50 Years On

[Jasper Gilder]

Whilst celebrating Lewis Hamilton's achievements today - let's also remember that it is 50 years since Mike Hawthorn became the first British World Champion - also by a tiny margin. Shame he's not about to add his congratulations

[kevin ritson]

Indeed, I wasa thinking of that too. As much as I feel Stirling Moss devalued the World Championship by never winning it, Mike Hawthorn was a fine driver and worthy of the accolade - bearing in mind his health and the tragedies surrounding him that year, he did a great job.

[timbob]

kevin ritson said:

Indeed, I wasa thinking of that too. As much as I feel Stirling Moss devalued the World Championship by never winning it, Mike Hawthorn was a fine driver and worthy of the accolade - bearing in mind his health and the tragedies surrounding him that year, he did a great job.

Given the cut-throat business of today's F1, gladly accepting any (wrongly) gained benefit from questionable penalties... We should also remember the sporting selflessness that gave Hawthorn that title:

The stewards of the race meeting at the final race of the year disqualified Hawthorn from the results for pushing his car. This gave Moss the championship. But Moss, unhappy with the decision argued Hawthorn's case with the stewards, overturned the decision, and in doing so - lost the championship.

Replay the situation today - if Hamilton had indeed finished 6th. Would Massa have gone to the FiA and demanded his extra point from the Bourdais penalty, or extra "countback" win he inherited in Spa be removed - thereby handing the championship to Hamilton? Of course he wouldn't.

But - I hasten to add - that's not a blot on Massa's personality or attitude, merely a reflection of the times.

Edited by timbob on Monday 3rd November 01:01

[TimmyArt]

Yep. Program about him on the BBC One Show later today I think...

[Eric Mc]

timbob said:

kevin ritson said:

Indeed, I wasa thinking of that too. As much as I feel Stirling Moss devalued the World Championship by never winning it, Mike Hawthorn was a fine driver and worthy of the accolade - bearing in mind his health and the tragedies surrounding him that year, he did a great job.

Given the cut-throat business of today's F1, gladly accepting any (wrongly) gained benefit from questionable penalties... We should also remember the sporting selflessness that gave Hawthorn that title:

The stewards of the race meeting at the final race of the year disqualified Hawthorn from the results for pushing his car. This gave Moss the championship. But Moss, unhappy with the decision argued Hawthorn's case with the stewards, overturned the decision, and in doing so - lost the championship.

Replay the situation today - if Hamilton had indeed finished 6th. Would Massa have gone to the FiA and demanded his extra point from the Bourdais penalty, or extra "countback" win he inherited in Spa be removed - thereby handing the championship to Hamilton? Of course he wouldn't.

But - I hasten to add - that's not a blot on Massa's personality or attitude, merely a reflection of the times.

Edited by timbob on Monday 3rd November 01:01

I'm pretty sure that the Hawthorn pushing incident happened earlier in the season (Portugeuse GP?) and, obviously, at the time, although Moss was generous to argue on Hawthorn's behalf, he didn't know at the time what effect it would have on the championship. He admitted afterwords that if he had known it would cost him the championship he might not have been so sporting.
It must also be rememberd that, at the last race, team tactics were used(quite properly) by Ferrari to ensure that Hawthorn got into the necessary points scoring position at the chequered flag.

Having said that, the incident still shows the difference in atitudes 50 years ago.

[timbob]

Eric Mc said:

timbob said:

kevin ritson said:

Indeed, I wasa thinking of that too. As much as I feel Stirling Moss devalued the World Championship by never winning it, Mike Hawthorn was a fine driver and worthy of the accolade - bearing in mind his health and the tragedies surrounding him that year, he did a great job.

Given the cut-throat business of today's F1, gladly accepting any (wrongly) gained benefit from questionable penalties... We should also remember the sporting selflessness that gave Hawthorn that title:

The stewards of the race meeting at the final race of the year disqualified Hawthorn from the results for pushing his car. This gave Moss the championship. But Moss, unhappy with the decision argued Hawthorn's case with the stewards, overturned the decision, and in doing so - lost the championship.

Replay the situation today - if Hamilton had indeed finished 6th. Would Massa have gone to the FiA and demanded his extra point from the Bourdais penalty, or extra "countback" win he inherited in Spa be removed - thereby handing the championship to Hamilton? Of course he wouldn't.

But - I hasten to add - that's not a blot on Massa's personality or attitude, merely a reflection of the times.

Edited by timbob on Monday 3rd November 01:01

I'm pretty sure that the Hawthorn pushing incident happened earlier in the season (Portugeuse GP?) and, obviously, at the time, although Moss was generous to argue on Hawthorn's behalf, he didn't know at the time what effect it would have on the championship. He admitted afterwords that if he had known it would cost him the championship he might not have been so sporting.
It must also be rememberd that, at the last race, team tactics were used(quite properly) by Ferrari to ensure that Hawthorn got into the necessary points scoring position at the chequered flag.

Having said that, the incident still shows the difference in atitudes 50 years ago.

Ahh, I was under the impression that the Portugese GP was the last race of the season. Well, that puts it in direct comparison with the Spa/Fuji stewards fiasco this year at which Ferrari did nothing.

And yes indeed, those were the days where the number 2 driver of a team would be required to come into the pits and surrender his car to the number 1 driver, should he have reliability issues. Interesting times - the more I find out about the 1950s, the more it becomes my "favourite" period of F1 racing, which until recently had always been the mid-late 1960s (thanks to Grand Prix Legends!)

[Eric Mc]

The last race of 1958 was the Morocco GP at Casablanca. Hawthorn's victory as WDC was overshadowed by the crash of Stewart Lewis-Evans' Vanwall which resulted in the driver receiving fatal burns.

Channel 4 did an excellent resume of the 1958 season in one of their Motor Racing Nights back in 1998. The resume was hosted by the late, great Raymond Baxter.