Adversary and friend

“An adversary but also a friend” – Sir Jackie Stewart, the three-time F1 World Champion, remembers his on-track battles in 1969 and 1970 with Lotus driver Jochen Rindt, who had hit his prime. “Across my career, it was Jochen Rindt who was the toughest, the most competitive of my opponents.”

Stewart continues: “In 1969 we had some great battles, notably at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, passing and re-passing each other for the lead, all the way. Out of Becketts, in the slipstream, we would point to which side we wanted the other to pass. I was in the Matra MS 80, which was robust and reliable, Jochen was in the Lotus 49, a hell of a car, but fragile.”

“Jochen was very fast, a very clean racing driver, and he had learnt not to over-drive the car by this time. Early in his career, he was always sliding, lots of opposite lock, fast but bordering on reckless. You know, I don’t think he ever felt 100% safe in a Lotus, but in 1970, that terrible year, he was unstoppable in the Lotus 72. Then came Monza… We were good friends as well as neighbours and great rivals.”

Picture below: Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt, in a conversation, next to Rindt’s Lotus 49, at the 1969 South African Grand Prix, held at Kyalami. Stewart (Matra) won the race from fourth on the grid, while Rindt (Lotus) started second, but retired with a broken fuel pump.