1968 Dutch Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hill leads the championship. His two wins from three races give him a clear advantage despite the McLaren breakthrough in Belgium.

Previous race

Bruce McLaren won at Spa for McLaren — the team’s first-ever championship victory and McLaren’s own first since the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, making him the third driver to win a race in a car of his own construction after Brabham and Gurney. Jackie Stewart ran out of petrol on the penultimate lap while leading, dropping behind McLaren, Rodríguez, and Ickx. Brian Redman crashed heavily when his suspension failed at Les Combes, going over a barrier and into a parked car. His Cooper caught fire; Redman escaped with a severely broken right arm.

Between-race developments

Ludovico Scarfiotti was killed on the Saturday of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend while competing in the Rossfeld hillclimb in Germany — the third Grand Prix driver to die this season. Cooper now run only one car for Lucien Bianchi, following both Scarfiotti’s death and Redman’s arm injury at Spa. Dan Gurney has no Weslake engines available for his Eagle and joins Brabham as a third-car entry for this race.

Entrants

Wings are proliferating following the developments at Monaco and Belgium. Ickx’s Ferrari now carries the strut-mounted wing after running without it at Spa. Brabham fields a third car for Gurney alongside the new Repco V8-powered entries for Rindt and Brabham.

Weather

Rain fell throughout the qualifying weekend at Zandvoort.

Practice

Chris Amon was fastest in qualifying, with Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill alongside on the front row. Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart share the second row.