Conor Stewart

Conor James Stewart (b. 22 February 1963) is a fictional Australian racing driver. He is the title character of the series The Ballad of Conor Stewart, and together with his daughter Brooke, is one of the series' two main protagonists.

Within the series' alternate history, Stewart competed in Formula One between 1987 and 1995, driving for the fictional Hildebrand team, followed by March, Tyrrell, Ferrari and McLaren. He gained a reputation for being consistently fast and for making relatively few mistakes, and famously won the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix to give the ailing Tyrrell team their final F1 victory. Stewart's career came to an end after a horrific accident at the 1995 Italian Grand Prix in which he broke both his legs; though he recovered, he chose to retire from racing to be with his family.

Early life
Stewart was born on 22 February 1963 in Brisbane, Australia. His father was a mechanic and keen motor racing enthusiast, and so the young Stewart grew up with an interest in racing. He began karting at the age of seven, and soon worked his way up into the junior formulae. In 1985, he began competing in Formula 3000, as well as the Japanese Formula Two series alongside Satoru Nakajima.

After several impressive results in both series, in mid-1986 Stewart was contacted by American entrepreneur David F. Hildebrand, whose self-named team had secured a Formula One entry for 1987. Stewart was initially uncertain about driving for a new and untested team, but after consulting friends and family, he accepted the drive.

Hildebrand (1987)
Stewart made his Formula One debut at the 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix, partnering Canadian Allen Berg. Stewart qualified comfortably ahead of his team-mate and proceeded to finish 12th. The Hildebrands, using Ford Cosworth DFZ non-turbo engines, were fairly slow and uncompetitive, but Stewart made the most of them, out-qualifying Berg at almost every race and challenging some of the slower turbo cars, such as the Brabham-BMWs. Stewart's pace in the slow car impressed many, including future triple world champion Ayrton Senna.

At the season-ending Australian GP, Stewart's home race, he finished fifth to score his first points in Formula One, ending the season 18th in the Drivers' Championship. Unhappy with the slow pace of the Hildebrands, Stewart had already made up his mind to leave the team and seek his fortunes elsewhere, ultimately securing a deal with March for the 1988 season.

March (1988)
Stewart's March career got off to an inauspicious start after his March 881 suffered gearbox failure just 50 metres into the Brazilian Grand Prix. He retired from five of the first six races, managing only a 9th place at Imola, before his fortunes turned around and he completed all but one of the remaining races. After 4th-placed finishes at Silverstone and Hungary, Stewart qualified a sensational third at Estoril, ahead of team-mate Ivan Capelli, and the pair proceeded to finish second and third in an excellent result for the team, gaining Stewart his first podium. Stewart crashed out of his home race after slowing to avoid an accident and being hit from behind by Satoru Nakajima's Lotus.

By the end of the season, both Stewart and Capelli had made their mark on F1. Stewart finished 9th in the Drivers' Championship, with an impressive total of 15 points. While Capelli stayed at March, Stewart was signed by Tyrrell.

Tyrrell (1989-1990)
Driving for his third team in as many seasons, Stewart's 1989 team-mate was Jonathan Palmer. With the turbos banned from '89 onwards, Tyrrell were more competitive than they had been in previous seasons, and Stewart duly picked up where he had left off at March, scoring third-place finishes at Mexico, France, and at Portugal for the second year in a row. Stewart ended the year 7th in the Drivers' Championship, with 22 points.

For 1990, Stewart would be driving alongside his old friend Satoru Nakajima. This proved to be Stewart's most successful season to date, starting with an excellent 2nd place in Phoenix. He went on to finish 3rd at the prestigious Monaco GP, after which he famously told an interviewer, "I am gonna get so drunk tonight, Like, fucking blitzed out my mind". The season was comparatively barren from then onwards, until a miraculous performance at the Japanese Grand Prix saw Stewart take his first and only Formula One victory, and Tyrrell's last-ever win in F1, finishing ahead of the Benettons of Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno. He was the last Australian to win an F1 race until Mark Webber won the 2009 German Grand Prix.

At the end of the 1990 season, Stewart again finished 7th in the championship, this time with 28 points. With his stock climbing ever higher, he was signed by Ferrari to replace the departed Nigel Mansell, driving alongside three-time (later four-time) World Champion Alain Prost.

Ferrari (1991-1992)
Prior to the season, Stewart repeatedly expressed his delight at having signed for such a prestigious and competitive team, but as the season began it became apparent that Ferrari had fallen slightly behind their competitors in terms of both performance and reliability. Stewart scored points at eight races that season, including three 3rd-places, but retired from every other race, and failed to equal his performances of 1990. Though Stewart claimed he was "happy" with the car, and did not regret his decision to move to Ferrari, Prost was furious about the car's lack of pace and was fired after the Japanese Grand Prix after likening it to "a truck". Stewart finished 7th in the Championship once again, with 24 points.

1992 saw Stewart once again driving alongside Capelli. That season's F92A proved just as unreliable as the previous season's 643, and Stewart again retired from eight of the season's sixteen races. Podiums at Spain and Canada proved the high points of the season, and by the end of the season, with Capelli already having been sacked, Stewart reluctantly made the decision to move on from Ferrari. He did, however, end the season with a 4th-placed finish at Adelaide, which proved to be his best-ever result at his home Grand Prix (and indeed, the last time he would reach the checkered flag there). Yet again Stewart finished 7th in the championship, but this time with only 21 points.

McLaren (1993-1995)
Stewart made the move to McLaren for 1993, where he would now be partnering three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna. Stewart hit the ground running by scoring points in his first five races, including podiums at South Africa and San Marino, to climb to third in the championship behind Prost and Senna. His form wavered slightly until the end of the season, where he scored podiums at both Monza and Suzuka before crashing out of his home race with brake failure. Ultimately, Stewart finished 5th in the championship with 33 points.

Impressed with the speed and reliability of the McLaren, Stewart agreed to stay with the team for 1994, partnering Martin Brundle this time. However, McLaren switched to Peugeot engines for that season, which proved to be fast but highly unreliable. Of the first seven races that season, the only one Stewart finished was the infamous 1994 San Marino GP, in which Senna and rookie Roland Ratzenberger were both killed. Stewart finished 3rd, and was so upset afterwards that he walked straight out of the post-race conference without answering any questions. He considered quitting the sport in the aftermath, a decision supported by his wife Christina, but his fellow drivers convinced him to stay in order to honour Senna's memory.

Stewart ultimately secured seven podium positions that year, including two 2nd-places at Germany and Belgium, but retired from every other race of the season; he was still classified at Adelaide, despite retiring with brake failure as in 1993. He finished 4th in the Drivers' Championship with 32 points, his highest-ever placing.

Despite reservations about the car's reliability, Stewart elected to stay with McLaren for 1995, this time partnered by Mark Blundell and Nigel Mansell (albeit for only two races). However, the MP4/10, now with Mercedes power, was no more reliable than the previous season's car, and also struggled with handling issues. By the Italian Grand Prix, the twelfth race of the season, Stewart had finished just four races, scoring only six points to Blundell's seven. Frustrated with the team's lack of pace and reliability, he had already decided to leave the team at the end of the season.

Crash and retirement
On lap 18 of the Italian GP, Stewart was coming up to lap the Forti of Pedro Diniz when the two touched wheels and span going into the first Curva di Lesmo. Both cars were able to continue seemingly undamaged, but as Stewart approached the Parabolica at roughly 190mph, his front-left suspension suddenly failed, causing his car to snap hard to the left. Stewart could not avoid hitting the Armco barriers, and was launched into a series of flips and rolls as his car was almost totally demolished before sliding back across the track and coming to a rest on the grass verge on the other side of the track. The impact had broken Stewart's left leg, injured his right leg, and fractured his wrist, as well as causing him to black out temporarily.

The race was swiftly red-flagged while Stewart, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, was extricated from the wreckage of his car. As the marshals arrived he is reported to have told them, "I can't feel my legs". He is also reported to have said at one point, "I don't wanna die... I wanna see Brooke, I wanna see my wife". When a marshal then asked who Brooke was, a dazed Stewart is said to have replied, "I don't know." Stewart himself has stated that he does not remember the crash or its aftermath, but remarked in a later interview: "Ten years [earlier] that crash probably would have killed me. Back in the 70s, that car would've caught fire, I would've been ashes. The [level of] safety [in Formula One] is still not perfect, and probably never will be, but it's improved dramatically from where it was ten or twenty years ago".

Although Stewart went on to make a full recovery from his injuries, he announced prior to the 1996 season that he would not be returning to motorsport, in order to spend time with his family.

The Ballad of Conor Stewart
The Ballad of Conor Stewart takes place starting in March 2011, fifteen years since Stewart's retirement from Formula One. With encouragement from daughter Brooke, Stewart has set up a motor-racing academy at a private test track outside Brisbane, in order to tutor young, upcoming drivers (including Brooke herself). At the end of every week, Conor narrates a portion of his F1 experiences to the drivers, telling them of his successes and warning them of potential mistakes.

Personal life
Stewart met Italian supermodel Christina Bianchi at the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix, and the pair began dating soon afterwards. After finishing 5th at the 1990 Italian Grand Prix, Stewart proposed to Christina, who accepted, and the pair got married in Monte-Carlo in May 1991. In November 1993, Christina gave birth to Brooke, the couple's only child.

After Senna's death in May 1994, and Stewart's subsequent decision to continue racing, the couple's relationship became strained, and Stewart's career-ending crash strained it further still. The pair ultimately divorced in mid-1997, and shared custody of Brooke until 2002 when Stewart was awarded sole custody, as Brooke had inherited her father's passion for racing and had asked the courts to let her live with him.

Complete Formula One results
(section is incomplete) † 2nd place in the Jim Clark Cup, for naturally-aspirated cars.