1968 German Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hill leads the championship with a large advantage after his run of early-season results, though Jo Siffert’s surprise win at Brands Hatch has shuffled the midfield picture.

Previous race

Jo Siffert won at Brands Hatch for the privateer Rob Walker Racing Team — the first Formula One victory for a Swiss driver. It was the ninth and final win for the Rob Walker team. Ferrari’s Amon and Ickx finished second and third. Hill retired with rear suspension failure while leading, and Jackie Oliver — who had held the lead in the second Lotus — went out with a transmission failure.

Weather

Rain has fallen throughout qualifying at the Nürburgring and the forecast is for more of the same on race day. This will be the fifth consecutive wet race if it holds. On Saturday conditions were so poor — visibility down to ten yards — that the organizers have scheduled an additional practice session for Sunday morning.

Entrants

BMW has entered a Lola-built Formula Two car for German driver Hubert Hahne to evaluate the Munich manufacturer’s competitiveness in Formula One. Kurt Ahrens joins Brabham as a third entry. The field is otherwise largely unchanged from Brands Hatch.

Milestones

Jacky Ickx took pole position by a full ten seconds from Chris Amon, both in Ferraris, and became the youngest driver ever to sit on pole position in a Formula One World Championship race. Jackie Stewart, who won both the Netherlands and the non-championship Gold Cup at Oulton Park, is down in sixth place on the grid. Stewart is racing despite a broken wrist.

Dan Gurney debuts a full-face helmet this weekend — the first driver to wear one in Grand Prix racing. He helped develop it with the Bell Helmets company, having already used it at the Indianapolis 500.

This is Lotus’s 100th race. In those 100 starts, the British constructor has won 33 Grands Prix, taken 43 pole positions, and won two Drivers’ and two Constructors’ championships.

Practice

The conditions in Saturday qualifying were treacherous; many drivers slid off the circuit during the extra Sunday morning session. Ickx and Amon locked out the Ferrari front row, with Stewart down in sixth despite his recent form.