1968 Italian Grand Prix

1968 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Date	8 September 1968
Official name	XXXIX Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.750 km (3.573 miles)
Distance	68 laps, 391.000 km (242.956 miles)
Weather	Hot, Dry
Pole position
Driver	John Surtees	Honda
Time	1:26.07
Fastest lap
Driver	Jackie Oliver	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:26.5 on lap 7
Podium
First	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford
Second	Johnny Servoz-Gavin	Matra-Ford
Third	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1968 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Monza Autodrome on 8 September 1968. It was race 9 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 68-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from seventh position. Johnny Servoz-Gavin finished second for the Matra team and Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx came in third.

There was a five-week break after the previous Grand Prix in Germany. During the break, the Oulton Park Gold Cup attracted some of the top names, with Jackie Stewart taking the victory, after his dominant victory at the Nürburgring.

Report

Entry

24 F1 cars were entered for the event, the biggest field of the season. American Mario Andretti entered in a third Lotus, while his United States Auto Club (USAC) rival, Bobby Unser, replaced Richard Attwood at Owen Racing Organisation (BRM). Scuderia Ferrari ran a third car for rising English star, Derek Bell, while David Hobbs was fielded by Honda Racing.

Qualifying

The early qualifying session saw Andretti and Unser set the pace. Both drivers wanted to fly back to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, a 100-lap race on the 1609 metre (one mile) dirt track for the USAC Championship the next day. They then intended to fly back to Milan and race in the Grand Prix. The event organisers announced that if the either driver returned to the US, they would be banned from competing in the Grand Prix, under an ACI ruling which forbade drivers to complete in another event within 24 hours of the start of the Grand Prix. Both drivers flew back to Indiana for the Hoosier Hundred and did return for the Italian Grand Prix, but were not allowed to take part in the race.

Qualifying resulted in John Surtees taking pole for the Honda Racing team, in their Honda RA301, at an average speed of 150.314 mph. He was joined on the front row by Bruce McLaren in his own McLaren M7A and Chris Amon in a Ferrari 312. The second row was occupied by the Ferrari of Jacky Ickx and the Lotus of Graham Hill. Jackie Stewart, Denny Hulme and Derek Bell shared the third row.

Race

The race was held over 68 laps of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, taking place in sunny conditions, with Surtees leading from the start. McLaren and Surtees fought for the lead, until the Ferrari of Chris Amon lost control on oil dropped by one of the Honda RA301s and his car flew over the barriers into the trees at one of the fast Lesmo corners. Surtees also hit the wall trying to avoid the Ferrari. This put Jo Siffert into second place, with Jackie Stewart third. The Scotsman moved into second and a slipstreaming battle developed for the lead between McLaren, Stewart, Siffert and Denny Hulme.

McLaren's M7A had to stop for more oil on lap 35 and retired. Stewart retired on lap 43 when his Cosworth engine failed. Hulme was by this stage already leading the race, and when Siffert went out with a rear suspension failure, nine laps from the end, Hulme was left to win. He won in a time of 1hr 40:14.8mins., averaging a speed of 146.284mph. There had been a battle behind him, between Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Jacky Ickx and Jochen Rindt. The Ferrari of Ickx had emerged ahead, only to stop in the closing lap for more fuel. In the process, he dropped to third behind Servoz-Gavin, while Rindt had to retire with an engine failure. Piers Courage, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, and Jo Bonnier rounded out the top six, with no other finishers.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	14	John Surtees	Honda	1:26.07	—
2	2	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	1:26.11	+0.04
3	9	Chris Amon	Ferrari	1:26.21	+0.14
4	8	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:26.41	+0.34
5	16	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	1:26.57	+0.50
6	4	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford	1:26.60	+0.53
7	1	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:26.61	+0.54
8	7	Derek Bell	Ferrari	1:26.90	+0.83
9	20	Jo Siffert	Lotus-Ford	1:26.96	+0.89
10	18	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:27.20	+1.13
11	11	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	1:27.30	+1.23
12	19	Jackie Oliver	Lotus-Ford	1:27.40	+1.33
13	21	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	1:27.61	+1.54
14	5	Johnny Servoz-Gavin	Matra-Ford	1:27.63	+1.56
15	15	David Hobbs	Honda	1:27.70	+1.63
16	26	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1:28.20	+2.13
17	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1:28.80	+2.73
18	27	Piers Courage	BRM	1:29.10	+3.03
19	6	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:29.30	+3.23
20	3	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-BRM	1:30.55	+4.48
21	25	Bobby Unser	BRM	1:30.56	+4.49
22	23	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	1:31.30	+5.23
DNQ	28	Frank Gardner	BRM	1:31.40	+5.33
DNQ	12	Silvio Moser	Brabham-Repco	1:33.70	+7.63

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	68	1:40:14.8	7	9
2	5	Johnny Servoz-Gavin	Matra-Ford	68	+ 1:28.4	13	6
3	8	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	68	+ 1:28.6	4	4
4	27	Piers Courage	BRM	67	+ 1 Lap	17	3
5	6	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	66	+ 2 Laps	18	2
6	3	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-BRM	64	+ 4 Laps	19	1
Ret	20	Jo Siffert	Lotus-Ford	58	Suspension	9
Ret	10	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	56	Oil Pressure	16
Ret	4	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford	42	Engine	6
Ret	15	David Hobbs	Honda	42	Engine	14
Ret	19	Jackie Oliver	Lotus-Ford	38	Transmission	11
Ret	2	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	34	Oil Leak	2
Ret	11	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	33	Engine	10
Ret	26	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	22	Engine	15
Ret	21	Dan Gurney	Eagle-Weslake	19	Overheating	12
Ret	16	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	10	Wheel	5
Ret	14	John Surtees	Honda	8	Accident	1
Ret	9	Chris Amon	Ferrari	8	Accident	3
Ret	7	Derek Bell	Ferrari	4	Fuel System	8
Ret	23	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	2	Accident	20
DNQ	28	Frank Gardner	BRM
DNQ	12	Silvio Moser	Brabham-Repco
DNS	18	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford		ACI 24 hour rule
DNS	25	Bobby Unser	BRM		ACI 24 hour rule
WD	22	Robin Widdows	Cooper-BRM
WD	24	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-Alfa Romeo
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver and future Le Mans winner Derek Bell.
• This was the first pole position for Honda and for a Japanese/Asian constructor and for a Honda-powered car and for a Japanese/Asian engine supplier.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Graham Hill	30
1	2	Jacky Ickx	27
1	3	Jackie Stewart	26
	4	Denny Hulme	24
	5	Pedro Rodríguez	11
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Lotus-Ford	44
	2	Matra-Ford	35
	3	Ferrari	32
	4	McLaren-Ford	31
	5	BRM	21
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Further reading

• Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 76–77. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.