A CORKING IDEA

Sir Jackie reveals how he started champagne ritual

SIR Jackie Stewart has revealed he started the tradition of Formula 1 drivers spraying champagne on the podium by accident.

The racing legend said that “as a Scot” he was trying to prevent fizz going to waste when he put his thumb over the bottle at the 1969 French Grand Prix.

That only caused Moet et Chandon to jet all over the place and the ritual was born.

Sir Jackie, 83, told the Convex Conversation podcast: “I was the first to start spraying champagne in Formula 1.

“It was the French Grand Prix and the president of France was presenting me with the trophy.

“Count Frederic Chandon said to me ‘Oh you must have the champagne to put in the trophy so we can celebrate your success.’

“When I undid it the thing exploded because it had been left out in the heat. As a Scot, I put my finger on it to save it but it just went further.

“So that was the beginning of that.”

A new documentary on Sir Jackie’s life was screened in Edinburgh this month.

The film, titled Stewart, covers the three-time F1 champion’s humble beginnings in Milton, Dunbartonshire, and the excitement that heralded his first F1 World Championship title in 1969. It moves on to his efforts to make the sport safer in the face of opposition from those who believed that F1 should be “gladiatorial”.

It also follows his campaign for a dementia cure.

Sir Jackie’s 81-year-old wife Helen was diagnosed with the illness in 2014 and now requires round-the-clock care.

The thing exploded because it had been in the heat SIR JACKIE STEWART ON CHAMPERS INCIDENT