1968 French Grand Prix: A Truly Forgettable Unforgettable First Win

January 6, 2014 by Jeremy McMullen

Approaching the conclusion of the 1967 it seemed a given Jackie Stewart would be driving for Scuderia Ferrari the following season. Even the Scot thought the deal was done. However, there would be a Belgian driving in his place. Jacky Ickx had shown great potential but the move to Ferrari seemed a bit premature. Such talk would come to an end on the 7th of July. Unfortunately, flame and smoke would overshadow the achievement.

Ickx had stunned all within the Formula One fraternity when he drove a Formula 2 car to what should have been a front row starting position for the German Grand Prix the season before. The Belgian would prove it wasn't a fluke when he followed up the performance in practice with a demonstrative show of force in the race. Though he would eventually retire with a broken right-front suspension, he had been running as high as 4th place and made a number of talented Formula One pilots look entirely incapable.

Ken Tyrrell, like Jackie Stewart, had recognized the talents of young Ickx and would sign him to race his Formula 3 and Formula 2 cars, often alongside Stewart. He was entirely capable of success and would take the European crown in 1967. A Formula One drive was inevitable.

Jackie Stewart wanted out of the Owen Racing team. Their BRMs were beginning to lag behind the competition. Producing many memorable drives, and a number of victories, Stewart was in negotiations with Ferrari to drive for the Maranello outfit starting in 1968. But there was another in Tyrrell's stable of young drivers that was talented and that demanded a good deal less money.

Jacky Ickx made his true Formula One debut with Cooper Car Company at the Italian Grand Prix the year before. He would come through to score a championship point in the race as he finished in 6th place at the wheel of an older Cooper T81. This success on Italian soil would help his cause with Scuderia Ferrari and he would be approached with a contract to drive for the team the following season.

Ickx would come to the team at the right time as Ferrari would introduce its new 312 in 1966 and would continue to evolve the car in the years to come. By 1968, the 312 was still exhibiting teething problems, but it was clear the car was getting closer and closer to being a force to be reckon with.

Ickx would begin his Ferrari career with the South African Grand Prix. In the Kyalami 9 Hour race in November the year before, Ickx and Brian Redmon would partner in a Mirage M1 and would win the endurance race. Unfortunately, the return to Kyalami would not be at all successful for Jacky when he came back to the circuit with Scuderia Ferrari.

Ickx would start the race from the fifth row of the grid. His fastest lap in practice would prove to be more than a second slower than Clark's fastest lap in the race and Ickx would end up out of the event after 47 laps as a result of a broken oil pipe. It would certainly be a forgettable start to his career with Ferrari and it wouldn't get any better after the next race either.

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Ickx would start the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama from the third row of the grid. The race distance would be 90 laps. Unfortunately, Jacky's race would barely cover a tenth of a distance before ignition problems brought the race to an end.

Work needed to be done by Ferrari and this would be part of the reason for the team's absence at the Monaco Grand Prix a couple of weeks later. Ickx would not sit idle. He would go on to win his class at the Nurbugring 1000 Kilometers and then would go on to score an overall victory in the Spa 1000 Kilometers the same day Formula One wound its way around the tight streets of Monaco.

Ickx and Ferrari would be back for the Belgian Grand Prix on the 9th of June. If ever there was a time for Ickx and Ferrari to get it right it would be before Jacky's home crowd. Throughout practice, the Ferrari team would appear entirely different and Ickx would delight the home crowd as he ended up on the front row in 3rd place.

Over the course of the race, Ickx would go up and down in the order and would spend a good deal of the race just fighting to stay inside the top five. However, as the close of the race neared, Ickx would steady himself and would come through to finish in 3rd place when Stewart's Matra failed on the penultimate lap due to being out of fuel. Ickx would be on the podium in front of the home crowd. From that moment on, the season appeared to turn around for the Belgian and Ferrari.

Ickx would follow up the 3rd place in the Belgian Grand Prix with a 4th place at Zandvoort. Ickx, therefore, arrived in Rouen still well out of the championship but with momentum on his side. The team certainly could expect another strong result, but just how good was still an unknown.

Situated along the River Seine, in the Haute-Normandie region of France, one finds Rouen. During the medieval period, Rouen was one of the most important cities in all of France. Though situated along the River Seine, the area to the south of the city is marked with heavily-wooded valleys and rises. All of this would provide the backdrop for One of Formula One's classic road courses—Rouen-les-Essarts.

The Rouen-les-Essarts circuit would open in 1950 and would be immediately recognized as one of the best in all of Europe with its modern amenities and grandstands. Still, it was very much a public road course. It would begin with a dramatic, and fast descent all the way to the popular Nouveau Monde hairpin. The last half of the circuit featured a climb back to altitude and some truly blind corners and fast straights. The circuit configuration would change more than a few times over the course of its existence. However, when teams arrived for what was to be the final Formula One race at the circuit the layout would be 4.0 miles and would feature some truly fast portions of circuit.

Teams would unload their cars in sunshine and dry conditions. Ferrari would unload their two cars for Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx. There would be a good deal of controversy surrounding Honda as they would come to the race with two cars. Surtees would refuse to drive the experimental new car, but Honda was not willing to have the new one sit out. Therefore Jo Schlesser would be given the responsibility of driving the car.

In the first practice on Thursday, nobody would be within a shout of Jochen Rindt who would set a lap time of 1:56.1. This was two seconds faster than the rest of the field and would be more than 10 seconds faster than the previous lap record set back in 1964 when the engines were limited to 1.5-liters. Ickx would be impressive in the resurgent Ferrari team. He would be second-fastest beating out his teammate by just a tenth.

Jackie Stewart would come through the next day to take 2nd on the grid. Ickx would struggle in Friday practice and would have to rely on his Thursday time. Thankfully for the Belgian, the time on Thursday would be good enough to give him the 3rd, and final, spot on the front row.

There would be a good deal of controversy from the teams as they would complain the limited amount of practice time on the track was just not right. Therefore, the organizers would agree to an extra practice session the morning of the race. This would not be good for Jackie Oliver who would find his Lotus turning left on the straight before Paradis. His car would be torn to pieces as a result of a crash at about 120mph. Oliver would emerge unhurt but without a hope of starting the race as Lotus was without a spare car.

The cars began to take their places on the dummy grid. Until now, dry conditions had dominated the region. However, with the start mere minutes away, the heavens would open and rain would begin to fall all around the circuit. All of the cars, with the exception of Ickx, would be starting the race on dry tires as there was really no time for a switch.

At the drop of the flag, it would be Stewart powering his way, carefully, into the lead. He would be closely followed by Rindt and Ickx. The Scot would lead the way through Nouveau Monde for the first time.

All throughout his early career Ickx had impressed when it came to his ability to drive in the rain. He had already taken victory in the Spa 1000 Kilometers in 1967 and 1968, both races taking place in the wet. The Belgian showed a great prowess in the wet, no doubt assimilated from his early career racing motorcycles. On that day in 1968, this skill in the wet would come shinning through and he would end up in the lead before the first lap would draw to a close.

Ickx would build on his lead over the course of the second lap as the rain began to fall a bit more heavily. Rindt was finding his going quite difficult right along with Stewart sitting in 3rd. Unfortunately, the rain was making for some very slippery conditions for cars still shod with dry weather tires. This would make for a terrible equation heading into the 3rd lap of the race.

Jacky would continue to lead comfortably over Rindt and Stewart. A little further back, a tragedy would be enacted as Schlesser would be seen spinning wildly out of control through Six Freres. The Honda would strike the bank and would then somersault into the air before coming to a rest on top of Schlesser. The car would immediately burst into flames with the magnesium car quickly becoming consumed in black flames. Much like Le Mans in 1955, the workers at that spot would be ill-prepared for what ensued. Fighting a magnesium fire with a water fire extinguisher, the inferno only raged all the more intense. Very quickly it would become apparent there was nothing that could be done for Schlesser trapped underneath the car. The workers would have to wait until the flames extinguished themselves. It would take nearly 20 minutes before Schlesser's charred body could be pulled out of the wreckage. Immediately the mood around the circuit would change. The rain was really falling and the spray really began to kick up. There were many without a dry eye, but the race would go on, and Ickx remained in the lead.

By the 5th lap of the race, Ickx would find himself hounded by John Surtees and Pedro Rodriguez as both easily manhandled the struggling Rindt and Stewart. It would be a dark time for Honda after the loss of their driver, and yet, there was Surtees on the verge of taking over the lead.

The already darkened race would take yet another scary turn when Servoz-Gavin left the circuit and crashed into a tree. It would be a terrible crash and immediately thoughts strayed to events that just ended at Six Freres no more than a few moments before. Thankfully, he would emerge from the mangled car unhurt. The race was looking to be a fools' errand as even Ickx would have a moment where he would slip off the circuit. Still, the race carried on.

It would be Rodriguez who would take over the point as he would get by Surtees, and then Ickx. The Mexican was flying in the wet conditions. He would set the fastest lap of the race right before he would take over the lead. However, this would only serve to wake up the Belgian who had been cruising up until then. By the end of the next lap, Ickx was back in the lead.

While others, like Stewart, came into the pits for wet tires, Ickx disappeared into distance. Just 10 laps after resuming the lead his lead would be around half a minute. The lead would only continue to grow as the race wore on. It would be an impressive performance demonstrating, once again, his superiority in the wet.

The performance would be nearly complete when, just about 15 laps from the end of the race, Rodriguez started to suffer from gearbox issues. He would be forced to retire a short time later. Ickx was now, well and truly, all by himself.

As Ickx carried on around the circuit for the last couple of laps the sun would begin to peak out from behind the clouds. In spite of the brightness shining down in spots around the circuit there was really very little to be cheerful about. However, at Scuderia Ferrari, it would be rather difficult for the team not to show some emotion and happiness as their driver carried on in dominant fashion. It had been since the Italian Grand Prix, back in 1966, that Ferrari was able to enjoy victory.

One year earlier, Ickx had embarrassed a number of Formula One drivers with his performance behind the wheel of a Formula 2 car in the German Grand Prix. Now, one year later, Ickx would secure his first Formula One victory in much the same fashion—dominating throughout. Ickx would cruise to his first victory beating the deceased Schlesser's teammate, Surtees, by a margin of nearly two minutes. Jackie Stewart would complete the subdued podium finishing in 3rd place more than a lap behind.

The victory in Rouen would serve notice of Ickx being a star in Formula One. It would also demonstrate the fact Ferrari had finally turned the corner with the beautiful 312. Two more podium finishes over the course of the season would help Ickx quickly climb up on the championship standings. Unfortunately, an accident would ruin any chance at any further top results for 1968. Nonetheless, on that tragic, dark day in early July, the die had been cast.

Every driver remembers their first victory. In fact, just about every driver dreams about such a day and what it would be like. However, on the day when Ickx's dream would come true, there would be a nightmare, a dark oppressive moment caught in flame and smoke that would haunt. As a result of the events that day would be just as forgettable as it would be memorable.

Sources:
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Evans, Gareth. 'Rouen-les-Essarts: France's Forgotten Treasure Remembered 1968—End of an Era: The Tragic Final French F1 GP at Rouen', (http://8w.forix.com/rouen-68.html). 8W: The Stories Behind Motor Racing Facts and Fiction. http://8w.forix.com/rouen-68.html. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

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Wikipedia contributors, 'Rouen', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 December 2013, 16:15 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rouen&oldid=587929937 accessed 31 December 2013

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