An aerospace company that won the world championship with Jackie Stewart, then chose its own V12 over winning.
Seasons
1967–1972
Identities
2
Race wins
9
Titles
1 CWC · 1 WDC
Identity timeline
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Matra's Formula One story is split by an engine decision. The winning cars were run by Ken Tyrrell with Cosworth power; the works team that followed insisted on Matra's own V12 and never matched them.
Matra Sports built chassis while Ken Tyrrell's Matra International entered them with Cosworth DFV engines for Jackie Stewart. The MS80 of 1969 won six races; Stewart took the drivers' title and Matra the constructors' championship.
When Matra was bought by Simca, part of Chrysler Europe, it insisted on using its own V12 engine. Tyrrell refused, took his Ford backing and started building his own cars.
1970 — 1972
1970–1972: the V12 works team
Equipe Matra Sports
Works V12 entry; podiums but no wins.
The works team ran its V12 with Chris Amon and Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Amon led races and took pole in Spain and France but never won a championship Grand Prix; Beltoise won the wet 1972 Monaco Grand Prix for BRM, not Matra.
Matra withdrew from Formula One after 1972 to concentrate on sports cars, winning Le Mans three times in a row. Its V12 later powered Ligier.
Reference material used to compile and verify the Matra Sports lineage data on this page. GridXTrax is an independent fan archive; follow the links to check any figure at source.