Mike Hawthorn

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Mike Hawthorn
Nationality	British
World Championship Career
Active years	1952 - 1958
Team(s)	LD Hawthorn, AHM Bryde, Ferrari, Vanwall, BRM
Races	47
Championships	1
Wins	3
Podium finishes	17
Pole positions	4
Fastest laps	6
First race	1952 Belgian Grand Prix
First win	1953 French Grand Prix
Last win	1958 French Grand Prix
Last race	1958 Moroccan Grand Prix

John Michael Hawthorn (April 10, 1929 - January 22, 1959) was a race car driver, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, and educated at Ardingly College, West Sussex.

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 80 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").

Hawthorn drove his Ferrari at the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.

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.

[edit] Complete Formula One Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Team	WDC	Points
1952	Cooper	SWI	IND	BEL 4	FRA ret	GBR 3	GER	DUT 4	ITA ret				Cooper	5th	10
1953	Ferrari	ARG 4	IND	DUT 4	BEL 6	FRA 1	GBR 5	GER 3	SWI 3	ITA 6			Ferrari	4th	19
1954	Ferrari	ARG DSQ	IND	BEL 4*	FRA ret	GBR 2	GER 2*	SWI ret	ITA 2	ESP 1			Ferrari	3rd	24.5
1955	Vanwall	ARG	MON ret	IND	BEL ret	DUT 7	GBR 6	ITA 10					Ferrari	NA	0
1956	Maserati	ARG 3	MON	IND	BEL	FRA 10	GBR ret	GER	ITA				BRM	12th	4
1957	Ferrari	ARG ret	MON ret	IND	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 2	PES	ITA 6				Ferrari	4th	13
1958	Ferrari	ARG 3	MON ret	DUT 5	IND	BEL 2	FRA 1	GBR 2	GER ret	POR 2	ITA 2	MOR 2	Ferrari	1st	38

* Indicates Shared Drive

[edit] References

^ Autosport magazine, March 15, 2007 issue. sidebar on pages 6 and 7.

[edit] External links

The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site

Preceded by Juan Manuel Fangio	Formula One World Champion 1958	Succeeded by Jack Brabham
Preceded by José Froilán González Maurice Trintignant	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1955 Mike Hawthorn Ivor Bueb	Succeeded by Ron Flockhart Ninian Sanderson
Preceded by Lance Macklin	BRDC International Trophy winner 1953	Succeeded by José Froilán González