1968_Mexican_Grand_Prix Knowpia

1968 Mexican Grand Prix
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	Jo Siffert;
Time	1:45.22
Fastest lap
Driver	Jo Siffert
Time	1:44.23 on lap 52
Podium
First	Graham Hill;
Second	Bruce McLaren;
Third	Jackie Oliver;
	Lap leaders ;

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.

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.^{[citation needed]} Stewart fell back with when his engine started to misfire, his car's handling began going off, and had a fuel-feed problem.^{[citation needed]} 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 edit

Qualifying edit

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

Race edit

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

Championship permutations edit

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 edit

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Graham Hill	48
	2	Jackie Stewart	36
	3	Denny Hulme	33
	4	Jacky Ickx	27
	5	Bruce McLaren	22
Source:^[5]

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Lotus-Ford	62
1	2	McLaren-Ford	49
1	3	Matra-Ford	45
	4	Ferrari	32
	5	BRM	28
Source:^[5]

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

References edit

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

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