It was one of the first F1 cars to use a stressed member engine combined with a monocoque to reduce weight, after BRM, with other teams adopting the concept after its success.

In testing, Graham Hill found the Lotus 49 easy to drive and responsive, but the power of the Ford engine difficult to handle at first.

'[8] Jim Clark won with ease driving the 49 in its debut race at Zandvoort, and took another three wins during the season, although early unreliability with the DFV ended his championship hopes.

The 49 had problems in its first race for Hill, and it had spark plug trouble at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, held on the 8.76 mile (14.73 kilometer) Spa-Francorchamps.

Jo Siffert also drove a 49B, owned by Rob Walker, to win the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch that year, the last time a car entered by a genuine privateer won a championship Formula 1 race.

Chassis R3 (driven by Hill, then sold to privateer John Love) is the only example of the original 1967 cars still in existence, and is on display at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire.

Over the following 16 months the design gained increasing numbers of sponsor patches and large driver name strips, while retaining the traditional base scheme.

The Lotus 49 appears in numerous video games including Forza Motorsport, Assetto Corsa, Project CARS, TOCA Race Driver 3 Challenge and Formula One Championship Edition.