1969 Mexican Grand Prix

Previous race

Rindt won the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen — his first career Formula One victory, and the first ever by an Austrian driver. He and Stewart pulled clear of the field before Stewart retired with an oil leak on lap 33, leaving Rindt to win by 46 seconds over Courage. Rindt said afterwards, “It is just that the car held together for once, but this one makes up for all the others I have lost.” Graham Hill suffered a tyre failure at the end of the straight, sending his Lotus cartwheeling into an embankment; he was thrown from the car and broke both legs.

Between-race developments

Hill is absent, still recovering from the injuries at Watkins Glen. Lotus will not replace him. Andretti is also absent, racing in the Dan Gurney 200 at Pacific Raceways. Lotus instead run a second car — the four-wheel-drive Lotus 63 — for John Miles.

Entrants

NART enters a Ferrari 312 for local driver Pedro Rodríguez. This is the only Ferrari in the field, replacing the Scuderia entry that ran Chris Amon earlier in the year; Amon left Ferrari mid-season and the works team signed Rodríguez, who now races under the NART banner here.

Milestones

This is the final race of the season and Jack Brabham’s last Formula One race. He is retiring at the end of the year and will sell his shares in the Brabham team to co-founder Ron Tauranac. At the previous race, Hill made his 113th World Championship start to set a new record; Brabham equals that mark here.