Formula 1

About the season

The wing arms race reached its peak at the Spanish Grand Prix (Montjuïc): both works Lotus 49s, driven by Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, crashed heavily after their high-mounted wing supports failed under the loads generated at speed. The sport's governing body held an emergency meeting during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend and immediately banned unrestricted high wings. Wings were later reinstated in a far more restricted, lower and smaller form - ending the brief but dangerous "high wing" era. Several teams (Lotus, Matra, McLaren) experimented with four-wheel-drive cars this season, hoping for better traction in the wet - but the idea proved a dead end, since aerodynamic downforce solved the same problem more cheaply and simply; four-wheel drive was abandoned after this season. Jackie Stewart won his first title comfortably in the new Matra MS80, taking five of the season's first six races. Jackie Stewart won the 1969 Drivers' Championship with 63 points (Matra-Ford), 26 points ahead of the runner-up. Matra-Ford won the Constructors' Championship with 66 points, 15 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 11 completed races this season, there were 93 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Jackie Stewart took the most race wins, 6 in total. Stewart won the season-opening race, the South African Grand Prix. The season's biggest upset win came from Stewart at the South African Grand Prix, starting from grid position 4. The most dominant win of the season came at the German Grand Prix, with a margin of 57.7 seconds. The closest finish of the season came at the Italian Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.080 seconds. The Canadian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 13 drivers failing to finish. Brabham made the biggest gain of the season at the United States Grand Prix, from grid position 18 to finishing 4 (up 14 places). Hulme won the Mexican Grand Prix, the final race of the season.