Racing legend Moss dies

LONDON • Widely regarded as the greatest driver never to win the Formula One drivers' world championship, Stirling Moss, who died yesterday aged 90 after a long period of ill health, was synonymous with the dangers and dramas of all forms of motor racing in the 1950s and early 1960s.

A naturally gifted driver, with a great flair for speed and an instinctive feel for racing, it was his misfortune that the best years of his career coincided with those of Argentinian great Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the title five times.

But the affection and respect in which the Briton was held by his peers was unmatched and he remained revered, even in his twilight years.

It was an enduring British joke that when a policeman stopped a speeding driver on a road, his first words would be: "Who do you think you are - Stirling Moss?"

Moss was much more than a grand prix racing star.

He competed successfully in sports cars, touring cars and rallying, as well as the top levels of single-seaters.

He raced in F1 from 1951 to 1961 before being forced to retire after a huge crash at Goodwood in April 1962 that left him partially paralysed for six months.

He made 67 F1 starts, winning 16 races and finishing on the podium 24 times, but it was his courage, grace and all-round skill that set him apart.

The London-born Moss raced for Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Vanwall, Rob Walker's private Cooper team and Lotus in an illustrious career in a dangerous, if not deadly, era.

"I certainly had an appreciation of the danger, which for me, was part of the pleasure of racing," he said in 2016. "To me now, racing is... The dangers are taken away and if it is difficult, they put in a chicane.

"So really, now, the danger is minimal, which is good, because people aren't hurt, but for me, the fact that I had danger on my shoulder made it much more exciting.

"It's rather like if you flirt with a girl, it's more exciting than paying for it... The danger is a very necessary ingredient like salt if you are cooking."

Urbane and controversial, he was a patriot who claimed that, if possible, he preferred to drive British cars and for British teams.

"Better to lose honourably in a British car than win in a foreign one," he said.

Like his younger sister Pat, Moss was also a gifted horse rider and he used his winnings to fund the purchase of a Cooper 500 racing car in 1948.

He soon demonstrated his skills, rising rapidly through the junior ranks to join Fangio at Mercedes-Benz in 1955, when he began racing in F1 and went on to record some of the sport's most famous victories including beating his teammate by more than three minutes at Pescara in 1957.

Moss' speed, stamina and reputation remain unchallenged to this day, and many in the sport paid tribute to him yesterday.

On their longest-serving member, the British Racing Drivers' Club said that "no one could have been prouder" to be part of the organisation.

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Britain tweeted: "Today, we say goodbye to Sir Stirling Moss, the racing legend. I certainly will miss our conversations.

"I am truly grateful to have had these special moments with him. Sending my prayers and thoughts to his family. May he rest in peace."

His Mercedes F1 team, who have lifted six successive constructors' titles, tweeted the world "had lost not only a true icon... but a gentleman and... a dear friend".

Other teams, including Williams, Red Bull and McLaren issued their condolences, as did Italian team Ferrari.

Calling Moss a "formidable opponent", the Scuderia tweeted he was "a true legend and a wonderful person".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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MOSS' CAREER

RACES 529 (67 in Formula One)

WON 212 (16 in F1, 24 podiums).

TEAMS Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, Rob Walker Cooper, Lotus.

• Second place in F1 drivers championship four times, third overall on three other occasions.

• First British driver to win a home Grand Prix in 1955 at Aintree.

• Won the 1955 Mille Miglia - Italy's 1,000-mile (1,609km) endurance race - in a record time of just over 10 hours, beating then-Mercedes teammate and fellow great Juan Manuel Fangio by nearly 33 minutes.

• Nearly became the first British driver to win the F1 world championship in 1958, but lost by one point after sportingly asking Portuguese Grand Prix stewards to reinstate compatriot Mike Hawthorn who had been disqualified.

• Awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1961.

• Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990. Knighted for his services to motor racing in 2000.

• Received the FIA gold medal in 2006 for his outstanding contribution to motorsport, where he joked: "This is the first FIA award from (the sport's governing body) I've ever won."