LONDON – Three-time Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart said there will never be another racer to compare to Stirling Moss, as he paid tribute to the British motor racing great during a memorial service in London on May 8.
Four years after Moss’ death at the age of 90 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a congregation of nearly 2,000 people, including former F1 world champions Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill, as well as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, honoured the celebrated driver at Westminster Abbey.
Stewart, 84, said at the memorial: “There will never be another Stirling Moss.
“He drove well, he presented himself well, he dressed well and he was just an amazing character.
“I don’t think in the history of the sport there has been somebody so well-loved and who has continued to be so well-loved.”
Moss never won the F1 world championship yet was widely regarded as one of the leading drivers of the 1950s and early 1960s, at a time when racers competed across a wide variety of different events.
Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the Italian racing giants, described Moss as the greatest driver in the world, while five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio said Moss was the best of his era.
Moss’ career ended in 1962 when he was cut out of his car following a 161kmh crash at the Goodwood circuit in southern England that almost killed him.
He tried to make a comeback but, believing he had lost his edge, retired from top-flight competition at the age of 32, having won a record 212 races from 529 starts during 15 seasons.
Perhaps his most famous success came in the 1955 Mille Miglia, where Moss covered 1,000 miles (1,609km) of open Italian roads at an average speed of 158kmh in 10hr 7min 48sec.
The Mercedes that carried him to victory in that race was on display outside Westminster Abbey on May 8.
For decades after his retirement, British policemen were said to have stopped speeding motorists with the words: “Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?” – an experience that even extended to Stewart.
“I had just won the world championship and I was driving, late for something, and a policeman stopped me,” he said.
“I wound down the window, and he said, ‘Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?’ And I had just won the world championship.
“He asked to see my driver’s licence. I said I was Jackie Stewart and there was a smile on his face...
“But I don’t ever think we will see this again, one man, who has been respected in such a fashion.
“I am tremendously proud I could call Stirling a friend.” AFP
