I wanted to revisit the French GP held at Rouen-les-Essarts in 1968.
Although Team Lotus fared poorly, it had some unique milestones and dire consequences to impact the entire sport for the future. Oliver crashed in practice with a wing failure and did not start. Hill would suffer a half shaft failure and retire on lap nine, gallantly assisting Jo Siffert in the sister Rob Walker 49 with swapping his visor.
The race itself would be the first held in France other than Le Mans, with Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari taking his maiden victory, Jochen Rindt's first pole in a Brabham B26 Repco, and the introduction of Honda to F1 with the RA 301 and revolutionary air cooled RA302.
(footnote) John Surtees was unaware of the second Honda entered, seems Mr Honda traveled to Paris, and made a deal with the French auto club to enter the experimental car. Refusing to drive it as unsafe, Jo Schlesser was hired to test bed it during the race and sadly lost his life just two laps in.
The race continued, with Schlesser's titanium chassis blazing away forcing the drivers to puncture a wall of fire for the following laps in a steady drizzle.
The poor fire fighting response,inadequate equipment, medical shortcomings and steward's decisions drew heavy criticism as the event was broadcast live.
If formula one was to survive, the issue of safety had to be dealt with...
