Upon moving to McLaren for 1979, Watson wrestled with the team’s uncompetitive M28 and M29 models, as the team struggled to understand the new science of ground-effects. Here he’s shown driving the latter on his way to an 8th-place finish in the 1980 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
Photo: Peter Collins
John Watson was one of those rare beasts: an Irish Grand Prix winner. It was a feat pulled off by the number of his countrymen you could count on the fingers of one hand, and when you add to the equation the fact that he was also a successful world sports car championship driver, his rarity skyrockets. Fittingly, John comes from history-making stock, because his father Marshall was the first man to win a sedan car race in Ireland, driving a Citroën Light 15.
After his release by Penske Racing when it quit F1 following the 1976 season, Watson landed with Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team driving Alfa Romeo-powered BT45s alongside Carlos Pace. Photo: Dennis Gray
John’s Dad was a well-to-do motor trader in Belfast, and he stumped up the necessary cash to get his son’s racing career off the ground. The young Watson began in club events and worked his way up to Formula 2, in which he drove machinery financed by Dad from 1969–1971, without exactly setting the world on fire. He moved up to Formula 1 and had a go at world championship sports car racing in 1973, eventually turning out to be good at both. I say eventually, because John made his F1 debut in a Brabham BT37 in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, qualified 23rd on the grid, and retired. But he was mildly encouraged by a solid 5th place in the WSCC Watkins Glen 6 Hours, driving a Mirage M6 in partnership with motorcycle wunderkind Mike Hailwood.
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