Jochen Rindt takes his fourth consecutive and final Formula 1 victory

Jochen Rindt and Jacky Ickx turned Hockenheim’s first World Championship race into a slipstreaming contest decided by seven-tenths of a second. Rindt’s fourth consecutive victory gave him a commanding championship lead and became the final Grand Prix win of his career.

Rindt arrived in Germany after victories in Monaco, the Netherlands, France and Britain. The Lotus 72 had recovered from its difficult debut and developed into the fastest complete package in the field.

The German Grand Prix had moved from the Nürburgring after drivers refused to race without promised safety improvements. Hockenheim’s long straights created a different challenge, placing a premium on engine power, low drag and timing within the slipstream.

A group becomes a duel

Jacky Ickx started from pole for Ferrari. Rindt qualified second, with Clay Regazzoni, Jo Siffert and Chris Amon among the drivers able to remain in the leading group during the early stages.

The order changed repeatedly as the cars used one another’s slipstreams. Mechanical problems gradually removed the other challengers, leaving Rindt and Ickx to settle the victory between them.

Rindt made the decisive move with two laps remaining. Ickx stayed close but could not regain the lead, and the Lotus crossed the line 0.7 seconds ahead. Denny Hulme finished third, more than a minute behind the leading pair.

Twenty points clear

The result was Rindt’s fifth victory of the season and his fourth in succession. It extended his championship advantage to 20 points under a system that awarded nine for a win.

Rindt did not win again. He retired from the following Austrian Grand Prix and was killed during practice at Monza in September. The points accumulated during his run of victories remained enough for him to become Formula 1’s only posthumous world champion.

Hockenheim therefore supplied the final complete result of his career: pole position lost to Ickx, the lead won back near the finish and a margin narrow enough to preserve the shape of the duel.