Andrew Frankel: Is John Watson F1’s most underrated driver?

For the first time in a long time I recently sat down for a long chat with John Watson. Does Britain – or anywhere – have a more underrated driver? Here is a man who went into the last round of the 1982 Formula 1 championship with a genuine, if long, shot at the title. He won more races that year than the man who beat him. John is a man who was Britain’s most successful driver for six straight seasons, took five grand prix victories and to this day holds the record for winning a race from furthest back on the grid. Starting in P22 in Long Beach in 1983, he and team-mate Niki Lauda carved through the field. John then overtook the double world champion to win.

He also taught me a stat I did not know: in their three seasons together – one at Brabham and two at McLaren – he and the soon-to-be triple world champion scored precisely the same number of points. When his time in F1 was done he was also instrumental in helping Jaguar win the 1987 World Sportscar Championship.

As likeable and forthright as ever at 79, I think it a shame that Wattie is not a household name among F1 fans in the same way as are those of drivers like Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert, both of whom were less successful at the top level. He however has a very level view of his own achievements: when I asked him to sum up his F1 career he simply said, “Could have done better. Should have done better.” John, from where I’m sitting you did just fine.

I was delighted to see the new Mercedes-Benz CLA carry off the Car of the Year award, voted for by a jury of a few dozen hacks drawn from countries right across Europe, among whose number I proudly count myself. I won’t review it here as I did exactly that in the January issue [Mercedes back to blazing a trail] but my conclusion – “For now, this new CLA is the best EV of its kind I’ve driven and it’s going to require something genuinely remarkable to top it” – would seem to hold water. You don’t say something like that lightly and while I’m happy to be in a minority of one when it comes to my verdicts, it is nevertheless gratifying to see many of the continent’s most experienced motoring journalists reaching the same conclusion.

The only surprise I got was when I looked back at the record and realised it’s been 52 years since a Mercedes last won, that with the 450SE back in 1974, and that was its only previous win since the award’s inception in 1964. By rather stark, staring contrast, Fiat has won the award nine times, Renault eight and Peugeot six. But the most staggering stat of all? BMW has never won it. Think of all those cars over all those years. The 3, 5 and 7 Series, the brilliant i3 and achingly desirable i8; not one has ever topped the chart. I wonder if the new i3, launched this year as rival to the CLA and with similarly game-changing-on-paper credentials, will be the one finally to break that duck. I will, of course, let you know.

Have you ever formed a bond with a car you never even expected to think about, let alone remember with great fondness? Me neither until myself and Mrs F fled filthy, rain-soaked Britain at the end of last year and ended up in Patagonia. There we entrusted our lives to a rental Hyundai Palisade (no, I’d not heard of it either but it’s a largish SUV not sold in the UK) and proceeded to subject it to the cruel and unusual torture that the roads (rutted dirt tracks mainly) in this part of the world are uniquely qualified to mete out.

“I shudder to think about what I did to that poor car for hour after hour”

I shudder to think about what I did to that poor car for hour after hour, day after day, in the world’s most southerly mainland location with a permanent population. Then we crossed the Magellan Strait to Tierra del Fuego and went further south too, where we drove, often for an hour or more without seeing a single vehicle. In such circumstances the only thing that matters is that your car keeps buggering on, crossing some of the roughest terrain I’ve ever encountered with potholes that look like they were made by Heinkels.

Not only did it never miss a beat, it emitted not so much as a squeak or rattle, let alone groaning or moaning about discomfitures. It looked after us superbly, which is all I could have asked of it. So much so that when we got back to Punta Arenas and I saw what it looked like, I decided to treat it to a carwash before returning it to the hire company. And I’ve never done that before either.

I have been for a ride in the new Jaguar. Not drive, note, but a passenger ride in a camouflaged car. Such experiences are always frustrating as they tend to tell you more about the ability of your driver and nature of the track than the car itself, and this was no different. But what I can tell you is that Jaguar is deadly serious about this car and that there are upwards of 150 prototypes out there right now, dotted around the world, doing their development, durability and homologation thing. From where I was sitting it rode like a Rolls-Royce.