"Apparently I need to dust off my racing overalls": 85-year-old F1 legend reacts to suggestions that he should race Jake Paul in a karting competition

Former F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart recently reacted to suggestions that he should be the next senior sportsperson to race Jake Paul in karts. This reaction came after Paul's boxing match with Mike Tyson.

On November 15, 2024, popular internet personality and professional boxer Jake Paul fought boxing legend Mike Tyson in Texas. The event was streamed and hosted live on Netflix, marking the platform's first live stream of a sport. The historic fight between Paul and Tyson went on for eight rounds but was widely considered underwhelming.

Several controversies and rumors emerged that the event was a cash grab and the match was fixed. Many people criticized Jake Paul for taking on an old boxing legend like Mike Tyson and beating him easily. Several jokes were also made that Jake Paul would now take on other senior legends of each sport and beat them.

An F1 fan account on Instagram jokingly posted that Paul now wants to race former F1 driver Sir Jackie Stewart in a karting competition. The British driver reposted this joke on his Instagram stories, saying he shall need to clean his racing overalls and be ready to race Jake Paul.

"Apparently, I need to dust off my racing overalls...," Stewart wrote.

Jackie Stewart hilariously said that he needs to clean his racing overalls and get ready for a race against Jake Paul (Image via Instagram/sirjackiestewart)

It was rumored that from the popular boxing fight, Mike Tyson was able to make around $20,000,000, while Jake Paul bagged around $40,000,000.

When the F1 fan account posted about Sir Jackie Stewart, the retired F1 driver also replied in the comments, joking that his grandchildren advised him to ask for the same deal Mike Tyson received for the boxing match.

"I’ve been told by my grandchildren that I should be asking for the same deal Mike Tyson got," Stewart wrote.

Though most F1 drivers started their racing journey by driving go-karts, there is no confirmed record that Sir Jackie Stewart raced in any karting championship.

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Brief history of Sir Jackie Stewart's illustrious F1 racing career

Sir Jackie Stewart's earliest entry in a racing competition was in the British F3 Championship in 1964 with Tyrell, which he won in his debut year. That same year, he was directly offered a seat in F1, but instead, he first raced in F2 with Lotus.

Finally, in 1965, he joined F1 with the Owen Racing Organization. In his debut season, he finished third in the championship, only behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill.

His F1 career panned from 1965 to 1973, between which he 27 races and three world championships in 1969, 1971, and 1973. His most dominant seasons came with Matra and Tyrell's F1 teams.

To this day, he continues to visit F1 races and is greeted and respected by everyone in the paddock.