| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 11 in the 1967 Formula One season | ||
 | ||
| Date | 2 1967 | |
| Location | Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans, France | |
| Course | Permanent race track 4.430 km (2.753 mi) | |
| Distance | 80 laps, 354.40 km (220.24 mi) | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford |
| Time | 1:36.2 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford |
| Time | 1:36.7 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco |
| Second |  Denny Hulme
|
Brabham-Repco |
| Third | Jackie Stewart
|
BRM |
The 1967 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans on July 2, 1967. It was the first French Grand Prix to be held in Le Mans since the first ever running of the race in 1906, and as of 2014 is the only time the Bugatti Circuit has been used for the Grand Prix, though the circuit continues to host the French motorcycle Grand Prix.
The new Bugatti circuit used the main pit straight at Le Mans, which back in 1967 did not have the Dunlop Chicane, but then turned right at "La Chapelle" into an infield section comprising the third gear "Le Musée" left hander and the second gear "Garage Vert" corner which led onto the back straight, whose only distinctive feature was the "Chemin Aux Boeups" left hand kink (now a left-right chicane) some two-thirds along, before heading back to the pit straight via the "S Bleu" and "Raccordement" corners near the entrance to the pits.
The Bugatti circuit was seen as somewhat boring and was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds, with only a reported 20,000 attending the race. Some of the drivers were reported to have privately wished the race was run on the full 13.461 km (8.378 mi) long Circuit de la Sarthe, where the 5.7 km (3.5 mi) Mulsanne Straight was 1.3 km (0.8 mi) longer than the entire Bugatti circuit. At the time, circuit lengths of 10 km (6.2 mi) or longer were common in Grand Prix racing, including the 14.120 km (8.770 mi) Spa-Francorchamps used for the Belgian Grand Prix, and the infamous 22.835 km (14.189 mi) Nürburgring used for the German Grand Prix, so many of drivers felt using the full 24 Hours circuit should have been considered as the venue by the Automobile Club de France.
Race report[]
The new Bugatti circuit used the main pit straight at Le Mans, but then used an infield section comprising several second and third gear corners, which was universally unpopular with both drivers and crowds. Graham Hill was on pole and led away for the first lap until Jack Brabham took over. On lap 7 Jim Clark took the lead and Hill passed Brabham to make it a Lotus 1-2. Hill then retook the lead until his crown-wheel and pinion failed on lap 14. The same problem caused Clark's retirement from the lead on lap 23, leaving Brabham ahead of Dan Gurney, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme. On lap 41 a fuel line broke on Gurney's car, making it a Brabham 1-2 and Amon's throttle cable broke several laps later. Brabham drove home serenely to win his first race in eight Grands Prix and justify his position as reigning World Champion.
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Jack Brabham
|
Brabham-Repco | 80 | 2:13:21.3 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | 4 | Denny Hulme
|
Brabham-Repco | 80 | + 49.5 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 10 | Jackie Stewart
|
BRM | 79 | + 1 Lap | 10 | 4 |
| 4 | 18 |  Jo Siffert
|
Cooper-Maserati | 77 | + 3 Laps | 11 | 3 |
| 5 | 15 | Chris Irwin
|
BRM | 76 | Engine | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | 14 |  Pedro Rodríguez
|
Cooper-Maserati | 76 | + 4 Laps | 13 | 1 |
| NC | 16 |  Guy Ligier
|
Cooper-Maserati | 68 | Not Classified | 15 | |
| Ret | 2 | Chris Amon
|
Ferrari | 47 | Throttle | 7 | |
| Ret | 9 |  Dan Gurney
|
Eagle-Weslake | 40 | Fuel Leak | 3 | |
| Ret | 12 |  Jochen Rindt
|
Cooper-Maserati | 33 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret | 8 | Bruce McLaren
|
Eagle-Weslake | 26 | Ignition | 5 | |
| Ret | 6 | Jim Clark
|
Lotus-Ford | 23 | Differential | 4 | |
| Ret | 17 | Bob Anderson
|
Brabham-Climax | 16 | Ignition | 14 | |
| Ret | 7 | Graham Hill
|
Lotus-Ford | 13 | Differential | 1 | |
| Ret | 11 | Mike Spence
|
BRM | 9 | Halfshaft | 12 |
Notes[]
- Pole position: Graham Hill - 1:36.2
- Fastest Lap: Graham Hill - 1:36.7
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References[]
- Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 96–97.
- "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1969/541/. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
| Previous race: 1967 Belgian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1967 season |
Next race: 1967 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1966 French Grand Prix |
French Grand Prix | Next race: 1968 French Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1967 French Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |