“I’ve known Johnny for years, because I was at Benetton when he was there, even when he was a young driver and he broke his feet. I’ve known him for a long, long time, so it was very emotional. The next day at the factory, Jackie organised a glass of champagne for everyone, so it was basically half a day. We arrived at lunchtime, we had drunk champagne and not much happened afterwards. It was a long celebration.”
Rubens Barrichello, Stewart Grand Prix driver: “As soon as we got the car on track it was incredible. For me, one of the highlights was leading the Brazilian Grand Prix. [Claiming pole position and finishing third at] Magny-Cours was also a good time. The Nürburgring was fantastic for the team, but it was a disappointment. [for me] because I [stayed] With slick tyres. I finally won in 2000. [at Hockenheim] “With Ferrari, that’s why, but at the Nürburgring it didn’t work out. If it wasn’t for that, I would have won. But still, being part of the Stewart family, such a nice, hard-working family, with Paul, Mark and with Jackie, obviously, was phenomenal. That 1999 season gave me a really good opportunity… It was when I opened probably everyone’s eyes, so I’m very grateful.”
David Tremayne, F1 journalist: “I had a problem with Jackie about clothes. Back then I was wearing Tommy Hilfiger T-shirts and stuff like that. At Monza, I went to Stewart’s team and he said, ‘Oh, ladies and gentlemen, look, I’m a journalist! ’ I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, when you win a race, I’ll be wearing a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt and a pair of your tartan trousers. ’ Anyway, Jackie’s on the podium at the Nürburgring, he’s holding up the plaque, then he looks at me and just points.
“When I was driving back from Heathrow after the race, he rang me up and said, ‘David, it’s Jackie, I’d like you to go and see my tailor. ’ It was Doug Hayward, a famous guy from Mount Street, and I tried on some tartan trousers which, oddly enough, still fit. I had a photo afterwards with Paul and Jackie, wearing our tartan trousers – it must have been in Malaysia. But I thought it was wonderful that Johnny had won.”