1969 Mexican Grand Prix

Mexico  1969 Mexican Grand Prix
Race details
Race 11 of 11 in the 1969 Formula One season

Date October 19, 1969
Official name Mexican Grand Prix
Location Mexico City, Mexico
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.421 km ( mi)
Distance 65 laps, 305.049 km ( mi)
Pole position
Driver Brabham-Ford
Time 1:42.90[1]
Fastest lap
Driver Belgium Jacky Ickx Brabham-Ford
Time 1:43.05[2] on lap 64
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Brabham-Ford
Third Brabham-Ford

The 1969 Gran Premio de Mexico (Mexican Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City on October 19, 1969, two weeks after the United States GP. This was the 11th and final round of the 1969 Formula One season.[3] The 65-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from fourth position. Jacky Ickx finished second for the Brabham team and his teammate Jack Brabham came in third.

Report

Entry

A total of 17 F1 cars were entered for this event, the last of the season. Team Lotus had had mixed fortunes at Watkins Glen, although Jochen Rindt had won the race, his team mate Graham Hill had broken both legs in an accident. At this event, Lotus decided not to replace him. However they did run a second car, a Lotus 63 developmental car with four wheel drive for John Miles, as Mario Andretti was busy winning the Dan Gurney 200 at Pacific Raceways, USA.[3]

The rest of the field was unchanged, with only one Ferrari 312 entered by NART for local hero, Pedro Rodríguez.[3]

Qualifying

The Motor Racing Developments Ltd team proved to be very fast in Mexico, as they dominated qualifying in their Brabham-Cosworth BT26A. Jack Brabham secured pole position, for the team, averaging a speed of 96.087 mph. Next fastest was his team-mate, Jacky Ickx. The 1969 World Champion, Jackie Stewart was third fastest in his Matra-Cosworth MS80, who shared the second row with the McLaren-Cosworth M7A of Denny Hulme. A pair of Lotus 49s were on row three, with Jo Siffert ahead of Jochen Rindt.[3]

Race

The race was held over 65 laps of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, however, for the second consecutive race, Bruce McLaren failed to make the start. Off the 16 remaining cars, Jackie Stewart made the best start, leading with the Brabhams of Jacky Ickx and Jack Brabham in chase. Jochen Rindt was in fourth, but has Denny Hulme close behind. By the end of the second lap, Hulme was ahead, while Ickx was putting pressure on Stewart. By lap six, Ickx was through, and Hulme passed Brabham to take third. Clearly, Hulme was a man on the move, overtaking Stewart on the next lap, and set about chasing down Ickx. On lap 10, the McLaren was ahead. Meanwhile, Stewart’s Matra had dropped behind Brabham, and this is how the top four remained throughout the remainder of the race. Rindt ran fifth early on in the race, but bent his suspension on a curb, leading to his retirement, so fifth went to Jean-Pierre Beltoise, with Jackie Oliver finishing in sixth in the BRM P139, albeit two laps adrift.[3][4][5][6]

Hulme won in a time of 1hr 54.08.8mins., averaging a speed of 99.618 mph, and was a just 2.56 seconds ahead of Ickx.[4][5][6]

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 65 1:54:08.80 4 9
2 7 Belgium Jacky Ickx Brabham-Ford 65 + 2.56 2 6
3 8 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 65 + 38.48 1 4
4 3 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 65 + 47.04 3 3
5 4 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 65 + 1:38.52 8 2
6 15 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver BRM 63 + 2 Laps 12 1
7 12 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez Ferrari 63 + 2 Laps 15  
8 16 France Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Ford 63 + 2 Laps 14  
9 21 United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 62 + 3 Laps 16  
10 18 United Kingdom Piers Courage Brabham-Ford 61 + 4 Laps 9  
11 19 Switzerland Silvio Moser Brabham-Ford 60 Fuel Leak 13  
Ret 14 United Kingdom John Surtees BRM 53 Gearbox 10  
Ret 2 Austria Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 21 Suspension 6  
Ret 22 Canada George Eaton BRM 6 Gearbox 17  
Ret 10 Switzerland Jo Siffert Lotus-Ford 4 Accident 5  
Ret 9 United Kingdom John Miles Lotus-Ford 3 Fuel Pump 11  
DNS 6 New Zealand Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 0 Fuel Injection 7  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart 63
2 Belgium Jacky Ickx 37
3 New Zealand Bruce McLaren 26
4 Austria Jochen Rindt 22
1 5 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise 21

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 France Matra-Ford 66
2 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 49 (51)
3 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 47
4 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 38 (40)
1 5 United Kingdom BRM 7

References

  1. Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 108. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
  2. Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mexican GP, 1969 Race Report - GP Encyclopedia - F1 History on Grandprix.com". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  4. 1 2 3 "1969 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Race results - 1969 Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix". GPUpdate.net. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  6. 1 2 "Results 1969 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Mexico". F1 Fansite. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
Previous race:
1969 United States Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1969 season
Next race:
1970 South African Grand Prix
Previous race:
1968 Mexican Grand Prix
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1970 Mexican Grand Prix
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