Constructors

Stewart Grand Prix

Jackie Stewart won three Formula 1 World Championships as a driver before retiring at the end of the 1973 season. Although Jackie maintained his links with the sport as an industry consultant and sometime TV commentator he did not take a more active role until the middle of 1988 when his son Paul decided to go racing and established Paul Stewart Racing, in which Jackie played an important role attracting sponsorship.Initially PSR ran Paul Stewart himself with Texaco backing in British Formula Ford 2000 but at the end of that season the team bought the assets of the Gary Evans Motorsport Formula 3000 team in Egham and moved from its original base in Southampton. PSR then landed backing from Camel, expanded to 10 people, and entered two cars in Formula 3: one for Paul Stewart and the other for German Otto Rensing. Stewart won a race at Snetterton in 1989. That autumn the team expanded into Formula 3000 and Formula Vauxhall Lotus, moving to a new factory in Milton Keynes and growing to 45 people. Paul Stewart continued in F3, partnered by Derek Higgins, while David Coulthard and Gil de Ferran were hired for Formula Vauxhall Lotus and Andrea Chiesa and John Jones raced in F3000 with backing from Labatt's brewery. The Formula 3000 team was never a great success and it was not until 1993 that Gil de Ferran gave the team its first win. He scored two further victories in 1994 but the team won no races in 1995.There was considerably more success in the junior formulae with PSR becoming dominant in the British F3 series with six titles in eight years for de Ferran (1992), Kelvin Burt (1993), Jan Magnussen (1994), Ralph Firman (1996), Johnny Kane (1997) and Mario Haberfeld (1998). There was also considerable success in Formula Vauxhall Lotus with several British title victories.In January 1996 Jackie Stewart announced that he had secured the factory Ford Formula 1 engine supply for 1997 and that a new organization called Stewart Grand Prix was to be established. The team withdrew from Formula 3000 but continued to compete in Formula 3 and Formula Vauxhall.The 1997 season saw Alan Jenkins design the Stewart SF1 for Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen. The Dane suffered leg injuries in a pre-season testing crash and there were a variety of suspension failures which undermined the confidence of the drivers. The car was plagued with engine problems but Bridgestone tires helped Barrichello to finish second at Monaco in 1997 - the team's only result of the year. The SF2 in 1998 featured a much better Ford V10 engine but reliability was bad and the team still too new. Magnussen was dropped and Jos Verstappen hired but the results did not greatly improve. Ford acquired Cosworth Racing in July 1998 and decided to take a big risk on an all-new engine in 1999. Jenkins designed the SF3 but then departed - to be replaced by Gary Anderson. The team retained Barrichello and hired Johnny Herbert to be his team mate. The cars were quick but not always reliable though Barrichello was able to score a string of minor placings. Towards the end of the year Herbert came on strongly and won a lucky but deserved victory in a wet/dry European GP at the Nurburgring, giving the team its first - and last - F1 victory. In June the team was bought by Ford and in September it was announced that it would become Jaguar Racing in 2000 with drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert.