Spa- Francorchamps- The Beginning of the Winning For Mclaren

Spa-Francorchamp is both famous and infamous for many reasons, but one of the best of those is being the track that Bruce Mclaren and a Mclaren car  scored their first Formula 1 World Championship Victory at the 1968 Belgium Grand Prix. Bruce also became only the 2nd man to win an F1 race in a car that bares his name, only being beaten to the achievement by Jack Brabham just 2 years before. 
   The 1968 Belgium Grand Prix was a brilliant one! While Mclaren had taken 2 victories in England's non championship races, teams such as Ferrari, Matra (now Mercedes)  & Lotus had bested them at official Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix they had previously entered and that day Bruce wasn't all together optimistic about his and team mate Denny Hulmes chances.   

Amon in the ferrari 312 took Pole position with Stewart in the Matra and the sister Ferrari of Jackie Ickx joining him on the 3 car front row. The 2 Mclaren's lined up on the 2nd row, Hulmes in 4th & Bruce in 5th & the Honda of John Surtees in 6th. 
Surtees got a great start and passed both Mclarens, both Ferrari's and Jackie Stewart off the start to take the lead. But that day was not meant to belong to Surtees or the Ferrari's. In the next few laps Anon retired his Ferrari with an oil cooler leak, Ickx's Ferrari suffered a massive engine misfire dropping him down the order then on lap 11 Surtees rear suspension broke which left Denny Hulmes in his M7a Mclaren in the lead of the race followed closely by a rapid Jackie Stewart.     

Hulmes and Stewart swapped places for the lead over the next few laps but after leading the race for 4 laps Hulmes' drive shaft broke, ending both the Mclaren mans race and chance of that elusive first F1 win. 
While all this was taking place a very calm, cool and determined Bruce Mclaren had recovered from a bad start and was in a 3 way battle for 2nd with Pedro Rodriguez and the 10 cylindered Ferrari of Jackie Ickx. The 3 drivers battled hard for many laps, right up to the finish line with Bruce at the helm . This meant they where totally oblivious to the fact Stewart had been forced to pit from the lead for fuel on the penultimate lap or risk running out and not finishing the race. Bruce had won!!

Bruce had no clue he had won when he crossed the start/finish line. He had no clue when he saw his team celebrating as he crossed that line, not even when his car and garage was surrounded by well wishers and fans, and it still didn't click when he was told he crossed the line number 1. It wasn't until Cyril Atkins a BRM engineer came to congratulate his driver Rodriguez on 2nd place & told him in no uncertain terms "You've Won, don't you know"  thats when Bruce realized he had won the Belgium Grand Prix.
"I didn't know and it's about the nicest thing  I've ever been told" said the Mclaren founder, "I had won a Grand Prix in a car with my name on the nose". 
 

The events of that day at Spa in 1968 put Bruce and his Mclaren team on the top step of the coveted Formula 1 World Championship Podium and cemented them as a winning outfit in our sport. But more so it was the birth of what has become through various generations of management & drivers the 2nd longest competitor, with the 2nd most wins of any team and up till 3 days ago boasted the most successful car of all time in the form of 1988 MP4/4.
Sadly just 2 years on from this race Bruce Mclaren passed away after a crash during  a test of his Can-Am car at the Goodwood Circuit on 2nd June 1970 but his dream lived on and to this day his name is synonymous with the very best of Formula 1. 

2023 sees 60 years of Mclaren. 60 years of their cars winning across continents and in series around the planet. They are the only team in racing history to win the Triple Crown( they won the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indy 500 & Le Mans 24 hour) and have proven their prestige against the best in the world. They are a team who have proven their resilience, intelligence, integrity & fidelity to Formula 1 and their fans (which this writer has been for as long as I can remember) and we look fondly and proudly back at the 60 years of Mclaren. 

Bruce's legacy is more than just winning, it is about 'the dream of racing'. It's about putting in the hard work and the blood, sweat & tears that can just as easily break you as make you and nothing embodies that legacy more than the fight back the team have made this year. The team have taken a car from last on the grid in Bahrain 2023 to a car that stood on the 2nd step of the British & Hungarian podiums back to back. They never gave up and with the new leadership of Andrea Stella have developed a car from a real lemon to a race leader, with Lando briefly leading the British Grand Prix after a brilliant 1st corner move on Max Verstappen. Both the drivers and the team at the Mclaren Technology Center(MTC) lead by Zak Brown have shown they still have that Bruce Mclaren spirit at their core. 
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It would be beautifully poetic to see Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris get their first race win at Spa this weekend to bring it full circle in this celebration year for the team. 60 years on could one of the current line up do the same as Bruce? This writer hopes so!!! 
Congratulations to Mclaren on 60 years of racing and here is to 60 more!!!!
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Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @ F1journal