Mexican GP 1969

Mexican GP, 1969

The final Grand Prix of the 1960s took place in Mexico City, two weeks after the United States GP at Watkins Glen. That had been won by Team Lotus's Jochen Rindt but his team mate Graham Hill had broken both his legs in an accident. Hill was not replaced in Mexico City although Lotus did run a second car for John Miles (who continued his development of the four-wheel-drive Lotus 63) as Mario Andretti was busy racing USAC cars (and winning) at Kent.

The field was otherwise unchanged with only one Ferrari being run by NART for Pedro Rodriguez.

The Brabham team was dominant in practice with Jack Brabham fastest, ahead of his team mate Jacky Ickx. Jackie Stewart was third fastest in his Matra and shared the second row with Denny Hulme's McLaren, while the Lotus 49s of Jo Siffert and Jochen Rindt were on row three.

For the second consecutive race Bruce McLaren's car failed to make the start and so there were only 16 cars in the race. Stewart made the best start to take the lead but Ickx and Brabham gave chase. Rindt was fourth but had Hulme trying to pass him. On the second lap Hulme moved to fourth while Ickx began to put pressure on Stewart. On lap six Stewart was forced to give way and on the same lap Hulme passed Brabham to take third. Hulme was clearly the man on the move and during the seventh lap he overtook Stewart and chased after Ickx. On lap 10 the McLaren moved ahead. Stewart had dropped behind Brabham and the top four positions then remained stable although the way to the finish. Rindt ran fifth early on but bent his suspension hitting a curb and had to retire and so fifth place went to Beltoise with Jackie Oliver finishing sixth in the BRM, to score his first point of the year (despite the fact that he was two laps behind).

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M7A 65 1h54m08.800s  
Jacky Ickx Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 65 1h54m11.360s  
Jack Brabham Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 65 1h54m47.280s  
Jackie Stewart Matra-Cosworth MS80 65 1h54m55.840s  
Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Cosworth MS80 65 1h55m47.320s  
15 Jackie Oliver BRM P139 63  12 
12 Pedro Rodriguez Ferrari 312 63  15 
16 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra-Cosworth MS84 63  14 
21 Peter Lovely Lotus-Cosworth 49B 62  16 
10 18 Piers Courage Brabham-Cosworth BT26A 61  
11r 19 Silvio Moser Brabham-Cosworth BT24 60 Fuel Leak 13 
14 John Surtees BRM P139 53 Gearbox 10 
Jochen Rindt Lotus-Cosworth 49B 21 Suspension 
22 George Eaton BRM P138 Gearbox 17 
10 Jo Siffert Lotus-Cosworth 49B Accident 
John Miles Lotus-Cosworth 63 Fuel Pump 11 
Bruce McLaren McLaren-Cosworth M7C -1 Fuel Injection