John Marshall Watson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| John Watson | |
 John Watson |
|
| Formula One Career | |
| Nationality |  British |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1973 - 1985 |
| Team(s) | Penske, Brabham, McLaren |
| Grands Prix | 152 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Podium finishes | 20 |
| Pole positions | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 5 |
| First Grand Prix | 1973 British Grand Prix |
| First win | 1976 Austrian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1983 United States Grand Prix West |
| Last Grand Prix | 1985 British Grand Prix |
John Marshall "Wattie" Watson MBE (born May 4, 1946, Belfast) is a British former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One over 12 years, winning five races. He is also a journalist and ex-sportscar racer.
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[edit] Early Formula 1 career
Watson's Formula 1 career began in 1973 for Goldie Hexagon Racing driving an old customer Brabham-Ford BT37. His first season, in which he only raced in the British Grand Prix and US Grand Prix, where he drove the third works Brabham BT42, wasn't particularly successful. In the British GP, he ran out of fuel on the 36th lap and his engine failed after only 7 laps in the US GP.
Watson scored his first championship point in Monte Carlo the following year for Goldie Hexagon Racing. He went on to score a total of 6 points that season, driving a customer Brabham BT42-Ford modified by the team.[1] He failed to score points the following year, driving for Team Surtees, Team Lotus and Penske Cars.
[edit] First victory
He secured his first podium with third place in the French Grand Prix. Later that season came his first victory, driving for Penske-Ford in the Austrian Grand Prix having qualified second on the grid. After the race he shaved off his beard, the result of a bet with team owner Roger Penske.
The start to the 1977 season was disastrous for Watson. In the third race, the South African Grand Prix, he managed to complete race distance and managed a point and his first ever fastest lap. Unfortunately the race saw the deaths of driver Tom Pryce and a track marshal Jansen Van Vuuren. His Brabham-Alfa Romeo let him down throughout the season but, despite this, he managed to put in impressive performances. He gained his first pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix and qualified in the top ten no fewer than 14 times, often in the first two rows. As fate would have it though, problems with the car, accidents, and a disqualification meant that he raced the full distance in only five of the 17 races. The closest he came to victory was during the French Grand Prix, where he dominated the race from the start only to be let down by a fuel metering problem on the last lap which relegated him to second place behind eventual winner Mario Andretti.
In 1978, Watson managed a more successful season in terms of race finishes, even out-qualifying and out-racing his illustrious team mate Niki Lauda on occasion. He managed three podiums and a pole, and notched up 25 points to earn the highest championship placing of his career.
[edit] Move to McLaren and championship challenge
McLaren-Ford was the team that Watson drove for during the last half of his Formula One racing career.
His most successful year came in 1982, when he came joint second in the drivers' championship, driving for McLaren and winning two Grand Prix. He was perhaps best well-known for his astounding drives from the back of the grid. The best of these was probably in Detroit in 1982, where he overtook three cars in one lap deep into the race on a tight, twisty track that was supposedly impossible to pass on. A year later in 1983, he repeated the feat at the Long Beach GP; starting from 22nd on the grid, he subsequently proceeded to devour the competition on his way to scoring a McLaren 1-2 with teammate Niki Lauda second.
At the end of the season however, he was dropped by McLaren and subsequently retired from Formula 1. Watson stepped in for Lauda during the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, in which he placed 7th.
At the end of his F1 career, he turned to racing sports cars. After retiring from active racing, he worked as a television commentator, ran a race school at Silverstone and managed a racetrack. He also became the first man to ever test a Jordan Formula 1 car in 1990.
From 1991 to 1996 he worked as a Formula One commentator for Eurosport.
Nowadays, he works for Sky Sports, commentating on A1 Grand Prix alongside Ben Edwards.
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
[edit] References
- ^ Henry, Alan (1985) "Brabham, the Grand Prix Cars" p. 143 - 145 Osprey ISBN 0-905138-36-8
