John
Watson

John Watson was born in Belfast in 1946 and raced as a British driver from Northern Ireland. In 1972 he took part in a non-championship Formula One race at Brands Hatch in a March. His first World Championship races came in 1973 in a Brabham, at the British and United States Grands Prix, and both ended early. In 1974 he scored his first championship point at Monaco and finished the season with six points. In 1975 he drove for Surtees, Lotus and Penske without scoring a championship point. In Spain he ran second for a time, but a pit stop for vibrations cost him places and he finished eighth.

In 1976 he drove for Penske. Third place at the French Grand Prix was his first podium, and at the Austrian Grand Prix he won for the first time, having started from second on the grid. In 1977 he was back in a Brabham and took his first pole position at Monaco. At the French Grand Prix he dominated the race from the start, but a fuel metering problem on the final lap dropped him to second behind Mario Andretti. In 1978 he took three podiums and a pole position and finished sixth in the championship.

From 1979 Watson drove for McLaren. In 1981 he won the British Grand Prix, which was McLaren's first victory in more than three years and the first win for a Formula One car with a carbon fibre monocoque. In 1982 he finished third in the championship with two wins, including Detroit, where he started 17th. He went into the final race with an outside chance of the title and ended five points behind Keke Rosberg. In 1983 he won at Long Beach from 22nd on the grid, further back than any winner of the modern Grand Prix era, finishing 27 seconds ahead of his team-mate Niki Lauda.

After 1983 Watson no longer raced regularly in Formula One. In 1984 he turned to sports cars and won the Fuji 1000 km with Stefan Bellof. In 1985 he stood in for the injured Lauda at the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and finished seventh. In 1987 he was runner-up in the World Sportscar Championship with Jan Lammers in a Jaguar, the pair winning three rounds. His best result in seven starts at Le Mans between 1973 and 1990 was eleventh in 1990. From 1989 to 1996 he commentated on Formula One for Eurosport, and until 2024 he was a co-commentator for the GT World Challenge Europe.

Source: Wikipedia, “John Watson (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.