Stewart

My school days were the worst part of my life.

"You stupid boy, you're stupid, dumb and thick. Sit down."

So, school, for me... I was a complete disaster.

So, therefore... you're a... you're a desperate person to win,

because you've failed so much in normal life.

That when you find something you've got to do,

you do it with much more focus, much more commitment, much more

just ambition.

You know, your early life, I think,

has a lot to do with how you develop.

- Jackie! - Jackie!

- Jackie! - Jackie, come over!

I mean, my early life was such an aggravation

because of my school problems.

The only benefit I think was

that I couldn't do the things that other people did...

So there's no alternative but to try and do it another way.

There is a Chinese curse which says, "May he live in interesting times."

Like it or not, we live in interesting times.

They are times of danger and uncertainty,

but they are also the most creative of any in the history of mankind.

This year's Formula 1 World Championship

will be contested in 11 races on three continents.

And there is Jackie Stewart, the young Scotsman,

a rising star in the sport and a 1969 championship contender.

The swinging 1960s were a fantastic time.

I had just started marriage, I had just started motor racing,

and my career was going like a rocket ship.

But the sport was incredibly dangerous.

And here the most disastrous sight that you can see on any

Clark had been killed instantly

as his car careered off the track at over 150 mph

Jackie Stewart has broken his collarbone and several ribs,

And Helen Stewart is by his side.

Stewart is pulling ahead in the 1969 season so far.

Does he have what it takes? Can he become World Champion?

I was brought up on the River Clyde,

just about 12 miles from Glasgow.

Mother and father did well, both of them worked in the garage.

Jackie was a very, very nervous boy.

He was very thin, and I think he suffered in his early youth,

a wee bit from an inferiority complex.

Why? I don't know.

And due to his lack of stature,

he didn't like school. He just hated it.

We all enjoy the works of Robert Louis Stevenson...

At that time, there was 54 of us in that class.

But your reading skills are poor to middling...

And when that teacher would have

each and every one of us to stand up and read something out of a book.

I couldn't do it.

Just a mass of letters and words that you can't understand...

Particularly MacDonald, Stewart and Lindsay...

It's a feeling of panic, it's just a jungle...

And I just thought I was stupid.

And I was told I was stupid, dumb or thick, or all three.

And that hurt. Badly.

I left school at 15 with no education.

You know, at least my family had a garage.

And that was where I went to work.

I was preparing cars for customers,

and one of them was a quite well-off customer.

And as a little reward, he gave me the chance to drive

in a very small event in Scotland,

which I finished second.

He said, "Oh, well, you should do the next one."

And I won the next one.

Four different cars and four wins this weekend

for the young Scotsman Jackie Stewart,

and team owner Ken Tyrrell is already taking an interest.

In the early 1960s we were always looking for new young talent.

And so I invited Jackie down for a test drive at Good wood.

And Jackie got in the car,

not having driven a single-seater of any sort before,

and in five laps he had gone quicker than Bruce McLaren had been.

And I think from then on, we knew that Jackie had arrived.

And Jackie Stewart wins the 1966 Grand Prix of Monaco,

driving for BRM.

And a superb victory for the young Scotsman,

seen here with his wife Helen.

Helen, when you first met Jackie,

were you interested in cars at all?

No! Not at all!

I just wasn't the slightest bit interested, even watching.

What, so did you... did you rebel at all?

Yeah, I did rebel a bit and it didn't work.

It didn't work at all!

Now Jackie Stewart's office is the cockpit

of his French-built Matra racing car.

1969 is only Matra's second season.

How can they compete with teams like BRM, Ferrari and Lotus?

Here's team leader Ken Tyrrell.

I think we have an advantage over them,

because being a small outfit,

we're not involved with the politics large companies get involved in.

Our aim is to win motor races and we can concentrate on that.

Welcome to Silver stone for the British Grand Prix of 1969,

and a full house today in the grandstands...

Today's grid includes world champions Denny Hulme,

Jack Brabham, John Surtees,

Graham Hill, and top team drivers Jochen Rindt,

Bruce McLaren, Jacky Ickx, Chris Amon,

Piers Courage and Jackie Stewart.

I always wanted to be good at something.

It might be that I want to be better than other people. I don't know.

I remember that from early age

that I wanted to succeed and do things well.

And this hasn't changed at all. I really desperately want success.

It's been a hard-fought season, and Stewart now has four wins,

but Lotus-driver Jochen Rindt was faster in practice

and is on pole position...

You're leading the championship. Are you feeling pressure?

I try to remove pressure and not to get overexcited.

I had to consciously remove all of my emotions.

- No panic. - Three minutes!

I was completely neutral.

And by the time of the race, I'm completely and utterly calm.

I am absolutely ice-cold neutral.

This is where your advantage lies: In your calmness.

Rindt putting on a tremendous show,

not being rattled by the masterful Stewart behind him...

Some people believe they've got to think of themselves as the best

in order to succeed. And that they're gonna win.

I never, ever thought that.

The people I raced against,

I was always surprised that I went as fast or faster than them.

He's got to catch up to make contact again with Rindt.

So there's nothing for it

but to belt after him, just as hard as the Matra will go.

I was always thinking everybody else is better than me.

And he's right up with him there, he's gonna try and take him!

Stewart's back in the lead...

And I've always thought that.

Stewart's back in the lead again.

And Stewart now...

Rindt's coming in, he's in trouble.

Jochen Rindt's in trouble. He's coming into the pits.

Jackie, five wins out of six and five more to go...

- How many more do you want to win? - As many as possible, obviously.

It's very nice to have won so many and I'm very thankful for this.

And I'd just like to win some more.

They had a tremendous show,

one of the best Grand Prix's we've seen for a long time.

And a worthy winner,

and man's who's got 45 points in the World Championship...

Sir Jackie Stewart, it's wonderful to be here,

sitting next to your 1969 Matra.

I have to ask you: Does it feel like 50 years ago?

Yes, in a way. I mean this car here is so special to me.

I think as history goes by, people have a desire to look back...

And lots of people do, because the great old days were wonderful.

Hey, it's good to hug. It's good to hug.

It's lights out and away we go,

Hamilton covers off his teammate, Leclerc in third from Verstappen

I'm not one who thinks like that.

I think today is better than yesterday,

and tomorrow is going to be better than today.

And when I think back,

it's difficult for me to identify the halcyon years of my life so far.

- Sir Jackie Stewart, OBE... - I'm thinking they're still to come.

It is possible that the World Championship of 1969

may be decided here today, at the Monza Autodrome.

If Jackie Stewart finishes fifth or better,

he will become World Champion.

Things were a little fraught. People were getting a bit on edge.

But at the same time, you've got to try and keep calm.

And to try and do that is, really, very difficult.

Jochen Rindt, still desperately chasing his first Grand Prix win,

in the very fast, but temperamental, Lotus 49B,

designed of course by team leader, Colin Chapman.

Tremendously experienced Jackie Stewart,

who is almost literally able to tune himself down

at the beginning of a race so that he's drained himself of all emotion.

You know, the manners in the group were really perfect.

And they're in our sight now, in your sight now,

Rindt... Rindt up into second place...

You had to be very sure what everyone was doing

because you were in very close company

literally inches apart at some times.

Down to the Vialone, 185 mph,

four cars, virtually together. Down to the Parabolica they come.

Can Stewart hold the line on this? The last lap, someone's challenging,

it's Rindt going through, Jochen Rindt takes the lead

in the Parabolica on the last corner of the last lap...

It must be... it's, it's over the line together,

and it's almost a dead heat.

It's Jackie Stewart, Rindt, Beltoise and McLaren.

Jackie Stewart won the Italian Grand Prix

from Jochen Rindt by about half a car's length.

Nobody has ever seen the finish of a motor race like this!

And this makes Jackie Stewart unmistakably the world champion

of 1969.

He had to finish in fifth place to be the world champion

and he has, in fact, won the race.

Just five years ago Stewart was working at his parents' garage,

and he's now Formula 1 champion of the world.

That was a dream.

I could never have dreamt

that it could have turned out the way it did.

Oh, Jesus!