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Monaco GP 1969

Monaco GP, 1969

The entry for Monaco was much as normal although Jochen Rindt was still recovering from breaking his nose in his crash in Barcelona and so Team Lotus ran Richard Attwood as his replacement alongside Graham Hill. The field was bolstered by the reappearance of Silvio Moser in an old Brabham and Vic Elford running in an old Cooper-Maserati entered, aptly, by Antique Automobiles. There had been considerable worry expressed since the crashes in Barcelona about the high rear wings used on the cars and after the first practice the CSI held a meeting and decided on an immediate ban on the grounds of safety. The first session times were canceled and the qualifying process started all over again. There were some gripes from the teams but everyone got down to business and it was Jackie Stewart's Matra which emerged on pole, ahead of Chris Amon's Ferrari. Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the second Matra was third on the grid, ahead of Graham Hill while Jo Siffert (Walker-Durlacher Lotus) and John Surtees (BRM) shared the third row. The Brabhams of Jacky Ickx and Jack Brabham were on the fourth row, just ahead of Piers Courage in Frank Williams's customer BT26.

Stewart took the lead at the start with Amon in pursuit. Beltoise was under pressure from Hill and the Lotus driver moved to third on the third lap. By lap 10 Stewart had a 10-second advantage. In the midfield Surtees suffered a gearbox failure in the tunnel and was hit by Brabham. Both drivers escaped injury. Six laps later Amon's Ferrari retired with a differential failure and on lap 21 Beltoise's Matra suffered a driveshaft failure and retired from third place. A lap later the leader Stewart had an identical problem with his Matra and retired. This left Hill in the lead with a 12 second advantage over Ickx and Courage. The battle for second place continued until the 49th lap when the Belgian retired with a rear suspension failure, leaving Courage to finish an impressive second while Siffert picked up third.