1969 British Grand Prix

Championship standings

Stewart leads with four wins from five races, making this the first half of the season where the title picture is already becoming clear.

Previous race

Stewart won the French Grand Prix at Charade. Beltoise gave the home crowd a second-place finish in what was only a thirteen-car race. Ickx completed the podium for Brabham. Miles’ four-wheel-drive Lotus 63 debut lasted one lap before a fuel pump failure.

Practice

McLaren bring their four-wheel-drive M7A-1 to Silverstone for the first time. Lotus have two four-wheel-drive cars and convince Hill to try one. Stewart also tests the four-wheel-drive Matra MS84 in practice, but crashes it heavily on a loose kerb going through the final corner; the car is irreparable before the race. Under the regulations, grid positions are based on the fastest time set in the car a driver actually starts — Stewart takes over his teammate’s car and his fastest time in that car is used to set his grid slot.

Entrants

Cosworth entered a car of their own for this race but withdrew it several weeks before the weekend.