"No Grand Prix would have been without another girl": $50M worth F1 champion pays tribute to his now deceased friend

Former three-time F1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart paid tribute to his former Tyrell teammate and friend François Cevert by shedding light on the latter's colorful life on the track. The Scotsman is known as one of the greatest drivers in the sport's history.

With his grit and speed behind the wheel, he defined F1 in the 1960s and early 1970s. The "Flying Scot", who has a net worth of $50m as per Celebrity Net Worth, raced at the pinnacle of motorsport from 1965 to 1973 and drove for teams like BRM and Tyrell, the latter with which he won all three titles in 1969, 1971, and 1973.

However, in a clip shared by Goodwood on their official Instagram page, the F1 legend was seen reminiscing about his memory of François Cevert, who was his teammate at Tyrell from 1970 to 1973 before his untimely death at Watkins Glen and even took a cheeky dig at his personal life. He said:

"Glamorous, very well-read, very good-looking, did a huge amount of damage. No Grand Prix would have been without another girl that he thought might like Grand Prix racing. A real Frenchman. He got on really well. Ken and I chose him because we had been... There was a racetrack in England where young drivers were being paid.

"So Ken and I were chosen to choose the best drivers, not only just for ourselves but for everybody else. And we chose Francois Cevert. We saw the talent and he joined me he was young, he was inexperienced and I thought he was the best boy that I'd ever known as a racing driver anyway," he added.

François Cevert joined F1 in 1969 and made 47 starts with teams like Techno and Tyrell. He had one race win to his name at the 1971 US Grand Prix. However, he lost his life on the same track whilst chasing his first pole position and sustained injuries that ultimately took his life.

Former F1 champion comments on Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari

Former F1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart stated that he was "surprised" that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes to join Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Speaking with Sky Sports, the 85-year-old reflected on the move and said:

“For Lewis, I was surprised he was going there. Going to Ferrari is very colorful, very exciting, and usually very successful. I wouldn’t count them out, to put it that way.”

Stewart was also offered a drive at the Italian team during his racing years but rejected the switch to stay with Tyrell which left Enzo Ferrari irked. Lewis Hamilton is the most successful British racing driver in the sport after the Scot, who won 27 times and took 17 pole positions from his 100 entries.