This month in history: Jackie Stewart, last Grand Prix and last championship title 1973

1973 will go down as an unusual year in FIA Formula 1 world championship history for many reasons, but it also stands out in terms of the ELF brand’s commitment to motor racing’s elite class. British driver Jackie Stewart – at the time competing for ELF Team Tyrrell-Ford – added a third F1 world championship to the drivers’ titles he had secured in 1969 and 1971, before then retiring at what would have been his 100^th Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in the United States. The Scot was clearly affected by the sudden death of his young French team-mate, François Cevert, who was killed following a violent crash in qualifying. The season had quickly developed into a head-to-head battle between Emerson Fittipaldi, the defending world champion, and Jackie Stewart, lead driver of the ELF-backed team at the time. Stewart had claimed his first win in South Africa, before grabbing further victories in Belgium, Monaco and Zandvoort. The championship then tipped in his favour. Fittipaldi suffered a huge crash in free practice that left his ankles badly bruised, the Brazilian only able to manage a few laps of the race before retiring.

Stewart claimed another race win in Germany, taking his tally for the year to five, as Fittipaldi, still recovering from his injuries, could only finish sixth. Stewart sealed his third world title at Monza, in Italy, with two rounds of the season left to go. In Canada, the penultimate round of the season, speculation grew in the paddock that the newly crowned world champion intended to retire from the sport. This was subsequently confirmed in tragic circumstances at Watkins Glen, at what would have been Stewart’s hundredth and final Grand Prix. Winner at the same track two years earlier, one of sport’s rising stars and destined for a great future in F1, François Cevert sadly died from his injuries after crashing in qualifying. Out of respect for the Frenchman, the ELF Tyrrell-Ford team decided to withdraw from the event. Stewart would therefore not contest a hundredth Grand Prix. The race was won by Ronnie Peterson, although this was largely overshadowed by Cevert’s death. As expected, Jackie Stewart officially announced his retirement a few days later, having nonetheless made a major contribution to F1 racing history and ELF’s involvement in it.