Stirling
Moss

Stirling Moss was born on 17 September 1929 in West Kensington, London. His father Alfred was an amateur racing driver and his sister Pat became a rally driver. In 1948 he bought a Cooper 500 and soon won several Formula Three races. His first major international victory came in 1950 in a Jaguar XK120 at the RAC Tourist Trophy in Northern Ireland.

Moss made his Formula One debut at the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix with HWM. He also drove for Connaught, ERA and Cooper before joining Maserati in 1954, where he took his first podium in Belgium. At the Italian Grand Prix he passed Fangio and Ascari to take the lead, which he held until his engine failed. Mercedes signed him for 1955, and at the British Grand Prix he won his first World Championship race, with Mercedes taking the first four places. He finished the season second in the championship behind his team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio.

Moss was runner-up to Fangio again in 1956 and 1957. In 1958 he won four races but lost the title to Mike Hawthorn by a single point. After the Portuguese Grand Prix he had spoken up for Hawthorn before the stewards, when Hawthorn faced a penalty for a manoeuvre after a spin. From 1959 to 1961 he finished third in the championship each year, winning at Monaco in 1960 and 1961 in Lotus cars from Rob Walker's team. In total he took 16 wins, 16 pole positions and 24 podiums from 66 starts, but never became world champion.

After a serious accident in the Glover Trophy at Goodwood in April 1962, a race outside the World Championship, he ended his professional career. Away from Formula One he won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1954 and the 1955 Mille Miglia with Denis Jenkinson as co-driver. In 1980 and 1981 he raced for Audi in the British Saloon Car Championship, and in 2011 he declared his final retirement at Le Mans. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990 and knighted in 2000. He died in 2020.

Source: Wikipedia, “Stirling Moss”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.