The first race of the 1969 season was the South African Grand Prix with John Surtees and Jackie Oliver driving, Surtees drove the P138 and Oliver in the BRM P133, Surtees retired from the race with engine failure. Surtees finished fifth at Spain. The Monaco Grand Prix saw Surtees retire with a broken gearbox due to him missing a gear and the Brabham of Jack Brabham crashing into the back of Surtees. The Englishman finished ninth at Holland. BRM skipped the French Grand Prix because of the team rebuilding, with Tony Rudd departing and the horrible start of the BRM P139. The P138 was not used at Britain because Surtees drove the P139 but the P138 reappeared at the German Grand Prix with Jackie Oliver driving but retired with an oil leak. The P138 was not used at Italy because Oliver had a second P139 to drive but the P138 reappeared at the Canadian Grand Prix with Canadian Bill Brack driving but was ten laps down and not classified. Brack was replaced by Canadian George Eaton but retired from the final two races of 1969, engine failure at the United States and a broken gearbox at Mexico.