Mike Hawthorn : The Formula One DataBase

Next Race: 2008-5-25 14:00:00 GMT+2:00

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Birthdate:	April 10th 1929

Country:	Great-Britain

Gender:	M

History:

Mike Hawthorn

Probably the least known World Champion. We hardly remember him, being the driver who marks the crossing-over from the Fangio-years to the British supremacy of the sixties. Mike Hawthorn has a somewhat mixed reputation as a champion. This has all to do with the way he won the 1958 championship. The second part of this article is about that year and his fight with Stirling Moss that year.

Short profile
Mike Hawthorn (born 10-04-1929) was a typical old-fashioned English gentleman, usually driving with a broad grin and a tie. Being tall (1.88m) he wasn't to be overseen, his nickname being the Farnham Flyer. In 1950 he started racing in local races and at an immense pace steadily climbing up through different categories, three years later he drove a Ferrari in Formula One! A great race in Goodwood 1952 in a Formula Two draw attention, finishing ahead of Juan-Manuel Fangio and Froilan Gonzalez. In 1953 he won the French Grand Prix ahead of Fangio and adds a win in 1954 in Spain to that. He had a career the next years that was going up and down with heavy crashes and when he won a great race (Le Mans 1955) nobody noticed because of the big Levegh-crash. Also he was sometimes criticised for his inconstability. Having trouble personally with being accused of dodging his national service obligations he finally settled racing in 1957 and 1958 for Ferrari with his good friend Peter Collins.

After winning the title in 1958 Hawthorn retires. Three months later in January 22nd 1959 he dies. Whilst driving his Jaguar he meets his friend Rob Walker. They start racing each other, driving 130 mph for fun. Hawthorn crashes and dies.

The 1958 season Hawthorn vs. Moss
After a few races in 1958 the greatest of all time Juan Manuel Fangio retired. Many followers in F1 believed it would be the chance for Stirling Moss to win the title that year. But we all know what happened. Moss won 4 races and his main opponent Hawthorn only one. Hawthorn finished the season first, only one point ahead of Moss. But what really happened?
For that we take a quick look at the season (points system 8-6-4-3-2; 1 point for fastest lap):
Buenos Aires. Moss 1st, Hawthorn 3rd
Monaco: Moss ret, Hawthorn ret (+fl)
Zandvoort: Moss 1st (+fl), Hawthorn 5th
Indianapolis: Moss, Hawthorn didn't participate
Spa-Fr.: Hawthorn 2nd (+fl), Moss ret
Reims: Hawthorn 1st (+fl), Moss 2nd
Silverstone: Hawthorn 2nd (+fl), Moss ret
Nürburgring: Moss ret (+fl), Hawthorn ret
Porto: Moss 1st, Hawthorn 2nd (+fl)
Monza: Hawthorn 2nd, Moss ret
Aïn Diab: Moss 1st (+fl), Hawthorn 2nd
(ret = retired; fl = fastest lap)

This gave end of season standings: Hawthorn 49, Moss 41. Moss got 3 extra points in the season for fastest lap, Hawthorn 5 (an indication for having speed!). The seven points for Hawthorn from Buenos Aires, Monaco and Zandvoort were later distracted, because of the points scoring system (only six best result counted). End of season standing after that were 42-41. In real life he was 8 points ahead, without the fastest laps system 6 points.
If points were counted as they are in 2005 the season endings would be Hawthorn 60 - Moss 48!
With the nineties scoring system (10-6-4-3-2-1) season endings we would have had a dead heat: 46-46. Moss been the champ due to more victories.

In the races in 1958 they were almost equal. Moss won brilliant in Buenos Aires, Hawthorn was third. Zandvoort Moss had a start-finish victory, Hawthorn was 5th after mechanical problems. In Spa-Fr. Hawthorn manages to bring a half-broken car to the finish, whilst Moss makes a mistake with changing gears. In Reims Hawthorn is by far the best, defeating Moss fair and square. After Moss retires in Silverstone Hawthorn reaches 2nd place in Silverstone, not challenging for the lead. He admits: I did that on purpose. Having the fastest lap already I would only get one point less than the winner (= Brooks). So why bother? I want to be champion. It is an absurd points scoring system, but it is there. After the German GP (both retired) Hawthorn decides to quit after the season after he has seen his friend Collins die at the Nürburgring. In Porto the drivers are equal, Hawthorn losing because of bad brakes. Moss makes a mistake in Porto. He gets a pit-sign that HAWT-REC had a fastest lap, he reads REG, Hawthorn drives regular, so Moss doesn't bother to go faster. After the season he misses one point... And he doesn't let teammate Lewis-Evans unlap himself. Hawthorn gets in trouble in the last lap. His engine stalls! He pushes himself, manages to get the car going again and finishes. Five minutes past Moss. Lewis-Evans could have easily pass him. Moss is even so sporting to defend Hawthorn who is threatened to be disqualified for pushing his car on the track. Moss says: when he pushed his car it was not on the track, but beneath it. In Monza Moss once again suffers from unreliability from his Vanwall, Hawthorn secures second place. He knows that is enough for him. They go to Aïn Diab Moss eight points behind Hawthorn. If Moss wins and get fastest lap he is one point behind. Due to the scoring system Hawthorn must finish second, to gain two points more (losing his 4 from Buenos Aires). And that is exactly what happens.

Moss had in 1958 the faster car, because his teammate Brooks also won 3 races. But they were not reliable enough and the drivers made some mistakes. Hawthorn was fastest in his team Ferrari and knew how the points system worked and didn't make mistakes. Where he was criticised before 1958 for his mistake and sometimes lacklustre performances it all had suddenly gone in 1958. He didn't attack for 1st place if it wasn't necessary. A calculated driving, you could criticize that. But it was Hawthorn's only way to be world champion behind the faster Vanwalls. And we must not forget: Hawthorn had 7 points distracted.

Conclusion: Moss was somewhat faster in 1958, but Hawthorn drove a perfect season taking 100% advantage of points scoring system, being reliable and making no mistakes. Who knows what would have happened with another points scoring system. Probably a more attacking Hawthorn, who was considered to be very good driver. But fighting against the Moss-myth (the poor guy who never won a championship) is a lost case in history. They both would have earned it to win in 1958, but Hawthorn was the one who managed to do it. Something Moss never could. We should give Hawthorn the credit for that.

Statistics

Statistic	#	Percentage	First	Last
Number of Grand Prix	50	100%	1952	1958
Number of starts	48	96.00%	1952	1958
Number of finishes	33	66.00%	1952	1958
Number of finishes on podium	18	36.00%	1952	1958
Number of finishes in points	27	54.00%	1952	1958
Number of retirements	15	30.00%	1952	1958
Number of wins	3	6.00%	1953	1958
Number of pole positions	4	8.00%	1958	1958
Number of fastest laps	6	12.00%	1954	1958
Number of doubles (pole position & win)	1	2.00%	1958	1958
Number of triples (pole position, win & fastest lap)	1	2.00%	1958	1958