Maturing at Tyrrell

South African Jody Scheckter rapidly ascended to the ranks of Formula One after moving to Great Britain in 1970. His F1 debut occurred with McLaren at the 1972 US Grand Prix held at Watkins Glen, where he ran as high as third place before spinning and finishing ninth. Nevertheless, his performance got noticed.

He was wild but fast, like in France where he almost won in only his third start in F1 but crashed his McLaren into Fittipaldi, and Ken Tyrrell took notice. He gave Scheckter his first full-time drive in Formula 1 in 1974 and the young driver rewarded him with a strong campaign: a third-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship and a pair of wins in Sweden and Britain.

By now Jody Scheckter had matured and was a regular front-runner… without crashing and without losing his speed and race craft in the process. He’s seen here-above pensive before the start of the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix where he qualified in fifth, drove a good race and finished in second position, behind winner Peterson in his Lotus.