Mike Hawthorn | |
|---|---|
 Hawthorn at the1955 24 Hours of Le Mans | |
| Born | John Michael Hawthorn (1929-04-10)10 April 1929 Mexborough,West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 22 January 1959(1959-01-22) (aged 29) |
| Cause of death | Single vehicle road collision |
| Children | 1 |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Active years | 1952–1958 |
| Teams | PrivateerCooper,Ferrari,Vanwall,BRM,Maserati |
| Entries | 47 (45 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1958) |
| Wins | 3 |
| Podiums | 18 |
| Careerpoints | 1129⁄14 (1279⁄14)[a] |
| Pole positions | 4 |
| Fastest laps | 6 |
| First entry | 1952 Belgian Grand Prix |
| First win | 1953 French Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1958 French Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1953,1955–1958 |
| Teams | Ferrari,Jaguar |
| Best finish | 1st(1955) |
| Class wins | 1(1955) |
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a Britishracing driver who competed inFormula One from1952 to1958. Hawthorn won theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in1958 withFerrari, and won threeGrands Prix across seven seasons. Inendurance racing, Hawthorn won both the24 Hours of Le Mans and the12 Hours of Sebring in 1955 withJaguar.
In 1958, Hawthorn became thefirst of 10 British Formula One World Champions, beatingStirling Moss to the title by one point. He announced his retirement upon his triumph, having been profoundly affected by the death of his teammate and friendPeter Collins two months earlier during theGerman Grand Prix. Three months after retiring, Hawthorn died in a road accident inGuildford, driving hisJaguar 3.4 Litre. TheHawthorn Memorial Trophy was established in his honour by theRAC in 1959, being awarded to the most successful British, orCommonwealth, driver in Formula One each year.
Mike Hawthorn was born in the suburbMexborough inDoncaster,West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Leslie and Winifred (née Symonds) Hawthorn,[1] and educated atArdingly College, West Sussex, followed by studies at Chelsea technical college and an apprenticeship with a commercial vehicle manufacturer.[2] His father owned the Tourist Trophy Garage inFarnham, franchised to supply and service several high performance brands, including Jaguar and Ferrari.[3] His father raced motorcycles and supported his son's racing career; when he died in a road accident in 1954, Mike Hawthorn inherited the business.[4]
Mike Hawthorn made his competition debut on 2 September 1950 in his 1934Riley UlsterImp, KV 9475, winning the 1,100 cc sports car class at theBrighton Speed Trials.[5] In 1951, driving a1+1⁄2-litre T.T. Riley, he entered theMotor SportBrooklands Memorial Trophy, a season-long contest run atGoodwood, winning it by one point.[6] He also won the Ulster Trophy Handicap atDundrod and the Leinster Trophy at Wicklow that year.[7]
By 1952, Hawthorn had switched tosingle-seaters and during that season won his first race in aFormula TwoCooper-Bristol T20 at Goodwood. Further successes followed which brought him to the attention ofEnzo Ferrari, who offered him a works drive. He made hisFormula One debut at the1952 Grote Prijs van Belgie on the legendaryCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps, finishing in fourth place. By the end of the season, he had already secured his first podium, with a third place at theRAC British Grand Prix[8] and a brace of fourths driving a Cooper.[9]
AtScuderia Ferrari for the 1953 season, Hawthorn immediately showed his worth with victory, at his ninth attempt, in theFrench Grand Prix atReims, outmanoeuvringJuan Manuel Fangio in what became dubbed 'the race of the century' with the top four drivers finishing within five seconds of each other after 60 laps.[10] This and two other podium finishes helped him end the season fourth overall.[11] He also won theBRDC International Trophy[12] and the Ulster Trophy[13] as well as the24 Heures de Spa Francorchamps with Ferrari teammateGiuseppe Farina.[14]
Hawthorn's liability for conscription (National Service) was brought up in theHouse of Commons.[15] In a crash during theGran Premio di Siracusa Hawthorn suffered serious burns,[2] but finished the year with three seconds and then victory in the season finale in Spain, placing him third in the Drivers' Championship.[16] Following the death of his father, Hawthorn left Ferrari to race forTony Vandervell'sVanwall team, as he needed to spend more time at the family garage he had inherited,[2] but after two races returned to Ferrari.
In January 1955, Hawthorn joined the Jaguar racing team, replacingStirling Moss, who had left for Mercedes.[17] Hawthorn won the1955 les 24 Heures du Mans following what has been described as an inspired drive in which he set a lap record of 4 minutes and 6.6 seconds during a three-hour duel with Fangio in the early stages. However, the race was marred by the worst disaster in motor racing history, acrash which killed 83 spectators and Mercedes driverPierre Levegh. After overtakingLance Macklin's Healey, Hawthorn suddenly braked in front of him on noticing an order to enter the pits to refuel, causing Macklin to swerve into the path of Levegh's Mercedes. After colliding with the Healey, the Mercedes skipped the earthen embankment separating the spectator area from the track, bounced through spectator enclosures, then hit a concrete stairwell parapet head-on. The impact shattered the front end of the car, which then somersaulted high, pitching debris into the spectator area, before landing atop the earthen embankment. The debris, including bonnet, engine, and front axle, which separated from the frame, flew through the crowd.
Eight hours later, while leading the race 1.5 laps ahead of the Jaguar team, the Mercedes team withdrew from the race, ostensibly as a mark of respect for those who had perished in the accident; the Jaguar team was invited to join them but declined.[18] The French press carried photographs of Hawthorn andIvor Bueb celebrating their win with the customary champagne but treated them with scorn.[19]
The official inquiry into the accident ruled that Hawthorn was not responsible for the crash, and that it was merely a racing incident. The death of so many spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for track design. Aside from two layout changes to make the circuit shorter, the track was largely unaltered since the inception of the race in1923, when top speeds of cars were typically in the region of 100 km/h (60 mph). By 1955, top speeds for the leading cars were over 270 km/h (170 mph). That said, the circuit had been resurfaced and widened post-war. The pits and grandstands had been reconstructed, but there were no barriers between the pit lane and the racing line, and only a 4 ft (1.2 m) earthen bank between the track and the spectators. The Grandstand and pit areas were demolished and rebuilt soon after.[19] The death toll led to a ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and other nations, until the tracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. In Switzerland motorsports were banned with exceptions until the ban was lifted in June 2022.
Whilst sharing theJaguar D-Type withDesmond Titterington during the1955 RAC Tourist Trophy at Dundrod, Hawthorn passed Fangio twice, and set the lap record for the RAC Tourist Trophy on the Dundrod Circuit, only to lose in the final stages when, running on full tanks, he was passed by Stirling Moss when the D Type's engine failed on the last lap.[20][21]
Another change of team for 1956 – this time toBRM - was a failure, and Hawthorn's only podium came inArgentina where the non-appearance of his BRM allowed him to guest drive aMaserati 250F.[22] However, when it appeared, usually only in British races, the new 2.5 BRM was very fast while it lasted, and Hawthorn held off Fangio, leading the first 25 laps at Silverstone in the British GP. He retired the car before half distance owing to deteriorating handling and brakes. Deeply unhappy with the BRM team's management and car preparation, Hawthorn walked out of the team at this point. Hawthorn had left Ferrari because driving for the British Jaguar sports car team was his first priority. He was favoured to win at Le Mans again, but lost ten laps in the pits early in the race, and while the D type repeatedly set fastest laps, the fuel consumption rules meant he could only finish sixth.
Racing the D type in Italy, Hawthorn crashed and suffered very serious burns, his second bad accident of the year, leaving him disillusioned with racing. However, he believed a return to Ferrari could give him the championship in the superiorLancia Ferrari D50. He had put the originalJano version of the car on the front row at its debut in the final F1 race of 1955 atOulton Park. However, Ferrari's modified version of the design for 1957 was slower than Fangio and Collins's all-conquering 1956 Lancia Ferrari. The 1957 version, with the polar centred pannier tanks removed, still handled well, but was not the masterpiece Jano designed; it lacked straight line speed and was not competitive by mid 1957, clearly inferior to the new Vanwalls.
Hawthorn rejoined theFerrari factory team in 1957, and soon became friends withPeter Collins, a fellow Englishman and Ferrari team driver. During the 1957 and 1958 racing seasons, the two Englishmen became engaged in a fierce rivalry withLuigi Musso, another Ferrari driver, for prize money.[23]
Hawthorn won the1958 Formula One Championship despite achieving only one win, against four by Moss. Hawthorn won the1958 French Grand Prix atReims, in which Musso was fatally injured while in second place. Leading easily in the1958 Monaco Grand Prix at half distance, his246 engine blew,[24] while atMonza he was a minute ahead ofTony Brooks when his clutch forced him to slow to second place.[25] Hawthorn benefited greatly from the gentlemanliness of Moss, as demonstrated at the1958 Portuguese Grand Prix atPorto. Hawthorn was disqualified for bump starting his stalled car downhill in the opposite direction, on the way to a second-place finish. Moss interceded on Hawthorn's behalf and the decision was ultimately reversed.[26] After a pit stop midway through that race, Hawthorn accelerated back through the field to gain an extra point for fastest lap. Moss had failed to respond, possibly doubting Hawthorn could lap so fast with damaged drum brakes.[26] This extra world championship point plus the second place points contributed to Hawthorn winning the championship with a season total just one more than that of Moss. In the final race, the1958 Moroccan Grand Prix, Hawthorn drove a conservative tactical race aiming to stay ahead of Moss's Vanwall teammates. Brooks's car broke while narrowly leading Hawthorn, andStuart Lewis-Evans in the third Vanwall crashed after a desperate attempt to move through the field and challenge Hawthorn running third; Evans later died of burns. In the last laps, second-placedPhil Hill slowed and waved Hawthorn through to gain enough points to take the Championship; the first ever to be won by an English driver.[2][27] Hawthorn's total of just one win in his title winning season means that Hawthorn currently jointly holds the Formula One record for the fewest number of Grand Prix wins by an eventual drivers' champion during a title winning season along withKeke Rosberg (who also scored one win in his subsequent1982 title winning season)[28]
After winning the title, Hawthorn immediately announced his retirement from Formula One. He began a series of books for children featuring not only the wholly fictional Carlotti but also himself and other drivers of the day ('Stirling nipped past me at the hairpin', and so on). The first, published in 1958, wasCarlotti Joins the Team, and a second was published in 1959 calledCarlotti Takes the Wheel.[29] Due to his death, the series did not continue.
Hawthorn was noted for wearing abow tie when racing;[30][31] to the French, he became known as 'Le Papillon' (The Butterfly).[2]
Fiamma Breschi, Musso's girlfriend at the time of his death, revealed the nature of Musso's rivalry with Hawthorn and Collins in a television documentary,The Secret Life of Enzo Ferrari, many years after the death of Hawthorn. Breschi recalled that the antagonism between Musso and the two English drivers encouraged all three to take more risks: "The Englishmen (Hawthorn and Collins) had an agreement", she says. "Whichever of them won, they would share the winnings equally. It was the two of them against Luigi, who was not part of the agreement. Strength comes in numbers, and they were united against him. This antagonism was actually favourable rather than damaging to Ferrari. The faster the drivers went, the more likely it was that a Ferrari would win." Breschi related that Musso was in debt at the time of his death, and the money for winning the 1958 French Grand Prix (traditionally the largest monetary prize of the season), was all-important to him.[23]
After visiting the mortally injured Musso in hospital, Breschi returned to her hotel, where she and the rest of the Ferrari team were informed by the team manager that afternoon that Musso had died. Within thirty days Collins too was dead, and the following January, Hawthorn. Breschi could not suppress a feeling of release: "I had hated them both", she said, "first because I was aware of certain facts that were not right, and also because when I came out of the hospital and went back to the hotel, I found them in the square outside the hotel, laughing and playing a game of football with an empty beer can. So when they died, too, it was liberating for me. Otherwise I would have had unpleasant feelings towards them forever. This way I could find a sense of peace."[23][32]
After leaving school in the summer of 1946, Hawthorn started serving his apprenticeship withDennis Bros ofGuildford in Surrey. He used his 1939 250cc OHV Triumph to get there each day regularly racing Jack Kinghorn on hisTriumph Thunderbird on the infamous A31Hog's Back between Farnham where his father's garage was located and the Guildford A3 factory where they both worked. Hawthorn never married, but fathered a son, Arnaud Michael Delaunay born 1954, with Jacqueline Delaunay, whom he met in Reims after winning the French Grand Prix in 1953. He was engaged at the time of his death to the fashion model Jean Howarth, who later married another racing driver,Innes Ireland, in 1993.[33]
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On 22 January 1959, only three months after his retirement, Hawthorn died in a car accident on theA3 Guildfordbypass near Onslow Village, while driving his comprehensively modified 1958Jaguar 3.4-litre saloon (now known as the 3.4 Mk 1) VDU 881 to London. While the circumstances of the accident are well documented, the precise cause remains unknown.[34]
The accident occurred on a notoriously dangerous section of the road, the scene of 15 serious accidents (two fatal) in the previous two years; the road was also wet at the time. Driving at speed (one witness estimated 80m.p.h.), Hawthorn overtook aMercedes-Benz 300SL 'gull-wing' sports car driven by an acquaintance, the motor racing team managerRob Walker. On entering a right-hand bend shortly after passing the Mercedes, Hawthorn clipped a 'Keep Left' bollard dividing the two carriageways, causing him to lose control. The Jaguar glanced an oncomingBedford lorry before careering back across the eastbound carriageway sideways into a roadside tree, uprooting it. The impact caused Hawthorn fatal head injuries and propelled him onto the rear seat.
There was inevitable speculation that Hawthorn and Walker had been racing each other, fuelled by Walker's persistent refusal at the coroner's inquest to estimate the speed of his own car at the time.[35] In an interview with motor racing journalistEoin Young and writerEric Dymock in 1988, Walker admitted he had indeed been racing Hawthorn, but had been advised by a police officer investigating the accident to make no further mention of it lest he incriminate himself.[36]
Possible causes of the accident include driver error, a blackout, or mechanical failure, although examination of the wreck revealed no obvious fault. There is evidence that Hawthorn had recently suffered blackouts, perhaps because of kidney failure.[37] By 1955, Hawthorn had already lost one kidney to infection, and had begun suffering problems with the other; he was expected at the time to live only three more years.[19]
At thecoroner's inquest on 26 January the jury returned a verdict of accidental death.[38] Hawthorn was buried inWest Street Cemetery in Farnham.
In Farnham, the town where he lived up to the time of his death, there is a street named Mike Hawthorn Drive. It was in this town that Hawthorn ran the Tourist Trophy Garage which sold Jaguars, Rileys, Fiats and Ferraris. The garage still exists and is now named after him. There is a hill and corner named after him atBrands Hatch and a corner at theCroft racing circuit atCroft-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, while inTowcester on the Shires estate, three miles from theSilverstone circuit, Hawthorn Drive is named after him. There is a statue at Goodwood Circuit commemorating Hawthorn as the UK's first Formula One World Champion.
The Hawthorn Memorial Trophy has been awarded to the most successfulBritish orCommonwealth Formula 1 driver every year since1959.[39] Lewis Hamilton has won the award the most times, taking the trophy on eleven occasions.[40]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | WDC | Points[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Leslie D. Hawthorn | CooperT20 | Bristol BS1 2.0L6 | SUI | 500 | BEL 4 | GBR 3 | GER | NED 4 | ITA NC | 4th= | 10 | ||||
| AHM Bryde | FRA Ret | |||||||||||||||
| 1953 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari500 | Ferrari 500 2.0L4 | ARG 4 | 500 | NED 4 | BEL 6 | FRA 1 | GBR 5 | GER 3 | SUI 3 | ITA 4 | 4th | 19 (27) | ||
| 1954 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari625 | Ferrari 625 2.5L4 | ARG DSQ | 500 | BEL 4* | GBR 2 | GER 2* | SUI Ret | ITA 2 | 3rd | 249⁄14 | ||||
| Ferrari553 | Ferrari 554 2.5L4 | FRA Ret | ESP 1 | |||||||||||||
| 1955 | Vandervell Products | VanwallVW1 | Vanwall 254 2.5L4 | ARG | MON Ret | 500 | BEL Ret | NC | 0 | |||||||
| Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari555 | Ferrari 555 2.5L4 | NED 7 | ITA 10 | ||||||||||||
| Ferrari625 | GBR 6* | |||||||||||||||
| 1956 | Owen Racing Organisation | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | ARG 3 | 12th | 4 | ||||||||||
| BRMP25 | BRM P25 2.5L4 | MON DNS | 500 | GBR Ret | GER | ITA | ||||||||||
| Officine Alfieri Maserati | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | BEL DNS | |||||||||||||
| Vandervell Products | VanwallVW2 | Vanwall 254 2.5L4 | FRA 10* | |||||||||||||
| 1957 | Scuderia Ferrari | Lancia-FerrariD50A | Ferrari DS50 2.5V8 | ARG Ret | MON Ret | 500 | 4th | 13 | ||||||||
| Ferrari801 | FRA 4 | GBR 3 | GER 2 | PES | ITA 6 | |||||||||||
| 1958 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari246 | Ferrari 143 2.4V6 | ARG 3 | MON Ret | NED 5 | 500 | BEL 2 | FRA 1 | GBR 2 | GER Ret | POR 2 | ITA 2 | MOR 2 | 1st | 42 (49) |
Source:[104] | ||||||||||||||||
* Indicates Shared Drive
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)(Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 |  Scuderia Ferrari | Giuseppe Farina | Ferrari 340 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta | S5.0 | 12 | DSQ | |
| 1955 | Jaguar Cars Ltd. | Ivor Bueb | Jaguar D-Type | S5.0 | 307 | 1st | 1st |
| 1956 | Jaguar Cars Ltd. | Ivor Bueb | Jaguar D-Type | S5.0 | 280 | 6th | 3rd |
| 1957 | Scuderia Ferrari | Luigi Musso | Ferrari 335 S | S5.0 | 56 | DNF (Piston) | |
| 1958 | Scuderia Ferrari | Peter Collins | Ferrari 250 TR 58 | S3.0 | 112 | DNF (Clutch) | |
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 |  B.S. Cunningham | Phil Walters | Jaguar D-Type | S5.0 | 182 | 1st | 1st |
| 1956 | Jaguar of New York Distributors Inc. | Desmond Titterington | Jaguar D-Type | S5.0 | 162 | DNF (Brakes) | |
| 1957 | Jaguar Cars of North America | Ivor Bueb | Jaguar D-Type | S5.0 | 193 | 3rd | 2nd |
| 1958 | Scuderia Ferrari |  Wolfgang von Trips | Ferrari 250 TR 58 | S3.0 | 159 | DNF (Gearbox) | |
Source:[107] | |||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Scuderia Ferrari | Giuseppe Farina | Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta | S | 260 | 1st | 1st |
Source:[107] | |||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Ferrari Spa | Azelio Cappi | Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spyder | S+2.0 | DNF (Brakes) | |
Source:[107] | ||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Jaguar Cars |  Paul Frère | Jaguar D-Type | S3.5 | 2nd | 2nd |
Source:[107] | ||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Scuderia Ferrari | Umberto Maglioli | Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta | S+2.0 | 1st | 1st |
Source:[107] | ||||||
The world champion that year was the Ferrari driver Mike Hawthorn, a tall, blond young man who always wore a bow tie when racing. Always. He considered this important. It was his style.
Invariably he would greet his friend Peter Collins with the words 'mon ami, mate' and was famous for his bow tie, which earned him the nickname 'Le Pappilon' [sic], meaning the butterfly.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | BRDC International Trophy Winner 1953 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | RAC Tourist Trophy Winner 1954 With:Maurice Trintignant | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1955 With:Ivor Bueb | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Formula One World Champion 1958 | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Youngest Formula One World Drivers' Champion 29 years, 192 days (1958 season) | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
