:05.717 19 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 4:46.7 +1:18.118 18 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco Source:

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 28 1:40:02.1 6 9 2 11 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 28 + 12.1 8 6 3 23 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 28 + 39.6 3 4 4 7 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 27 Out of fuel 2 3 5 2 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 26 Transmission 15 2 6 15 Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 26 + 2 Laps 12 1 7 3 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 25 Oil pressure 9   8 10 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 25 + 3 Laps 13   14 Piers Courage BRM 22 Engine 7   6 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 18 Halfshaft 5   20 John Surtees Honda 11 Suspension 4   22 Chris Amon Ferrari 8 Radiator 1   16 Brian Redman Cooper-BRM 6 Spun Off 10   12 Richard Attwood BRM 6 Oil Pipe 11   18 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 6 Throttle 18   1 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 5 Halfshaft 14   19 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 5 Engine 17   17 Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 1 Wheel 16  

Notes

This was the first of many Grand Prix wins for McLaren. Also, Bruce McLaren was the third driver to win in a car of his own making, after Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 24 2 Denny Hulme 10 14 3 Bruce McLaren 9 1 4 Jim Clark 9 10 5 Pedro Rodríguez 6Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 29 2 McLaren-Ford 17 1 3 BRM 12 1 4 Cooper-BRM 9 1 5 Ferrari 7Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

Further reading