'John Michael Hawthorn' (
April 10,
1929 -
January 22,
1959) was a racing driver, born in
Mexborough,
Yorkshire,
England, and educated at
Ardingly College, West Sussex.
Biography
Hawthorn made his
Formula One debut at the
1952 Belgian Grand Prix, finishing an impressive 4th place. This performance is the best ever grand prix debut by any
British world champion.
[1] He would later win his first Grand Prix, at only the 9th attempt, when he won the
1953 French Grand Prix at
Reims.
In 1955, Hawthorn was the winner of the
24 hours of Le Mans race, despite being involved in the terrible
crash that killed 82 spectators.
He was the winner of the
1958 Formula One Championship. With only one win that year against four wins of
Stirling Moss, he benefited greatly from the gentlemanliness of Moss as shown at the
Portuguese Grand Prix of
Porto. Hawthorn was disqualified for pushing his car, against the rules, on the way to a second place finish. Moss interceded on Hawthorn's behalf and the decision was ultimately reversed. Those second place points at Porto contributed to Hawthorn winning the championship with a season total just one single point more than that of Moss. After winning the title, Hawthorn immediately announced his retirement from Formula One.
A matter of only months later, on
January 22,
1959, Hawthorn died in an automobile accident on the
A3 Guildford bypass. He was driving his British Racing Green highly tuned Jaguar 3.4 sedan (known as the Mark 1 or MK1 Jaguar). What exactly happened that day is still a mystery, but it was most probably due to a combination of high speed, bad weather, competitiveness and impulsiveness. Hawthorn sighted racer
Rob Walker's 300 SL Mercedes ahead on the road. Most likely without any thought Hawthorn instantly pushed his car to pass Walker's, regardless of whether it was safe to do so or not. Hawthorn's Jaguar, nicknamed "the Merceater" was heavily modified for high power and speed. "No Kraut car could overtake or outaccelerate" Hawthorn's (these are the words in his biography "Challenge Me The Race").
Death
In
Farnham, the town where he lived up to the time of his death, there is a street named Mike Hawthorn Drive (off Dogflud Way). It was also in this town that Hawthorn ran the Tourist Trophy Garage. Jaguars, Rileys, Fiats and Ferraris were serviced there.
Complete World Championship Results
() (Races in 'bold' indicate pole position)
★ Indicates Shared Drive
Hawthorn Memorial Trophy
The 'Hawthorn Memorial Trophy' has been awarded to the most successful
British or
Commonwealth F1 driver every year since .
[2]
(
Formula One World Drivers' Champions of the year in 'bold')
★ In , the trophy was not given to
Gilles Villeneuve, a
Canadian driver, who finished the season as
runner-up.
References
1. Autosport magazine, March 15, 2007 issue. sidebar on pages 6 and 7.
2. Button receives Hawthorn Trophy
External links
★
The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site
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