| 1968 Canadian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | September 22, 1968 | ||
| Official name | VIIIPlayer's Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Circuit Mont-Tremblant,Mont-Tremblant,Quebec,Canada | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.265 km (2.650 miles) | ||
| Distance | 90 laps, 383.850 km (238.501 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 27.8 °C (82.0 °F) and wind speeds up to 10.1 kilometres per hour (6.3 mph); no precipitation reported throughout the day[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Brabham-Repco | ||
| Time | 1:33.8 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Jo Siffert | Lotus-Ford | |
| Time | 1:35.1 on lap 22 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Second | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Third | BRM | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1968 Canadian Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held at theCircuit Mont-Tremblant inSt. Jovite,Quebec, Canada on September 22, 1968. It was race 10 of 12 in both the1968 World Championship of Drivers and the1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 90-lap race was won byMcLaren driverDenny Hulme after starting from sixth position. Hulme's teammateBruce McLaren finished second andBRM driverPedro Rodríguez came in third.
After the success of the1967 Canadian Grand Prix, the event was given a place on the 1968 calendar, but was moved fromMosport Park to the Circuit Mont-Tremblant.[2] Attention centred on the battle for the Drivers' Championship, withGraham Hill leading on 30 points, closely followed byJacky Ickx on 27,Jackie Stewart on 26 and defending championDenny Hulme on 24.[2]
A total of 22 cars were entered for this event, the first of three races in the Americas.
Dan Gurney was present in a thirdBruce McLaren Motor Racing preparedMcLaren M7A, although entered by hisAnglo American Racers team, having given up on hisEagle-Weslake project. Despite this, there was anEagle T1F in Quebec, in the hands of localFormula A/5000 driver,Al Pease. Another local driver from this series,Bill Brack, appeared inTeam Lotus's third car. Meanwhile,BRM ran only one car forPedro Rodríguez.Matra Sports expanded their operation to two cars, withHenri Pescarolo joiningJean-Pierre Beltoise, whileJohnny Servoz-Gavin drove a second car prepared byMatra International, following his second place at the previous race inItaly. AlongsideJackie Stewart, this made fourMatras in the field.[2]
With hisRepco-Brabham V8 engine finally beginning to work,Jochen Rindt securedpole position for theBrabham Racing Organisation in theirBrabham-Repco BT26, with an average speed of 101.711 mph. He was joined on the front row byChris Amon'sFerrari 312 andJo Siffert inRob Walker'sLotus 49B. The fastest McLaren was that of Dan Gurney, qualifying on the second row, alongside the works Lotus ofGraham Hill, while the third row featured both of the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing entered McLaren M7As ofDenny Hulme andBruce McLaren, sandwiching the soleHonda RA301 ofJohn Surtees.[2][3]
During qualifying,Jacky Ickx's hopes of winning the World title ended when he crashed his Ferrari 312, after the throttle stuck open. As a result, Ickx suffered a broken leg.[2]
The race was held over 90 laps of theCircuit Mont-Tremblant, taking place in sunny conditions, with the Ferrari of Chris Amon leading straight from the off, with Jo Siffert chasing him. Then followed Jochen Rindt, Dan Gurney and Graham Hill. The positions at the front remained stable, with John Surtees retiring from eighth place with gearbox troubles. On lap 14, Hill managed pass Gurney, and 12 laps later, the American dropped away with a broken radiator. An oil leak accounted for Siffert, on lap 29, and so Rindt was second, although he too retired shortly afterwards with an engine failure. This promoted Hill to second. That too was short-lived, as he soon dropped behind the McLarens of Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren because of a serious vibration issues. As Hill's Lotus 49B gradually fell back, he was overtaken by Pedro Rodríguez and Johnny Servoz-Gavin. A few laps later (lap 71), the Matra of Servoz-Gavin had spun out and Hill was back up to fifth.[2][3]
While all this was going on, Amon seemed to have everything under control for the first 72 laps of the race, however, on the 73rd lap, his legendary bad luck struck when his Ferrari's transmission failed. This gave McLaren a 1-2 victory with Rodríguez grabbing third for BRM. Hulme won in a time of 2hr 27.11.2mins., averaging a speed of 97.799 mph, and was a full lap ahead of his team-mate.[2][3]
The result put reigning World Champion Hulme level on points with Hill, with two races remaining.[2]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Jochen Rindt | Brabham-Repco | 1:33.8 | — |
| 2 | 9 |  Chris Amon | Ferrari | 1:33.8 | +0.0 |
| 3 | 12 | Jo Siffert | Lotus-Ford | 1:34.5 | +0.7 |
| 4 | 11 |  Dan Gurney | McLaren-Ford | 1:34.5 | +0.7 |
| 5 | 3 |  Graham Hill | Lotus-Ford | 1:34.8 | +1.0 |
| 6 | 1 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 1:34.9 | +1.1 |
| 7 | 8 | John Surtees | Honda | 1:34.9 | +1.1 |
| 8 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 1:35.0 | +1.2 |
| 9 | 4 | Jackie Oliver | Lotus-Ford | 1:35.2 | +1.4 |
| 10 | 5 |  Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 1:35.4 | +1.6 |
| 11 | 14 | Jackie Stewart | Matra-Ford | 1:35.4 | +1.6 |
| 12 | 16 |  Pedro Rodríguez | BRM | 1:35.7 | +1.9 |
| 13 | 15 |  Johnny Servoz-Gavin | Matra-Ford | 1:36.6 | +2.8 |
| 14 | 10 |  Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | 1:36.6 | +2.8 |
| 15 | 24 | Piers Courage | BRM | 1:37.3 | +3.5 |
| 16 | 18 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra | 1:38.7 | +4.9 |
| 17 | 21 | Vic Elford | Cooper-BRM | 1:39.4 | +5.6 |
| 18 | 22 |  Jo Bonnier | McLaren-BRM | 1:39.6 | +5.8 |
| 19 | 20 | Lucien Bianchi | Cooper-BRM | 1:40.5 | +6.7 |
| 20 | 19 | Henri Pescarolo | Matra | 1:41.2 | +7.4 |
| 21 | 27 |  Bill Brack | Lotus-Ford | 1:41.2 | +7.4 |
| 22 | 25 | Al Pease | Eagle-Climax | 1:49.6 | +15.8 |
| Source:[4][5] | |||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 90 | 2:27:11.2 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 89 | + 1 Lap | 8 | 6 |
| 3 | 16 | Pedro Rodríguez | BRM | 88 | + 2 Laps | 12 | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | Graham Hill | Lotus-Ford | 86 | + 4 Laps | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 21 | Vic Elford | Cooper-BRM | 86 | + 4 Laps | 16 | 2 |
| 6 | 14 | Jackie Stewart | Matra-Ford | 83 | + 7 Laps | 11 | 1 |
| Ret | 18 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra | 77 | Gearbox | 15 | |
| Ret | 9 | Chris Amon | Ferrari | 72 | Transmission | 2 | |
| Ret | 15 | Johnny Servoz-Gavin | Matra-Ford | 71 | Accident | 13 | |
| NC | 20 | Lucien Bianchi | Cooper-BRM | 56 | + 34 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 19 | Henri Pescarolo | Matra | 54 | Oil pressure | 19 | |
| Ret | 6 | Jochen Rindt | Brabham-Repco | 39 | Overheating | 1 | |
| Ret | 4 | Jackie Oliver | Lotus-Ford | 32 | Halfshaft | 9 | |
| Ret | 5 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 31 | Suspension | 10 | |
| Ret | 12 | Jo Siffert | Lotus-Ford | 29 | Oil leak | 3 | |
| Ret | 11 | Dan Gurney | McLaren-Ford | 29 | Radiator | 4 | |
| Ret | 24 | Piers Courage | BRM | 22 | Gearbox | 14 | |
| Ret | 27 | Bill Brack | Lotus-Ford | 18 | Halfshaft | 20 | |
| Ret | 8 | John Surtees | Honda | 10 | Gearbox | 7 | |
| Ret | 22 | Jo Bonnier | McLaren-BRM | 0 | Fuel system | 17 | |
| DNS | 10 | Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | Practice accident/Injury | |||
| DNS | 25 | Al Pease | Eagle-Climax | Engine | |||
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| Previous race: 1968 Italian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1968 season | Next race: 1968 United States Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1967 Canadian Grand Prix | Canadian Grand Prix | Next race: 1969 Canadian Grand Prix |
