| abstract
| - Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.937,0.937,0.937) id:linemark value:gray(0.8) id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9) BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas PlotData = mark:(line,linemark) from:start till:6 color:purple shift:(20,-5) text:Jackie Stewart (Laps 1-6) from:6 till:end color:white shift:(20,-5) text:Jacky Ickx (Laps 7-14) The XXXI Großer Preis von Deutschland, otherwise known as the 1969 German Grand Prix, was the seventh round of the 1969 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged on the 3rd of August 1969 at the formidable Nürburgring. The race, which would see both Formula One and Formula Two spec cars in action, would see Championship leader Jackie Stewart defeated for only the second time in 1969 after a masterful display by a certain Belgian racer. Such was Stewart's dominance during the season that it seemed inevitable that the Scot would claim a sixth victory of the season, so it came as a surprise when Jacky Ickx stole pole in the Brabham-Ford Cosworth. The Belgian racer seemed to be at his best in the Eifel mountains, and when he bested the old circuit record by almost twenty seconds, the Scot was beaten. Johnny Servoz-Gavin claimed the honours in the F2 field with a time good enough to qualify eleventh, although the F1 and F2 grids were split for safety reasons. These safety measures were made all the more clear when Gerhard Mitter lost his life after an accident during practice, the German having crashed heavily at Schwedenkreuz, prompting the BMW team to withdraw. Yet, when the flag fell to start the race on Sunday Ickx's form suddenly disappeared, the Belgian tumbling down to tenth before the field entered the first corner. Stewart was therefore gifted an early lead, as an accident behind saw Vic Elford's car thrown into a flip after hitting an errant wheel from Mario Andretti's Lotus 63. With Stewart in the lead it seemed as if the race was already run, although Ickx was already making up for lost time, taking cars left, right and centre as he climbed from tenth to second before the end of lap two. It was not much longer before the Belgian had glued himself to the back of the Scot, with the pair sprinting away from Jo Siffert as he battled for third. It would take four laps of constant pressure before Ickx finally forced his way back into the lead, although he was no more successful in shaking Stewart than the Scot had been in sprinting away from the Belgian. Yet, fate was favouring the Brabham team, and when Stewart's pace fell away with a gearbox issue Ickx was left to cruise home to a commanding victory. Stewart would half limp home to second, over two minutes ahead of third placed Bruce McLaren, who was himself half a minute clear of Graham Hill in fourth. Frenchman Henri Pescarolo snatched victory in the F2 field by finishing fifth overall, as the lightweight junior cars completed the rest of the top ten. Yet, as they could not score points, it would be Jo Siffert and Jean-Pierre Beltoise who claimed the final points, down in eleventh and twelfth respectively.
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