The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 celebrated 50 year of racing at Silverstone with a display featuring a car for each of those 50 years. This is the car that represented 1997.
It's a Stewart Ford SF01, produced by the team formed by three-times World Champion Jackie Stewart and his son Paul. Paul Stewart Racing had been formed in 1988 for Paul to take part in the British Formula 3 Championship the following year. In 1990 the team underwent a major expansion which included a two-car team led by Paul Stewart to contest the Eutopean Formula 3000 series. At the end of 1993 Paul retired as a driver to concentrate on building up the team which culminated in 1996 with the formation of the Stewart Grand Prix team to take part in the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship with the above car. Rubens Barichello and Jan Magnussen were the drivers in that first season which was marked by a series of retirements, their best effort being Rubens Barrichello's second place at Monaco. The 1998 season was no better with the SF02, but in 1999 Johnny Herbert gained the Stewart Grand Prix car's only victory winning the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a Stewart SF3. At the end of that season Ford bought the team and, renamed as Jaguar, it participated in the World Championship for the next five years. The car's fortunes barely changed, however, and despite the team's two cars managing to finish most races in the 2004 season no podium places were gained and Ford sold the team to the Red Bull Racing team at the end of the season.
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