The 1968 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Monza Autodrome on 8 September 1968. It was race 9 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 68-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from seventh position. Johnny Servoz-Gavin finished second for the Matra team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.
There was a five-week break after the previous Grand Prix in Germany. During the break, the Oulton Park Gold Cup attracted some of the top names, with Jackie Stewart taking the victory, after his dominant victory at the Nürburgring.
Report
Entry
24 F1 cars were entered for the event, the biggest field of the season. American Mario Andretti entered in a third Lotus, while his United States Auto Club (USAC) rival, Bobby Unser, replaced Richard Attwood at Owen Racing Organisation (BRM). Scuderia Ferrari ran a third car for rising English star, Derek Bell, while David Hobbs was fielded by Honda Racing.
Qualifying
The early qualifying session saw Andretti and Unser set the pace. Both drivers wanted to fly back to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, a 100-lap race on the 1609 metre (one mile) dirt track for the USAC Championship the next day. They then intended to fly back to Milan and race in the Grand Prix. The event organisers announced that if the either driver returned to the US, they would be banned from competing in the Grand Prix, under an ACI ruling which forbade drivers to complete in another event within 24 hours of the start of the Grand Prix. Both drivers flew back to Indiana for the Hoosier Hundred and did return for the Italian Grand Prix, but were not allowed to take part in the race.
Qualifying resulted in John Surtees taking pole for the Honda Racing team, in their Honda RA301, at an average speed of 150.314 mph. He was joined on the front row by Bruce McLaren in his own McLaren M7A and Chris Amon in a Ferrari 312. The second row was occupied by the Ferrari of Jacky Ickx and the Lotus of Graham Hill. Jackie Stewart, Denny Hulme and Derek Bell shared the third row.
Race The race was held over 68 laps of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, taking place in sunny conditions, with Surtees leading from the start. McLaren and Surtees fought for the lead, until the Ferrari of Chris Amon lost control on oil dropped by one of the Honda RA301s and his car flew over the barriers into the trees at one of the fast Lesmo corners. Surtees also hit the wall trying to avoid the Ferrari. This put Jo Siffert into second place, with Jackie Stewart third. The Scotsman moved into second and a slipstreaming battle developed for the lead between McLaren, Stewart, Siffert and Denny Hulme.Derek Bell, “Derek Bell My Racing Life" (Haynes Publishing, , 2011)
McLaren's M7A had to stop for more oil on lap 35 and retired. Stewart retired on lap 43 when his Cosworth engine failed. Hulme was by this stage already leading the race, and when Siffert went out with a rear suspension failure, nine laps from the end, Hulme was left to win. He won in a time of 1hr 40:14.8mins., averaging a speed of 146.284 mph. There had been a battle behind him, between Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Jacky Ickx and Jochen Rindt. The Ferrari of Ickx had emerged ahead, only to stop in the closing lap for more fuel. In the process, he dropped to third behind Servoz-Gavin, while Rindt had to retire with an engine failure. Piers Courage, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, and Jo Bonnier rounded out the top six, with no other finishers.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap Grid 1 14 John Surtees Honda 1:26.07 — 1 2 2 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:26.11 +0.04 2 3 9 Chris Amon Ferrari 1:26.21 +0.14 3 4 8 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:26.41 +0.34 4 5 16 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:26.57 +0.50 5 6 4 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:26.60 +0.53 6 7 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:26.61 +0.54 7 8 7 Derek Bell Ferrari 1:26.90 +0.83 8 9 20 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:26.96 +0.89 9 10 18 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:27.20 +1.13 11 11 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:27.30 +1.23 10 12 19 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 1:27.40 +1.33 11 13 21 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 1:27.61 +1.54 12 14 5 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 1:27.63 +1.56 13 15 15 David Hobbs Honda 1:27.70 +1.63 14 16 26 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:28.20 +2.13 15 17 10 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:28.80 +2.73 16 18 27 Piers Courage BRM 1:29.10 +3.03 17 19 6 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:29.30 +3.23 18 20 3 Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 1:30.55 +4.48 19 21 25 Bobby Unser BRM 1:30.56 +4.49 22 23 Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 1:31.30 +5.23 20 28 Frank Gardner BRM 1:31.40 +5.33 — 12 Silvio Moser Brabham-Repco 1:33.70 +7.63 —
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 68 1:40:14.8 7 9 2 5 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 68 + 1:28.4 13 6 3 8 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 68 + 1:28.6 4 4 4 27 Piers Courage BRM 67 + 1 Lap 17 3 5 6 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 66 + 2 Laps 18 2 6 3 Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 64 + 4 Laps 19 1 20 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 58 Suspension 9 10 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 56 Oil Pressure 16 4 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 42 Engine 6 15 David Hobbs Honda 42 Engine 14 19 Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 38 Transmission 11 2 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 34 Oil Leak 2 11 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 33 Engine 10 26 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 22 Engine 15 21 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 19 Overheating 12 16 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 10 Wheel 5 14 John Surtees Honda 8 Accident 1 9 Chris Amon Ferrari 8 Accident 3 7 Derek Bell Ferrari 4 Fuel System 8 23 Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 2 Accident 20 28 Frank Gardner BRM 12 Silvio Moser Brabham-Repco 18 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford ACI 24 hour rule 25 Bobby Unser BRM ACI 24 hour rule 22 Robin Widdows Cooper-BRM 24 Lucien Bianchi Cooper-Alfa Romeo
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver and future Le Mans winner Derek Bell. This was the first pole position for Honda and for a Japanese/Asian constructor and for a Honda-powered car and for a Japanese/Asian engine supplier.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Graham Hill 30 1 2 Jacky Ickx 27 1 3 Jackie Stewart 26 4 Denny Hulme 24 5 Pedro Rodríguez 11Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 44 2 Matra-Ford 35 3 Ferrari 32 4 McLaren-Ford 31 5 BRM 21Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
Further reading