The Stewart SF01 was the car that the Stewart Formula One team competed with in the 1997 Formula One season, and the first car constructed by the team. It was driven by Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen, the latter who had brief race experience with McLaren in 1995.

Launch and design

The car was launched in December 1996.^[2]

The SF01 was the team's first F1 car, designed by Alan Jenkins for three-time Drivers' Champion Jackie Stewart and son Paul to enter the series after several years in lower formulae such as Formula Three. This was the first Formula One car since the McLaren M26 in 1979 to run on Texaco fuel.

Racing history

In an era when many smaller teams such as Forti, Pacific and Simtek went bankrupt, and fellow debutants MasterCard Lola folded almost immediately, Stewart's competent first year after building a car from scratch proved to be a welcome boost for the sport.

Whilst the car was quite competitive enough to regularly score points, it was frequently prevented from doing so by appalling unreliability; the team were only classified eight times out of a possible 34. The main reason for this were difficulties with mating the Ford engine with the car's oil tank. However, Barrichello drove to a fine second place at Monaco, the highlight of a season in which he largely eclipsed Magnussen.

The team eventually finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship, with six points.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1997	Stewart	Ford V10	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR	6	9th
				Rubens Barrichello	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	14	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Jan Magnussen	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	7	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	9

References

^ "Engine Ford Cosworth • STATS F1".
^ "National Programmes > NMP case studies > Stewart Grand Prix". npl.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2005-04-11. Retrieved 2007-07-19.

AUTOCOURSE 1997-98, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1997) ISBN 1-874557-47-0

v t e Stewart Grand Prix
Founders Jackie Stewart Paul Stewart Personnel Gary Anderson Eghbal Hamidy Alan Jenkins Dave Stubbs Drivers Rubens Barrichello Johnny Herbert Jan Magnussen Jos Verstappen Formula One cars SF01 SF02 SF3

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Arrows A18 Benetton B197 Ferrari F310B Jordan 197 Lola T97/30 McLaren MP4/12 Minardi M197 Prost JS45 Sauber C16 Stewart SF01 Tyrrell 025 Williams FW19