Video of the Week: Stewart, Fittipaldi, and Cevert inspecting the track surface at Zolder

Today, the FIA places heavy expectations on the track owners to make sure everything is up to snuff in order for an F1 race to happen. Back in 1973, the Grand Prix drivers had to bear the burden of ensuring their own safety and threaten boycotts of the races if their demands weren't met.  Here, we see Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi complaining that the track was resurfaced right before the race weekend, and that the fresh asphalt was in high likelihood of breaking up.  Francois Cevert is also shown making his views known!  The 3 men in this video went on to finish 1-2-3 in the actual race. Love the period look!

Elf Scan 17: Matra MS 80 Grand Prix Car

After a solid season in 1968 with the MS 10, Matra-Ford went all the way in 1969 with the Championship-winning MS 80, piloted by Jackie Stewart.  In the great action shot above, he's shown airborne at the Nurburgring.

Elf Scan 10: François Cevert

Cevert was famous for his natural driving ability and dashing movie star looks.  Here, his famous blue eyes bear a look of simultaneous intensity and eerie blankness as he mentally steels himself for his next track outing in the Matra sports prototype which he shared with none other than Jack Brabham at the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours. Born to a prominent Parisian Jewish family (his full name was Albert François Cevert Goldenberg), Cevert initially pursued motor racing secretly against his family's wishes. In 1969 as he achieved success in Formula 2, he reconciled with his family, and from there joined the Matra team. It wasn't long before he rose to F1, driving for Tyrrell as Jackie Stewart's number 2 driver and protégé.  A tremendously talented driver, he was never able to fully mature, as he was tragically killed at age 29 during the practice for the 1973 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Ironically, Cevert had achieved his first and only F1 victory at that very same track in the 1971 US Grand Prix.

Elf Scan 9: Matra's 4WD experiment - the MS 84

At the same time that Jackie Stewart was dominating the 1969 Formula One championship in the Matra MS 80, the French team was also experimenting with a 4 wheel drive sister car, known as the MS 84.  Team Lotus was also experimenting with 4WD at the time with the Lotus 63, and also using the same Ford Cosworth V8 in their Lotus 49Bs. Much like Lotus, Matra ultimately found that 4WD added weight and complexity that did not pay dividends in terms of performance. It was the conventional RWD MS 80 that ultimately gave Stewart his first F1 championship.  The MS 84 is pictured above at what appears to be the Montlhery Autodrome near Paris.

Elf Scan 7: Jackie Stewart

One of the all-time greats, and one of my all-time heroes.  Here he is as defending world champion in 1970, in a March Tyrell sponsored by Elf.