Three-time F1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart founded the global charity ‘Race Against Dementia’ for the ‘silent killer’ disease back in 2016. Being a grand gesture, F1 decided to support Stewart in this move in 2023. As this continued growing, Stewart began finding people outside of F1 willing to contribute. One such person was Oppenheimer star, Florence Pugh.
Stewart mentioned the sheer problem-solving capability the sport has, while talking about his partnership with F1. He said that the sport has fastest problem-solving mentality in the world. A problem that arises on a given day, will be taken care of in the blink of an eye.
Stewart spoke about this this in The Fast and The Curious podcast. He said,
“So we have great support from the senior management at Formula 1 and the governing body of the sport, the FIA, and when you understand that motorsport is probably more global than any other sport, we’re reaching out wherever we go. We’ve got PhDs now, young professors in South Africa, we’ve got them in Australia, we’ve got them in many countries in the world.
Backstory of Race Against Dementia
Notably, Jackie Stewart started off his Race Against Dementia charity after the devastating disease affected his wife Helen McGregor Stewart. She was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and now has limited short-term memory, and impaired mobility. Therefore, she needs 24-hour care at home. This made the fight against Dementia personal for the legendary former British F1 driver.
In this fight against Dementia, he got the valuable support of Florence Pugh. She attended the 2023 British GP with Stewart to show her support for ‘Race Against Dementia’, and waved the chequered flag when the race ended.
Sir Jackie Stewart started the charity for a purpose
Race Against Dementia is believed to be heading in the right direction as it hired talented scientists to find a cure for this disease. They have divided themselves into five teams, with one of them having Pugh as their leader. They lead a bunch of scientists to find a cure for this disease.
The team leaders are granted $952,000 over five years to gather talented research staff who would help to develop prevention strategies. Along with this, they would also help to identify causes and determine necessary treatments for the disease.
Pugh, speaking on this, said that the dementia situation was breathtaking, saddening, and shocking. She also added as per The Mirror,
“Fifty-five million people around the world are either living with dementia or or living around it. One in three people born today will die with dementia.“
Notably, the Hollywood actress also uploaded a story on this after reviving her Instagram account just to show her support for this cause.
Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of Formula 1 also shared his thoughts on F1’s tie with Race Against Dementia. He said that the F1 is proudly supporting the cause raised by Sir Jackie Stewart. He also went on to laud the efforts shown by the 84-year-old at this age against a disease like this.
