LONDON: British motor racing great Sir Stirling Moss, widely regarded as the best driver never to have won a Formula One title, has died at the age of 90 following a long illness.
“It was one lap too many, he just closed his eyes,” his wife Lady Moss was quoted as saying by British media on Sunday.
Tributes poured in from the world of motor racing, with motorsport federation FIA president Jean Todt calling it a “very sad day.”
Stirling Moss “was a true legend in motor sport and he will remain so forever,” Todt said.
Current world champion Lewis Hamilton tweeted his condolences and 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.”
Moss is acknowledged as one of the greatest all-round racing drivers in the history of motorsport and the formative decades of Formula One, although he never won a world title.
He was runner-up four times in a row from 1955 to 1958 and third three times, winning 16 of the 66 F1 races he competed in from 1951 to 1961.
Some of the wins “rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport’s history – his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics,” the F1 website said.
Moss also enjoyed a successful career in sportscar racing at the same time as F1, chalking up a total of 212 victories in all competitions.
Moss retired from top-level competition after a crash in 1962 left him in a coma for a month and partially paralysed for six months.
Mercedes, who had signed Moss in 1955, tweeted: “Today, the sporting world lost not only a true icon and a legend, but a gentleman. The Team and the Mercedes Motorsport family have lost a dear friend. Sir Stirling, we’ll miss you.”
Mercedes signed Moss to race alongside the great Juan Manuel Fangio, and in that F1 year became the first British driver to win a home grand prix at Aintree and in rallying set a new course record in winning the Mille Miglia, a 1,000-mile race around Italy.
He finished behind Fangio in the championship and was again twice beaten by Fangio to the F1 title, while racing with Maserati (1956) and Vanwall (1957).
Still with Vanwall, he then lost out in 1958 to compatriot Mike Hawthorn after he vouched for his rival to prevent him from being disqualified when he was accused of reversing on track in the late-season Portuguese Grand Prix.
Moss was third in the standings in 1959, 1960 and 1961.
The crash in 1962 which ended his professional career came at an International 100 race for Formula One cars at Goodwood, southern England when his Lotus veered into a grass bank.
After retiring from competitive racing, Moss went on to run a property business with his family and continued to race in historic cars and legends events until the age of 81.
Moss also worked in broadcasting, was knighted in 2000 and in 2006 was awarded the motorsport federation FIA gold medal for outstanding contribution to motorsport.
He is survived by his third wife Susie and two children. “He died as he lived, looking wonderful,” Lady Moss told Mail Online.
Among the tributes, the Ferrari team tweeted: “RIP Sir Stirling. A true legend and a wonderful person. To Scuderia Ferrari, he was a formidable opponent.”
The McLaren F1 team also tweeted condolences and said: “All at McLaren mourn the passing of a legend of our sport, Sir Stirling Moss. A prodigious competitor, supremely talented racer, and consummate gentleman, he leaves an indelible mark of greatness on the history of international motorsport.”
Britain’s 1996 world champion Damon Hill, whose father Graham was a racing contemporary of Moss, told the BBC Moss “became the icon, the poster boy if you like” for British Grand Prix drivers from the beginning of the post-war period of motor racing.
“I think he launched all the other careers of British racing drivers who went on to become world champions of which he sadly was denied,” he said.
“But I think no one ever regarded him as anything less than one of the greats.”
The 1978 F1 world champion Mario Andretti tweeted: “He was my hero and such a kind man beloved by everyone. He was a true giant in our sport and will be missed forever.”
British former F1 racer and now TV commentator Martin Brundle tweeted that Moss was “a mighty racer and gentleman” who “survived the most dangerous era of motorsport.”
Former British F1 racer David Coulthard, who is president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), said Moss was “a truly great character and gentleman who will be sorely missed by all who had the fortune of knowing him.” – dpa
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