From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Watson
Nationality  British
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1973 – 1983, 1985
Teams	Penske, Brabham, McLaren
Races	152
Championships	0
Wins	5
Podium finishes	20
Career points	169
Pole positions	2
Fastest laps	5
First race	1973 British Grand Prix
First win	1976 Austrian Grand Prix
Last win	1983 United States Grand Prix West
Last race	1985 European 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.

Contents 1 Early Formula 1 career 2 First victory 3 Move to McLaren and championship challenge 4 Other Jobs 5 Complete Formula One results 6 External links 7 References

Educated in Rockport School, N.I. 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.

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.

For 1979, Watson moved to McLaren, where he would spend the remainder or his Formula One racing career. His most successful year was 1982, when he finished third drivers' championship, winning two Grands Prix. He was perhaps best well-known for his astounding drives from the back of the grid. At Detroit in 1982, he overtook three cars in one lap deep into the race on a tight, twisty track that was supposedly impossible to pass on; working his way from 17th starting position on the grid, he charged through the field and scored a victory in the process. A year later in 1983, he repeated the feat at the Long Beach GP; starting from 22nd on the grid, the farthest back from which a modern Grand Prix driver had ever come to win a race.

At the end of the season however, he was dropped by McLaren and subsequently retired from Formula 1. He did return for one further race two years later, driving for McLaren in place of an injured Niki Lauda at the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, in which he placed 7th. Watson raced with Lauda's usual race number of "1". This was the only occasion since 1975 (when the current system related to the use of car number 1 began) that a driver other than the reigning World Champion has raced car number 1 in a World Championship race.

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 1997 he worked as a Formula One commentator for Eurosport.

From 1998 to 2001 he was Charlie Cox's sidekick in commentating on the British Touring Car Championship for the BBC.

Nowadays, he works for Sky Sports, commentating on A1 Grand Prix alongside Ben Edwards.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1973	Ceramica Pagnossin Team MRD	Brabham BT37	Ford	ARG	BRA	SAF	SPA	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR Ret	DUT	DEU	AUT	ITA	CAN				-	0
		Brabham BT42	Ford															USA Ret
1974	Goldie Hexagon Racing	Brabham BT42	Ford	ARG 12	BRA Ret	SAF Ret	SPA 11	BEL 11	MON 6	SWE 11	DUT 7	FRA 16	GBR 11								15th	6
		Brabham BT44	Ford											DEU Ret	AUT 4	ITA 7	CAN Ret	USA 5
1975	Team Surtees	Surtees TS16	Ford	ARG DSQ	BRA 10	SAF 16	SPA 8	MON Ret	BEL 10	SWE 16	DUT Ret	FRA 13	GBR 11		AUT 10	ITA					23rd	0
	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72F	Ford											DEU Ret
	Penske Cars	Penske PC1	Ford														USA 9
1976	Citibank Team Penske	Penske PC3	Ford	BRA Ret	SAF 5	USW NC	SPA Ret	BEL 7	MON 10												7th	20
		Penske PC4	Ford							SWE Ret	FRA 3	GBR 3	DEU 7	AUT 1	DUT Ret	ITA 11	CAN 10	USA 6	JPN Ret
1977	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	SAF 6	USW DSQ	SPA Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	SWE 5	FRA 2	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT 8	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA 12	CAN Ret	JPN Ret	13th	9
1978	Parmalat Racing Team	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo	ARG Ret	BRA 8																6th	25
		Brabham BT46	Alfa Romeo			SAF 3	USW Ret	MON 4	BEL Ret	ESP 5	SWE Ret	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 7	AUT 7	DUT 4	ITA 2	USA Ret	CAN Ret
1979	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M28	Ford	ARG 3	BRA 8	SAF Ret	USW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL 6	MON 4	FRA 11										9th	15
		McLaren M29	Ford									GBR 4	GER 5	AUT 9	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 6	USA 6
1980	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M29B	Ford	ARG Ret	BRA 11	SAF 11															11th	6
		McLaren M29C	Ford				USW 4	BEL NC	MON DNQ	FRA 7	GBR 8	GER Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 4	USA NC
1981	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren M29F	Ford	USW Ret	BRA 8																6th	27
		McLaren MP4/1	Ford			ARG Ret	SMR 10	BEL 7	MON Ret	ESP 3	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER 6	AUT 6	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 2	LAS 7
1982	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/1B	Ford	SAF 6	BRA 2	USW 6	SMR DNP	BEL 1	MON Ret	USE 1	CAN 3	DUT 9	GBR Ret	FRA Ret	GER Ret	AUT 9	SWI 13	ITA 4	LAS 2		3rd	39
1983	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/1C	Ford	BRA Ret	USW 1	FRA Ret	SMR 5	MON DNQ	BEL Ret	USE 3	CAN 6	GBR 9	GER 5	AUT 9	DUT 3						7th	22
		McLaren MP4/1E	TAG													ITA Ret	EUR Ret	SAF DSQ
1985	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/2B	TAG														EUR 7				23rd	0

• The John Watson Story

Awards
Preceded by James Hunt	Hawthorn Memorial Trophy 1978	Succeeded by Alan Jones
Preceded by Alan Jones	Hawthorn Memorial Trophy 1982-1983	Succeeded by Derek Warwick