Roberto
Mieres

Roberto Mieres was born on 3 December 1924 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He took part in a range of sports, including rowing, sailing, rugby and tennis, and began motor racing in Argentina with an MG. He went on to drive a Mercedes-Benz SSK and then a Bugatti that Achille Varzi had raced earlier, and with it he won the Argentine sports car championship. This led to an invitation to travel to Europe with his compatriots Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González, and in 1950 he finished fourth in the Circuit des Nations in Geneva in a Maserati 4CLT/48.

Mieres reached Formula One in 1953 with Gordini, stepping in for the injured Jean Behra. He made his debut in the Dutch Grand Prix and started three races that year, with a sixth place at Monza. In early 1954 he finished second in the Buenos Aires Grand Prix. He drove for Maserati in 1954 and 1955, with 8 and 6 starts respectively. He ended 1954 eleventh in the World Championship and 1955 eighth, his best final position. He was fifth in the 1954 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In total he started 17 races without reaching the podium.

In sports car racing, he won the 1959 Daytona 1000 km together with Anton Van Dorey. As his racing career wound down in the late 1950s, he returned to sailing and represented Argentina at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. He finished 17th in the Star class, ahead of fellow former racing driver Prince Bira. Mieres died on 26 January 2012 in Uruguay, aged 87.

Source: Wikipedia, “Roberto Mieres”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.