The Succession of Jackie Stewart

It is always complicated for a team to prepare for the succession of a grand champion. Especially when that man is the driving force behind the squad. In 1973, Tyrrell faced such circumstances when, after a long and fruitful partnership with Jackie Stewart since their Formula 3 days and arriving in Formula 1 with Matra in 1968, winning two titles in 1969 and 1971. And, by then, Stewart was the best driver in the world...

Jackie Stewart in 1973 (unknown)

            Until 1973, Ken Tyrrell's Formula One team has been centered around Jackie Stewart. After racing for 'Uncle Ken' in Formula 3 and Formula 2, Stewart quickly demonstrated his enormous talent in Formula One with BRM and, when Matra decided to enter Formula One in 1968, Tyrrell managed to convince the Frenchmen to support his entry into Formula 1. Basically, Matra started its own works team with Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the wheel and Matra V12 engines, while Ken Tyrrell's project – branded as Matra International – used Cosworth DFV units, as Tyrrell had an excellent relationship with Ford sales director Walter Hayes. Jackie Stewart was an obvious choice to compete for the promising team, as he was disappointed by BRM's lack of progress and knew Ken for a long time. We all know how successful their partnership was, winning three races (plus the Race of Champions) in 1968 (and Jackie only missed the World Championship because he was injured early in the season) and grabbing their first title in 1969. However, Matra wasn't interested in having two teams competing with different engines and wanted to promote their V12 for good in 1970, which forced Tyrrell to choose another chassis supplier, in this case, the newcomer March.

The March 701 was a good car, albeit underdeveloped (unknwon)

              Although it was a partnership marked by many mechanical failures due to the Bicester team's inexperience, it was a defining year as Ken Tyrrell soon realised that if he wanted to succeed in the Great Circus, he had to build his own chassis. With backing from French oil company Elf and Ford and a driver of Stewart's prestige, Ken began building a car designed by Derek Gardner midway through the 1970 season and debuted it with some encouraging performances in the last three rounds of the Championship. By then, Johnny Servoz-Gavin, one of France's most promising drivers and a product of the celebrated Volant Elf school, and Tyrrell's second driver earlier in 1970 had retired after a car crash that affected his eyesight and, with his typical bon-vivant style, Johnny felt that the pleasure of racing did not outweigh the inherent risks of the profession. He was replaced by a new driver with Elf support, François Cevert, hailed as one of the most talented drivers in French motor racing scene, which was already renowned by his exploits behind the wheel of an Alpine and a Tecno in Formula 2. He quickly showed his qualities among the top class and immediately forged a strong friendship with Jackie Stewart, who became his mentor.

Cevert celebrating his first win! (unknwon)

 

Thus, Stewart and Cevert became one of the greatest duos in motorsport history. The Scot won the 1971 title, and Cevert improved consistently to win his first and sadly, sole F1 race, the USA Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Such success didn't last into 1972, as the new Tyrrell 003/004 was tough to tune and drive, and Stewart was suffering the consequences of an extraordinarily intense 1971 season as, alongside his Formula One commitments, he has also done the whole Can-Am Championship, driving for the works Lola team backed by Carl Haas. On the first half of the season Lotus, led by the young and promising Emerson Fittipaldi soon took over the reins of the Championship, taking advantage of Tyrrell's trouble and Stewart's health. The Scot was even forced to stay home for a few weeks due to a stomach ulcer he had developed due to the previous year's stress and missed one race. Thus Lotus and Fittipaldi gained a significant advantage and had an easy ride for the title, but towards the end of the season, the new 005 chassis allowed Stewart and Cevert to fight again on par with Lotus and progress was evident, with Stewart winning in Canada and the USA.

Stewart on his way for the win at Mosport in 1972 (Motor Sport)

             Therefore, 1973 promised a great contest between Fittipaldi and Stewart. The first half of the season was marked by an outstanding balance between the two teams. Then Jackie Stewart suddenly informed Ken Tyrrell and Walter Hayes that he planned to leave racing for good…

 

The succession crisis:

            Everyone knows how vital Jackie Stewart's campaigns to improve safety conditions in Formula One (and motor racing in general) were. In fact, he and the late Jo Bonnier were the true paladins in this field, back in the days when the circuits were still outlined by trees and straw bales, and it wasn't uncommon to have one out of three drivers who started the F1 season dying before the end of the year. All that struggle, coupled with several friends' deaths, had convinced Stewart to retire, as he was 33 years old and could say goodbye in glory with his third title. Nowadays, most F1 drivers make their debuts pretty young and have long careers and retire by mid-to-late '30s, or even later, as it's possible to see this season with two great champions: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen. However, until the nineties, a racing driver's lifespan at his peak tended to begin and end later. There were no simulators nor karting schools since their childhood, so the "average" driver needed to hone his skills on the lower formulae or any other category (because a driver's background hardly was standardised as it is currently) and they began their F1 careers by mid-'20s, apart from some rare exceptions. Retiring so young was uncommon for a great champion. Still, the same can be said about being alive or without major injuries with such age, so Stewart's choice was perfectly understandable. Also, his wife Helen had been badly scared by the death of her husband's rival and friend Jochen Rindt in the 1970 Italian Grand Prix and had asked Stewart to retire from racing. Consequently, in the spring of 1973, Stewart confessed to Ken Tyrrell and Walter Hayes his final decision. They all agreed not to tell Helen, lest she suffer from her husband's career countdown, and the decision was not communicated to Francois Cevert either. 

Jackie Stewart and his wife Helen. They were one of the most famous couples in F1 (unknown)

             With this secret under lock and key, the Scot continued his assault on the 1973 title. In the second half of the season, Tyrrell gradually took the edge over the Lotus 72 of Fittipaldi and Peterson, also benefiting from the rivalry between the two young stars of Colin Chapman's formation and Fittipaldi's heavy crash at Zandvoort, which left him bruised for some time, while Cevert, increasingly a more mature driver, never dared to openly challenge his mentor. So strong was the teacher/student relationship between Stewart and Cevert that the Scot would go on to say that, in the German Grand Prix,  Cevert, who was running second, was much faster and could have overtaken him at any time, while the Frenchman claimed that his master was by far the best in the world and therefore deserved to win. Yet, in Stewart's mind, Cevert was his worthy successor – a statement many doubt because the Frenchman known among women for his good looks and dazzling blue eyes had only won one race – but the Scot and Ken Tyrrell were already more than convinced, and there are no better people to know so than those who had actually been there.

Cevert's most iconi picture (unknown)

             So Cevert would be the team's first driver in 1974, while several names were being put forward for the second car. Roger Williamson, the fabulous British shooting star backed by property entrepreneur and future Donington Park owner Tom Wheatcroft, was one of them, but the young Brit had yet to race in Formula One – he would make his debut in the British Grand Prix that year – and Wheatcroft, who had developed a genuine affection for Roger, was planning to buy at least one chassis and two engines to set up a private team for the young driver to gain F1 experience in 1974. And Ken Tyrrell probably thought it would be a gamble on a driver who was so young. Another possibility was French driver Patrick Depailler. Along with Beltoise, he had come up through the ranks of motorbikes and soon moved on to cars, although his links with Elf and Alpine delayed his progress from Formula 3 to Formula 2. However, in 1972 Patrick was invited to race for Ken Tyrrell in the team's third car and was already a star in F2, known for his enormous talent and technical abilities and development skills. Backed by Elf, Tyrrell's main sponsor, he was probably the most obvious choice. The third name put forward was fellow Scotsman Gerry Birrell, a prominent touring car driver – one of the world's best in that (very) underrated discipline – who had previously excelled in Formula 2, albeit with small teams and had signed for Chevron in 1973. Aged already 28, Birrell was an extraordinarily talented and versatile driver and was backed by Ford, being widely recommended by the blue oval. As mentioned above, Ford and Cosworth were a mainstay of the Ockham team and would certainly have a say in the choice of the incoming driver, as well as Elf.

The less-known man in Tyrrell's shortlist, Gerry Birrell (unknwon)

             Whether there were additional candidates,  more experienced or not in F1, I cannot say. What is widely known is that fate quickly took care of eliminating two of these men. Within weeks, Roger Williamson was killed in a horrific accident in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, and Birrell died in a similarly chilling accident in a Formula 2 race at Rouen. That left Depailler an increasingly favourite for the seat. However, rumours began to emerge of a possible Tyrrell interest in Peter Revson, the McLaren driver who would be replaced by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974, as well as in Jody Scheckter, a very promising South African driving the third Mclaren on selected races, but known for his aggressiveness (which was quite exaggerated as the years passed by), especially after he caused a massive shunt at the end of the first lap of the 1973 British G.P by spinning at Woodcote in front of the rumbling peloton.

Jody Scheckter's "Maximum Attack" style created some troubles on his debut (unknown)

             Unfortunately, everything rushed by the end of 1973. After a spectacular comeback in the Italian Grand Prix, Stewart won his third title and was two races away from leaving the racing world (as a driver) for good. In the Manufacturers' series, Lotus was getting the upper hand, and Ken Tyrrell invited the experienced (and still young) Chris Amon, coming from a disastrous season with Tecno, to drive the third car in Canada and the USA, hoping to steal points from Lotus and, who knows, evaluating him for a possible seat in 1974.  Unfortunately, the New Zealander was increasingly tired of his bad luck all over the years (once, Mario Andretti said if Amon was an undertaker, people would stop dying) and felt his motivation wasn't the same, especially after losing a certain win at the 1972 French Grand Prix. However, Amon never got on well with the 006 chassis, known for its short wheelbase, which Stewart liked but was equally tricky to tune. And Cevert seemed increasingly agitated about demonstrating his worth on the circuits and his right to claim the coveted first driver's seat. Rumours of Stewart's withdrawal were already circulating, even if the official decision was carefully guarded by Tyrrell and Hayes. There was even talk that Cevert might be on his way out to Shadow... In the Canadian Grand Prix, the Frenchman tangled with Jody Scheckter, which left him with a lot of pain in his ankles and a considerable dislike for the wild South African. Sadly, when qualifying for the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, on what would be the hundredth race for Jackie Stewart, Cevert was pushing too hard and heavily crashed on the Esses between turn three and four and plunged into the guardrails, being killed on the spot. In respect for his teammate and friend, Stewart and Tyrrell immediately decided not to start the race, effectively giving the Manufacturers' crown to Lotus and ending Stewart's career in a sad way.

Cevert during practice for the 1973 US Grand Prix. It all ended in sorrow (unknown)

             Stewart always regretted not telling Cevert that the first Tyrrell driver's seat would be his, feeling guilty because François was forcing because he might have thought his seat was at risk. Ironically, by that point, Depailler had already been chosen as the second driver. However, the tragedy at Watkins Glen left Tyrrell wholly disorientated. With Stewart's heir dead and all the big names of F1 already under contract with rival teams, Ken Tyrrell had no choice but to take the risk to have an inexperienced, albeit promising, pair of drivers, and hired Scheckter to replace Cevert. The South African was the first driver to arrive at Cevert's crash scene and see the body. The gruesome scene he witnessed suddenly changed Schecker, like someone whose hair turns white over some kind of sorrow. After that, the South African was never the same aggressive young driver he'd been before, soon turning into one of the ranks' most regular and cerebral drivers. Despite the losses, Tyrrell fought for the 1974 Drivers' Championship until the last round with Jody Scheckter, displaying maturity and regularity far above average for an almost rookie. Those are the strange lines of fate.

One year later, Scheckter was fighting for the Championship at Wtkins Glen (unknown)