1968 United States Grand Prix

1968 United States Grand Prix
Race details
Date	October 6, 1968
Official name	XI United States Grand Prix
Location	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	3.78 km (2.35 miles)
Distance	108 laps, 408.2 km (253.8 miles)
Weather	Temperatures reaching a maximum of 20 °C (68 °F); wind speeds up to 14.82 km/h (9.21 mph)
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:04.20
Fastest lap
Driver	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford
Time	1:05.22 on lap 52
Podium
First	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford
Second	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford
Third	John Surtees	Honda
Lap leaders

Denny Hulme finished 5th in a McLaren M7A

The 1968 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 6, 1968, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 11 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 108-lap race was won by Matra driver Jackie Stewart after he started from second position. Graham Hill finished second for the Lotus team and Honda driver John Surtees came in third. As of 2024, this is the most recent occurrence of an all-British podium in the sport. This was the debut race of the future world champion Mario Andretti, and his first Formula One pole position.

Summary

The first practice day was primarily a duel between Jackie Stewart and the Ferrari of Chris Amon, with Stewart posting the day's best time of 1:04.27. Stewart was unable to defend his provisional pole during the second practice day due to a broken stub-axle. However, Graham Hill bumped Amon from the second spot, before Mario Andretti—driving at Watkins Glen for the first time—rewarded the partisan crowd by taking the pole in his Gold Leaf Lotus, 0.07 seconds under Stewart's time. This was Andretti's first ever Formula One start.

On race day, a huge crowd of 93,000 anticipated a strong home showing with two other Americans also on the grid—Dan Gurney, in seventh, and Bobby Unser, in nineteenth. Stewart used a better start to take the lead on the first lap from crowd favorite Andretti. After the first lap the order was: Stewart, Andretti, Amon, Hill, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme, Gurney, John Surtees and Bruce McLaren.

By lap six, Andretti had opened up a gap to Amon and set off for Stewart. Three laps later, the nose on Andretti's Lotus was broken, with the right wing dragging on the ground. Andretti said though he had not touched anyone, the body had just cracked. However, he continued without losing his position until lap 13, when his pit crew taped the car back together, and dropped to thirteenth place.

On lap 10, there was a fight for third place as Amon, now behind Hill, spun on his own water spillage. In lap 6, Hulme hit an oil patch, dropping from third to ninth. On lap 26, Gurney, running in third place, did a 360° spin and was overtaken by Surtees' Honda.

After lap 33, Andretti retired with a broken clutch. Gurney then took over Surtees, as the two battled for the rest of the race. By lap 40, Stewart was 26 seconds ahead of Hill, with Gurney and Surtees another 10 seconds Hill. He then sent a message to the rest of the racers by posting the fastest lap of the race on lap 52, widening his lead to 31 seconds. Hill had struggled for a while with a loose steering column, to which he said he was driving crouched up.

On lap 97, a minute and twenty seconds ahead of Bruce McLaren, Jo Siffert's Lotus began to sputter, and he signaled to his pit that he would stop to refuel in the next round. As Siffert then exited the pit lane, McLaren went by into fifth place.

Siffert regained the position after two laps, before which McLaren too had to stop for fuel. Surtees then began to back off when he realised Gurney, just ahead in third place, was slowing down because he had a slow puncture and was also running very low on fuel. Surtees used the opportunity catch up with Gurney's McLaren in the last lap, as they both finished a lap down to the leaders.

Stewart led every lap in his Matra-Ford and was threatened only once, when he rounded a corner to find two spectators walking across the track. "It's as close as I've ever come to running somebody over," he said, "I missed them by an inch." It was his first American Grand Prix victory and kept alive hopes for his first World Drivers' Championship with just one more race to go. "It was the first time in my F1 career I felt I could dictate the pace," he said, "When I went faster, the field went faster. When I went slower, they went slower. It was an extraordinary moment of realisation."

The race promoters claimed that Stewart's prize of £8,300 for winning the race was the richest in F1 history. Andretti's Lotus teammate Hill, also in the running for the season's title along with Denny Hulme, finished 24 seconds behind Stewart in second place. This was the most recent all-British podium, as of October 2024.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Speed
1	12	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:04.20	—	207.533
2	15	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford	1:04.27	+0.07	207.307
3	10	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	1:04.28	+0.08	207.274
4	6	Chris Amon	Ferrari	1:04.37	+0.17	206.985
5	1	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:04.57	+0.37	206.343
6	4	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	1:04.81	+0.61	205.579
7	14	Dan Gurney	McLaren-Ford	1:05.23	+1.03	204.256
8	3	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	1:05.25	+1.05	204.193
9	5	John Surtees	Honda	1:05.32	+1.12	203.974
10	2	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	1:05.69	+1.49	202.825
11	8	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1:06.10	+1.90	201.567
12	16	Jo Siffert	Lotus-Ford	1:06.17	+1.97	201.354
13	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:06.96	+2.76	198.979
14	22	Piers Courage	BRM	1:07.02	+2.82	198.800
15	7	Derek Bell	Ferrari	1:07.06	+2.86	198.682
16	11	Jackie Oliver	Lotus-Ford	1:07.46	+3.26	197.504
17	18	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	1:08.56	+4.36	194.335
18	17	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-BRM	1:08.93	+4.73	193.292
19	9	Bobby Unser	BRM	1:09.60	+5.40	191.431
20	19	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-BRM	1:09.77	+5.57	190.965
21	21*	Henri Pescarolo	Matra	1:10.43	+6.23	189.175

* Pescarolo also drove car number 21 as a spare car.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	15	Jackie Stewart	Matra-Ford	108	1:59:20.29	2	9
2	10	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	108	+ 24.68	3	6
3	5	John Surtees	Honda	107	+ 1 Lap	9	4
4	14	Dan Gurney	McLaren-Ford	107	+ 1 Lap	7	3
5	16	Jo Siffert	Lotus-Ford	105	+ 3 Laps	12	2
6	2	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	103	+ 5 Laps	10	1
Ret	22	Piers Courage	BRM	93	Out of Fuel	14
Ret	1	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	92	Accident	5
NC	19	Lucien Bianchi	Cooper-BRM	88	Not Classified	20
Ret	3	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Repco	77	Engine	8
Ret	4	Jochen Rindt	Brabham-Repco	73	Engine	6
Ret	18	Vic Elford	Cooper-BRM	71	Engine	17
Ret	8	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	66	Suspension	11
NC	17	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-BRM	62	Not Classified	18
Ret	6	Chris Amon	Ferrari	59	Water Pump	4
Ret	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	44	Transmission	13
Ret	9	Bobby Unser	BRM	35	Engine	19
Ret	12	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	32	Clutch	1
Ret	7	Derek Bell	Ferrari	14	Engine	15
DNS	11	Jackie Oliver	Lotus-Ford	0	Non Starter
DNS	20	Henri Pescarolo	Matra	0	Non Starter
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver and that year's Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser and American driver and future World Champion Mario Andretti.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Graham Hill	39
1	2	Jackie Stewart	36
1	3	Denny Hulme	33
	4	Jacky Ickx	27
	5	Bruce McLaren	16
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Lotus-Ford	53
1	2	Matra-Ford	45
1	3	McLaren-Ford	43
	4	Ferrari	32
	5	BRM	25
Source:

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

Further reading

• Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
• Rob Walker (January, 1969). "1968 U. S. Grand Prix: Money & The Scot". Road & Track, 29-34.

External links

• "Stewart beats Hill to set up finale". Retrieved November 17, 2013.
• Photos from the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen