Formula One legend Sir Stiling Moss passed away in London at the age of 90. The former racing driver, possibly one of the sport’s greatest, passed away after a long illness.
He was one of the best known drivers to compete in Formula One and to have not won the coveted world champion title. Something he came close to winning during his career where he entered 527 races, finished 375 of them and won 212.
Tributes have poured in for the 90-year-old including from Moss’ former team Mercedes who said motorsport had “lost not only a true icon and a legend, but a gentleman”, while 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill said Moss “launched all the other careers of British racing drivers who went on to become world champions”.
It was always an honour to have Sir Stirling Moss at Albert Park. Pictured is him winning the 1958 Melbourne Grand Prix in a Cooper T45. pic.twitter.com/pylUxt9f6U
— ausgrandprix (@ausgrandprix) April 12, 2020
Six-time British world champion Lewis Hamilton said:
“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. I think it’s important that we celebrate his incredible life and the great man he was. To be honest, it was such an unusual pairing, our friendship. Two people from massively different times and backgrounds, but we clicked and ultimately found that the love for racing we both shared made us comrades.”
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 pic.twitter.com/SDUAqxENHk
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) April 12, 2020
A moment we’ll cherish forever Sir Stirling Moss and @LewisHamilton at Monza in 2015, taking to the iconic banking in two Silver Arrows
x @BBCSport pic.twitter.com/1Hj7WGkvSH
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) April 12, 2020
Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan, said to Sky Sports: “You say he’s one of the greatest drivers not to win the world championship but actually he was one of the greatest drivers ever, you don’t need to enlarge on that. He was all-powerful. He was the one person that transcended the sport.”
Moss started his career in 1948 at just 18 year old when the cars were a lot less safe for the drivers. He retired 14-years later in 1962 after a crash at Goodwood left him in a coma for a month and partially paralysed for six months.
One of his most memorable victories included the 1955 Mille Miglia, where he set a course record in the 1,000 mile event, which took place on public roads in Italy.
AFP reports that his renowned sportsmanship cost Moss the 1958 title when he defended the conduct of British rival Mike Hawthorn following a spin at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Moss’s action helped spare Hawthorn a six-point penalty, with Hawthorn winning the title by a single point.
“I had no hesitation in doing it,” Moss recalled.
“I can’t see how this is open to debate. The fact that he was my only rival in the championship didn’t come into my thinking. Absolutely not.”
He told Esquire in 2015 that his only regret in motoring is “that I never raced at Indianapolis. In my era, it wasn’t an option because it was at the same time as the Monaco Grand Prix, and that is more important to us outside of America. I would have liked to have tried American racing but I was racing every week in Europe.”
His wife Lady Moss said: “He took one lap too many. He simply tired in the end and he just closed his beautiful eyes and that was that.”
