1968 Mexican Grand Prix

The 1968 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca on November 3, 1968. It was race 12 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

1968 Mexican Grand Prix
Race details
Date November 3, 1968
Official name VII Gran Premio de Mexico
Location Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City, Mexico
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.000 km (3.107 miles)
Distance 65 laps, 325.000 km (201.946 miles)
Weather Sunny, Mild, Dry
Pole position
Driver
Lotus-Ford
Time 1:45.22
Fastest lap
Driver Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford
Time 1:44.23 on lap 52
Podium
First
Lotus-Ford
Second
McLaren-Ford
Third
Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

This race was to determine the World Drivers' Championship, contested between Britons Graham Hill in the Lotus 49B-Ford and Jackie Stewart in the Matra MS10-Ford, and defending champion, New Zealander Denny Hulme in the McLaren M7A-Ford. The race was moved back a week so as not to clash with the Mexico City Summer Olympics, which ended on October 26.

Hulme started with a mathematical chance of becoming world champion, but his McLaren broke a rear suspension member early, crashed, and caught fire.[1] Jo Siffert took the lead, but had to pit with a broken throttle cable. Stewart fell back with when his engine started to misfire, his car's handling began going off, and had a fuel-feed problem. Hill won this race and his second Drivers' Championship, after Stewart fell back to seventh after an engine problem with his Matra.[2]

The Mexican government's effort to curb civil unrest led to a switch from military police to unarmed policemen and track marshals for crowd control; by race end, spectators were encroaching on the track itself.[2] This was one reason for the ultimate cancellation of future Mexican Grands Prix.[2]

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 16 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 1:45.22 —
2 6 New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 1:45.62 +0.40
3 10 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:46.01 +0.97
4 1 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:46.04 +0.82
5 14 United States Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 1:46.29 +1.07
6 5 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 1:46.49 +1.27
7 15 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:46.69 +1.47
8 3 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:46.80 +1.58
9 2 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 1:47.00 +1.78
10 4 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:47.07 +1.85
11 12 Mexico Moisés Solana Lotus-Ford 1:47.67 +2.45
12 8 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:47.80 +2.58
13 21 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:48.38 +3.16
14 11 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 1:48.44 +3.22
15 7 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:49.24 +4.02
16 23 France Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 1:49.27 +4.05
17 18 United Kingdom Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 1:49.48 +4.26
18 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier Honda 1:49.96 +4.74
19 22 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 1:50.28 +5.06
20 9 France Henri Pescarolo Matra 1:50.43 +5.21
21 19 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 1:50.57 +5.35

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 10 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 65 1:56:43.95 3 9
2 2 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 65 + 1:19.32 9 6
3 11 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Lotus-Ford 65 + 1:40.65 14 4
4 8 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 65 + 1:41.09 12 3
5 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier Honda 64 + 1 Lap 18 2
6 16 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 64 + 1 Lap 1 1
7 15 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 64 + 1 Lap 7  
8 18 United Kingdom Vic Elford Cooper-BRM 63 + 2 Laps 17  
9 9 France Henri Pescarolo Matra 62 + 3 Laps 20  
10 3 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 59 Oil pressure 8  
Ret 23 France Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 57 Ignition 16  
Ret 14 United States Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 28 Suspension 5  
Ret 22 United Kingdom Piers Courage BRM 25 Engine 19  
Ret 19 Belgium Lucien Bianchi Cooper-BRM 21 Engine 21  
Ret 5 United Kingdom John Surtees Honda 17 Overheating 6  
Ret 6 New Zealand Chris Amon Ferrari 16 Transmission 2  
Ret 12 Mexico Moisés Solana Lotus-Ford 14 Broken wing 11  
Ret 1 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 10 Suspension 4  
Ret 21 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 10 Suspension 13  
Ret 7 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 3 Ignition 15  
Ret 4 Austria Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 2 Ignition 10  
DNS 17 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-BRM 0 Engine
Source:[3][4]

Championship permutations
  • Coming into this race, 3 drivers had a chance to win the title.
    • Graham Hill (39pts) needed either
      • A podium place, with Stewart 2nd or lower
      • 4th or 5th, with Hulme 2nd or lower and Stewart 3rd or lower
      • 6th, with Hulme 2nd or lower and Stewart 4th or lower
      • Hulme 2nd or lower and Stewart 5th or lower
    • Jackie Stewart (36pts) needed either
      • 1st
      • 2nd, with Hulme 3rd or lower and Hill 4th or lower
      • 3rd, with Hulme 2nd or lower and Hill 6th or lower
      • 4th, with Hulme 3rd or lower and Hill 7th or lower
    • Denny Hulme (33pts) needed
      • 1st with Hill 4th or lower

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References
  1. Kettlewell, Mike. "Grand Prix Racing South of the Border", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974) Volume 12, p.1332.
  2. Kettlewell, p.1332.
  3. "1968 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  4. "The start of the 3-litre era". 8WForix. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  5. "Mexico 1968 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

Further reading
  • Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 82–83. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
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