1968 Belgian Grand Prix
Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report
The 1968 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on 9 June 1968. It was race 4 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 28-lap race was won by McLaren driver Bruce McLaren after he started from sixth position. Pedro Rodríguez finished second for the BRM team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.
On the seventh lap Brian Redman went off the circuit when his suspension failed and he crashed into and over a concrete barrier and into a parked car. His Cooper caught fire but Redman escaped with a severely broken right arm and a few minor burns.
Background
After the introduction of 'dive plane' wings on the nosecone on a Formula One car by Lotus at the previous race, the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari added a strut mounted negative incidence wing - to their lead driver Chris Amon's car<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and he nabbed pole position, and was 4 seconds faster in qualifying than the next fastest car of Jackie Stewart, though Amon claimed to have performed similar lap times without the wings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Amon's teammate Jacky Ickx did not have wings on his car.<ref>Lawrence (1999) p.100</ref> The Brabham team also fitted a rear wing to Jack Brabham's car, paired with dive planes on the nose to counteract lift. Wings were added to Ickx's car (and many other teams copied the idea for their cars) for the next race, the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. As 1968 season progressed many F1 teams utilized strut mounted wings attached directly to suspension elements - copying Chaparral sports car practice - to increase cornering speeds, reducing lap times. Ferrari never utilized strut mounted wings attached to suspension, as Enzo Ferrari considered it far too dangerous,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> continuing with strut mounted wings mounted directly to the chassis.
Classification
Qualifying
Race
Notes
- This was the first of many Grand Prix wins for McLaren. Also, Bruce McLaren was the third driver to win in a car of his own making, after Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney.
Championship standings after the race
Template:Col-start Template:Col-2
- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | Template:Flagicon Graham Hill | 24 |
|
|
2 | Template:Flagicon Denny Hulme | 10 |
 14
|
3 | Template:Flagicon Bruce McLaren | 9 |
 1
|
4 | Template:Flagicon Jim Clark | 9 |
| 10
|
5 | Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez | 6 |
| Source:<ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
- Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | Template:Flagicon Lotus-Ford | 29 |
|
|
2 | Template:Flagicon McLaren-Ford | 17 |
| 1
|
3 | Template:Flagicon BRM | 12 |
| 1
|
4 | Template:Flagicon Cooper-BRM | 9 |
| 1
|
5 | Template:Flagicon Ferrari | 7 |
| Source:<ref name="champ"/> | |||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
Further reading
Template:S-start
|- style="text-align:center"
|width="35%"|Previous race:
1968 Monaco Grand Prix
|width="30%"|Template:Nowrap
Template:Ifnumber
|width="35%"|Next race:
1968 Dutch Grand Prix
|- style="text-align:center"
|width="35%"|Previous race:
1967 Belgian Grand Prix
|width="30%"|Belgian Grand Prix
|width="35%"|Next race:
1970 Belgian Grand Prix
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | Template:Succession box }}
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | Template:Designated European Grand Prix }}
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | Template:S-ach }}
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | Template:F1 Promotional Trophy }}
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | | {{ #if: | Template:S-ach }} }}
|- style="text-align:center"
{{#if: | Template:Succession box }}
Template:S-end
Template:F1GP 60-69