🇬🇧 Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart is an elite professional racing driver; his Racer Rating of 7,819 places him among the strongest competitors in the sport's history. This rating reflects a driver who won races consistently against the very best, at the level of Formula 1 championship contention. Stewart competed in Formula 1 from 1965 to 1973, a nine-season career spanning 100 starts. He scored 27 wins and 43 podiums, finishing on average in third place; these numbers stood as the records for most wins and most podiums at the time of his retirement.[1]

Stewart's dominance over a strong field is evident in his head-to-head records against contemporary champions and front-runners. He finished ahead of Denny Hulme, the 1967 Formula 1 champion, in 32 of 41 shared races. Against Graham Hill, a three-time Formula 1 champion, Stewart led their 38 encounters 29 to 9. He also beat Jacky Ickx 22 times in 31 races, Jo Siffert 21 times in 25 races, and Ronnie Peterson 15 times in 23 races; each of these rivals rated above 7,200, placing them among the strongest drivers of the era. Stewart finished ahead of Carlos Reutemann nine times, and bested former and future world champions Richie Ginther, Jody Scheckter and Denny Hulme in multiple encounters. This pattern of consistent superiority over elite opposition defines his career.[2]

Stewart won three Formula 1 World Drivers' Championships, in 1969, 1971 and 1973. His final season saw him win 5 of 15 rounds and finish on the podium 8 times, securing first place in the championship. He drove almost exclusively for Tyrrell, which fielded him in 40 of his 100 starts. Stewart has been retired from racing since 1973 and is now 87 years old, having become a noted broadcaster and motorsport executive in the decades since his competitive career ended.