Triple world champion Jackie Stewart said he had likely driven his last lap in a Formula 1 car after steering his title-winning 1973 Tyrrell around the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit at the age of 85.
The Scot — world champion in 1969, 1971 and 1973 — made light of the afternoon heat as he drove around at a relatively leisurely pace behind the safety car ahead of Sunday’s race start.
“I would have thought that’s it,” Stewart, still in his racing overalls, told Reuters when asked whether that was really the last time anyone would see him at the wheel of a grand prix racer.
“You don’t forget where first gear, fifth gear is. The car felt wonderful. I mean, we didn’t go fast but the whole feeling of the car was great … It was fun to do it.”
Over 50 years since he last raced an F1 car in 1973, F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart is back behind the wheel!
In his iconic championship-winning Tyrrell, JYS is driving to find a cure for dementia with his charity, @racingdementia#F1 pic.twitter.com/C49PrCw726
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2025
Asked what he was thinking and feeling as he suited up and stepped into the car for the last time, Stewart smiled.
“‘This is a problem,'” he said was his immediate thought. “Getting dressed, so much stuff, everything’s thermal. As if I were racing.
“Somebody made the overalls from down here [in Bahrain]. Actually, I think it’s the same people who build the helmets. They did a good job.”
If Stewart was truly hanging up his helmet, he had an exceptional one to remove: a special edition signed by all 20 living champions including Ferrari great Michael Schumacher, who has not been seen in public since 2013 due to a brain injury.
Seven-time world champion Schumacher’s wife Corinna helped the German sign the initials MS.
As Stewart’s son Mark explained, the helmet is likely to be the centrepiece of a global auction to raise funds for Stewart’s Race Against Dementia charity funding research into a disease suffered by his wife Helen.
The helmet could equally go on tour, raising funds around the world.
“We’re not in a rush, but we know we have something very valuable here. And you know, at the end of the season, we might be able to get a new world champion to sign it on top of it,” Mark, the owner of the Tyrrell, said.
“As long as it raises money, that’s the main thing.
“It’s a special thing … To get my father together with his helmet and his 1973 world championship car is unique and a real special moment. We’re all here. All his grandchildren are here to see this.”
