Jackie
Stewart

Jackie Stewart was born on 11 June 1939 in Milton, Scotland. His brother Jimmy also raced. Stewart won four races in a Marcos in 1961. In 1964 he won the Formula Three championship in Ken Tyrrell's team.

In 1965 he joined BRM, with Graham Hill as his teammate. He finished sixth on his world championship debut in South Africa, took his first win at Monza that same year and ended the season third in the standings. He won at Monaco in 1966. A serious crash at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa became the starting point of his campaign for greater safety. That year he also led his first Indianapolis 500 by more than a lap before a mechanical failure ended his race a few laps from the finish.

In 1968 Stewart moved to Tyrrell's Matra team, won at Zandvoort, the Nürburgring and Watkins Glen, and finished second in the championship behind Hill. He became world champion for the first time in 1969 in a Matra-Cosworth. In 1970 he drove a March at first, winning at Jarama, and later in the season the new Tyrrell, ending the year fifth in the standings. His second title came in 1971 with six wins; in 1972 he won four races and was runner-up to Emerson Fittipaldi. In 1973 he won in South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, the Netherlands and at the Nürburgring, and took a third title.

After his teammate François Cevert was killed in practice for the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Stewart ended his career one race earlier than planned. He had already clinched the title two races before, at Monza. He made 99 starts, with 27 wins, 43 podiums and 17 pole positions. His 27 wins stood as the record until Alain Prost passed it in 1987.

After Spa in 1966, Stewart campaigned for better medical care, safer circuits, seat belts and full-face helmets, and organised driver boycotts, including at Spa in 1969 and the Nürburgring in 1970. In 1997 he returned to Formula One as team principal of Stewart Grand Prix, run with his son Paul; in 1999 Johnny Herbert won for the team at the Nürburgring. Stewart was knighted in 2001.

Source: Wikipedia, “Jackie Stewart”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.