1960s and Tyrrell won their first championship with the French
Matra chassis. With the help of
Elf and
Ford, Tyrrell then achieved his dream of moving to Formula One in
1968 as a team principal for the team officially named
Matra International, a joint-venture established between Tyrrell's own
privateer team and the
French auto manufacturer
Matra. Stewart was a serious contender, winning three Grands Prix in the Tyrrell-run
Matra MS10. The car's most innovative feature was the use of aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks. These allowed the chassis to be around 15 kg lighter while still being stronger than its competitors. The
FIA considered the technology to be unsafe and decided to ban it for 1970, insisting on rubber bag-tanks. For the
1969 championship, the Matra
works team decided not to compete in Formula One. Matra would instead focus its efforts on Ken Tyrrell's 'Matra International' team and build a new
DFV powered car with structural fuel tanks, even though it would only be eligible for a single season. Stewart won the 1969 title easily, driving the new
Cosworth-powered
Matra MS80 which corrected most of the weaknesses of the MS10. Stewart's title was the first won by a French car, and the only one won by a car built in France as well as by a car entered by a
privateer team. It was a spectacular achievement from the British team and the French constructor that both had only entered Formula One the previous year.
1970s , being demonstrated at the 2008
Goodwood Festival of Speed six-wheeler For the
1970 season following Matra's merger with
Simca, Tyrrell were asked by Matra to use their
V12 rather than the Cosworth. Simca was a subsidiary of the
American company
Chrysler, a rival of Ford. Stewart tested the Matra V12 and found it inferior to the DFV. As a large part of the Tyrrell budget was provided by Ford, and another significant element came from French state-owned petroleum company Elf, which had an agreement with
Renault that precluded supporting a Simca partner, Ken Tyrrell had little alternative but to buy a
March 701 chassis as interim solution while developing his own car in secret. As a result, the name of his team
Matra International was officially changed to
Tyrrell Racing Organisation at the beginning of the 1970 season. Tyrrell was still sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Tyrrell would retain the traditional
French blue racing colours for most of the rest of its existence. Tyrrell and Stewart ran the
March-Fords throughout 1970 with mixed success, while
Derek Gardner worked on the first in-house Tyrrell
Grand Prix car at the woodshed in
Ockham, Surrey. The privateer team owned by Ken Tyrrell, which competed under the name
Matra International from to and under the name
Tyrrell Racing Organisation in , won 10 races in total during this period with the
Matra MS10,
Matra MS80 and
March 701 cars as well as one
World Drivers' Championship (in 1969 with the Matra MS80 car), thus becoming the
most successful privateer team in Formula One history. The
Tyrrell 001, which bore much resemblance to the Matra MS80, emerged at the end of the season in the
Canadian GP where Stewart achieved a pole position, making Tyrrell one of only a few constructors that achieved a pole position at the very first race. However, the car suffered mechanical failures in all of its three race starts. The nearly identical
Tyrrell 003 won both Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in , with strong driving from Jackie Stewart and
François Cevert. Stewart's
1972 challenge was ruined by a
stomach ulcer, but he returned to full fitness in
1973. He and Cevert finished first and fourth in the Championship, but Cevert was killed in practice for the final race of the season, the
US Grand Prix at
Watkins Glen. Stewart, who was to retire at the end of the season, and Tyrrell immediately stood down, effectively handing the Constructors' title to Lotus. At the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that was already made before the US Grand Prix. Without their star driver or his skilled French protégé aboard, Tyrrell were never serious World Championship contenders again. Despite this, the team remained a force throughout the 1970s, winning races with
Jody Scheckter and
Patrick Depailler. Most notable of these was Scheckter's triumph at the
1976 Swedish Grand Prix, giving Tyrrell a 1–2 finish driving the distinctive
Derek Gardner designed
Tyrrell P34 car. The P34 was the first (and only) successful six-wheeler F1 car, which replaced the conventional front wheels with smaller wheels mounted in banks of two on either side of the car. The design was abandoned after
Goodyear refused to develop the small tyres needed for the car as they were too busy fighting the other tyre manufacturers in Formula One. Ken Tyrrell had been spending a lot of his own money running his team, but in the summer of 1979 he finally found a sponsor: Italian appliance manufacturing group
Candy put up the money to run the
009, fielded by
Jarier and
Pironi.
1980s (pictured at the 2008
Goodwood Festival of Speed) raced from to . In
1977, the
Turbo era dawned in Grand Prix racing, which was, by the mid-1980s, to render normally-aspirated-engined cars obsolete. Without the proper funding, Tyrrell was the last to race with the
Cosworth DFV when all other teams had switched to turbocharged engines; during the height of
FISA-FOCA war, Ken Tyrrell was adamant that turbochargers constitute a form of
turbine, which had been banned in 1971, a protest that was rejected by FIA stewards. It was the beginning of two decades of struggle for Tyrrell, who was often underfunded through lack of sponsorship. It seemed appropriate, then, that the final win for the classic
Cosworth Ford DFV engine was taken by a Tyrrell car (the
Tyrrell 011), driven by
Michele Alboreto at the
1983 Detroit Grand Prix. It was also Tyrrell's last Grand Prix win.
1984 controversy At the time, the
Formula One regulations specified a minimum weight which was more than achievable with non-turbocharged cars—though not with a turbocharged car due to greater complexity—leading to some cars being built light and ballasted up to the minimum weight to optimise weight distribution. However, rules then also specified that the cars were to be weighed filled with their usual fluids. In 1982, other teams (chiefly
Brabham and
Williams) had used this provision to develop cars with features such as 'water-cooled brakes'—the car officially started the race with a large, full water tank, the water was released in the general direction of the brakes and the car ran underweight when on track and unable to be weighed, only to be later topped up sufficient water to ensure the weight limit was not breached. As Tyrrell was the only naturally aspirated engine user in the 1984 season, they were uniquely placed to be able to benefit from a similar strategy of the water brake. In Tyrrell's case, the engine was equipped with a
water injection system (a common means of lowering cylinder temperatures to increase power), whose supply tank was to be topped up late in the race. In addition, the FIA had already made provision to reduce the fuel allowance for each race during the season to 220 litres and banned the refueling of 1982–83, reducing the power available to turbocharged runners while imposing little restriction on more efficient non-turbo runners. Predictably, turbo-powered teams were against this move, leaving only Tyrrell – whose engine did not need the additional fuel – in favour of it. However, F1 rules required unanimity for the change to be scrapped, leaving Tyrrell in the way. driving for Tyrrell during the team's controversial season In several races, after Tyrrell's final pit stop,
lead shot could be seen escaping from the top of the car. It turned out that Tyrrell were running the car underweight during the race then, in the closing stages, topping up water injection supply tanks with an additional two gallons of water mixed with 140 lb of lead shot to ensure it made the weight limit. As this was pumped in under significant pressure, some escaped through the tank vent and rained down on neighbouring pits, in sufficient quantities for other teams to sweep the shot away before their drivers pitted. After the
Detroit Grand Prix where
Martin Brundle had finished in second for Tyrrell, the top cars were, as usual, impounded for inspection for compliance with the rules. Following this, it was alleged that the water was likely 27.5%
aromatics and constituted an additional fuel source. Tyrrell were thus charged with: • Taking on additional fuel during the race (then illegal) • Use of illegal fuel (the aromatic-water mix) • Equipping the car with illegal fuel lines (the lines from the water tank to the water injection system) • Using ballast that was incorrectly fixed to the car (the lead shot in the water tank) As a consequence of these charges, Tyrrell were excluded from the 1984 world championship and retroactively disqualified from all races that year. Further analysis showed that the actual fuel content of the water was significantly below 1% and well within rules. Additionally, Tyrrell argued that the requirement was that the ballast had to be fixed so it required tools to remove – which they felt was the case with the shot as contained within the water tank. Tyrrell subsequently went to the FIA court of appeal. On appeal, the evidence that the water's fuel content was in fact far lower than originally suggested was ignored, A further blow followed when
Stefan Bellof, one of the victims of the scheme, was killed at the
1985 1000 km of Spa.
1990s driving for Tyrrell at the
1995 British Grand Prix driving the
Tyrrell 026 at the
1998 Spanish Grand Prix Tyrrell struggled on through the 1980s and 1990s – the team consistently punching above their financial weight following the 1984 controversy, despite winning the Colin Chapman Trophy for naturally-aspirated constructors in 1987 following Renault's withdrawal that year. There was a brief revival of fortunes in the early 1990s. The combination of
Harvey Postlethwaite's revolutionary anhedral high-nose
Tyrrell 019 and
Jean Alesi's full debut season in
1990 brought the team two second places at
Phoenix and
Monaco – Alesi having led 30 laps of the Phoenix race. The French-Sicilian left the next year for Ferrari, but
Honda engines and
Braun sponsorship in
1991 helped
Stefano Modena earn a front row start at Monaco alongside Senna and a fine second-place finish at the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix. Nonetheless, the team slowly dropped back from the middle of the pack. Tyrrell's last F1 points were scored by Mika Salo at the
1997 Monaco Grand Prix. Eventually, and in the face of dwindling form and ill health, Ken sold his team after the
1997 season to
Craig Pollock, who at the same time was building
British American Racing with his funding and sponsor partner
British American Tobacco. Ken left the team following the sale, just before the start of the 1998 season, after a disagreement with Pollock over him choosing
Ricardo Rosset for sponsorship money reasons over
Jos Verstappen. The final race for Tyrrell was the
1998 Japanese Grand Prix, where Rosset failed to qualify and teammate
Tora Takagi retired on lap 28 after a collision with
Esteban Tuero's
Minardi.
Legacy The double championship-winning
Brawn GP team of 2009 and the present
Mercedes team can loosely be said to be descendants of Tyrrell, through its predecessors,
Honda Racing F1 and
BAR. While BAR bought the Tyrrell F1 team and entry, they used a different factory, chassis builder and engine – most of the former Tyrrell cars and equipment were sold to
Paul Stoddart, later owner of the
Minardi F1 team. When team boss
Ross Brawn led a
management buyout of the Honda F1 team to compete in the 2009 season, a revival of the Tyrrell name was briefly considered when deciding what to call the new team. As of the , the teams which descended from Tyrrell have won Grands Prix, 8 Drivers' championships (one as Brawn in 2009 and the rest as Mercedes from 2014 to 2020) and 9 Constructors' championships (one as Brawn in 2009 and the rest as Mercedes from 2014 to 2021). The Minardi 2-seater F1 cars are modifications of the 1998 Tyrrell 026 design, most noticeable in the distinctive shape of the nose of the car. These cars still run in demos today, most recently as demo cars during the launch of the
Yas Marina Circuit. The Tyrrell P34 was considered as one of the most unique and innovative race cars ever made due to its six wheel configuration. Several other teams attempted to use this wheel configuration including
March and
Williams. Ken Tyrrell died of cancer on 25 August 2001 at the age of 77.
Modern Day Team Tyrrell Bob Tyrrell continued to manage Tyrrell as a going concern, maintaining the trademarks globally and managing licensing activities under Tyrrell Promtions Limited, focused on model cars, artwork, and gaming and sim-racing. The Tyrrell brand and all associated rights were sold to a new private owner in 2023. The new owner is set to bring the name back as an historic racing team, and has confirmed Team Tyrrell will be racing at the 2026 Monaco Historic. == Racecars ==