Sir Jackie Stewart was awarded a knighthood for services to motor racing in the 2001 Birthday Honours and described the accolade as “more important than my first win or winning a world championship”. ‘The Flying Scot’, as he was known in his heyday, was one of the most successful Formula One drivers in history. In nine seasons behind the wheel, between 1965 and 1973, he won the World Drivers’ Championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1973 and was runner-up twice, in
1968 and 1972.
At the time of his retirement, in 1973, Stewart had won 27 of his 99 races, thereby setting a record for the most wins by a Formula One driver that would stand until 1987, when broken by Alain Prost. He was subsequently voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), beating tennis player Roger Taylor and equestrian Patrick McMahon in a poll of ‘Radio Times’ readers. Accepting the SPOTY trophy from the 1972 winners, pentathlete Mary Peters, Stewart said, “It’s a tremendous thrill. It is the climax of something that has been a great year.”
Despite that upbeat assessement, the Formula One season had ended on a tragic note, with the death of his teammate at Elf Team Tyrrell, Frenchman Francois Cevert, at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York. In Saturday morning practice for the final race of the season, Cevert struck a kerb in the high-speed section known as the ‘Esses’, lost control and crashed, almost head-on, into a guardrail. He was killed instantly. Subsequently described by Stewart as, “The best boy that I had ever known”, Cevert had been primed to lead Tyrrell following his retirement.
As it was, Tyrell withdrew from the race, such that Stewart did not start, but had already done enough to win his third, and final, World Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson. Stewart had known all along that the 1973 Formula One season would be his last, but officially announced his retirement on October 14, saying, “As of today, I am no longer a racing driver.I have retired and I am very happy about it.”