"With this first run, the signs look good for the feel and balance of the car. It does not have any of the bad feelings that I had in the SF2 at Barcelona before Christmas. The new engine ran with no problems during my 25 laps and it felt good for its first outing in a  F1 car, with a very smooth power delivery. We now have a full test at Jerez test to see if our expectations will turn into reality."

After the Jerez test, Johnny drew comparisons between the SF2 and the new car.

"Things are looking very bright, the chassis is a big improvement on last year's. I feel that we have made a big jump and I'm looking forward to a competitive year. With the modifications we have to come and with further development work, we can approach Melbourne with confidence."

First race

The team made a promising start in practice for the Australian GP in March, with both cars being well up in the free sessions. Rubens qualified the SF3 a magnificent 4th but Johnny was still coming to terms with the car and ended up 13th on the grid. Unlucky 13? It was certainly a portent for the early part of the season...

After all the promise of Friday and Saturday, the Stewart-Ford team endured a nightmare start to the Australian race. As the cars slotted into their positions on the grid after the parade lap, a plume of smoke appeared at the rear of Johnny's car. The wisps of smoke turned into a white pall, and Johnny exited his car as the marshals turned their extinguishers on the SF-3. Almost simultaneously, team-mate Barrichello's car also went up in smoke.

The race start was aborted as Johnny and Rubens headed back to the pit garage. Rubens ran, knowing the spare car was his for the weekend; Johnny ambled back more slowly, knowing that his race weekend was over. Shortly after, Johnny told ITV's Louise Goodman what happened:

"As we came round to the grid, it seems that we both had a similar problem. I could smell a lot of burning from the bodywork at the back and then, from what we can gather, it burned the wiring loom, because my throttle stopped working. It's a bit of a shame because we started so well."

A tough start for the new boy

Rubens Barrichello was on stonking form for most of the 1999 season, his third (and last) with the Stewart-Ford team. For the first 13 races (that unlucky number again!), the Brazilian outqualified Johnny at every meeting, sometimes by over a second. As Johnny struggled to get to grips with a new car, engine and team, his confidence was hit by Barrichello's impressive performances. It didn't help that the team seemed incapable, for more than half of the season, to field two competitive and reliable cars. In the first seven races, Johnny had six DNFs...

The tide began to turn a little in June in Canada. On the weekend when Ford gave team boss Jackie Stewart a happy 60th birthday present - they bought the team in a multi-million dollar deal - Johnny added to the celebrations by driving an excellent race, from 10th on the grid, to fifth place, claiming his first ever points for Stewart-Ford. After the race, Johnny's official comments were:

"I'm delighted to finish my first Grand Prix of the year and to come away with two points is a bonus. It's been quite a weekend for the whole team - with the announcement that Ford has acquired the team and Jackie's 60th birthday. I'm really pleased for my crew. They did another great job but this time they have been rewarded."

You can see how happy Johnny was about his Canadian result from the video he sent to the website from Montreal:

The rumours start - will he stay or will he go?

Rubens Barrichello, who was at the top of his form, continued to out-qualify and, generally, out-race Johnny. So much so that in mid-season the rumours began to fly that Johnny would not see out the second year of his contract. Possible replacements mentioned in the Autosport gossip columns, sorry, news pages, were Ferrari supersub Mika Salo, Ralf Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Alex Wurz,  F3000 champion Nick Heidfeld, and even Stewart F3 racer and F1 test driver, Luciano Burti. 

The on-off rumours continued for weeks. But Johnny kept his head down, dismissing them with a curt:

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm driving for Ford in F1 next year. It would cost a lot to buy me out of my contract."

Johnny retained by the big cat

Johnny held his nerve, his on track performances continued to improve, and he was rewarded in mid September when it was announced that the team would honour 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 had already been confirmed that the other Jaguar driver would be Eddie Irvine, who is to swap 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, in an interview on BBC Radio 5. JYS was asked whether Eddie Irvine would be the team leader and replied: 

“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."

Just desserts

September was a good month for Johnny. Not only was his place with the team confirmed but, at the Nürburgring, he out-qualified Rubens for the first time. Even better than that - he won the race! It was the Stewart team's historic maiden victory, a fantastic achievement for a team in only its third season. 

The 1999 European GP victory was probably the best of Johnny's three wins to date. In tricky conditions, with two heavy showers causing mayhem, Johnny called the strategy just right, switching to wets at exactly the right moment, and back to dries again as the track began to dry. Team-mate Barrichello was third, and the two main title contenders, Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine, could only finish 5th and 7th.

Self-effacing as ever, Johnny put the win down to two lucky stones given to him by his Jamaican mechanic Ricky, one inscribed with the word "Jamaica" and the other with "Lucky."

"Before the race, I got all the mechanics together and we rubbed them," joked Johnny. 

In a more serious assessment of the win, Johnny said that the real secrets of his success were hard graft and self-belief, which had brought him through what had, until then, been a disappointing season. He said:

"For me it's so satisfying because of the difficulties I've had. I've stuck to my guns. I believe in myself. I've always been someone who, when it's been tough, I've worked at it."

In the remaining two races of the season, Johnny maintained his newly found good form, out-qualifying Rubens, and beating him in the race, both times. The team-mates respectively finished 4th and 5th in Malaysia, and 7th and 8th in Japan. Buoyed up by his upturn in form and fortune, Johnny looks forward to the new Millennium with increased confidence. He's ready to show Eddie Irvine who will be the real No1 at Jaguar...

Stewart-Ford results

Team-mate: Rubens Barrichello. 
Qualifying ratio: Herbert 3 - 13 Barrichello.

Jaguar

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Last updated 7th November 1999.
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