Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henri "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Ickx twice finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in and , and won eight Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing, Ickx won two World Endurance Championships with Porsche and is a six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring. In rallying, Ickx won the Paris–Dakar Rally in 1983 with Mercedes.
Born and raised in Brussels, Ickx started his career in motorcycle road racing and trials, winning several national and continental titles in the latter discipline. Progressing to touring car racing in the mid-1960s, Ickx won multiple titles before winning the 24 Hours of Spa in 1966. Attracting the attention of Ken Tyrrell, he entered the 1966 German Grand Prix in a Matra Formula Two car, retiring after a first-lap collision with John Taylor, who later died of his injuries. Ickx returned to the race the following year, qualifying third in his Formula Two machinery and earning a Formula One drive with Cooper from the onwards, where he finished sixth. Ickx was signed by Ferrari in , taking his maiden victory in France, amongst several podiums, as he finished fourth in the standings.
Moving to Brabham in , Ickx continued to race and finished runner-up to Jackie Stewart. He returned to Ferrari the next year, again finishing runner-up to Jochen Rindt as he took wins in Austria, Canada and Mexico. Ickx took further wins for Ferrari at the in and the in , but left the team halfway through the season over the performance of the Ferrari 312B3. After one-off appearances for McLaren and Williams, Ickx joined Lotus in , but left after less than two seasons with the team. He returned to the sport with Wolf–Williams in , swapping seats with Chris Amon at Ensign from the onwards. After intermittent appearances for Ensign over the next three seasons, Ickx joined Ligier in , replacing an injured Patrick Depailler at the final eight Grands Prix of the season. Struggling to adapt to the ground effect era, Ickx retired from Formula One at the conclusion of the 1979 season with eight race wins, 13 pole positions, 14 fastest laps and 25 podiums.
Outside of Formula One, Ickx won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, a record which stood until . He also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1969 and 1972, and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1972 alongside Mario Andretti, making him the fifth driver to complete the Triple Crown of endurance racing. Ickx won two World Endurance Championships in 1982 and 1983 with Porsche. He retired from endurance racing in 1985, following his involvement in the death of Stefan Bellof. Between 1981 and 2000, Ickx entered 14 editions of the Dakar Rally, winning in 1983. Ickx was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Noted for his skill in wet conditions and on challenging tracks such as the Nürburgring, Ickx is described as one of the most versatile racing drivers of all time due to his success across a wide range of categories.
Early life and career Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henri Ickx was born on 1 January 1945 in Brussels. He was introduced to motorsports when he was taken by his father, motoring journalist Jacques Ickx, to races which he covered. Despite this family background, Ickx had limited interest in the sport until his father bought him a 50 cc Zündapp motorcycle.
Ickx began to compete in road racing and motorcycle trials. He won the 50 cc class at the 1962 Mettet Grand Prix road race, then demonstrated impressive talent when he defeated future motocross world champion Roger De Coster in the 1963 Belgian 50 cc trials national championship. Soon afterwards, Ickx won 8 of 13 races at the first season and the European 50 cc trials title.
Ickx took another two titles before he moved to racing a Lotus Cortina in touring car racing, taking his national saloon car championship in 1965, as well as winning the Spa 24 Hours race in 1966 driving a BMW 2000TI. He also competed in sports car races where he had already significant experience from taking part in the 1000 km races at the Nürburgring.
Formula One career
Debut and early career (1966–1967) Ickx entered his first Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1966, driving a Matra MS5-Cosworth one-litre Formula Two (F2) car, entered by Ken Tyrrell. However, a first lap collision with John Taylor at Flugplatz caused both cars to retire and Taylor later died as a result of burns received in the accident, after his car caught fire. In 1967, Ickx again drove at the Nurburgring, with an F2 Matra MS7-Cosworth 1.6-litre, also entered by Tyrrell. Despite the greater power of the Formula One cars, only two drivers qualified with a faster time than Ickx: Denny Hulme and Jim Clark. As Ickx was racing in the separate F2 class, he started the race behind all of the Formula One cars, but within four laps of the 28 km circuit he was up to fifth place, having overtaken 12 Formula One cars. He was forced to retire after 12 laps with a broken front suspension, but set the fastest lap of the F2 runners.
At Monza in 1967, Ickx made his Formula One debut in a Cooper T81B-Maserati, finishing sixth, despite suffering a puncture on the last lap. He also drove for Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen but retired on lap 45 with overheating.
Ferrari (1968)
In 1968, Ickx drove in Formula 1 for Ferrari. He retired from his first two races, but at his home race at Spa-Francorchamps he started from the front row and finished third. In the French Grand Prix at Rouen, he took his first win, in heavy rain. Ickx also finished third at Brands Hatch and fourth at the Nürburgring after driving almost the entire race in heavy rain without his helmet visor. At Monza, he finished the race in third position. In Canada, he crashed and broke his left leg during practice, thus did not start and also missed the subsequent United States Grand Prix. He returned in time for the final race of the season in Mexico. Ickx scored 27 points in the 1968 Formula One season finishing in fourth place behind Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Hulme.
Brabham (1969) In 1969, Ickx moved to Brabham, partly at the instigation of the John Wyer team for whom he'd had considerable success in sports cars. Wyer's main sponsor, Gulf Oil were keen to ensure that they retained his services rather than possibly lose him to Ferrari's sports car team. His first results at Brabham were poor, but after Jack Brabham broke his foot in a testing accident, Ickx's results improved: Alan Henry suggests that Ickx performed better with the whole team focussed on him.Henry (1985) p.85 "Interestingly, the somewhat unpredictable Belgian rose to the occasion in superb fashion and seemed able to produce more impressive form when the effort was concentrated on him exclusively rather than being shared with the boss." Ickx finished third in France, second in Great Britain and won in Canada and in Germany at the Nürburgring, where he also took pole position and fastest lap, in the last Formula One race there before 'The Ring' was made less bumpy and dangerous. In the 1969 Mexican Grand Prix Ickx finished second and ended the year as runner-up in the drivers' world championship, behind Stewart. He returned to the Ferrari team for the 1970 season, a move he had been considering since the Italian Grand Prix.Henry (1985) p.89
Return to Ferrari (1970–1973)
As in 1969, Ickx had a disappointing start to the 1970 season. On the first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix he collided with the BRM of Jackie Oliver and his car caught fire. It took at least 20 seconds for him to leave the burning car and he was hospitalized with severe burns. After 17 days, he was back in his car at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he ran fifth before retiring with a driveshaft failure. The car started to improve and at the German Grand Prix (held at Hockenheim as his favourite Nürburgring was boycotted for safety reasons) he fought with Jochen Rindt for the win, but finished a close second. At the Austrian Grand Prix it was Ickx that took the win. At Monza, Rindt died in an accident during qualifying. Ickx was the only driver with a chance to take the championship from Rindt who had already won five of nine races in that season, with four more to go. Monza saw a win by Ferrari teammate Clay Regazzoni while Ickx's car broke down. Ickx took the win at Canada and if he could win at the remaining two events, he would overtake Rindt and win the championship. However, in the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen he only finished fourth, with Rindt's replacement Emerson Fittipaldi scoring his first career win, and thus was mathematically eliminated from the championship chase. Despite winning the last race in Mexico, Ickx could not beat Rindt's points total. Ickx later stated in a 2011 article in the British magazine Motor Sport that he was glad he did not win the 1970 World Championship. He did not want to win against a man who could not defend his chances, referring to the deceased Rindt.
In 1971, Ickx and Ferrari started as favourites, but the championship went to Jackie Stewart with the new Tyrrell. Ferrari traditionally started the season with its full attention on the sports car championship rather than Formula One, a fact that had already caused John Surtees to leave in the middle of the 1966 season. Ickx won at Zandvoort in the rain with Firestone wet tyres, while Stewart had no chance with his Goodyear rubber. After that, he had a lot of retirements, while Stewart took one win after the other, despite Ickx giving him a good challenge at the Nürburgring once again, where both drivers shared victories from 1968 to 1973. That long and very challenging track was the favourite of Ickx, while Stewart had called it the 'Green Hell' as well as being a driving force behind the driver boycott of 1970 that urged the Germans to rework the layout of the track, which had been built in 1927. Stewart said the only thing that had changed since then were the trees growing bigger. As requested, those near the track were cut and replaced with a small run-off area, and armco. So, the Scot and the Belgian not only fought on the track, but also off the track. Stewart was constantly fighting for more safety in Formula One, while Ickx thought by doing that the challenge was taken out of the sport.
In 1972, Ickx stayed at Ferrari and finished second in Spain and Monaco. After that the Ferrari only got noticed for its retirements. Yet, once again it was the Nürburgring where Ickx was eager to show it was his track, giving his great rival Stewart no chance at all. As for Stewart one year later, and other champions such as Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957, it turned out that the last Formula One win for Ickx came at Nürburgring, where superior driving skill could beat superior machinery.
In 1973, the Ferrari 312B3 was no longer competitive, and Ickx only managed one fourth place at the opening Grand Prix of the season. While being successful with their sports cars, which were driven to several wins by Ickx himself, the Formula One programme of the Italians was outclassed, and they even had to skip some races, notably at the Nürburgring. This was not acceptable to Ickx, who left the team halfway through the season (after the 1973 British Grand Prix, where he finished eighth). Instead, he competed in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a McLaren, and scored a sterling third place behind the all-conquering Tyrrells of Stewart and François Cevert. Ickx returned to Ferrari for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza again finishing eighth but drove for Williams in the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen finishing seventh.
Lotus (1974–1975)