1967 French Grand Prix
Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report
The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on 2 July 1967. It was race 5 of 11 in both the 1967 World Championship of Drivers and the 1967 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the race in 1929, and Template:As of is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix, though the circuit continues to host the French motorcycle Grand Prix.
The new Bugatti circuit opened in 1965 and used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane. After the start and the Dunlop Curve, instead of the left turn at the Esses at the bottom of the hill, the Bugatti Circuit instead turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" left hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, whose only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeufs" left hand kink (now a left-right chicane) some two-thirds along, before heading back to the pit straight via the "S Bleu" and "Raccordement" corners near the entrance to the pits.
The Bugatti circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds, with only a reported 20,000 attending the race. Some of the drivers were reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full Template:Convert long Circuit de la Sarthe, where the Template:Convert Mulsanne Straight was actually Template:Convert longer than the entire Bugatti circuit. At the time, circuit lengths of Template:Convert or longer were common in Grand Prix racing, including the Template:Convert Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix and the Template:Convert Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many drivers felt that using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.
Race report
Graham Hill was on pole and led away for the first lap until Jack Brabham took over. On lap 7 Jim Clark took the lead and Hill passed Brabham to make it a Lotus 1–2. Hill then retook the lead until his crown-wheel and pinion failed on lap 14. The same problem caused Clark's retirement from the lead on lap 23, leaving Brabham ahead of Dan Gurney, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme. On lap 41 a fuel line broke on Gurney's car, making it a Brabham 1-2 and Amon's throttle cable broke several laps later. Brabham drove home serenely to win his first race in eight Grands Prix by 49.5 seconds from teammate Hulme, and over a lap in front of the BRM of Jackie Stewart.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Template:Flagicon Graham Hill | Lotus-Ford | 1:36.2 | — |
| 2 | 3 | Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 1:36.3 | +0.1 |
| 3 | 9 | Template:Flagicon Dan Gurney | Eagle-Weslake | 1:37.0 | +0.8 |
| 4 | 6 | Template:Flagicon Jim Clark | Lotus-Ford | 1:37.5 | +1.3 |
| 5 | 8 | Template:Flagicon Bruce McLaren | Eagle-Weslake | 1:37.6 | +1.4 |
| 6 | 4 | Template:Flagicon Denny Hulme | Brabham-Repco | 1:37.9 | +1.7 |
| 7 | 2 | Template:Flagicon Chris Amon | Ferrari | 1:38.0 | +1.8 |
| 8 | 12 | Template:Flagicon Jochen Rindt | Cooper-Maserati | 1:38.9 | +2.7 |
| 9 | 15 | Template:Flagicon Chris Irwin | BRM | 1:39.4 | +3.2 |
| 10 | 10 | Template:Flagicon Jackie Stewart | BRM | 1:39.6 | +3.4 |
| 11 | 18 | Template:Flagicon Jo Siffert | Cooper-Maserati | 1:40.1 | +3.9 |
| 12 | 11 | Template:Flagicon Mike Spence | BRM | 1:40.3 | +4.1 |
| 13 | 14 | Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez | Cooper-Maserati | 1:40.5 | +4.3 |
| 14 | 17 | Template:Flagicon Bob Anderson | Brabham-Climax | 1:44.9 | +8.7 |
| 15 | 16 | Template:Flagicon Guy Ligier | Cooper-Maserati | 1:45.2 | +9.0 |
| Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |||||
Race
Championship standings after the race
Template:Col-start Template:Col-2
- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:1rightarrow blue.svg | 1 | Template:Flagicon Denny Hulme | 22 |
| File:1uparrow green.svg 4 | 2 | Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham | 16 |
| File:1downarrow red.svg 1 | 3 | Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez | 12 |
| File:1downarrow red.svg 1 | 4 | Template:Flagicon Chris Amon | 11 |
| File:1downarrow red.svg 1 | 5 | Template:Flagicon Jim Clark | 10 |
| Source:<ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
- Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:1rightarrow blue.svg | 1 | Template:Flagicon Brabham-Repco | 27 |
| File:1rightarrow blue.svg | 2 | Template:Flagicon Cooper-Maserati | 17 |
| File:1uparrow green.svg 3 | 3 | Template:Flagicon BRM | 11 |
| File:1downarrow red.svg 1 | 4 | Template:Flagicon Ferrari | 11 |
| File:1downarrow red.svg 1 | 5 | Template:Flagicon Lotus-Ford | 10 |
| Source:<ref name="champ"/> | |||
References
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1968 French Grand Prix
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