John Marshall Watson

British racecar driver

Winning from the back of the grid

John Watson won five Grands Prix across 12 seasons, including McLaren's first win with a carbon fiber chassis and a famous charge from 22nd at Long Beach.

John Watson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on May 4, 1946, and is recorded as a British driver. His first World Championship start came at the 1973 British Grand Prix in a customer Brabham, and he scored his first point at the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix for the Goldie Hexagon team. In 1975 he drove for Surtees, Lotus and Penske.

Penske gave him his breakthrough. After a first podium at the 1976 French Grand Prix, he won the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix having qualified second. He then joined Brabham, taking his first pole position at Monaco in 1977 and leading the French Grand Prix until a fuel problem on the final lap dropped him to second. In 1978, alongside Niki Lauda, he scored three podiums.

Watson moved to McLaren for 1979. At the 1981 British Grand Prix he gave McLaren its first win in more than three years, and the first for a car with a carbon fiber chassis. His best season was 1982: he won the Belgian Grand Prix and then the first Detroit Grand Prix from 17th on the grid, and he went to the final round with an outside chance of the title before finishing third. At the 1983 Long Beach race he won from 22nd on the grid, his fifth and final victory.

McLaren did not keep him for 1984, and he made one final appearance for the team at the 1985 European Grand Prix. Our record shows 152 starts, 5 wins, 2 pole positions, 5 fastest laps and 20 podiums. He later finished second in the 1987 World Sportscar Championship with Jaguar and worked for many years as a television commentator.

0 world titles, 5 wins, 2 pole positions, 152 starts.

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