Team Surtees introduced the TS14 as its next-generation Formula One chassis, designed by team owner John Surtees to replace the aging TS9/TS9B platform. The car made a low-key debut at the 1972 Italian Grand Prix, with Surtees himself driving but retiring with a fuel system failure. The TS14 was not entered in Canada that year, and only appeared again at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, where Tim Schenken drove alongside Surtees; neither finished, Surtees failing to start due to an engine shortage and Schenken retiring with suspension failure.
For 1973, Team Surtees updated the car to TS14A specification and assembled a new driver pairing: Mike Hailwood, the celebrated former motorcycle world champion who had returned to Formula One, and Brazilian José Carlos Pace. The season proved eventful and difficult in equal measure.
Both drivers suffered retirements in the opening Argentine and Brazilian rounds. At the South African Grand Prix, the race produced one of the most dramatic incidents in the car's history. Both Hailwood and Pace retired following accidents, but Hailwood's crash brought him into contact with Clay Regazzoni's BRM, which burst into flames with the unconscious Swiss driver still trapped at the wheel. Hailwood ran back to the burning car, tore off Regazzoni's belts, and dragged him clear of the fire. Hailwood was subsequently awarded the George Medal for his bravery, one of the highest civilian honors for gallantry in Britain.
Racing continued through the season with mixed results. Pace recorded a third place at the Austrian Grand Prix, one of the team's strongest individual results that year. Hailwood contributed seventh at the Italian Grand Prix, and the pair generally scored points when they completed races, though mechanical reliability remained inconsistent.
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone produced one of the most notorious first-lap accidents of the era. A collision involving Jody Scheckter's McLaren triggered a multi-car pile-up that eliminated Hailwood, Pace, a one-off entry by Jochen Mass, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Andrea de Adamich, Roger Williamson, and the two Shadow works cars of George Follmer and Jackie Oliver, as well as Graham Hill driving a privateer Shadow. Only Hill was able to drive away from the scene.
At the German Grand Prix, Jochen Mass rejoined the team for a one-off drive alongside both regular drivers; all three finished, with Pace fourth, Mass seventh, and Hailwood 14th. Mass appeared again at the United States Grand Prix but all three drivers retired.
The TS14A was replaced by the Surtees TS16 for the 1974 season. Despite the TS14's two-year lifespan, it is remembered less for its on-track results than for the events surrounding it — most notably Mike Hailwood's act of bravery at Kyalami in 1973, which overshadowed the car's performance record and became one of the defining human stories of that Formula One season.