Jackie Stewart

I would probably have talked about the Nurburgring in '68, but I know that Ken Tyrrell has already chosen that one; I am tempted by my first win in a Formula 1 car at the '65 Daily Express International Trophy because of the dilemma of not knowing how to overtake John Surtees who was the reigning World Champion; but technically, I think that my best race was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1973.

Monza in those days was not very difficult and so many people could drive the track fairly comfortably. If it were Spa or the old Nurburgring, then the driver who was on top of it all would clearly show himself to be head and shoulders above the rest. At Monza, somehow, lots of people could win.

I had a tyre deflate on my Tyrrell in the opening laps, something had been picked up - not by me going off the road - but I had to come into the pits. In those days we weren't as prepared for pitstops as they are today. Had I been able to go out in the 6.8 seconds elapsed time that we see now, I might have been able to finish higher than I did. It was not a leisurely stop for the mechanics, but it was a long stop.

Everybody passed me, they were all out of sight and for a long time it was a bit like driving in an echo chamber -there was nobody else there.

I was given my lap times by Ken and I was fully aware that I had to finish fourth to win the World Championship. To begin with I did not think that it was possible but I knew never to give up. One of the trophies I have always kept was from the Spanish Grand Prix in 1969. I came from sixth position to win the race and I never passed a car.

That trophy I kept because it showed a lesson. I had kept going. There was no point in overdriving the car just to appear spectacular. That pleases the crowd but not the bank manager.

Keep in mind that I knew that this was going to be my last Monza, that this was my last European Grand Prix. I had made my decision to retire in March or April, deciding to stop after the final race at Watkins Glen which was to be my 100th Grand Prix. I had already told Ken Tyrrell and Walter Hayes of the Ford Motor Company of my decision to retire.

So I didn't want the World Championship to get away from me - the earlier you snatch something like that the better it is.

Then I was given silly pit signals like
'-45 Fangio' by the pits because Ken thought that I would lose interest. I kept going pretty hard and I kept being given fastest lap and then a lap record and then another one and another one.

I was catching up at a fairly decent pace. At Monza with those long straights it was possible to pick up the tail end of a car, going round the Parabolica as you came onto that straight leading down to the south turn. Gradually you would see more of it the next lap giving that bit of hope.

Never mind the lap times, it is always nice to start overtaking people. I could see that the pit was getting excited and I could certainly see that the Italian crowd was getting excited. The people in the grandstands were standing up and waving me on. I was always able to see the crowd reaction, it was an important part of my driving. By then I had become used to people looking at me in a car; if they were looking the other way that meant there was an incident.

It's always nice to have people willing you on, and Monza is the best. I would say that Monza is still the capital of the world for crowd excitement.

I kept fighting away passing different people, I remember passing Mike Hailwood, and then on ahead of my team mate, Francois Cevert, who had obviously been given pit signals. Finally I moved up behind Peter Revson who was in third position and 1 just could not get round Peter. I tried a couple of times, it got a bit ragged, a bit dicey going into the chicane and in the end there were no laps left.

I came into the pits and everyone was full of the joys of spring. I could not quite relate to the fact that we had got the World Championship. I asked, 'Are you sure that we have got the championship, are you sure I finished fourth?'

I was being very Scottish when it came to being conservative in not wanting to accept the fact that we had clinched the World Championship. Then the organisers took me off for a press conference and announced it.

It was pleasing to have done it on a circuit on which it was very difficult to take advantage of other people. It was probably my most calculated, smooth, race. I was threading the needle all the time to find speed. The only reason that I was going faster than other people was because I was doing the job in a cleaner fashion.

I really wanted that championship very badly because I knew that it was my last year - to win it three times and walk away as World Champion was something that I had never really considered.