The apprentice and the teacher

François Cevert debuted in Formula One midway through 1970 (picture below), subbed into the Tyrrell team alongside Jackie Stewart in a Ken Tyrrell-entered March 701.

“He came in as a Formula 1 rookie,” says Stewart, “and from that point on, I took him on…” Cevert was taken wholly under Stewart’s wing – at first at the request of Ken Tyrrell, but the two men quickly formed a teacher/apprentice relationship the likes of which Formula 1 has rarely if ever, seen. A great friendship as well.

“I told him everything I ever knew…” says Stewart. “There was never a time when I would have said, ‘I’m not going to tell you that.”

For his part, Cevert never shied away from his apprentice status. “It’s very simple,” he said “Jackie did all my education. He taught me how you must analyse a car, how you must think when you are driving, the vision you must have. Jackie is the Maestro for me.”