Questions for Jackie Stewart

F1 Fanatic round-up

Posted on

| Written by

I’ll be interviewing Sir Jackie Stewart for an article on the site this morning, so if there’s anything you’d like to know from the thrice-champion, 27-time Grand Prix winner, former team owner and more, please post it in the comments.

Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

Only 4WD Car To Win F1 At Auction (Speed)

There’s also a terrific article about Stirling Moss being reunited with the Ferguson P99 he won the 1961 Oulton Gold Cup with in the current issue of Motorsport magazine.

Horner: Both drivers still in title race (Autosport)

News that must have gone down well at Maranello.

World’s fastest rollercoaster: Could you stomach it? (BBC)

“The Formula Rossa rollercoaster [at Abu Dhabi’s Ferrari World] boasts acceleration from 0 to 60mph (97km/h) in 2 seconds, and takes the title from the Kingda Ka in New Jersey, US, which reaches speeds of 128mph.”

Blogging from Korea: Sunday (Williams)

“During the build-up to the start… we didn’t know what tyres we were going to fit because the track conditions were very unpredictable. We took eight sets of tyres to the grid for each car, which was a logistical nightmare because we had to find many more power units than normal.”

Todt eyes strong future for F1 (Press Association)

“It’s very difficult if you are a very powerful manufacturer like BMW, Honda, Toyota. Incidentally, none of them were very successful, so when you spend a huge amount of money without success, it’s probably easier when you have to decide where and how to invest.”

Sky becomes race partner for Brazilian Grand Prix (Red Bull)

“The agreement means Sky’s logo will feature on the bargeboards of Red Bull Racing’s Formula One cars throughout the race weekend.”

Comment of the day

Lots of different opinions over Mark Webber/Nico Rosberg collision at Korea. Did Webber have enough control over his car to keep it out of the path of his rivals? Did he purposefully let it roll towards the racing line in the hope of taking out a title rival?

Jarred Walmsley gives him the benefit of the doubt:

What I think happened was Webber was trying to get his car off the track as it would be a lot less dangerous on the side of the track (where it ended up) than stuck in the middle of the track where it would have been had he applied brakes.

Also, I bet if he had applied his brakes and stopped on the track there’d be controversy over that as well. So Webber made a split-second decision of what he thought would be the safest thing to do in those circumstances.
Jarred Walmsley

From the forum

Alexi wonders which engine manufacturers might return to F1 in the future.

Site updates

F1 Fanatic home page redesign

Some changes to the site’s homepage are in the works. See the image to the right for a preview.

The objective with these changes is the same as for earlier revisions to the layout: to make it easier to find content, to make pages load more quickly and to keep the site’s appearance fresh.

Part of the plan with this layout is to make it easier to revise the home page and add new elements to it in future. Please share your feedback in the comments.

Happy birthday!

Quadruple birthday congratulations to D Winn, Zahir, Vinicius Antunes and Nixon!

On this day in F1

Bernie Ecclestone with his Zimmer Frame

Make that a quintuple – the big cheese has hit the big eight-oh.

Yes, Bernie Ecclestone turns 80 year old today.

Here’s a picture of him with a special Zimmer Frame that was presented to him by Red Bull at the Korean Grand Prix. It features an F1-style steering wheel with buttons marked “Power”, “Tea” and “Viagra”.

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

61 comments on “Questions for Jackie Stewart”

  1. Ahaha! That Zimmer frame story is absolutely hilarious! The article about Nick Heidfeld in the autosport feed is really interesting.

  2. Happy Birthday D Winn, Zahir, Vinicius Antunes and Nixon!

    Oh and that guy that looks like Andy Warhol and Bruce Vilanch’s love child. Happy birthday to him to!

    1. Thanks US_Peter

      1. Thanks for remembering Kieth.

        1. No problem :-) Have a good one.

          1. Thanks for the shout out Keith and thanks for the wishes everyone

    2. Happy birthday to all of you from me as well.

      Better late then never, eh ;-)

  3. Question for Sir Jackie:
    The name label on your famous first helmet looks like a schoolboy label. Did your old headmaster do it for you? Were you worried about pickpockets in the paddock?

  4. Where is Mark Webber and why isnt he with Vettel and Horner for the present giving? surely not RBR favourtism? ;)

    1. Webber left Korea pretty quickly. There was a pic of him on a plane to where ever

    2. the present was given before the race.

  5. Hmmm… don’t like to be negative, but my first impressions of the new layout are that the current appearance is better. It doesn’t look as neat and symmetrical, and I think the homepage needs a big picture to catch you attention, like the ITV- F1 site does. It might slow the site down but I think the benefits outweigh the problems

    1. I agree, and since when have the comment boxes been this way, more options, me like. But the GP Update should be off to the right, or somewhere else, because it just looks random there…

    2. Agree. If it was me, I’d consider reconsidering.

      The 4column grid layout abruptly changing to 3 isn’t really ideal. The GPUpdate gadget also finds itself stranded and disconnected. The eye doesn’t know how to scan the headline section, up, down or across, not aided by the now overbearing photos in relation to the much briefer preview text, making the whole page look distracting, cluttered and confusing.

      You currently get a better idea of the stories and content (which is why people come here) with the two or three paragraph layout, making deciding what articles are of interest easier. The single sentence layout is therefore actually less efficient for visitors.
      The navigation panels are now relegated down and beneath the fold, which again seems far from ideal.

      The present layout is actually very clean, easy to navigate, informative and recognisable as F1Fanatic … “freshen up”, sounds too much like change for change sake.

      You’d want to make pretty sure that it is worth losing a lot of that recognition-factor and all that user-friendliness … to trade it in for something that (arguably) looks cluttered, noisy and unbalanced; that looks like any generic late-2010 facelifted site, trying to mimic the (broken) BBC grid layouts.

      The whole point is the quality of original content generated, no? So why hide the site’s main selling point, and make it look like any other aggregating F1 news site?

      /2cents

      1. Agreed, it looks quite cluttered and a bit too busy.

        It would be a shame to get rid of the current Grand Prix window, with easy access to the important articles like TV times, weather, circuit info, etc.

      2. I couldn´t agree more. I just would like to add that I was, for many years, an assiduous reader of the f1-live.com site. Simple layout with lots of short articles about F1. Simply fantastic to a quick and informative visit. Then, it was sold to ESPN, and well, they, IMHO, destroyed the site. The biggest mistake was to not understand the essential question “What is the key ingredient of the sucess of this place?” In my opnion was the very simple layout and the use of lots of short articles (fans of any driver/team could easely find news about them) . And what they did? Very confused layout and well, the main strength, short articles, was relegated to the background. Result? They lost at least a visitor.

    3. It might slow the site down but I think the benefits outweigh the problems

      I’m afraid it doesn’t! I’ve done the maths…

      1. I think it looks great!

      2. If it’s anything Keith, I personally think you’ve done a great job with the redesign of the site, it’s good you have more articles on the page, as you can lose ones that you wanted to read, especially when the team by team race reviews come along.

        Also I’m liking the category system at the bottom of the page, again makes it easier to find things.

        I don’t think it looks too cluttered, although I can see Neds point about possibly needing a big picture, how you’d put that into the new layout though I’m not sure.

        But overall, thumbs up, good job!

      3. I find the two most usefull things about the site at the moments is the Articles and Articles in Brief boxes.

        It makes recent content incredibly easy to open, an gives you an idea of the amount of discussion going on. If there was anyway to keep those I’d suggest doing it.

        1. Yes I agree with this

        2. I agree. Those are the main things I look at when I come to the site to see if there are new articles I haven’t read yet, and to check back on recent articles for interesting comments and discussion. Please save the boxes!

      4. I too want a big main picture come up on the home page alongside the latest main article.

    4. New design isn’t bad, but definitely prefer the current version.

  6. Jackie Stewart and Nando Parrado? Are they still in contact? How did they first meet and how did Jackie help Nando with racing?

    What’s Jackie’s view on safety in formula one today?

    And does he think they should start the race in Korea earlier? Does he think f1 drivers aren’t as brave as they used to be?

    1. They’re friends? Interesting. I met Nando a few years ago when I was doing corporate audio/video production and was the tech on an event that he was hired for. Got to chat with him for a while before the event. He’s a very honest, friendly, and down to earth guy, and hearing the story of the crash from his own mouth is pretty incredible.

  7. i like the new redesign keith!

    question for Sir jackie: what is your proudest moment? winning races yourself or winning with the Stewart team?

    here’s a ruder version of Bernie’s birthday photo:
    http://f1.imgci.com/PICTURES/CMS/7300/7343.jpg

    1. haha, love the Bernie pic.

      Also, the new homepage design looks great

  8. Wow, Sky are opportunistic eh? That’s business for you! :) Get your SKY logo on the Beeb.. nice work :)

  9. here’s an virtual onboard lap of the roller coaster!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNiHpuy41W4&feature=related

  10. Please tell Sir Jackie “Thank you!” for always standing up for the United States Grand Prix, and for a strong presence for F1 in the United States. Other than Martin Whitmarsh and Nick Fry, I don’t remember anyone who spoke up as much in recent years in favor of a revived USGP as Jackie did. For that, along with the many other good deeds he has done, he has earned my admiration!

  11. Hey Keith, I like the new layout very much, one suggestion though. Sometimes (usually during or right after race weekends) you post stories very quickly which removes the older ones from the list in the ‘articles in brief’ or ‘articles in full’ areas. Perhaps you could have a quick link to see older ones rather than having to search through the archives? Especially since the new layout looks like it may not support as many headlines or stories to click on.

    (this probably already exists, I’m just too stupid to have noticed it)

    1. i just must be one of those who just dont like your new layout, and i am saying about this one that you use and the one you previewed, sorry Keith. They are just to simple i liked the old one.

  12. Happy Birthday to Bernie.

  13. Will there still be an option down the bottom of the home page to click to ‘previous articles’ as there is now? I really like the F1 Fanatic home page because it has barely changed over the years and it has become iconic. I think that the current version of F1 Fanatic is very easy to navigate, whereas the upcoming version looks a little confusing.

    Could you please ask Sir Jackie Stewart what he thinks of Formula 1 in 2010 – and if he is enjoying it? Does Jackie feel proud when he sees Mark Webber stepping out of accidents as violent as the one in Valencia, when he knows he was one of the initial campaigners for heightened safety measures in Formula 1?

  14. Will Sir Jackie ever return to announcing the Indy 500? Pretty please?

  15. To Sir Jackie, What were the keys to his success with Ken Tyrrell? who came up with the various innovative designs for the Tyrrell cars and how were they developed? How was their working chemistry? Many thanks,

  16. “Incidentally, none of them were very successful, so when you spend a huge amount of money without success, it’s probably easier when you have to decide where and how to invest.”
    Good old Jean, not doing his job as usual. Shouldn’t he have taken the opportunity to get Honda to invest in F1 as an engine supplier?

  17. Question for Sir Jackie..
    Why didn’t he sue Mosley for his infamous dyslexia slur?

    1. Too classy to sue?

  18. My questions for Jackie Stewart would be to know what he thinks of Villeneuve’s bid to get back into F1 as an owner and if he thinks that it’s even possible anymore for an ex-racer to be a successful team owner, given the mind-blowing budgets of modern F1. It would also be great to know what he thinks of modern F1 technology, tyre rules, refuelling, aero vs mechanical grip and so on.

    As for the site redesign, as others mention, I’m not sure it quite works. I do very much like the idea of browsing articles by categories, but the move to grid, rather than a vertical layout….hmmm, not so sure. I think the look and size of the lead article in the picture are good, but maybe it would be better to have the ‘articles in full’ in a 2×2 column under that, and then the same 2×2 set up for ‘articles in brief’ on the right. Perhaps also put the ‘Categories’ box higher up on the page, say under the articles in brief?

    In any case, your site is still by far the best because of content and discussion, but certainly the simplicity and cleanliness of its look remain a big plus.

  19. Although I share a B’day with old BE, I’m not sharing my cake !

    1. If you give him a slice now, every year you’ll have to give him 7% more. ;)

      1. Nice one Icthyes :-)

      2. Yes but the icing on the cake will be that most of the ingredients will be laxative.

    2. HounslowBusGarage
      28th October 2010, 13:06

      Careful. Bernie will probably charge you a copyright fee for sharing *his* birthday!
      Have a good one.

      1. He’s had this b’day soooo long it’s out of copyright now ;)

  20. Happy Birthday guys!

    I like the new redesign, much better use of space: the less blank spaces at the sides, the better!

    My question for Sir Jackie is: Your autobiography is called Winning Is Not Enough, that it must be done with integrity. Are there any world champions that you think did nothing more than win, without integrity?

  21. I like the new homepage, clearly the gpupdate window needs placing somewhere.

    However reading some of the comments they do raise the point that the content is what makes this site, it does offer less of feel for that quality when i sit back and think about it.

    Saying that i do like the layout, im in two minds!

  22. You’ve always stressed the important of mind management for F1 drivers. Do you think mind management has value outside of F1, and how can people teach themselves to make use of it?

  23. For : Stewart if it’s not to late. Who do you consider the best TV race announcer of all time and who was the best F1 writer of all time?

    1. Sorry Alex, have wrapped it up already. Writing up the transcription now, should be on the site today.

  24. When something that I am used to changes, if I didn’t have any problems with it before I usually don’t like it to start with but often end up thinking it is better. So it is too early for me to judge the new layout for the main page.

    One thing I would change would be how the archives are displayed to make it easier to find an old article. I don’t know if you are already panning on changing this.

    Instead of having the title and the first paragraph on display I would list the articles how the Articles in Brief are displayed on the new main page. That way you could list the entire articles for one month on one page.

  25. Regarding Williams saying they took eight sets of tyres to the grid for each car at the Korean GP, was it a case of taking two sets of each available tyre the option, prime, inters and full wets for each car, and is it normal for teams to take two sets of the same compound to the grid in case they discover a problem with the set they intend to use?

  26. Webers right front and right rear tires were in the air when he was moving backwards. He had only one tire effectively on the road. That’s why he couldn’t stop. If you look at the recordings you will see what I’m talking about. Interestingly, I saw this shot (it wasn’t from Rosbergs onboard but same angle)during the broadcast and they never showed it again. Is the BBC trying to make us think it was Weber’s fault?

  27. Q for Jacky: Was James May really so bad driver? xDD

  28. HounslowBusGarage
    28th October 2010, 22:00

    Re- the front page re-design.
    I think it looks very full and abundant, but I’d urge you to think about how this would be managed over time. The layout shows one major article wuth pic and lead text, plus six secondary articles with pic and text, plus four tertiary articles with text only.
    Looks fine but when you add a new lead article how does the current lead article move to ‘position 2’? Does the pic re-size automatically, does the second text para delete automatically, or do we have a big white space gap between the top and second rank of stories caused by the text run of the newly demoted story?
    Then, as a story slips out of the top seven, does it move to the quartet of stories without pics, and if so how does the pic get stripped out?
    I had a client recently propose this exact same layout, but ultimately they were not prepared to deal with the cost of editing a story over time as it moves from Complex to Normal to Simple. In the end, they stayed with the ‘newest on top’ concept that did not require re-editing the story to fit the presentation.

  29. hi keith,
    about the site upgrade… well i’d prefer having the main articles in one column rather than three. it’s much easier to just scroll down to read the next article rather than having to scroll right and than down for the following one. and besides i dont have a wide screen. and only include pics where they are relavant, they take up much space while they don’t really add any value to the content(not on the main page).
    keep up the good work!

    1. also, please,pretty please put a ticker/ timer with the time left to the next race! one just like on the formula1.com . copy/paste it as far as i’m concerned…i miss that here and before every race a have to go and open formula1.com
      thx for listening!

Comments are closed.