Honda continued to struggle with weight problems with the RA301, produced for the 1968 season.
Another new car, the RA302, was developed, but John Surtees was unhappy with the car’s handling and refused to race it.
At the French Grand Prix he remained in the RA301 while team mate Jo Schlesser, making his first F1 start, drove the RA302. In tricky wet conditions at Rouen Schlesser crashed on lap three, the car overturned and exploded, the magnesium components used to reduce weight adding fuel to the fire. Poor Schlesser was killed.
Surtees finished second in the RA301 which was its best result. He was on the podium again in Watkins Glen but the team ended its F1 project at the end of the year.
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- Honda RA301, 1968
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- John Surtees, Honda RA301, Monaco, 1968
