F1 Icons: Jackie Stewart

bet365 News Team Updated: 11 Feb 24 10:52

Sir Jackie Stewart's last world championship victory was more than 50 years ago now but the three-time F1 champion is still held in the highest regard by fans of the sport.

Stewart was a fierce competitor on the track and played a key role in pressing for improvements to safety standards for drivers during his career. He remains a popular figure on the grid at races and is a passionate advocate for charities.

He won his first world championship with the Matra team in 1969 and won two further titles with Tyrrell in 1971 and 1973. At the time of his third success only Juan Manuel Fangio (five) had won more titles.

The proud Scot was easily recognised by his tartan helmet design and retired after his third world title victory having won 27 of his 99 F1 races.

Formula 1

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Born	11th June 1939
Age	84
Birthplace	Milton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
F1 debut	1965 South African Grand Prix
Last F1 race	1973 Canadian Grand Prix
F1 titles	3
F1 teams	3

Jackie Stewart's early career

Stewart's father was a motorcycle racer and his elder brother Jimmy raced cars and took part in the 1953 British Grand Prix.

A crack marksman, Stewart was close to selection for the British trap shooting team for the 1960 Olympics. He began racing cars in 1961 and his excellent early results earned him a test for the Tyrrell Formula 3 team in which his times compared well with those of established driver Bruce McLaren.

He became British Formula 3 champion in his first season in 1964, winning seven of the eight races, and also won one of the two Formula 2 races he took part in for Lotus. Stewart won a non-championship race in an F1 car in December 1964 in South Africa.

He finished sixth in his first F1 race and had his first victory on the board by the end of his debut season, winning the 1965 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

He won around the streets of Monaco for the first time in the opening race of the 1966 season but was able to complete only two of the 11 races he started in 1967, although he finished second and third when he was able to cross the finishing line.

A move to the Matra team for 1968 paid off as he won three races to finish second in the championship. A win in the final race in Mexico would have seen him beat Graham Hill to the title but engine problems meant he could finish only seventh.

Jackie Stewart's championship years

Stewart dominated the 1969 world championship to take his first world title. With 63 points he finished 26 clear of runner-up Jacky Ickx despite failing to finish two of the final three races. He won six times, including his first British Grand Prix success at Silverstone, when he lapped the whole field.

He won one race for March in 1970 before finishing the season with Tyrrell, although he failed to reach the finish in three races for his new team and came fifth in the championship.

Better results were to come in his first full season with Tyrrell in 1971 as he claimed his second world title. Stewart won six of his 11 races, finishing with almost double the points total of runner-up Ronnie Peterson.

Stewart finished runner-up to Emerson Fittipaldi the following season, finishing well by winning the final two races of the year.

His third and final world championship came in 1973 as he held off the early challenge of Fittipaldi and a late charge by Peterson. Stewart won five races and clinched the title with two races to spare when taking fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix.

His title success was tinged with tragedy though, as his team-mate Francois Cevert was killed in an accident during qualifying for the season-ending United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

The team withdrew from the race and Stewart, who had already decided to retire at the end of the season aged 34, therefore did not take part in what would have been the 100th race of his career.

Jackie Stewart after retirement

While Stewart did not race again after his third title success, he has remained a huge figure in the F1 paddock ever since. He commentated for US networks for 15 years but his name really returned to prominence when he set up the Stewart Grand Prix team with his son Paul.

The team raced in F1 for three seasons from 1997 to 1999 and achieved a race victory when Johnny Herbert won the 1999 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

The team finished ninth, eighth and fourth in their three seasons before being sold to Jaguar in 2000 and becoming hugely successful as Red Bull Racing five years later.