Jackie Stewart suffers stroke and falls ‘unconscious’ in frightening health scare
The three-time F1 world champion, 84, will attend the British Grand Prix this weekend despite the incident
Jackie Stewart has revealed he suffered a stroke five weeks ago in a health scare which saw him fall “unconscious for a long time.”
The three-time F1 world champion, still a regular in and around the paddock, will be present at Silverstone this weekend despite the incident.
The 84-year-old was in Jordan attending the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein when, the night before, he was taken to hospital after falling unconscious.
"This was the night before the wedding, I got up in the night feeling strange,” he told the Daily Mail.
"I just dropped. And then I can’t remember. I was unconscious for quite a long time.
"I was taken to hospital in Jordan. My son Paul and his wife were there for the wedding, in a bedroom on a different floor.
"To this day I don’t know how I got to Paul’s room, but I must have been somewhat alert to get hold of him.”
Stewart was then treated in Jordan before flying home in a plane supplied by the Crown Prince.
"They got me into an ambulance, but I have no recall of that either,” Stewart added. “His Majesty got the best doctors available for me.
"I wanted to get home as fast as possible, and the Crown Prince of Bahrain very generously gave his aircraft to fly me back to Europe.
"By then I was pretty much okay. I wasn’t walking very well though."
Stewart now says he can walk “almost completely perfectly” and will be present at Silverstone for two days – he also attended a meeting at Downing Street on Tuesday alongside a number of F1 officials and team principals.
The F1 legend has also backed championship leader Max Verstappen to continue his domination.
“The combination of the Dutchman and Milton Keynes,” he added. “Max is a remarkably talented man, and he hasn’t gone astray.
“He is a wonderful ambassador for our sport."
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