1969 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1969 Formula 1.5 Season was the 20th season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. Jo Siffert captured his second World Drivers' Championship with 45 points, driving again for Rob Walker. Siffert lead Lotus to their second World Constructors' Championship with 58 points, making up for the loss to Cooper the year before.

1969 didn’t have the largest grid, but the quality of it was still high. Losing Honda, Eagle, and Cooper from Grand Prix racing was a real shame, as was Matra and Brabham moving up to Formula 1 with their star drivers. Taking their places though were some exciting teams. BRM returned after a year in F1 and the big story was the debut of Scuderia Ferrari in F1.5, even if they only planned on running one car for much of the year. Also making his debut as team owner was a guy called Frank Williams, running a private Brabham for Piers Courage. It mightn’t have seemed a historic moment at the time, but as the years went by and the win tally kept building it’d grow ever more importance. Jo Siffert stuck with Rob Walker’s Lotus 49. Ferrari carried over their F1 driver Chris Amon until he became fed up with heir reliability issues and left, he’d be replaced by Mexican hero Pedro Rodríguez. BRM signed a couple big names in Honda refugee John Surtees, and Team Lotus F1 driver Jackie Oliver. Privateer Colin Crabbe also made his debut as a car owner, entering a Cooper before upgrading to a McLaren for Vic Elford, who’d shown well for the Cooper Car Co. during their swan song in 1968.

During the early races, Siffert was pretty quick to establish a healthy points lead. With Ferrari and BRM struggling to notch consistent finishes, Siffert’s main rivals were fellow privateers Courage and Elford. Following the British GP, Jo lead on 32 points with Elford on 22 and Courage on 18. Siffert was pretty clearly the title favourite, but nothing was wrapped up yet with five races still remaining. At Germany however, Elford’s season would be cut short as a crash saw him break his arm in three places. He’d recover and return to racing in 1970 but never competed in F1.5 again, instead choosing to focus on his main discipline of endurance racing. This meant that the title fight came down to Siffert and Courage, Rob Walker and Frank Williams. Piers wasn’t exactly consistent, but he was winning races. Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, and Watkins Glen would all be taken by Piers. Siffert meanwhile had only won twice - at Kyalami and Zandvoort - but his constant podiums meant he was maintaining the championship lead.

Heading into the last round, Courage could tie Siffert on points and win the title via countback if he won in Mexico and Siffert didn’t score. Qualifying worked out quite nicely as it looked to setup this duel between the title protagonists, Siffert grabbing pole and Courage lining up second. As the flag dropped, it was a fairly normal start and things looked to be going just right for the Swiss until on lap four an accident put him out, this was his third retirement in three races. For Courage the door was left wide open, but crucially he still had to win. Unfortunately for him, he’d be plagued by issues and struggle home only fourth (and last), two laps down on the winner Jackie Oliver.

Jo was therefore a back to back champion, the first since Bruce McLaren in 1965. One could argue he was lucky that his result at the German Grand Prix had counted, as without it Piers would’ve taken the title. Jo had dominated at the Nurburgring though, and was only robbed of certain victory by suspension failure two laps from the end. His title rivals that day should've been in a position to capitalise, but Courage slid off on oil and Elford had nowhere to go when the F1 Lotus of Mario Andretti had its own accident. Had things gone differently for those two, a different champion may’ve been crowned come seasons end. As it was though, Jo was still a most worthy champion.

## Entries

\*Pink background denotes F2 entrants to the German Grand Prix

### Excluded Teams

* Gold Leaf Team Lotus, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, Matra International, and Motor Racing Developments Ltd.

## Results & standings

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six finishers at each race. The best five results from the first six rounds and the best four from the last five were retained.

Legend: **Bold** = Pole Position; *Italics* = Fastest Lap; \* = Result was achieved by an F2 entry and therefore is ineligible for any typically awarded points, said points are awarded to the next placed F1.5 car, if there is one.

### International Cup for F1.5 Manufacturers standings

Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six finishers at each round, however only the best placed car from each manufacturer was eligible to score points. Only the best five results from the first six rounds and the best four from the last five were retained.