Team story
Origins
Jackie and Paul Stewart brought Paul Stewart Racing’s experience in the junior categories into Formula 1, building a new team with Ford’s backing. In 1997, Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen were given the SF01. The Brazilian’s second place at Monaco came in only the fifth race: a significant result for an organisation still working to make its technical package reliable.
The Formula 1 journey
After a difficult 1998, the SF3 brought a step up in performance. Barrichello took pole in France and several podiums; Johnny Herbert, who joined for the final season, won at the Nürburgring in 1999. In that race, changing conditions and the leading contenders’ problems rewarded Herbert’s choice of wet-weather tyres.
Barrichello was third, completing the team’s only double podium.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Stewart
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Australian Grand Prix
Rubens Barrichello · Australian Grand Prix 1997. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · European Grand Prix
Johnny Herbert · European Grand Prix 1999. The recorded position is P1; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Japanese Grand Prix
Rubens Barrichello · Japanese Grand Prix 1999. The recorded position is P8; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
The project combined a three-time world champion’s name, his son Paul’s day-to-day management and a major manufacturer’s technical and financial support. Barrichello remained the benchmark through the SF01, SF02 and SF3, while Magnussen, Jos Verstappen and Herbert took turns in the other car. The progress of 1999 also followed an internal reorganisation, needed after the rapid expansion of the early years.
What remains
The victory came after the sale to Ford had already been agreed. In 2000, the team became Jaguar, taking the Stewart name out of the championship at the end of its strongest season. The organisation’s subsequent transformations do not change the sporting record of those three years, defined above all by the early Monaco podium and the two SF3s on the podium at the European Grand Prix.
