Johnny retained by the big cat

Johnny's improvement in performance at Stewart-Ford later in his first year with the team were rewarded in mid September 1999 when it was announced that the team would honour the second year of his contract. At the same time, another Autosport rumour, the worst kept secret in F1, proved correct. The team was to be renamed Jaguar.

It was also confirmed that the other Jaguar driver would be Eddie Irvine, who swapped places with the Ferrari-bound Rubens Barrichello. The press took to calling Irvine the team's "No1", but that was given short shrift by Jackie Stewart, retained as team boss by Jaguar, who said: 

"You can't afford, with the amount of money we spend in Formula One, to have a number one and number two. We have to give equal equipment and performance to both of our drivers and we want Johnny to step up. I think he is capable of doing this to be able to keep up with Eddie." 

In the official Jaguar launch press release, Jackie said:

"Johnny is already part of the 'family' and we are pleased to have him with us for another year. It has been good to see him move closer to Rubens in the latter half of 1999 and we anticipate him running consistently closer to the front of the grid next season."

Johnny enthused by Jaguar's racing heritage 

Johnny told the Jaguar Racing website at the launch of the Jaguar-Cosworth R1 on 25th January 2000: 

"We're certainly looking to recapture the glory days of Jaguar from sports cars. As a British driver, it's probably the most emotional job you can have. We're bringing in a name the like of which can only be compared with Ferrari. Jaguar has a great heritage, it's very popular, and it's legendary at Le Mans. I think a lot of people will want us to carry that through to Formula One. I hope that the following for Jaguar in Britain and abroad is huge!"

Pre-season testing starts encouragingly

Johnny's new Millennium got off to a great start with some encouraging performances in pre-season testing in Spain in January and February. At the car's first tests in January, Johnny was quickest or near the top of the time sheets in Jerez and Barcelona. A temporary glitch caused by the oil circulation system led to problems in one test but the team soon remedied that. Unfortunately, the problem turned out to be more serious than first thought and set back the development of the car.

Even though the problems meant that test ended early, Johnny was still optimistic:

"We've been stopping a lot and losing a lot of track time, which is frustrating. The feeling of the car has been very positive, but like everyone else, we've got to improve it a bit more. We're okay - if we can do what we did in the first test, we'll be absolutely fine. I'm still optimistic as we stand today." 

But the season starts badly...

In a portent of what was to come, Johnny had a disastrous start to the 2000 season in Melbourne. Mechanical problems haunted him all through practice - after which he qualified a dismal 20th - and continued into the race, during which he lasted less than a lap before his clutch failed. Although team-mate Irvine manfully monstered the ill-handling big cat to 7th on the grid, his race lasted little longer than Johnny's. Gearbox problems were to account for another five DNFs for Johnny throughout his dismal season.

What was almost certainly Johnny's last season as a full time F1 driver turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of his career. It ended with zero points. There were only four finishes in the top 10 - two 7ths (Austria and Japan), an 8th (Belgium), and a 9th (Monaco).

Johnny struggled with the recalcitrant Jaguar in practice all season long, qualifying in the top 10 only twice, at Spa and Suzuka. Team-mate Irvine seemed better able than Johnny to wring the car's neck, put in a banzai lap and qualify it higher than it deserved, ending up in the top 10 quite often.

Johnny and his team-mate were better matched in the races but neither man had the car they needed. With inadequate aerodynamics, the car lacked rear-end stability at speed. Anyone who saw the twitchy, ill-handling "big cat" tackling high speed corners had another name for it. Totally lacking in feline grace, the Jaguar R1 was a dog...

Ex-Jordan chief designer Gary Anderson was held responsible and the Irishman was summarily dismissed when the team's new CEO, Bobby Rahal, formally took charge after the season ended. Jaguar Racing is continuing to restructure and could eventually make it to the top. At least Johnny had a small part to play in its history, after scoring the team's only victory in its former guise as Stewart GP.

Highlights? He had a few but then again...

There were very few highlights during the season but at least one is worth a mention. Johnny's opening stint at Indianapolis was probably his best drive of 2000. Like last year at the Nürburgring, scene of Johnny's third F1 victory, the conditions were changeable. On a damp but drying track, Johnny made an inspired choice. Alone on the grid, he took a win or bust gamble and started the race on dry tyres.

But it almost didn't come off.

On the first lap, struggling for grip, he went grass-tracking and dropped back to dead last, crossing the famous yard of bricks at the end of the lap a couple of seconds behind the rest of the field. But he was, to use the local vernacular, awesome over the next 20 odd laps. Slipstreaming down the main straight, he passed all and sundry, including Rubens Barrichello, whose Ferrari eventually finished second, and Jacques Villeneuve, who finished fourth. Johnny dragged his Jaguar up to a magnificent fifth before stopping for his first planned pitstop.

Unfortunately, that's where it all went awry. The concrete pit apron was still damp and Johnny overshot the mark, clipped a wheel gun and damaged his front wing, necessitating a nose change. Nevertheless, Johnny was in a bubbly mood after the race, when he said:

"The conditions played into my hands at the beginning of the race as I decided to start on grooved tyres which gave me an advantage, but then turned against me in my pitstop! I hit a puddle in the pitlane which knocked me into the path of a wheel gun and damaged my front wing. We had the strategy and we had the pace but we just didn’t have the luck.

"The early stages were great fun as it was good old-fashioned racing and it was a real pleasure to pass a Ferrari. It's annoying when everything is going so well that such a tiny mistake can cause so much time to be lost. Having said that I've enjoyed my first race at Indianapolis and can't wait to come back here next year for the 500!"

By then, Johnny had already announced that he was quitting F1, and seeking a new career in the USA. Everything didn't go quite to plan there either...

Johnny goes out with a bang

The season ended with an horrific crash at Sepang. As all too often in a career blighted by bad luck, Johnny's luck deserted him - but his luck returned and may have saved him from a much worse fate.

On lap 48 of his last GP for Jaguar, and possibly ever, Johnny's Jaguar's rear-suspension collapsed spectacularly at one of the quickest parts of the circuit, throwing him into the barriers at high speed. Good fortune favoured him in that the car remained upright when it could so easily have pitched into a barrel roll. But it hit the barriers hard and hearts sank as Johnny was lifted from the cockpit by the marshals. Memories of his horrific F3000 accident sprang unbidden to mind. But the damage wasn't as bad as it first appeared - nothing was broken, he suffered just severe bruising to his legs.

The irony wasn't lost on Johnny, who had to be carried to his Benetton for his maiden race in Rio in 1989 because he still could not walk properly following that F3000 accident a few months earlier.

"I guess it was inevitable that, because I began my career being carried to the car, I would end it being carried out of it. There is nothing like ending your career with a bang."

Where next?

On 26th July 2000, Johnny told a news conference in Frankfurt that his F1 career was over and that he was seeking a drive in the USA:

"I decided that I will go to the American CART series next year. Obviously I've got to sign a contract for a drive but that's what I want to do next year."

For more information, see the Life After F1 page of this biography.

When the hoped for CART drive failed to materialise, Johnny had to reconsider his career options and decided to take an offer from the Arrows F1 team to be their test and development driver for 2001, leaving him free to pursue drives in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The man has plenty of racing left in him yet...

Jaguar Results

Net result: 0 points. Team-mate Eddie Irvine scored 4 points.
Test driver, Luciano Burti, stood in for Irvine at one race.
Qualifying ratio: Herbert 3 - 13 Irvine; Herbert 1 - 0 Burti.

Every effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but
no responsibility is accepted for this information.
Last updated 18th February 2001.
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