Mike
Hawthorn

John Michael Hawthorn, known as Mike, was born on 10 April 1929 in Mexborough, Yorkshire. His father raced motorcycles himself. Hawthorn made his competition debut in 1950, winning the 1,100 cc sports car class at the Brighton Speed Trials. In 1951 he took the Brooklands Memorial Trophy in a Riley. By 1952 he had moved into single-seaters, and that season he won a race at Goodwood in a Formula Two Cooper-Bristol.

He made his Formula One debut at the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, finishing fourth in a Cooper. He was third at the British Grand Prix and ended the year fifth in the championship. Driving for Ferrari in 1953, he won the French Grand Prix at Reims after a duel with Juan Manuel Fangio in which the first four cars finished within five seconds of each other. He was fourth in the standings. In 1954 he won the season finale in Spain, his second victory, and finished third overall. In 1955 he drove for both Ferrari and Vanwall. That year he also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring for Jaguar. The Le Mans race was overshadowed by an accident that killed Pierre Levegh and many spectators, and an official inquiry did not hold Hawthorn responsible.

In 1956 he drove for BRM, Maserati and Vanwall and finished twelfth in the championship. His only podium that year came in Argentina, where he guest-drove a Maserati 250F because his BRM did not appear. He returned to Ferrari in 1957 and finished fourth in the standings.

In 1958 he won the world championship with Ferrari, even though his only victory was the French Grand Prix at Reims, while Stirling Moss won four races. He beat Moss by a single point. In Portugal a disqualification against him was overturned after Moss spoke up on his behalf, and in the final race in Morocco, Phil Hill, running second, let him through, which was enough to secure the title. Hawthorn was the first British world champion and announced his retirement soon afterwards. In total he started 45 races, with three wins, 18 podiums and four pole positions.

Hawthorn died on 22 January 1959 in a road accident on the A3 near Guildford. The RAC created the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy that same year, awarded annually to the most successful British or Commonwealth driver in Formula One.

Source: Wikipedia, “Mike Hawthorn”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.