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Sir Jackie Stewart: F1 Code Breaker

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Sir Jackie Stewart, 75, could soon find himself with an unexpected role in Grand Prix racing. If a move by Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is anything to go by, the three-time World Champion is likely to be in much demand as a F1 Master Spy, capable of decoding messages from teams to drivers.

According to a report in The Sunday Times last weekend, Britain's surveillance agency is using more than 100 dyslexic and dyspraxic spies to combat terrorism and foreign espionage by using their ability to analyse complex information in a "dispassionate, logical and analytical" way. This is due to their unique ability to decipher facts despite having difficulty reading and writing. A dyslexic GCHQ employee told the newspaper: "People with neuro diversity usually have a 'spiky skills' profile which means that certain skill areas will be below par and others may be well above. You can be an asset with these skills".

With Sir Jackie being famous for his success despite being severely dyslexic, the link with F1 is obvious in the light of the fuss over interpretation of Red Bull's messages to Daniel Ricciardo during the Singapore Grand Prix.

You can see it now. Half way through a grand prix, the former champion is rushed to the McLaren garage where Ron Dennis thrusts a headset into Stewart's hands with the instruction: "We have an urgency requirement for you to use your skill set strategy to optimise this engineer/driver interface into an everyday verbalisation of a situation that suggests there is significant transgression of the communication authorisation processes going forward."

It is not deemed a good start when Sir Jackie responds: "Sorry, what d'you mean exactly?" He goes on to explain that, a few minutes before, another team that will remain nameless in the lower reaches of the pit lane had simply handed over the headset and said: "'ere, Jack. Wot's wos'name just said? Don't trust them smart-arse bleeders up the posh end."

After a quick listen to the offending message "Avoiding exit kerbs may help problem with the car", Sir Jackie explains to McLaren that Red Bull were merely asking if the Aussie could avoid making an early exit and curb his enthusiasm for post-race barbies as there is a problem that needs to be sorted with the car.

"Of course," adds Sir Jackie, "in my day, we didn't have such luxuries. The only radio we had at Tyrrell was in Ken's car and he'd have been sitting in it listening to the cricket. If England were losing, my pit board would show an urn of ashes with a red line through it. I then knew not to mention the Test Match when interviewed by Ken Dodd on the podium. Now that's what serious messages are about. None of this nonsense about telling a driver how to drive and….och, sorry; just been called to Ferrari."

"Before you go," whispers Ron, "could I have a quick word? Could you get a coded message to Fernando, persuading him to come to us in 2015?"

"Okay Ron. I'll tell him Luca di Montezemolo says he's coming back. That should do the trick and no-one will know. I understand how drivers think as surely as DNA stands for National Dyslexia Association."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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