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Mike Hawthorn started his professional racing career in 1952, when he impressed the international
racing community with two minor race wins and a 2nd place in the Goodwood non-championship race, all
in the same weekend. Later that year he finished 3rd at the British GP and 4th at the Belgian and Dutch races. Enzo
Ferrari was so impressed with his form that he signed Hawthorn to be one of his junior works drivers for the 1953 season.
That year proved to be very successful for the young Brit, as he won his first Formula 1 race, the French GP, ahead of
legend Juan Manual Fangio. Hawthorn's next season was more of the same, winning the final race of the season, the
Spanish GP at Pedralbes, yet this time finishing an impressive 3rd in the championship.
Unfortunately his father was killed in a road accident and he was forced to leave Ferrari and Italy at the end of the season
for England to manage his father's business. He stayed in F1, driving for British based
Vanwall in 1955 and 56, but was
painfully uncompetitive. So in 1957 he decided to go back to Ferrari to drive with his good friend Peter Collins. His
first year back at Ferrari he didn't manage to win a Grand Prix, yet was always nipping at the heals of the front-runners;
eventually claiming 4th in the driver's championship.
The 1958 season eventually become to be the one through which Mike Hawthorn would always be remembered, victory coupled by tragedy. A mid-season
race win at the French GP (which proved to be his last win) was not celebrated appropriately, as his star team-mate
Luigi
Musso suffered a fatal crash. Fate struck again when his good friend and other Ferrari team-mate
Peter Collins suffered a similar
fatal accident at the German GP a month afterward. Despite the circumstances he
persevered and finished the season off with a
series of podium finishes to claim the championship by a hair from fellow Brit
Stirling Moss. His
win was not met with unilateral praise, as many feel Moss was the true champion
that year, having won four races to Hawthorn's one. Furthermore, Hawthorn
benefited from his teammate Phil Hill
slowing down in order to allow him to pass and take 2nd place in the final race
of the seaon in Morocco, despite the fact
that he was 40 seconds behind!
Nevertheless, Mike Hawthorn's championship win was noted for his sheer consistency in difficult circumstances. Through his performance he not
only became the first British driver to take the world driving title, but also the first of the post-war generation drivers to do so. He
retired for obvious reasons at the end of the year, moving back to England to start a promising business career. However,
tragedy by way of motor vehicles would again touch his life, yet this time even closer to home. In Surry, while driving his Jaguar Saloon car
recklessly with F1 team owner and friend Rob Walker's Mercedes he ran off the road, eventually suffering from fatal injuries. This only
three months after he won the driver's crown.
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