1968 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1968 Formula 1.5 Season was the 19th season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. Jo Siffert captured his first World Drivers' Championship with 31 points, driving a gem of a car, a Lotus 49 coupled to the legendary Ford Cosworth DFV engine. This season would provide the DFV its first title glory, and over the next fifteen years it'd power either the Drivers' or Constructors' Champions to success in all but three seasons. Siffert's team owner, Rob Walker, took his second world title, the first being back in 1963 with Swede, Jo Bonnier, at the helm in a season that saw an exodus of works teams from the category. The Constructors' Championship would go to Cooper-BRM with 46 points. This was Cooper's seventh constructors' crown, having won those titles over a span of just nine years, it remains the most dominant stretch displayed by any constructor in the sports history. It was also their last WCC, as in 1969, the Cooper Car Company would no longer compete in F1.5 or F1. Attempts were made to procure Ford Cosworth power, after an Alfa Romeo 3.0 litre V8 project fell through, but no sponsorship could be found and so the team had no option but to leave top level formula racing. Colin Crabbe would privately enter the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix with a Cooper-Maserati for Vic Elford, who'd finish third, albeit also last. From then on, no other Cooper chassis's were ever entered in any World Championship Grand Prix, as they became too outdated for competitive use.

John Surtees would fail to defend his world title, but still maintained his position as one of the categories very top pilots. Mirroring 1967, he had a slow start to the year, but unlike the previous season, things didn’t really pick up. Honda focused its efforts and resources for the season on developing the magnesium RA302 chassis…which Surtees refused to drive on safety grounds...for good reason, see Jo Schlesser. This meant too little development went to the car John would drive, an updated version of last year’s car, the RA301. Poor reliability and an out of date machine would work against the reigning champion all season long. Jo Siffert, after two previous runners-up finishes in 1964, and '65, finally took his maiden title, even though he only took one race win all year, an outright F1 victory via attrition at Brands Hatch. Matra took their first real stab at F1.5 and nearly snatched the top prize in a promising debut campaign. Brabham returned to F1.5 for the first time since their debut season in 1962. While they showed great speed, their Repco engines which had taken them to so much F1 success over the last couple seasons, were now past their use by. Star driver Jochen Rindt was relegated to doing his best impression of Dan Gurney and Eagle, taking only two wins from six poles.

Fairly poor reliability plagued most everyone all season long, meaning nearly each race was wide open for a surprise result. The season saw nine different winners in just twelve rounds, with five of those winners (Redman, Bianchi, Beltoise, Courage, and Elford) being debutants to the top step of the podium. In the year’s early stages, no one held much of an advantage. The Cooper drivers traded strong results while most others were conked out at the side of the road, but none of them were able to really pull clear. Soon, other teams started to get their respective acts together as Beltoise, Surtees, Siffert, Rindt, and Courage all notched wins and brought themselves into varying degrees of title contention.

Four drivers were still mathematically in contention heading into the final race, again in Mexico. Beltoise’s Matra held a slim one point lead over John Surtees, as Siffert sat just two points further back of the Honda. Back in fourth was young Englishman, Piers Courage, running his first full season. Piloting a BRM entered by Reg Parnell, he was a long shot for the title, but still in with a chance. He had to win with Beltoise not scoring, Surtees barely scoring, and Siffert off the podium. Not impossible given the unpredictable nature of this season, but his task was made quite a bit more difficult when he qualified third last. Between the title favourites, the permutations seemed fairly simple: win the race and you win the title. Of course none of them won the race…Siffert stuck his Rob Walker Lotus on outright pole, ahead F1 and F1.5 cars. On race day, he made good on his strong qualifying, leading the race overall early on. Soon though things would unravel as he'd be forced to pit with a broken throttle cable, leaving him well back in the pack. Honda assumed the lead…although not with John Surtees who’d dropped out with overheating troubles; leading the race was Jo  Bonnier. After his privately entered McLaren-BRM had an engine failure during practice, Honda offered the former champion usage of their spare RA301 chassis. As the laps ticked down, Siffert was slicing through the field, surely spurred on by the knowledge that his rivals were out, all of them having broken down before half-distance. With no one else scoring, all he needed was to make the podium to clinch the title, and though he couldn’t quite run down Bonnier, a fighting drive to second place was enough to seal the World Championship in favour of the Swiss.

Such a close defeat may've been tough for those who'd just fallen short, but there were also positives for them to draw on from the year. Beltoise and Courage put together great campaigns for rookies and both established themselves as serious threats heading forward. Brabham could see that they had good speed in their chassis's, so with new Ford Cosworth DFV's lined up for 1969, Jack had plenty of confidence to return his team to the top for next year, to F1. Meanwhile at Honda, while the season had brought loss and tragedy, with it also came at least a more fitting end. With his win in Mexico, Bonnier took his first since the 1965 British Grand Prix, Honda’s fourth in a row in Mexico, and also won in what was the Japanese constructors final race (up to that point anyway), as they were to pull out of all top Formulae racing for 1969.

## Entries

### Excluded teams

* Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, Team Lotus / Gold Leaf Team Lotus, Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC, Owen Racing Organisation, and Matra International

## 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 five results from the last six rounds were retained.

Legend: **Bold** = Pole Position; *Italics* = Fastest Lap

### 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 race, however only the best placed car from each manufacturer was eligible to score points. The best five results from the first six rounds and the best five results from the last six rounds were retained.