François Cevert, F1's laughing cavalier

“I had not held back prior to that. I had taken him around every race track, walked him around, driven him in a street car and had him follow me in a Formula One car. He knew everything that I knew and when you’re young and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you can’t always consume all the information. But if you’re doing it for two or three years together, that information can be fed into the machine progressively, and clearly I was aware of that. He developed very well.”

Considering the numerous second places Cevert scored in his career, with only the one Grand Prix win, was he a winner in the classic sense? “He was a winner”, says Stewart. “I think he would have won the championship in 1974. The car (Tyrrell 007) was very good. I know this because I had been part of developing it. Clearly he would have shown the car in a better light than Jody Scheckter because Jody was coming into his first full season. I don’t think Jody was ready to win races at that time.” As it was, Jody only lost that ’74 title at the final round, and by seven points. With François at the helm it does not require too much of a leap to suggest he would have clinched that close-fought title, and probably earlier than Watkins Glen.

Regarding François’ numerous second places to Stewart, particularly in ’73, Jackie says, “Keep in mind that in ’73 I was at the very height of my career. For him to compete with me at that time, would be like me trying to compete with Jim Clark in 1968. I think I could have won the odd race, but I couldn’t have taken the title from him because he just knew too much. In ’73 I knew too much.”

Ken Tyrrell concurs with Stewart’s assessment of François’ potential to take the title in ’74. “We would have expected François to have performed better than did Jody. In ’73 the Tyrrell-Ford 006/2 had won five races and had eight seconds, but neither Jody nor Patrick (Depailler) could come to terms with that car and we had to build a more forgiving car to suit these two drivers in their formative years. The 006/2 was a very successful car, but it required drivers of a high standard to get the best out of it. You can have a car which is comfortable to drive and the driver can feel very confident in it. But it may not be quick.”

The short wheelbase 006/2 of ’73 had a reputation for being ‘twitchy’, and difficult to drive. This certainly contributed to Cevert’s demise. “François’ accident was awful”, Tyrrell relates. “It was near the end of the last practice and he was confident he could achieve pole position. It was on his last attempt when he lost control and hit the guardrail. Of course part of the tragedy is that he would almost certainly have survived — walked away from that accident — in a modern Grand Prix car. Such is progress.”

There was a bump in the middle of the Glen’s treacherous Esses which upset the balance of the 006. “Following the bump”, Tyrrell continues, “was the guardrail where the race track went over an entrance tunnel to the inside of the circuit. So there was a guardrail right alongside the racetrack on either side, there being no room for an error at all.”

Was the accident driver error? “It was a driver error,” Stewart says, “only in the sense that the car hit a bump, and the day that he died I had the same thing happen but I was going through the corner one gear higher than him. I’m not sure it was the fastest way, my way, but because the car was very nervous in its movement, I had decided that if I stuck it into fifth gear rather than fourth it was more mellow through that series of corners. It happened to me, the same bump, and l could have ended up the same way as François actually. That’s why I’m absolutely convinced that it was the bump and the reaction of the car. It got away from him and he hit the barrier on the right-hand side which rocketed him into the barrier on the left-hand side which caused all the damage. It was not over-exuberance. It could have happened to anyone. I mean, we were the fastest pair on the track. A Tyrrell would have won the race.”

François’ accident was one of those that created a hush around the entire circuit as drivers arrived on the scene and stopped, to eventually trickle back to the pits, ashen-faced. One veteran journalist said he knew it was all over for François when he saw Jacky Ickx arrive in the pits, and realised that Ickx was crying. The Belgian, he had noted, was not the sort of chap to cry. Halle’s biography documents that mechanic Jo Ramirez, weeping at the side of the track, said: “During one of his stops, just a few minutes before the accident François said to me: ‘Watch my times, I’ll fix ’em. Do you notice that I am driving Tyrrell number six, chassis number six, engine number 66 and that this is the sixth October? It’s my day.’” The other small irony about Cevert’s career was that the same circuit upon which he claimed his only F1 win — Watkins Glen — should also be the one which claimed his life.

He remains the only driver to ever die in one of Tyrrell’s cars. What was the personal impact of such a loss? “François had become part of our little family”, says Ken. “His enthusiasm and his character were such that he sort of lightened our lives. He was always outgoing and there was a sparkle about him. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve not experienced a death of a young member of our close family, but the loss of François must have been close to losing a son. In the weeks following the accident I seriously, seriously considered leaving motorsport. But common sense prevailed I suppose and I hope that I’ve since contributed to the increasing level of survivability of the modern Grand Prix car. François’ death did, however, change the way I dealt with drivers. I do now try to keep the personal relationship more at arms’s length.”

On François’ particular strengths as a driver, Stewart says, “He was very quick and could drive a car to the limit very well. Keep in mind he was still a developing driver. His ability to set up a car had not yet developed. Like every young developing driver there is a peak and valley performance. He was planing out on that and was modulating that very well. There weren’t the same peaks and valleys as there had been two years before or even one year before. He was (in ’73) absolutely more consistent, but that’s what experience brings. He was not overly impetuous, was very conscientious, and very fit.”

“The difference between Jackie and François in ’73,” Tyrrell says, “was that Jackie was on a wind-down, and François still had it all to do. François was such an outgoing character that I would have said that he had no enemies. He was well-liked by other drivers except those who regarded him as a bit too quick for them, which is fairly normal.”

Is there anyone amongst today’s drivers who resembles him a little in terms of general demeanour or temperament? “I think, to some extent, Schumacher“, says Stewart.

His best race? Jackie and Ken differ slightly in their opinion. “I think the US Grand Prix that he won”, Stewart says. “He really drove a good race that day. I think also the time he was second in the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard in ’71.” As for Ken, “I think the Nurburgring in ’73 where he finished second to Jackie and could have won, but chose not to.

How is François Cevert remembered today? What most clearly comes to mind when he is thought of? “I still feel of him as still being with us”, Stewart says. “We still have a beautiful photograph of him in our home. He was a great pianist. His great piece was Beethoven’s Pathetique piano sonata. Every time I hear it there’s only one man in my mind, and that applies to Helen and the whole family. I don’t know if those who read this believe in life after death, but François Cevert’s spirit is still absolutely buzzing around.” The final word belongs to Ken: “I suppose, and I’m speaking for my wife Norah now as well, we would like to think that if you heard a knock on the door and you weren’t expecting a visitor and you opened the door and Francois was standing there, you’d be pleased about that.” P D