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Tyrrell
003 Ford-Cosworth 1972
Jackie
Stewart made a splash at the beginning of his Formula
One career — winning the 1965 Italian Grand Prix
at Monza in just his 8th race for BRM, finishing the
season 3rd, behind Jim Clark
and Graham Hill — and an even bigger one when he
suddenly retired eight years later on the eve of his
100th race at the United States GP at  Watkins
Glen — distressed with the qualifying death of
his Tyrrell team mate and protégé Francois
Cevert. In between, Stewart won the F1 World Championship
three times (including 1973, his final season), finished
second twice, broke Clark's record for career GP wins
and almost single-handedly ushered in the modern era
of F1 driver safety.
Some
of this was self-preservation, as Stewart's crash in the
1966 Belgian GP ended with him trapped in the cockpit
with petrol pouring over him, and later driven in the
back of a pick-up truck to non-existent hospital facilities
littered with cigarette butts. But Stewart also witnessed
the tragic deaths of Clark, Jochen Rindt and many other
friends and colleagues in the dangerous pursuit that was
1960s open-wheeled F1 racing. And as safety improved,
so too did the financial rewards and commercial opportunities
available to Formula One drivers. Although it would be
14 years, until Alain Prost's
1987 victory at Estoril, before another F1 pilot surpassed
his 27 victories, in that time Jackie Stewart became synonymous
with Formula One world-wide from his roles as F1 commentator
and Ford Motor Co. spokesman. With his aviator glasses
and Scottish cap, Stewart cut a trend-setting profile
on the streets of Monaco, a race he won twice.
Stewart
spent six of his nine F1 years driving for Ken Tyrrell,
who moved from entering Matra customer cars to constructor
in fashioning the Elf-sponsored Team Tyrrell around
Stewart. This photo is of Stewart in the Tyrrell 003
Cosworth in 1972. Jackie Stewart's greatest race may
have been in the 1968 German GP at the 14-mile, 187-corner
Nürburgring, where in the mist and torrential rain
(and driving with a broken wrist) he outpaced the field
to win by just over four minutes from Hill. Stewart
himself said "I can't remember doing one more balls-out
lap of the 'Ring than I needed to. It gave you amazing
satisfaction, but anyone who says he loved it is either
a liar or wasn't going fast enough."
| Jackie
Stewart's Career Profile |
| Seasons |
Races |
Wins |
Poles |
Fastest
Laps |
Points |
F1 Titles |
| 9 |
99 |
27 |
17 |
15 |
359 |
3 |
|
