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Jackie Stewart in his Matra MS10 leaves the village of Burnenville on the magnificent old circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. Licenced by Jim Culp under Creative Commons licence Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic. Original image has been cropped.

Formula 1 season

If 1967 was the dawn of the Cosworth DFV, then 1968 was the season it took over. As well as Lotus's well-developed Lotus 49B, McLaren moved to the DFV for Robin Herd's McLaren M7A, and Ken Tyrrell's new team used DFVs mated to Matra MS10 chassis. Other teams collapsed around them. Brabham's new Repco 860 engine in the Brabham BT26 barely finished a race all season, and John Surtees' Honda RA301 was hardly any better. Dan Gurney's Eagle only finished one race before he abandoned the project completely. Cooper moved from Maserati power to BRM's V12 in the Cooper T86B, but with the team's star drivers gone, Cooper sunk to the back of the grid.

BRM and Ferrari continued to build their own engines, but found it very hard to compete. BRM finally abandoned the heavy and overcompicated H16 engine and brought in Len Terry's company to briskly design and build the BRM P126 for the V12 engine, which BRM then developed into the BRM P133 and BRM P138, allowing Pedro Rodriguez to post some good results in the early part of the season before the team fell behind in the race to adopt aerodynamic devices. Jacky Ickx demonstrated the ability of Ferrari's 312/68 V12 with a win in France and pole position in Germany, and teammate Chris Amon won three pole positions. Apart from Tyrrell, the other new team was Matra's own works team, but Matra's V12 engine in the Matra MS11 was clearly not as effective as the Cosworth, and Matra temporarily withdrew at the end of the season.

The sport was rocked by Jim Clark's death in an F2 race in April, when he looked clear favourite to win the championship. Teammate Graham Hill won three races, but he needed to win the final race to seize the championship from Jackie Stewart in the Tyrrell Matra and Denny Hulme in the McLaren.

The races

01 Jan 1968 > South African Grand Prix at Kyalami

17 Mar 1968 > Race of Champions at Brands Hatch

27 Apr 1968 > International "Daily Express" Trophy at Silverstone

12 May 1968 > Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama

26 May 1968 > Monaco Grand Prix at Monte Carlo

09 Jun 1968 > Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps

23 Jun 1968 > Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort

07 Jul 1968 > French Grand Prix at Rouen-les-Essarts

20 Jul 1968 > British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch

04 Aug 1968 > German Grand Prix at Nürburgring

17 Aug 1968 > Gold Cup at Oulton Park

08 Sep 1968 > Italian Grand Prix at Monza

22 Sep 1968 > Canadian Grand Prix at Mont-Tremblant

06 Oct 1968 > United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen

03 Nov 1968 > Mexican Grand Prix at Mexico City

World Drivers' Championship events shown in bold

1968 World Drivers' Championship table

1Graham HillLotus 49 - Cosworth DFV V8
Lotus 49B- Cosworth DFV V8
48 pts3 wins
2Jackie StewartMatra MS10 - Cosworth DFV V836 pts3 wins
3Denis HulmeMcLaren M5A - BRM P101 V12
McLaren M7A - Cosworth DFV V8
33 pts2 wins
4Jacky IckxFerrari 312/68 - V1227 pts1 win
5Bruce McLarenMcLaren M7A - Cosworth DFV V822 pts1 win
6Pedro RodriguezBRM P133 - P101 V1218 pts 
7Jo SiffertLotus 49B - Cosworth DFV V812 pts1 win
8John SurteesHonda RA301 - V1212 pts 
9Jean-Pierre BeltoiseMatra MS10 - Cosworth DFV V8
Matra MS11 - MS9 V12
11 pts 
10Chris AmonFerrari 312/67 - V12
Ferrari 312/68 - V12
10 pts 
11Jim ClarkLotus 49 - Cosworth DFV V89 pts1 win
12Jochen RindtBrabham BT24 - Repco 740 V8
Brabham BT26 - Repco 860 V8
8 pts 
13Richard AttwoodBRM P126 - P101 V126 pts 
14Johnny Servoz-GavinMatra MS10 - Cosworth DFV V86 pts 
15Jackie OliverLotus 49B - Cosworth DFV V86 pts 
16Ludovico ScarfiottiCooper T86B - BRM P101 V126 pts 
17Lucien BianchiCooper T86B - BRM P101 V125 pts 
18Vic ElfordCooper T86B - BRM P101 V125 pts 
19Brian RedmanCooper T86B - BRM P101 V124 pts 
20Piers CourageBRM P126 - P101 V124 pts 
21Dan GurneyEagle 'T1G' - Weslake 58 V12
McLaren M7A - Cosworth DFV V8
3 pts 
22Jo BonnierMcLaren M5A - BRM P101 V12
Honda RA301 - V12
3 pts 
23Jack BrabhamBrabham BT26 - Repco 860 V82 pts 
24Silvio MoserBrabham BT20 - Repco 620 V82 pts 

Previous: the 1967 season

All cars are 3-litre Formula 1 cars unless otherwise noted.