| 1968 German Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 4 August 1968 | ||
| Official name | XXXGroßer Preis von Deutschland XXVIIIGrand Prix d'Europe | ||
| Location | Nürburgring,Nürburg,West Germany | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 22.835 km (14.189 miles) | ||
| Distance | 14 laps, 319.690 km (198.646 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hazy, Wet | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 9:04.0 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Jackie Stewart | Matra-Ford | |
| Time | 9:36.0 on lap 8 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Matra-Ford | ||
| Second | Lotus-Ford | ||
| Third | Brabham-Repco | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1968 German Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held at theNürburgring on 4 August 1968. It was race 8 of 12 in both the1968 World Championship of Drivers and the1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was held in extremely wet and foggy conditions, and British driverJackie Stewart, racing with a broken wrist, won the race by a margin of four minutes in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest victories in the history of Formula One.[1]
The race is also notable forDan Gurney's choice of afull-face helmet, making him the first driver to do so in Grand Prix racing.[2]
AfterJo Siffert had surprisingly won theprevious race at Brands Hatch, the paddock arrived at theNürburgring almost unchanged. Equally unchanged was the weather: with rain over the entire weekend, this was to be the fifth wet race in a row.BMW entered aLola-builtFormula Two car driven byHubert Hahne in order to evaluate their competitiveness in Formula One.[3]
On Saturday, conditions were so poor, with visibility down to mere ten yards, that the organizers scheduled an additional practice session for Sunday morning. Still many drivers slid off the track during the morning session.[1] Eventually,Jacky Ickx tookpole positions by a full 10 seconds from second placedChris Amon, both in aFerrari.Jackie Stewart in hisMatra MS10 was down in sixth place on the grid.[3] At the time, Ickx became the youngest person ever to sit on pole, a record beaten 14 years later whenAndrea de Cesaris achieved pole position at the1982 United States Grand Prix West.
Even with the conditions treacherous, 200,000 spectators turned up for the race on Sunday afternoon.[1] The race turned out to be a one-man show by ScotsmanJackie Stewart. WhileGraham Hill took the lead at the start, by the end of the first lap Stewart had moved into first place and built a nine-second lead. He put his superiorDunlop wet tires to great effect and by the end of lap 2, had extended his lead to 34 seconds. When the race ended after 14 laps, Stewart crossed the line more than 4 minutes in front of second placed Hill. The eventual World Champion had spun on lap 11, but was able to get out of the car, push it into the right direction and keep going before third-placedJochen Rindt could catch up.[3]Chris Amon had battled with Hill for 11 laps over second place, rarely having more than a second between the two, until Amon spun out of the race on the same lap as Hill did.[1]
Stewart described the race as a "teeth gritting effort" in his autobiography. About the first lap he wrote:
Visibility is so pathetically poor I can't even see Chris' car in front of me [...] I am simply driving into this great wall of spray. I pull out to pass him but the spray is dense and I'm driving blind.
— Jackie Stewart, Winning Is Not Enough
The race has been described as Stewart's best drive ever, with the Scot later confirming he felt the same way.[4]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 |  Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | 9:04.0 | — |
| 2 | 8 |  Chris Amon | Ferrari | 9:14.9 | +10.9 |
| 3 | 5 |  Jochen Rindt | Brabham-Repco | 9:31.9 | +27.9 |
| 4 | 3 | Graham Hill | Lotus-Ford | 9:46.0 | +42.0 |
| 5 | 20 | Vic Elford | Cooper-BRM | 9:53.0 | +49.0 |
| 6 | 6 | Jackie Stewart | Matra-Ford | 9:54.2 | +50.2 |
| 7 | 7 | John Surtees | Honda | 9:57.8 | +53.8 |
| 8 | 22 | Piers Courage | BRM | 10:00.1 | +56.1 |
| 9 | 16 |  Jo Siffert | Lotus-Ford | 10:03.4 | +59.4 |
| 10 | 14 |  Dan Gurney | Eagle-Weslake | 10:13.9 | +1:09.9 |
| 11 | 1 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 10:16.0 | +1:12.0 |
| 12 | 12 |  Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra | 10:17.3 | +1:13.3 |
| 13 | 21 | Jackie Oliver | Lotus-Ford | 10:18.7 | +1:14.7 |
| 14 | 10 |  Pedro Rodríguez | BRM | 10:19.7 | +1:15.7 |
| 15 | 4 |  Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 10:23.1 | +1:19.1 |
| 16 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 10:33.0 | +1:29.0 |
| 17 | 17 |  Kurt Ahrens Jr. | Brabham-Repco | 10:37.3 | +1:33.3 |
| 18 | 18 | Hubert Hahne | Lola-BMW | 10:42.9 | +1:38.9 |
| 19 | 19 | Lucien Bianchi | Cooper-BRM | 10:46.6 | +1:42.6 |
| 20 | 11 | Richard Attwood | BRM | 10:48.2 | +1:44.2 |
| 21 | 23 | Silvio Moser | Brabham-Repco | ||
| Source:[5][6] | |||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Jackie Stewart | Matra-Ford | 14 | 2:19:03.2 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | 3 | Graham Hill | Lotus-Ford | 14 | + 4:03.2 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 5 | Jochen Rindt | Brabham-Repco | 14 | + 4:09.4 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | 14 | + 5:55.2 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco | 14 | + 6:21.1 | 15 | 2 |
| 6 | 10 | Pedro Rodríguez | BRM | 14 | + 6:25.0 | 14 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 14 | + 6:31.0 | 11 | |
| 8 | 22 | Piers Courage | BRM | 14 | + 7:56.4 | 8 | |
| 9 | 14 | Dan Gurney | Eagle-Weslake | 14 | + 8:13.7 | 10 | |
| 10 | 18 | Hubert Hahne | Lola-BMW | 14 | + 10:11.4 | 18 | |
| 11 | 21 | Jackie Oliver | Lotus-Ford | 13 | + 1 Lap | 13 | |
| 12 | 17 | Kurt Ahrens Jr. | Brabham-Repco | 13 | + 1 Lap | 17 | |
| 13 | 2 | Bruce McLaren | McLaren-Ford | 13 | + 1 Lap | 16 | |
| 14 | 11 | Richard Attwood | BRM | 13 | + 1 Lap | 20 | |
| Ret | 8 | Chris Amon | Ferrari | 11 | Accident | 2 | |
| Ret | 12 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra | 8 | Accident | 12 | |
| Ret | 16 | Jo Siffert | Lotus-Ford | 6 | Ignition | 9 | |
| Ret | 19 | Lucien Bianchi | Cooper-BRM | 6 | Fuel Leak | 19 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Surtees | Honda | 3 | Ignition | 7 | |
| Ret | 20 | Vic Elford | Cooper-BRM | 0 | Accident | 5 | |
| DNS | 23 | Silvio Moser | Brabham-Repco | Oil Pump | |||
| WD | 15 |  Jo Bonnier | McLaren-BRM | ||||
| Sources:[7][8] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 1968 British Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1968 season | Next race: 1968 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1967 German Grand Prix | German Grand Prix | Next race: 1969 German Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1967 Italian Grand Prix | European Grand Prix (Designated European Grand Prix) | Next race: 1972 British Grand Prix |
