British Formula One great Stirling Moss dead at 90
LONDON — Stirling Moss, the British racing driver who ranked as an all-time Formula One great despite never winning the world championship, died on Sunday aged 90 after a long illness.
“He died as he lived, looking wonderful,” his wife Susie told the Daily Mail newspaper.
“He simply tired in the end and he just closed his beautiful eyes and that was that.”
A teammate at Mercedes to Argentine five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, the Briton survived one of the deadliest eras of motorsport with 16 grand prix wins in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Four times a championship runner-up, and also third overall on three occasions, no other driver has won as many races without taking the title.
Moss was the first Briton to win his home grand prix, beating Fangio at Liverpool’s Aintree circuit for Mercedes in 1955, with his name becoming a byword for speed for a generation of fans.
He also won grands prix in Maserati, Vanwall, and Rob Walker-entered Cooper and Lotus cars and was admired by generations as “Mr. Motor Racing.”
News of his passing was mourned across the world of motorsport, with Formula One and Jean Todt, president of the governing FIA, hailing a “legend” of the sport and “one of the true greats.”
“Sir Stirling was a larger-than-life figure in our sport and one of the survivors of an age when motor racing was about danger, bravery and camaraderie,” said Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff.
“But most of all, Stirling’s career was characterized by an impeccable sportsmanship and in this he truly set himself apart… it is no exaggeration to say that we will never see his like again.”
Ferrari hailed “a true legend and a wonderful person” and added: “To Scuderia Ferrari, he was a formidable opponent.”
But for his sense of sportsmanship, Moss could have been Britain’s first world champion in 1958 instead of Mike Hawthorn.
He lost the title by a single point that year after asking stewards to reinstate his disqualified compatriot at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
“I felt that it was quite wrong and I went and gave evidence on Mike’s behalf and said no way should he be disqualified,” Moss, who won four races that year to Hawthorn’s one, told Reuters in an interview at his home in 2009. — Reuters
