The 1969 Gran Premio de Mexico (Mexican Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City on October 19, 1969, two weeks after the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. It was race 11 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 65-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from fourth position. Jacky Ickx finished second for the Brabham team and his teammate Jack Brabham came in third.
Report
Entry
A total of 17 F1 cars were entered for this event, the last of the season. Team Lotus had had mixed fortunes at Watkins Glen, although Jochen Rindt had won the race, his teammate Graham Hill had broken both legs in an accident. At this event, Lotus decided not to replace him. However they did run a second car, a Lotus 63 developmental car with four wheel drive for John Miles, as Mario Andretti was busy winning the Dan Gurney 200 at Pacific Raceways, USA.
The rest of the field was unchanged, with only one Ferrari 312 entered by NART for local hero, Pedro Rodríguez.
Qualifying
The Motor Racing Developments Ltd team proved to be very fast in Mexico, as they dominated qualifying in their Brabham-Cosworth BT26A. Jack Brabham secured pole position, for the team, averaging a speed of 96.087 mph. Next fastest was his teammate, Jacky Ickx. The 1969 World Champion, Jackie Stewart was third fastest in his Matra-Cosworth MS80, who shared the second row with the McLaren-Cosworth M7A of Denny Hulme. A pair of Lotus 49s were on row three, with Jo Siffert ahead of Jochen Rindt.
Race
The race was held over 65 laps, however, for the second consecutive race, Bruce McLaren failed to make the start. Of the 16 remaining cars, Jackie Stewart made the best start, with the Brabhams of Jacky Ickx and Jack Brabham in pursuit, Jochen Rindt fourth, and Denny Hulme close behind. By the end of the second lap, led, while Ickx was putting pressure on Stewart. By lap six, Ickx was through, into the lead, and Hulme past Brabham to take third. Hulme overtook Stewart on the next lap, and set about chasing down Ickx. On lap 10, Hulme's McLaren was ahead. Meanwhile, Stewart’s Matra had dropped behind Brabham, and this is how the top four remained throughout the remainder of the race. Rindt ran fifth early on in the race, but bent his suspension on a curb, leading to his retirement, so fifth went to Jean-Pierre Beltoise, with Jackie Oliver finishing sixth in the BRM P139, two laps adrift.
Hulme won in a time of 1hr 54min 5.3sec, an average speed of . Hulme finished just 2.56 seconds ahead of Ickx.
Qualifying
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap18 Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford1:42.90—2 7 Jacky Ickx Brabham-Ford1:43.60 +0.7033 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford1:43.67 +0.774 5 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford1:43.70 +0.805 10 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford1:43.81 +0.9162 Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford1:43.94 +1.0476 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford1:44.75 +1.8584 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford1:45.58 +2.68918 Piers Courage Brabham-Ford1:47.23 +4.331014 John Surtees BRM1:47.29 +4.39119 John Miles Lotus-Ford1:47.76 +4.861215 Jackie Oliver BRM1:48.01 +5.111319 Silvio Moser Brabham-Ford1:48.25 +5.351416 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford1:48.74 +5.841512 Pedro Rodríguez Ferrari1:49.46 +6.561621 Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford1:50.34 +7.441722 George Eaton BRM1:52.30 +9.40
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 65 1:54:08.80 4 9 2 7 Jacky Ickx Brabham-Ford 65 + 2.56 2 6 3 8 Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 65 + 38.48 1 4 4 3 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 65 + 47.04 3 3 5 4 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 65 + 1:38.52 8 2 6 15 Jackie Oliver BRM 63 + 2 Laps 12 1 7 12 Pedro Rodríguez Ferrari 63 + 2 Laps 15 8 16 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 63 + 2 Laps 14 9 21 Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 62 + 3 Laps 16 10 18 Piers Courage Brabham-Ford 61 + 4 Laps 9 11 19 Silvio Moser Brabham-Ford 60 Fuel Leak 13 14 John Surtees BRM 53 Gearbox 10 2 Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 21 Suspension 6 22 George Eaton BRM 6 Gearbox 17 10 Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 4 Accident 5 9 John Miles Lotus-Ford 3 Fuel Pump 11 6 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 0 Fuel Injection 7
Notes
This race marked the 49th and 50th podium finish for Brabham. This was the third win of the Mexican Grand Prix by a Ford-powered car, setting a new record. It broke the old record set by Climax at the 1964 Mexican Grand Prix.
Final Championship standings Bold text indicates the World Champions.
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart 63 2 Jacky Ickx 37 3 Bruce McLaren 26 4 Jochen Rindt 22 1 5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise 21Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Matra-Ford 66 2 Brabham-Ford 49 (51) 3 Lotus-Ford 47 4 McLaren-Ford 38 (40) 1 5 BRM 7Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results from the first 6 rounds and the best 4 results from the last 5 rounds counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References