The1967 Formula One season was the 21st season ofFIAFormula One motor racing. It featured the 18thWorld Championship of Drivers, the 10thInternational Cup for F1 Manufacturers, and six non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 2 January and 22 October 1967.
Denny Hulme won the Drivers' Championship in aBrabham-Repco.[1] Brabham was also awarded the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers.[2] As of 2024[update], this is the only championship won by aNew Zealand driver. Hulme also became the first driver in World Championship history to win the title without having scored apole position during the season.
Lorenzo Bandini crashed during theMonaco Grand Prix. Losing an early lead of the race and trying to get back to the front, theFerrari driver clipped the chicane at the harbour front and then hit a hiddenmooring. The car turned over and exploded in flames. It tookmarshals several minutes to extricate Bandini from the burning wreck and three days later, theItalian died.British driverBob Anderson died during a test atSilverstone. HisBrabham slid off the track in wet conditions and hit a marshals post, suffering seriouschest andneck injuries and later dying inhospital.
The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1967FIAWorld Championship. A pink background denotes additionalFormula 2 entrants to the German Grand Prix on the very long Nürburgring track.
AfterLorenzo Bandini's fatal accident, theFIA banned circuit organisers from usingstraw bales along the track[3] andTV crews from flying theirhelicopters too low, as both had contributed to the fire flaring up.
Coming down from his third World Championship in1966,Jack Brabham started this year off as well, with apole position at theSouth African Grand Prix. TeammateDenny Hulme started second and two-time World ChampionJim Clark lined up in third in hisLotus. Hulme took the lead at the start, while Clark fell back to sixth. In a race of attrition, the crowd sawRhodesian driverJohn Love take the lead. When he had to stop for extra fuel, however, it wasPedro Rodríguez who won in hisCooper. Love finished second, ahead ofJohn Surtees in aHonda. Hulme and Brabham finished several laps down but still in the points, since there were just six classified finishers in total.[4]
From 1967 to1969, there was four months between the first and second race of the championship, and most teams would usually run the first race with old designs, or not even participate. This year,Ferrari,McLaren andMatra started their year with theMonaco Grand Prix. Lotus had planned to run revolutionary newCosworths, but they were not ready in time.Jack Brabham scoredpole position like in South Africa, but again lost the lead at the start, this time to long-time Ferrari driverLorenzo Bandini. Before long, Hulme took over at the front and increased his lead to 15 seconds. Desperately trying to get closer, Bandini struck the barrier in thechicane at theharbour front and mounted thestraw bales. The car landed upside down and exploded in flames. Bandini would succumbed to his injuries three days later. Hulme won the race, one lap ahead ofGraham Hill (Lotus) and two ahead ofChris Amon (Ferrari). Like in the first race, there were just six finishers.[5]
When Lotus could finally run the new Cosworth engines in theDutch Grand Prix, their pace was significantly better than before and Hill snatched pole position. A surprisingDan Gurney in theEagle started second, reigning champion Brabham in third. After drivers had to avoid a wanderingmarshal on the grid, the positions at the front remained rather the same, until Gurney made a pit stop. Hill's engine suddenly seized on lap 11, but teammate Clark was charging, getting up to second on lap 15 and taking the lead from Brabham on the next lap. He kept increasing his lead with a second per lap and easily won, ahead of the teammates Brabham and Hulme. Behind them finished the three Ferraris.[6]
Qualifying for theBelgian Grand Prix ended up with quite the same drivers at the front, except Brabham could only manage seventh. Clark, Gurney and Hill occupied the front row. Clark was the only one of the three with a good start, however. During the first lap,Mike Parkes crashed his Ferrari and was thrown out. He broke aleg andwrist and would not return to Formula One. At the front of the field, Clark was followed byStewart (BRM) and Amon (Ferrari), before Amon fell back and Gurney took third. Then, Clark had to pit to change aspark plug and Stewart ran into trouble with his gearbox, and Gurney took the lead. After setting a new lap record, theAmerican driver won, over a minute ahead of Stewart and Amon.[7]
Four different winners led to a close fight at the top of the Drivers' Championship.Denny Hulme (Brabham) was first with 16 points, ahead ofPedro Rodríguez (Cooper) andChris Amon (Ferrari) with 11. In the battle for the Manufacturers' Cup, Brabham had scored 18 points, ahead of Cooper (14) and Ferrari (11).
For theFrench Grand Prix, the front row consisted of1962 championGraham Hill (Lotus), triple World ChampionJack Brabham (Brabham) and winner of the last race,Dan Gurney (Eagle). But after just 5 laps, it was fourth-startingJim Clark who led the field. Before the race reached half distance, however, both Lotuses had retired. TheCosworth engines deemed fast but unreliable. After Gurney retired as well with a fuel leak, which left Brabham and his teammateHulme to finish first and second.Jackie Stewart finished third in hisBRM, a lap down on the leader. For the third time this year, there were just six classified finishers.[8]
TheBritish Grand Prix was run atSilverstone and saw the green-and-yellow Lotuses (Clark ahead of Hill) qualifying in front of the green-and-gold Brabhams (Brabham ahead of Hulme). The Lotus duo gained a big lead over the rest, before Hill took the lead on lap 26. When a screw in hissuspension failed, however, he had to pit on lap 55, and his engine seized ten laps later. Clark took a comfortable win, ahead of Hulme andAmon, theFerrari driver having passed Brabham four laps from the end.[9]
Duringpractice for theGerman Grand Prix, Hill crashed and wrote off his Lotus, while escaping uninjured. Clark clinchedpole position, ahead of Hulme andFormula Two driverJacky Ickx. (Traditionally, the F2 race would be run at the same time as the Grand Prix. F2 drivers would not be eligible to score points for the F1 championship.) At the start, Clark and Hulme led away, withBruce McLaren stealing third. On lap 3, Clark's right-rear wheel was deflating slowly and he had to back off. Dan Gurney inherited the lead after McLaren retired with an oil leak. TheAmerican set a new lap record, despite an extra chicane having been added to the circuit, and increased his lead over Hulme to over 40 seconds. On lap 13, however, his Eagle's drive shaft broke and cut through an oil pipe, handing Hulme a lucky victory, ahead of teammate Brabham and Ferrari driver Amon.[10]
In the Drivers' Championship,Denny Hulme (Brabham) was leading with 37 points, ahead ofJack Brabham (Brabham) with 25 points andJim Clark (Lotus) andChris Amon (Ferrari) in a shared third place with 19 points. Brabham was leading the championship for the Manufacturers' Cup with 42 points, ahead ofCoopper with 21 and Lotus and Ferrari in a shared third place with 19 points.
TheCanadian Grand Prix was on the championship calendar for the first time and was supposed to be a one-off in celebration ofCanada's 100 years of independence, but the popularity of the event would result in F1 returning toMosport Park seven more years and the Canadian GP still being featured on the calendar today.Jim Clark (Lotus)qualified onpole position, ahead of teammateGraham Hill and championship leaderDenny Hulme (Brabham). It had been a rainy night, but a clear morning, which led to most of theGoodyear runners starting onintermediate tyres, while most of theFirestone started ondries. During thewarm-up lap, the rain returned and it caused a treacherous first lap, with the Goodyear times at an advantage. Hulme took the lead off of Clark, andBruce McLaren got by the pole-sitter into second place. The track was now drying and around a quarter of the race, the dry-runners regained their advantage. Clark retook second place and began to catch Hulme at over a second a lap. On lap 58, he was there and immediately went by into the lead, but right at that moment, the rain returned. Clark's engine got soaked and cut out, while Hulme desperatly needed cleangoggles so chose topit. This leftJack Brabham, second in the championship, free to win the race, over a minute ahead of teammate Hulme and at least a lap ahead of the race.Dan Gurney finished third in theEagle.[11]
Qualifying for theItalian Grand Prix was disrupted by rain, but the result was not surprising: Clark scored his fifth pole position of the year, ahead of Brabham and McLaren. Hulme started in sixth. Themarshal starting the race used a different procedure to what the drivers were used to, which led to half of the grid essentially doing afalse start, but no penalties were issued. Brabham took the lead before Gurney grabbed it later in the lap, whileHill and Clark followed them. On lap 3, Clark was already back in the lead, but then suffered a slowpuncture. With the pole-sitter in the pits and Gurney's engine having broken, as it had done so many times, it was Hulme who took over the lead. Brabham and Hill formed a close trio with him and the lead swapped hands a couple of times. Clark had a lost a full lap with his pit stop, but managed to unlap himself with two thirds of the race still to go, and quickly set a new lap record. Hulme retired with an overheating engine and Hill took advantage from Clark'sslipstream to open up the gap to Brabham at two seconds per lap, until on lap 58, his engine exploded. His rivals' retirements, topped with his maniacal pace, brought Clark up to second place, with leader Brabham in his sights andHonda driverJohn Surtees in third place, the1964 champion this time being the one to benefit from Clark's tow. On lap 60, Clark grabbed the lead and gained a three-second advantage, until he dramatically ran out of fuel. Surtees took the lead and was side-by-side with Brabham going into the last corner. Brabham dove to the inside but slid wide. Surtees crossed back and took the flag with a margin of just 0.2 seconds. It would be Honda's last win until2006. Clark coasted over the line in third place.[12]
The Brabham duo (Hulme and Brabham) were leading the championship but the Lotus duo (Hill and Clark) that occupied the first row for theUnited States Grand Prix. Gurney had started beside them, took second place at the start and even started pressuring the leader. After just 24 laps, however, the home hero retired with a broken suspension, but the Lotuses were showing better pace anyway. Clark took over the lead when Hill suffered issues with hisclutch. This gaveFerrari driverChris Amon a chance for second place, but his engine ran out of oil with 12 laps to go. Clark would take a comfortable victory, but two laps from the end, his right-rear suspension broke. By slowing down and managing to keep the car on track, Hill could not catch up in time, and Clark took the chequered flag. One could say it was the summary of the season: the Lotuses were unreliable and finished less than half of the races, but if they did, they were so fast that they lapped the rest of the field. This time, it was Hulme who finished in third, a lap down.[13]
Going into the final race, theMexican Grand Prix, Hulme had a lead of five points in the standings, so if Brabham wanted to do anything about it, he needed to win and for his teammate to finish fifth or lower. Clark started again on pole position, with Brabham and Hulme down in fifth and sixth, respectively. Hill shortly took the lead, but Clark grabbed it back and grew his advantage to seven seconds. Hulme was comfortably hanging back six seconds behind Brabham. Hill retired when hisdrive shaft broke and had damaged his engine, and the race settled down. Clark set a new lap record and lapped everyone but Brabham in second. Hulme finished third, enough to win the title.[14]
Denny Hulme (Brabham, 51 points) won his first and only championship, ahead of teammateJack Brabham (46) andJim Clark (Lotus, 41). Hulme is the only champion to date fromNew Zealand, and the first of two drivers to win the title without achieving a pole position in the season. OnlyNiki Lauda would repeat this feat in1984. The Brabham team (63 points) also won the Manufacturers' Cup, ahead of Lotus (44) andCooper (28).
Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. Formula 2 cars were not eligible for Championship points. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best five results from rounds 1-6 and the best four results from rounds 7-11 were counted.
Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Source:[15] |
|
Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA![]() | MON![]() | NED![]() | BEL![]() | FRA![]() | GBR![]() | GER![]() | CAN![]() | ITA![]() | USA![]() | MEX![]() | Pts.[16] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 4 | 1 | 2 | Ret | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | (3) | 2 | 63 (67) | |
2 | ![]() | 1 | 6 | Ret | 1 | Ret | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 44 | |||
3 | ![]() | 1 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 28 | |
4 | ![]() | 3 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6 | 4 | 1 | Ret | 4 | 20 | |||
5 | ![]() | 3 | 4 | 3 | Ret | 3 | 3 | 6 | 7 | Ret | 8 | 20 | ||
6 | ![]() | Ret | 6 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 5 | Ret | 5 | 17 | |
7 | ![]() | Ret | Ret | 1 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 13 | ||
8 | ![]() | Ret | 2 | 7 | 11 | DNS | 6 | |||||||
9 | ![]() | 2 | DNQ | 6 | ||||||||||
10 | ![]() | 4 | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3 | ||||||
11 | ![]() | 5 | DNQ | 9 | 8 | Ret | Ret | 2 | ||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | 7 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | NC | 0 | ||||||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
— | ![]() | Ret | 0 | |||||||||||
Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA![]() | MON![]() | NED![]() | BEL![]() | FRA![]() | GBR![]() | GER![]() | CAN![]() | ITA![]() | USA![]() | MEX![]() | Pts. |
Other Formula One races held in 1967, which did not count towards the World Championship.
Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Brands Hatch | 12 March | ![]() | ![]() | Report |
![]() | Oulton Park | 15 April | ![]() | ![]() | Report |
![]() | Silverstone | 29 April | ![]() | ![]() | Report |
![]() | Syracuse | 21 May | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | Report |
![]() | Oulton Park | 16 September | ![]() | ![]() | Report |
![]() | Jarama | 12 November | ![]() | ![]() | Report |