Mike Hawthorn

Interesting facts

His father runs the Tourist Trophy Garage in Farnham, servicing Jaguars and Ferraris; when his father dies in a road accident in 1954, Mike has to take over the family business alongside his racing. At the catastrophic 1955 Le Mans he sets an early lap record dueling Fangio, but his sudden braking on the pit straight plays into the chain of events behind the crash that kills 83 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh, an official inquiry later clears him of blame. The French press nickname him 'Le Papillon' (the Butterfly) for racing in a bow tie. At the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix he is initially disqualified for bump-starting his stalled car downhill facing the wrong way, Moss personally intervenes with the stewards and gets the penalty overturned. He writes children's books about a character named Carlotti, leaving the series unfinished. He retires the moment he clinches the title, still shaken by close friend and teammate Peter Collins's fatal crash two months earlier. On 22 January 1959, just three months into retirement, his Jaguar leaves the road near Guildford while overtaking Rob Walker's Mercedes; he has already lost one kidney to infection years earlier, and doctors had given him only a few more years to live. Mike Hawthorn made his Formula 1 debut in 1952 and raced until 1958, 7 seasons in total as a British driver. He won the World Championship once, in 1958. He scored a total of 112.64 championship points over his career.