François Cevert: the F1 Champion that never was

Born in Paris on the 25^th February 1944, Cevert’s early career saw him racing bikes before he made the switch to four wheels after completing his National Service. First attending the Le Mans school in 1966, he went on to top his class at the Winfield Racing School at Magny-Cours, his prize being an Alpine to drive in French Formula 3.

Limited funds and experience hindered this first campaign, though he secured sponsorship ahead of the 1968 season and swapped the Alpine for a superior Tecno. The switch paid off; Cevert won the Championship and took another step up the ladder, joining the Tecno Formula 2 team in 1969, finishing third overall.

It was here Stewart noted, during an exclusive interview with Goodwood Road & Racing, Cevert’s talents. When Tyrrell was left needing a driver at short notice, following Johnny Servoz-Gavin’s sudden retirement three races in to the 1969 season, it was the Frenchman who got the call.

“Ken [Tyrrell] and I were chosen to choose the best drivers, not only just for ourselves, but for everybody else, and we chose François Cevert,” Stewart recalled. “Ken and I went to Crystal Palace, actually, just to make sure that we were going to do a decent job in a circuit that he would know. And we saw the talent and he joined me.”

Cevert made his F1 debut at the 1969 Dutch Grand Prix and quickly got up to speed under Stewart’s tutelage, scoring his first point with a sixth-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix in September.

“He would come and stay with us in Switzerland,” said Stewart. “We spent a lot of time together. He had a lot to learn, but he was a great learner of anything that he thought was going to be better. And I held back nothing.”

Tyrrell charged to its only Constructors’ Title in 1971, Stewart taking six wins with Cevert coming second to him in France and at the Nürburgring. With Stewart’s Drivers’ Championship secured, October’s season finale in New York belonged to Cevert. 

It was Denny Hulme who took the lead off Stewart as the race got underway, though he retook the position before the end of the first lap. Having spent the first ten laps opening up a gap, this was now beginning to close. On lap 14, suffering an understeer issue, Stewart waved Cevert through and into the lead.

Ferrari’s Jacky Ickx would prove the biggest challenger to Cevert’s dreams of winning. The Belgian passed a now struggling Hulme and by the time he passed Stewart, Cevert had a 5.7second lead. At half distance, the issue afflicting his team-mate now presented on his own car, but just as Ickx had cut the gap to 2.2seconds with the fastest lap of the race, his alternator fell off, puncturing a hole in his gearbox and spilling oil onto the track.

Hulme struck this hazard and spun off into the barrier, and while Cevert had a near miss with a similar incident of his own, he held a 30-second lead and his maiden F1 victory ended up being a comfortable one. Cevert took the chequered flag ahead of Jo Siffert and Ronnie Peterson to become only the second Frenchman to win a Grand Prix, the first since Maurice Trintignant at Monaco in 1958.  

Cevert finished third in the standings in 1971, March’s Peterson splitting the Tyrrell pair. But this promising finish to the campaign wasn’t followed up the next year. He could only manage three points-scoring finishes, coming sixth in the standings, while Stewart had to settle as runner-up to champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

In 1973 there was a return to form for Tyrrell. Stewart took five wins on his way to a third World Championship, with Cevert coming second to him in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Stewart reflected on that year’s race at the Nürburgring: “That Grand Prix, I think he might have been able to beat me, but he didn't. And he didn't know that I was going to retire, he didn't know at all, but he didn't overtake me and he could have done.

“I think he thought, ‘Well, no, it's his 100^th Grand Prix that's coming up.’ So he didn't try to pass me.” That 100^th and final race would have been the United States Grand Prix. Stewart was ready to retire and pass the leadership of the Tyrrell team to Cevert, who would get his shot at glory in 1974.

It would never come. Cevert was killed going for pole at the track where he had added his name to the storied list of Grand Prix winners. Tyrrell and Stewart pulled out of the race out of respect for their friend, the 100^th Grand Prix never happened.

Stewart instead threw himself into working to improve safety in the sport, and new regulations would come into effect throughout the 1970s – Dr Sid Wakins was named F1’s Safety and Medical Delegate in 1978 and would go on to save the lives of many drivers in the subsequent years.

But for Cevert, it would always remain a case of ‘what if’. A charming, bright, young talent sacrificed to the sport just before his time had come, Stewart believed his friend had it in him to become the first French Formula 1 Champion.

“I think François would've [become World Champion], he was very good. I taught him everything that I ever knew about racing. We spent a huge amount of time together and I had nothing to hide from him. He was a very well brought up young man, and he was a very good Grand Prix driver.”

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.