Paul Di Resta is the latest Scotsman to become a Formula 1 driver. The Force India pilot follows in the footsteps of other Scottish Grand Prix racers, including F1 world champions Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.
Early Scottish Formula 1 Drivers
The first Scotsman to compete in a Formula 1 World Championship race was David Murray, who lined up on the Silverstone grid in 1950. Murray made several other Formula 1 appearances, but failed to score any points and suffered a serious accident in Germany. He found more success as team owner of Ecurie Ecosse, his Scottish team based in Edinburgh which won the Le Mans 24 Hours race twice.
Ecurie Ecosse gave several Scottish racing drivers the opportunity to make one-off appearances in Formula 1 at the British Grand Prix during the early 1950s, driving Connaughts and Cooper-Bristols. Jimmy Stewart (older brother of Jackie) and Leslie Thorne both drove Ecurie Ecosse entered cars at Silverstone. Ian Stewart (no relation to Jimmy) also made his sole Formula 1 World Championship appearance for Ecurie Ecosse. He would later become a factory driver for Jaguar in sports cars and a Ferrari dealer in Scotland.
Ron Flockhart and Archie Scott-Brown
The most promising of all the Scottish drivers to emerge during the 1950s was perhaps Ron Flockhart. A gifted engineer, Flockhart started competing on motorcycles before switching to four wheels. During the decade he made appearances in Formula 1 for several teams, including Connaught and BRM.
It was in a Connaught that Flockhart became the first Scottish driver to score a podium finish in the Formula 1 World Championship, with a fine drive to third in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. In sports car racing he twice shared the winning Jaguar D-Type at Le Mans for Ecurie Ecosse. Flockhart was also a keen pilot. In 1962 he died in a crash while trying to break the speed record between Australia and England in a P51 Mustang.
Archie Scott-Brown was a remarkable character. Despite significant physical problems (he had only a partially formed right arm and malformed legs) he excelled behind the wheel of powerful cars. He proved himself competitive in Formula 1 but found much greater success behind the wheel of Brian Lister’s sports cars. It was while behind the wheel of a Lister that Scott-Brown crashed at a wet Spa-Francorchamps in 1958 and succumbed to burns. The 1960s would be a far more successful period for Scottish Formula 1 drivers.
Kevin Guthrie - Kevin is based in Fife, Scotland, where he works as a music teacher, professional drummer and freelance writer. At an early age he ...
