People

Paul Stewart

Being the son a famous father is never an easy business and Paul Stewart grew up very much in the shadow of his father Jackie Stewart. Born in Dumbarton, Scotland, Paul's childhood was marked by his father's racing successes which propelled the family to fame and fortune. Paul spent much of his childhood in Switzerland and was educated at Aiglon College in Switzerland, one of Europe's most exclusive private schools.When he finished school he went to college in the United States, studying political science at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. While studying he enrolled in two different racing schools one in America and the other in England, using a false name, to see if he had the talent necessary to become a racing driver. He did well and went on to compete in a few Formula Ford 1600 events in Britain in the course of 1987.When he graduated in May 1988 he entered Formula Ford 2000 with backing from Texaco, a deal brokered by his father. At the end of the year Jackie bought Gary Evans Motorsport in Egham, Surrey, and Paul Stewart Racing began to prepare for an assault on the British Formula 3 Championship with a crew of 10 staff. Paul was able to use the family name to land a big sponsorship deal with Camel, which had adopted a policy of backing the sons of famous fathers at the time. PSR ran a two-car team in British F3 for Paul and for the young German driver Otto Rensing. It was not a great year for the British series but Stewart managed to win a race at Snetterton.For 1990 there would be a major expansion for PSR with a move to Milton Keynes and the foundation of three two-car teams: one in European Formula 3000, one in British F3 and the third in Formula Vauxhall Lotus. It was the start of an operation which has now won 119 race victories and 12 different Championship victories. In addition the team has helped talented youngsters as such as David Coulthard, Gil de Ferran and Dario Franchitti to reach the top echelons of the sport.Paul spent 1991, 1992 and 1993 racing in Formula 3000 but without success and at the end of the final year, at the age of 28, Paul retired as a driver to concentrate on building up PSR. It was clear from that moment that the operation had F1 ambitions. Jackie's connections opened many doors but the most important was with Ford which agreed to supply the new F1 team with its factory engines. The company also helped the new F1 team to gather up sponsorship to fund the leap into Grand Prix racing.Paul was managing-director of the Stewart Grand Prix team from the start until early in 1999 when he stood down and became deputy chairman. Soon afterwards the team was sold to the Ford Motor Company and Paul gave up his new role and became chief operating officer. He was named chief operating officer of Jaguar Racing in January 2000 but was forced to resign in the midseason when it was discovered that he was suffering from cancer. Now in remission Stewart is only an occasional visitor to F1 these days.