1968 German Grand Prix
The ‘Ring’, or the Nürburgring, well it is but it isn’t the same. Of all the circuits that have been on the Grand Prix calendar, this is the one every fan and every driver knows. The ‘Ring is situated in the Eiffel mountains in the west of Germany. It was nightmare for every, or should I say any driver in the first 30 years of Formula One with it’s 22 kilometers of fearsome asphalt lay twisted around 174 corners. The ‘Ring is “The ‘Ring” for all circuits all over the world - even Spa or Monza, not in present time but in those early days.
When I’m looking the ‘new’ Nürburgring I ask myself what that shi* has in common with the One & Only … enough.
Only the best of the best could hardly master the ‘Ring. Juan Manuel Fangio drove the best race of his life and probably one of the most tremendous performances ever recorded in Formula One history in the 1957 German Grand Prix but today we are talking about one more master - Jackie Stewart. Together with Fangio, Stewart is the only driver to have won at the ‘Ring three times. Now I hear you saying: “Some did far more times on other circuits !”, but when you see the size of that thing … 1968 was the year which saw his first win at the ‘Ring and it’s this race we still remember.
The season had just passed the halfway point when the Formula One circus headed to the Eiffel region of Germany to visit the Nürburgring. After a strong start to the season, Graham Hill was still in the lead of the championship, despite failing to score in four consecutive races. The Briton had collected 24 points over the first seven races, four more than Ferrari driver Jackie Ickx, who in turn had a bad start of the season and had been driving well throughout the middle of the season. Just three points behind Ickx was Jackie Stewart, who (like Ickx) had only scored in the last four races. Prior to the German Grand Prix these two were the ones to beat. One man was missed very much in the championship battle. On the seventh of April, Jim Clark had been killed in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim. Less than four months after his death in Germany, his colleagues returned to the central European country to race the circuit which he had mastered. In qualifying Jackie Ickx showed he meant business. Rain master, took the maximum out of his Ferrari and in quite heavy rain set. Only his teammate Chris Amon could follow, but he was ten seconds back. Jackie Stewart, didn’t go flat out which brought him 6th position on the grid. As in practice sessions, it was raining and weather conditions became worse every minute.
Mountains were covered in thick fog with nasty winds blowing across the track. The organizers of the race delayed the start and then delayed it again, but in the end it was decided to let the drivers go. Jackie Stewart was one of the drivers not in favor of starting this race. As the race was started, close to three o’clock that afternoon, twenty cars sprinted towards the first corner. Once out of Hatzenbach, it was twice red and then blue in the lead. However, the two reds weren’t the two Ferraris. Ickx messed up his start handing the lead to teammate Amon and letting both Hill and Stewart. After about 13 kilometers, at the Karussel hairpin section, Jackie Stewart had passed both Hill and Amon. Through Hohe Acht, Plantzgarten and onto the 3 kilometer straight back to the start-finish line, Stewart put his rivals in spray and mist and that’s all they ever saw of him. This race was Jackie Stewart at his finest. In the most dangerous conditions ever seen in Formula One, this advocate of safety steered his car through the 2436 corners that the 1968 German Grand Prix consisted of. Maximum profit he took when he overtooke Amon and Hill, past World Champions, on a track where overtaking isn’t easy in the dry and nearly impossible in the wet.
