Stewart taken ill during flight

2011-03-03 05:44:05

Former Formula 1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home after falling ill on a flight.

The Scot, 71, was given first aid after complaining of chest pains on a trip from Geneva to London on Wednesday.

He was taken to Hillingdon Hospital but was discharged later that evening.

"He's fine. It was just the chest pains that caused the problem but they're happy it's not a major thing and he's resting," his son Paul told BBC Sport.

"All his vital organs are OK - it wasn't a heart attack or anything like that. He just needs some rest. It's nothing to be overly concerned about."

Jackie Stewart's spokesman said on Tuesday that "a full recovery" was expected.

Paul revealed his father had received many get-well wishes, including a message from Williams driver Rubens Barrichello, who used to race for Stewart's F1 team from 1997-99.

The Brazilian spoke to Stewart on Wednesday evening and afterwards reported on his page on the social network site Twitter : "To my friends that got worried with Sir Jackie Stewart I can say that he is fine... he had a full check-up and he feels good now."

Stewart, who has a house in Switzerland, was on his way back from the Geneva Motor Show when he was taken ill.

The Scot won 27 grands prix on his way to three F1 world titles during his driving career, after making his debut with BRM in 1965.

In 1968 he teamed up with Ken Tyrrell at Matra International and became world champion in 1969. He repeated the success with Tyrrell's own team in 1971 and 1973.

In addition to his victories on the track, Stewart successfully campaigned for the introduction of higher safety standards, such as full-face helmets and larger run-off areas to protect his fellow drivers.

He returned to the sport in 1997 as founder and figurehead of the Stewart Grand Prix team.

In 1999 the team were bought by Ford and renamed Jaguar. They were sold in 2004 and became Red Bull Racing who are the reigning constructors' champions.

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E-mail this to a friend Printable version see also Sir Jackie Stewart's crusade to make F1 safer 12 Sep 10 |  Formula 1 Jackie Stewart: a motor-racing legend 08 Sep 09 |  Formula 1 Jackie Stewart documentary on BBC Four 09 Apr 09 |  Formula 1 Stewart re-elected as president 12 May 05 |  Motorsport related bbc links: BBC F1 coverage details Formula 1 blog Five Live Formula 1 related internet links: Sir Jackie Stewart Formula 1 FIA The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Skip to top PRODUCTS & SERVICES Daily and weekly e-mails Mobiles Desktop Tools News feeds Interactive TV Podcasts A-Z of Sports American Football Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Bowls Boxing Canoeing Cricket Cycling Darts Disability sport Diving Equestrian Fencing Football Formula 1 Gaelic Games Golf Gymnastics Handball Hockey Horse Racing Ice Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon MotoGP Motorsport Netball Rowing Rugby League Rugby Union Sailing Shooting Snooker Squash Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Winter Sports Wrestling blq.setLabel('searchSuggestion', 'Search BBC Sport');

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