1968 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Graham Hill leads the championship after his victory in Spain.

Previous race

Hill won a difficult Spanish Grand Prix in the wake of Jim Clark’s death, inheriting the lead when Chris Amon’s fuel pump failed late in the race. Hulme finished second after losing second gear, and Brian Redman completed the first podium for Cooper since switching to BRM engines. It was McLaren’s first-ever championship podium.

Between-race developments

BRM had planned to run Chris Irwin as their replacement for the late Mike Spence, but Irwin suffered career-ending head injuries during practice for the Nürburgring 1000 km sportscar race the weekend before Monaco. Reg Parnell Racing’s Richard Attwood is promoted to the BRM works team in his place.

Track changes

Following Lorenzo Bandini’s fatal accident at the harbour chicane in 1967, the chicane has been tightened and the race distance reduced from 100 laps to 80 — the first Grand Prix ever scheduled shorter than 300 kilometres. France’s political unrest required the organizers to borrow power generators from a local film production company to keep the tunnel illuminated in case of a power outage.

Entrants

Ferrari do not attend, citing insufficient safety standards. Team Lotus debuts the new Lotus 49B, which introduces modest aerodynamic front and rear wings to a Formula One car for the first time. Jackie Stewart is still sidelined by his wrist injury; Ferrari refused to release Chris Amon as a replacement, so Matra International turns to F1 debutant Johnny Servoz-Gavin. Lucien Bianchi replaces Brian Redman at Cooper, Redman being occupied at the Spa 1000 km sportscar race. Denny Hulme is flying back and forth between Monaco and Indianapolis qualifying throughout the weekend.

Milestones

Graham Hill has won Monaco three times — equalling Stirling Moss’s record set at the 1961 race. A fourth victory this weekend would break that record outright.

This is the 100th race for BRM.

Practice

Hill secured pole position 0.6 seconds clear of the field in qualifying, with the impressive debutant Servoz-Gavin alongside him on the front row — the Matra MS10 demonstrating the same pace Beltoise showed with the fastest lap in Spain.