Mike Hawthorn
Destiny is all.
Uhtred of Bebbanburg, "The Last Kingdom"
Among the many countries represented in Formula 1, Great Britain certainly holds a special place. It is this country that has become the home of such famous teams as Lotus, Cooper, BRM, Brabham, Tyrrell, McLaren, Williams, Red Bull (and many others), and it is this country that has given the world the greatest number of Formula 1 champions. Looking back at the history of the Royal motor racing, the names of such legendary British drivers as Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and James Hunt inevitably come to mind, each of whom possessed exceptional talent and became a true embodiment of their era, however, no less significant place in this row should certainly be occupied by the hero of this article, Mike Hawthorn, who was destined to become a pioneer on the difficult but glorious path of the United Kingdom to the top of world motor racing.
John Michael Hawthorn was born on 10 April 1929 in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, to Leslie and Winifred Hawthorn, and his father was a highly successful businessman who made his fortune preparing and selling sports and racing cars in Farnham, where the family moved two years after Mike was born.
Being a frequent visitor to his father's garage, called Tourist Trophy and located in close proximity to the famous Brooklands track, Mike was immersed in the world of motors and auto racing from an early age, which immediately captivated him, so already at the age of nine he firmly decided that he would become a racing driver. At the same time, having learned about the aspirations of his child, Leslie, who himself was a great fan of riding with the wind and from time to time even took part in motorcycle races at Brooklands, took this decision with great enthusiasm and immediately expressed his approval to Mike, hoping in his heart that success in motor racing would benefit not only his son, but also the family business. However, soon the whole world shook under the salvoes of the WWII, and all of Europe turned into a theater of military operations, while all racing activity sank into oblivion. As for Mike, he spent this formidable period at the private Ardingly College, where, standing out with his blond hair, he immediately received the nickname Snowball, however, already there the future Formula 1 star began to show real leadership qualities, earning the deep respect of his peers and receiving the title of the hostel captain. After completing his studies at Ardingly, Mike, at the insistence of his father, continued his education at the Chelsea Technical College and simultaneously began an internship at a manufacturer of commercial vehicles, acquiring the skills necessary for further work in Leslie's garage, however, all these "serious" matters were pushed aside by him at the first opportunity, giving way to love affairs, walks through local pubs in the company of the same daredevils, and, of course, racing.
His first racing experience Mike acquired by taking part in scrambling (motocross) competitions, however, having quickly realized that four wheels are much more reliable than two, he persuaded his father to buy for him a sports car Riley Imp 1934, on which he debuted in the famous Brighton Speed Trials in 1950 (which, by the way, is still held today). When he first appeared in public, Mike immediately attracted the attention of the audience not only with his height, which was about 1 m 90 cm, but also with his dapper appearance, which included a snow-white sports jacket, shirt and gloves, as well as white linen trousers and a pair of brogue shoes, with a black polka-dot bow tie completing the picture.
When journalists asked Mike, laughing, why he dressed up like that and put on a bow tie, he, smiling in response, said that he had been choosing what to wear for a long time, and in the end decided that during the competition, an ordinary tie would hit him in the face too much and therefore would not make the desired impression. At the same time, when Mike first went out on the track, he immediately managed to prove that he had not only good taste, but also great talent, and he won these competitions in his class on his first try, immediately earning himself the nickname Farnham Flyer. As for his appearance, once he created his image, Mike stuck to it throughout his racing career, and that very bow tie became his real calling card.
Meanwhile, having made a good start, Mike enjoyed even greater success the following year, 1951, at the wheel of a 1.5-litre Riley TT, winning the Ulster Trophy at Dundrod and the Leinster Trophy at Wicklow in Ireland, to which he soon added a string of victories at Goodwood, eventually earning him the title of best driver in the Motor Sport Brooklands Memorial Trophy.
At the same time, it was already obvious to many that Mike's talent far exceeded the level of national competitions, and one of the first to understand this was, naturally, his father Leslie, who already at the end of the season began to test the waters in some British teams, hoping with their help to ensure his son's entry into the international arena. However, after several tests at the wheel of Connaughts and HWMs, Mike failed to make the proper impression on the heads of the corresponding teams, and only thanks to the participation of his father's long-time friend, Bob Chase, who believed in him no less than Leslie himself, he still managed to take a step forward and avoid the fate of vegetating in national series at the wheel of the same Riley. Having come across an article by John Cooper about his new brainchild, the 2-litre single-seater Cooper T20 with a Bristol engine, Bob immediately understood that this was exactly what the Hawthorns needed, and being known for his impulsiveness, he immediately dropped everything and went to Surbiton, where he held negotiations with the famous designer. At the same time, considering that the first batch of T20s, consisting of three copies, had already been bought by other racers, Cooper initially did not want to hear about preparing another one, however, having learned that it was intended for Mike, whose skill he knew firsthand, John immediately softened and shook hands with Bob.
And Mike lived up to the expectations placed on him. Making his debut at the wheel of a Cooper T20 that had just come out of the workshop and was not even painted yet at the 1952 Goodwood’s Easter Meeting, Hawthorn amazed everyone with his speed already in practice, losing only to the previous year’s British Grand Prix winner Jose-Froilan Gonzalez, who was driving a 400-hp monster Ferrari Thinwall Special. When the competition itself began, Mike easily and effortlessly won the Levant Cup Race (in the Formula 2 class) and the Chichester Cup Race (in the Formula Libre class), while in the main competition, the Richmond Trophy Race, which was held in the Formula 1 class, Hawthorn took an honorable second place, losing only to the same Gonzalez.
And although the young Englishman's dizzying successes were partly due to some modification of the Bristol engine in his Cooper, which allowed him to use "special" Leslie racing fuel and thus get an additional 15 hp, this did not detract from his own skill, and the next day all the leading British newspapers were full of headlines: "A new star is born".
Naturally, having received wide fame in his homeland, the doors to "big" motorsport immediately opened for Mike, and in the spring he debuted behind the wheel of the same Cooper T20 in the Belgian Grand Prix, holding his first race in the World Championship. At the same time, he again showed his class already in training, taking a very respectable 6th on the starting field, while in the rainy race, despite a fuel leak and two unplanned pit stops, he managed to finish no more, no less, than in 4th place, thereby earning his first points in his debut Grand Prix!
Meanwhile, arriving in Rouen two weeks later for the French Grand Prix, Mike surprised everyone again, managing to drive a very pushing race after problems in qualifying and again break into the points, but unfortunately this time, due to ignition problems, he never made it to the finish line.
Nevertheless, Hawthorn managed to make up for his failure in France already at the next round, which was held at his home track in Silverstone, and this Grand Prix became a real high point for him this season. Starting this time from 7th, Mike began to pass one after another the Connaught drivers, who were considered the main hope of the local fans, and after 1950 World Champion Nino Farina was forced to lose more than three minutes in the pits due to ignition problems, it was Hawthorn who found himself in 3rd and thus became the first Briton to win a podium in the World Championship at the wheel of a British car!
Meanwhile, the next event on the championship calendar was the German Grand Prix, held on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, however, given that the prestigious Daily Mail Trophy race was scheduled in Great Britain for the same dates, Hawthorn did not start the German round, preferring to compete in his home country. As subsequent events showed, this was absolutely the right decision, and after another great race, Mike once again made a splash, winning another podium and becoming the best driver in the Formula 2 class.
Praised to the skies by the British press after two successes in a row, elated Mike arrived at the next round in the Netherlands, intending to perform even better, and it must be noted that in qualifying he really managed to perform a real miracle, by taking third place on the starting field. At the same time, having made a magnificent start, Hawthorn also began the race beyond all praise, immediately breaking through to 2nd, however, maintaining the pace of the Scuderia drivers throughout all 90 laps turned out to be an incomprehensible task even for him, and in the end he had to be content with “only” 4th place and the title of “the best of the rest”.
Meanwhile, given that the final round of the 1952 championship was held at the super-fast track in Monza, Hawthorn could no longer hope for any decent result there behind the wheel of the low-power Cooper, and, having failed to impress either in qualifying or in the race itself (which was also spoiled for him by serious problems with the magneto), Mike ended up losing to the winner by more than 38 laps and did not even make it into the final classification.
However, such a weak result in the last Grand Prix, of course, could in no way spoil the overall impression of his magnificent achievements during the season, and, having taken an excellent 5th in the championship, Mike ultimately lost only to the drivers who competed in the magnificent Ferrari 500: Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina, Piero Taruffi and Rudi Fischer.
Naturally, thanks to such outstanding results, Mike gained enormous popularity in his homeland, and already then in the United Kingdom he began to be called nothing less than the Golden Boy.
However, Hawthorn's fame was not limited to the borders of Foggy Albion, and rumors of the incredible talent of the Golden Boy quickly spread in the racing circles of all Europe, eventually reaching the ears of Enzo Ferrari. Known for his desire to get the best of the best into his team, Commendatore, of course, simply could not ignore the emergence of a new racing superstar, and, immediately setting his sights on the young Englishman, he already at the end of 1952 offered him a contract as the Scuderia main driver in both Formula and the sports car championships. Thus, having started his racing career only two years ago, Mike met 1953 already as part of the strongest Formula 1 team, becoming a teammate of three Italians Ascari, Farina and Villoresi, two of whom were world champions.
At the same time, Mike did not have to wait long for his debut in the "scarlet" team, and already in January 1953, he took part in the first stage of the championship in Argentina behind the wheel of a Ferrari 500 painted in British racing green, however, this turned out to be one of those events that he would prefer to forget as soon as possible.
Having failed to keep up with his more experienced teammates in qualifying, Hawthorn ended up in "only" 6th on the starting grid, while the Grand Prix itself began as a complete disaster for Mike, who failed the start and dropped to the very back of the pack. However, during the race he still managed to rehabilitate himself quite well and make a very impressive breakthrough to 4th, however, given the complete chaos that was happening on the track that day, this result did not bring him any satisfaction. The main reason for those infamous events was the spontaneous decision of the President of Argentina Juan Peron to allow everyone to the track for free, as a result of which their total number exceeded 300 000 and, and as a result, all the surrounding areas and turns were filled with fans, most of whom were attending an event of such a scale for the first time. As Hawthorn himself later recalled, the stands were in complete madness that day, and during the race he had to dodge fans more than once who ran across the track in search of a better view, while some particularly desperate heads even went so far as to throw off their shirts and, waving them in front of cars rushing past, pretending to be matadors! Naturally, this dance with death could not end well and eventually led to a tragic ending, when Hawthorn's teammate Farina, dodging another boy running across the road, flew off the track straight into the crowd of spectators, burying ten of them under the wreckage of his car and maiming about forty more.
Meanwhile, given that the second round of the World Championship was not scheduled until early summer, Hawthorn spent the next few months competing in non-championship Formula 2 races and the Sports Car Championship, and this period turned out to be quite successful for him, bringing victories in the Daily Express International Trophy, Ulster Trophy and Silverstone International. At the same time, it is worth noting that, even when he was driving scarlet cars, Mike still remained a true Briton to the core, and, to emphasize his national identity, he always wore a green sports jacket to races from then on, which became as indispensable an attribute for him as his bow tie.
Meanwhile, when the turn of the second stage of the World Championship, which took place in the Netherlands, approached, Hawthorn again could not compete with his teammates, and even taking into account that Villoresi had to retire due to mechanical problems, Mike never made it to the podium, finishing only 4th again.
The Englishman's main rival in this race was none other than the Pampas Bull Jose-Froilan Gonzalez from the Maserati team, who had a phenomenal race, managing to win back a whole lap from Mike after problems with his main car, which not only became another confirmation of the Argentinean's incredible talent, but also obvious proof that the time of the Scuderia's unlimited dominance in Formula 1 was coming to an end.
And the next stage, which took place on the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit, only confirmed this truth. Already in qualifying, Maserati leader Juan Manuel Fangio turned out to be the fastest driver on the track, thus winning the Modena team their first pole position, while in the race both he and Gonzalez easily pulled ahead from the start, leaving their rivals from the Scuderia far behind. However, the Modenese cars, although quite fast, still could not boast of sufficient reliability, and having encountered serious technical problems during the race, the two Argentines eventually dropped back, giving another victory to Ascari. As for Hawthorn, given the problems that befell his main rivals, he could well count on 2nd in Belgium, however, due to a ruptured fuel line just eight laps before the finish, the Englishman had to say goodbye to hopes not only for a podium, but even for points.
However, despite the not very convincing results in the first three stages, Mike did not lose heart and was still confident in his abilities, and already in the next Grand Prix, which took place in the French Reims and forever entered the history of Formula 1 as the Race of the Century, the Englishman managed to surpass himself and demonstrate his talent in all its glory.
Being one of the fastest tracks of those years, the Reims circuit every year became a real arena for the engines battle, and, considering that under the hood of Ferraris and Maseratis by that time there were almost an equal number of horses, both Italian teams equally counted on success in this race. However, if the Scuderia decided to adhere to a conservative approach and chose the same tactics for their drivers without a single pit stop, then the Modena team, on the contrary, decided to experiment and filled Gonzalez' car only halfway, planning one stop for the Argentine.
As soon as the starting flag dropped, Gonzalez immediately rushed forward, trying to create a sufficient gap from his rivals, while behind him an incredibly intense battle broke out between all four Scuderia drivers, who, like in a kaleidoscope, changed positions several times per lap.
Meanwhile, Maserati leader Fangio, who, like the scarlet ones, did not plan to stop in the pits, preferred to wait for the first part of the distance and did not interfere in their fight, carefully watching the condition of his tires and his rivals. When a third of the race was left behind, the Maestro finally said to himself "it's time" and began to pass the Ferrari cars one after another, as a result of which by the middle of the distance, when his teammate went to refuel, it was Fangio who found himself the leader of the Grand Prix. Considering that by that time the tires of the Scuderia drivers were already far from ideal, everything seemed to be heading towards the Modena team finally winning their first victory in the World Championship, however, at the moment when Villoresi, Farina and even Ascari dropped their hands, resigned to the inevitable, it was Mike who unexpectedly seized the initiative and gave the Argentine champion a real fight. With 30 laps still to go, the spectators witnessed an incredible confrontation between youth and experience, and, changing positions almost every lap, Fangio and Hawthorn squeezed everything possible out of their cars right up until the finish, trying to gain even the slightest advantage over their rival.
When both leading cars, having crossed the finish line at the same time, set off for their final lap, all the stands, holding their breath, froze in anticipation of the outcome of this truly epic battle, and... having managed to take a more advantageous position in the last turn, it was Hawthorn who emerged victorious from this fight, ahead of Fangio and the rapidly catching up Gonzalez by just one second!
Certainly, this victory became one of the most outstanding achievements in Mike's career, and the next morning all the British newspapers vied with each other in praising their hero, who managed to defeat no less than three world champions in a clean fight and thus bring the United Kingdom its first triumph in Formula 1.
It should also be noted that thanks to this success, it was Hawthorn who finally broke Ascari's magnificent winning streak, which the Italian had started at the beginning of the previous season and which had already reached an absolutely unthinkable mark of nine, and at the same time, completely unexpectedly, it was he who became Alberto's main rival in the fight for the title. At the same time, this victory had also another, less well-known side. Being a well-known lover of having a good time both in the company of friends and in the company of lovely ladies, Mike, as a rule, after each successful race gave himself free rein and went wild, and naturally, this Grand Prix was no exception.
While the literary fraternity was scribbling their laudatory reports, “Le Pappilion” (as the French nicknamed him) spent a wonderful evening in a restaurant with a local native, Jacqueline Delaunay, whom he had met the day before, after which he also spent an equally stormy night with her, which ended for both of them, albeit unexpectedly, but quite predictably. And although Mike subsequently took almost no part in the fate of his illegitimate son, whom Jacqueline named Arnaud Michael Delaunay in his honor, destiny decreed that he would remain his only child.
Be that as it may, the events described above were a matter of the not very distant, but still future, whereas, having returned to his homeland after his triumph in France, Mike fully felt the full burden of fame, becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the United Kingdom. At the same time, given that the next event on the championship calendar was the British Grand Prix, his compatriots were hoping to witness another triumph for Mike, who, to their great delight, was in excellent shape and earned the right to start from the front row for the first time this season.
However, the Brits' hopes of another Hawthorn victory were dashed on lap 3 when Mike spun at Woodcote and a subsequent pit stop sent him to the back of the pack, with their only consolation being the superb show their favourite put on as he charged through the field to finish 5th.
Meanwhile, the remaining three stages were more successful for Mike, and, having managed to climb to the bottom step of the podium twice in Germany and Switzerland, and also adding 4th in Italy, the Englishman took 4th in the overall standings, losing only to three world champions Ascari, Fangio and Farina.
In addition to his success in the World Championship, Mike also won the non-championship Goodwood Trophy and Woodcote Cup that season, and two more victories in sports car races, the 24 Hours of Spa and the 12 Hours of Pescara, which certainly gave the Englishman even more weight in the eyes of Commendatore, who was increasingly imbued with respect for the young Englishman and had no problem extending his contract for another season.
Meanwhile, after two years spent by Formula 2 regulations, the World Championship returned to Formula 1 in 1954, which was a harbinger of many changes that would shake up the Grand Prix world from top to bottom. Attracted by the prospects, big-name manufacturers such as Mercedes and Lancia entered Formula 1, while the smaller British teams HWM, Connaught and Cooper were replaced by more established players such as Tony Vandervell and Alfred Owen. Naturally, the emergence of new teams immediately entailed major drivers transfers, the most significant of which were undoubtedly the moves of Juan Manuel Fangio to Mercedes and Alberto Ascari to Lancia. As for the Scuderia, having lost their leader, the Maranello team has replenished their ranks with Jose-Froilan Gonzalez and Maurice Trintignant, while retaining both Hawthorn himself and Nino Farina as the main drivers.
At the same time, despite the fact that Ascari's departure to Lancia was a rather sensitive blow for his team, the Commendatore was confident that with four first-class drivers and the new Formula 1 cars Ferrari 625 and Ferrari 553, the Scuderia would be able to beat all rivals again and have a season no less successful than the previous one. However, in fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite, and 1954 turned out to be very difficult for both the Scuderia and Mike himself. It all started at the first stage of the championship, which, like the previous year, was held on the Buenos Aires circuit. Having a complete advantage in speed over their rivals from Maserati, the Scuderia drivers were never able to beat Juan Manuel Fangio, who, waiting for his debut in Mercedes, continued his performances in the Modena team and managed to demonstrate simply phenomenal driving in the rain on his home track. As for Hawthorn himself, having lost ground to both the Argentine champion and his teammates during the race, he was ultimately unable to control his car on the wet road and spun, resulting in his first Grand Prix of the season ending in a shameful disqualification for outside assistance on the track.
Meanwhile, given that the first and second stages of the championship were separated by several months that were not particularly intense in motor racing, Mike devoted most of this period to going to pubs and having love affairs, however, it was during this “calm” time that one of the most serious accidents in his life happened to him. It occured in the non-championship Formula 1 Grand Prix, which took place in mid-April on the Syracuse track in Sicily. Being one of the main favorites of this race, Hawthorn started it quite successfully, immediately breaking into the lead, however, already on the 5th lap he missed a gear and let Onofre Marimon in a Maserati and Jose-Froilan Gonzalez in a Ferrari pass through. Trying to make up for lost positions, Mike immediately charged and left his teammate behind again, however, when he was already on Marimon's tail, the young Argentine made a mistake and, having hit a bale of straw standing on the side of the road, sent it straight into Hawthorn's car! Instantly losing his view, Mike, in order to avoid a collision with his rival, immediately turned the steering wheel sharply and flew into the wall, while the bale of straw, still on the hood of his Ferrari, burst into flames and in a matter of seconds turned the Englishman's car into a fireball.
Luckily, Mike managed to get out of his car quickly enough, but by that time his jacket had also caught fire and in the end the Englishman managed to put out the flames only by jumping over the fence and having a good rolling on the wet field. The result of this accident for Hawthorn were second-degree burns on his left arm, both legs and back, which subsequently required not only quite a long treatment, but also skin grafts.
Meanwhile, before he had time to fully heal his wounds, fate dealt Mike another blow. Returning home from the day of racing at Goodwood, his dearly beloved father had an accident in the pouring rain near the village of Hindhead, and, having been thrown from his Lancia Aurelia, Leslie received fatal injuries from which he died the following day. Deeply shocked by this tragedy, Mike spent the following days receiving condolences and organizing the funeral, and that is why he had to miss the 24 Hours of Le Mans race scheduled for the same dates, which was eventually won by his teammates Gonzalez and Trintignant.
Meanwhile, Hawthorn himself had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a racing car again only at the second stage of the championship in Belgium, which, however, also did not turn out very well for him and brought another disappointment. Starting from the 5th, Mike began the race quite confidently, clearly aiming for the podium, however, already in the first third of the distance, a small crack formed in his exhaust pipe, and exhaust gases began to pour directly into the cockpit. Having spent more than 20 minutes in such conditions, Mike eventually almost lost consciousness right on the track, however, having gathered all his strength, he still managed to reach the pits, after which he immediately passed out.
Nonetheless, a week later Hawthorn managed to fully rehabilitate himself in the Supercortemaggiore sports car race, where he won a confident victory together with his teammate Umberto Maglioli, however, in Formula 1 his affairs still did not go very well, and at the third stage, which took place in the French Reims (the same one where he won a brilliant victory a year ago), he was again forced to retire, this time due to engine failure.
The real triumphants of the French stage were Juan Manuel Fangio and his Daimler-Benz team, whose Silver Arrows managed to easily beat all their rivals already in their debut race, and thus, after three Grand Prix out of three won by the Argentine, the main question regarding the championship title that year was no longer “who”, but “when”.
Meanwhile, the next stage in the championship calendar was the British Grand Prix, and as it turned out, it was here that luck smiled on him for the first time, allowing him to achieve his first tangible success this year. Having secured front row position for the first time this season, Mike spent the early part of the race, much to the delight of the home crowd, in a superb battle with Stirling Moss for the place in the leading group, and when his compatriot suffered mechanical problems 10 laps from the chequered flag, it was Hawthorn who got ahead and was eventually rewarded with 2nd place at the finish.
At the same time, the winner of the British stage was quite expectedly his teammate Gonzalez, who was a recognized master of the Silverstone track, and thus, thanks to their joint efforts, the Scuderia managed to celebrate a double victory that day, which became their first this season.
However, already in the next Grand Prix, which took place at the German Nürburgring, the Silver Arrows drivers again found themselves beyond any competition, and the victory once again went to Fangio, however, this success of the Argentine was greatly overshadowed by the tragedy that occurred in qualifying with his young protégé Onofre Marimon, who became the first driver in the history of Formula 1 to die during a race weekend.
For Hawthorn himself, the German Grand Prix was full of both ups and downs. Having lost in qualifying only to the Argentine champion, Mike was unable to capitalize on the advantage of starting from the front row and immediately dropped to 8th, after which he managed to make a very impressive breakthrough, which, however, ended for him already on the 4th lap due to a rear axle failure. At the same time, Hawthorn later managed to return to the race behind the wheel of Gonzalez' car, who was so shocked by the death of his close friend Marimon that he simply did not find the strength to bring his car to the finish line, and to the credit of the Englishman, he did not let his teammate down at all, managing to confidently finish 2nd and thus win another podium for both of them.
Meanwhile, at the next stage, which took place in Switzerland, Fangio once again won, and thus the Argentinean secured his second championship title ahead of schedule, with two rounds still to go. As for Hawthorn, despite starting from only 6th position, he again managed to demonstrate a great race, which could well have ended for him with another 2nd, however, problems first with the accelerator, and then with the oil pump, did not allow him to see the chequered flag, thus depriving him of the opportunity to once again climb the podium.
At the same time, Mike managed to fully make up for his failure in Switzerland at the next stage, which took place on the super-fast track in Monza, where his rivals, in turn, encountered numerous technical problems, thereby allowing the Englishman to win another, already the third, 2nd place.
However, as it turned out, this was far from the last gift of fate, and a real triumph awaited Mike at the final stage of the championship, which took place on the Spanish track Pedralbes. Having managed to demonstrate a very impressive speed already in trainings, Mike laid the foundation for his success even before the start of the Grand Prix, having won the right to start from the front row and losing only to two-time world champions Fangio and Ascari, the latter winning pole position in his debut Grand Prix for the Lancia team. When the Italian, confidently leading the race, was forced to turn into the pits with a broken clutch already on the 10th lap, the baton was immediately intercepted by Hawthorn himself, his teammate Trintignant and American Harry Schell in a Maserati, who, to the delight of the spectators, arranged just an enchanting fight for leadership among themselves.
At the same time, luck was clearly on Mike's side that day, and after both of his rivals almost simultaneously dropped back with technical problems, it was he who found himself the sole leader of the race, and nothing could stop him from taking his second Formula 1 victory. Thus, having finished this season on a very high note, Hawthorn even managed to surpass his last year achievements and climb to no more, no less, than 3rd in the overall standings, eventually losing only half a point to his teammate Gonzalez.
However, the joy of this achievement did not last long for Mike, and soon fate presented him with a new test. It all began during that memorable accident in Sicily, in which he barely escaped the fate of burning together with his car. While being treated in a burn center in Rome, Mike took the opportunity to complain to Italian doctors about his back pain, which had bothered him from time to time since the beginning of his career, and, having carried out the necessary tests, the local Aesculapius discovered some abnormalities in the functioning of his kidneys, which they immediately reported to the Englishman, recommending that he undergo a full examination. At the same time, Mike had the opportunity to follow their advice only after the funeral of his father, however, the results of another visit to the hospital, this time in London, also did not inspire him with much optimism. As it turned out, he had a congenital kidney disease, which was the reason for the pain, and what's more, doctors found a rather large stone in one of the kidneys, which, in their opinion, needed to be removed immediately. Considering that the season was in full swing at that point, Mike, naturally, was not very eager to go under the knife, so, after weighing the pros and cons, he decided to postpone the operation until the end of the year. However, either because of the lost time or because of the doctors' actions, it was no longer possible to save the kidney, and thus, after the operation, Mike had to face the terrifying truth: with one, not the healthiest, kidney, the most he could hope for was to live only until the end of this decade.
Naturally, after such news Mike initially experienced the deepest shock, however, gradually getting used to the idea of the inevitable, the Englishman made himself the following vow for the future: firstly, he would live every day allotted to him as if it were his last and would not miss a single pretty skirt or a single pint of beer (that is, simply put, he would live as before), and secondly, before leaving for another world, he would do everything possible to try on the champion's crown. At the same time, if the first part of his vow, for obvious reasons, did not require any special efforts from him, then his path to the cherished second goal turned out to be much more thorny, and soon Mike had to face the first serious obstacle, namely parting with Scuderia. This event happened, contrary to custom, not because of any discord with Commendatore (who, on the contrary, still treated the Englishman very favorably), but on the initiative of Mike himself, who after the death of his father had to literally tear himself between racing and the family business, which eventually inclined him to the decision to move to one of the British teams in 1955. At the same time, given that in the mid-50s there were only two such teams in Formula 1, his choice was, to put it mildly, small, therefore, having received an extremely generous offer from Tony Vandervell, Hawthorn eventually signed a contract with the Acton team.
As for the sports car championship, his choice fell on the Jaguar team, which had very promising D-Type cars at their disposal and was headed by very famous in motorsport circles Frank "Lofty" England, who had long been a great admirer of Mike's talent and was simply eager to put him behind the wheel of his car.
And Hawthorn's cooperation with Lofty almost immediately bore fruit: Mike celebrated his first victory behind the wheel of a Jaguar at the very beginning of spring, winning the prestigious American race "12 Hours of Sebring" together with his teammate Phil Waters.
As for Formula 1, things were going worse for the Englishman, and Vandervell's cars, which a few years later became a true masterpiece of engineering, brought Hawthorn nothing but disappointment in 1955. It all started in Mike's debut race for Vanwall, which took place in the non-championship Formula 1 Grand Prix BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone. Having conducted a very convincing qualifying, in which he managed to show no more, no less, than the 2nd result, the Englishman was forced to pit already on the 16th lap with a cracked oil pipe, and as a result, his compatriot Peter Collins, who drove a Maserati 250F for the Alfred Owen team, celebrated the victory in the race.
Hawthorn's next outing at the wheel of Vanwall, which took place at the second round of the championship in Monaco, also brought him no relief, and after starting the race from the middle of the field, Mike again ended it prematurely, this time due to a broken accelerator linkage.
However, the last straw that broke the camel's back was the failure at the next stage in Belgium, the main culprit of which, surprisingly, was Tony Vandervell himself. Having decided for no apparent reason to personally deliver his car to the track from the out-of-town garage, the head of Vanwall had worn out the transmission badly even before the start of trainings, as a result of which Mike had serious problems with the clutch and gearbox already in qualifying and ended up finishing only 9th out of 15 participants.
When the race itself began, Mike failed to make up a single position for nine laps, after which his gearbox jammed completely and that was it.
Naturally, after a series of failures, Mike's disappointment knew no bounds, and, deciding not to put things off for too long, he broke off all relations with Vanwall immediately after the Belgian Grand Prix, slamming the door rather forcefully. At the same time, even without any definite prospects in Formula 1, Hawthorn was determined to achieve success at least in the sports car championship, so a week later he took part at the wheel of a Jaguar in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, which was destined to become one of the most resonant events both in his career and in the entire history of motorsport.
Over the past three years, the most famous sports car race had been won by drivers from three different teams, Jaguar, Ferrari and Mercedes, and given that all three were preparing to take part in the 1955 competition, it was obvious that these 24 hours would be a real thriller. As Jaguar's strongest driver, Hawthorn, who this year was partnered by Ivor Bube, was by far Lofty's best hope for success in this race, with Ferrari and Daimler-Benz betting on the Castellotti-Marzotto and Fangio-Moss pairings respectively. As had become a long-standing tradition, the start of this race began with the famous "Gentlemen, start your engines!" and the equally famous dash to their cars, which this time was best handled by Eugenio Castellotti, who initially led the race, closely pursued by Hawthorn.
As for Fangio, after trying to jump into the cockpit of his Mercedes in the style of his younger rivals, the Argentine initially caused only laughter when he caught his trousers on the gear lever and was unable to extricate himself from such a sticky situation for quite a while. However, as soon as he managed to free himself and move off, the Maestro immediately showed that he did not get his nickname for his pretty eyes and, having passed a good half of the field in just a few laps, the Argentine champion soon caught up with the leading pair. Meanwhile, about an hour into the competition, it became obvious that, no matter how good Castellotti was, he still could not keep up the pace of his two main rivals for long and, having finally let them both through at the Mulsanne, the Italian immediately began to rapidly fall behind, while Fangio and Hawthorn, who had got ahead, staged a stunning battle for the lead in the spirit of the 1953 French Grand Prix.
Overcome by an unbearable desire to beat these “bloody Krauts” who had brought so much suffering to his country, and at the same time to make up for all his failures with the Vanwall, Mike put in some absolutely phenomenal driving for the next hour, which only the best driver of the era could really match, and as a result of this incredible confrontation, lap records being shown alternately by the Englishman and the Argentinian, fell like leaves in the wind. Unfortunately, given the 24-hour duration of the race, this epic battle, which was a real feast for the eyes of thousands of people, was bound to end sooner or later in pit stops and driver changes, and tragically, it was Hawthorn’s first pit stop that became the catalyst that led to the most terrible accident in the history of motor racing.
As he entered the main straight, Mike, who was the leader at the time and had just overtaken a whole group of lapped racers, saw his mechanic holding a "Pits" sign and, obeying the command, the Englishman immediately began to change lanes to the inside of the track, simultaneously braking. Meanwhile, while making this maneuver, Hawthorn crossed the path of the Austin-Healey of his compatriot Lance Macklin, whom he had just overtaken on the lap and who, not expecting the sharp slowdown of the leading car, did not have time to brake in time and, in order to avoid a collision, abruptly went left, into the middle of the track. Unfortunately, by this time their pair of cars had already been caught up by the next group of racers, led by the French veteran Pierre Levegh, and, caught off guard in his turn, the Frenchman no longer had any chance of avoiding a collision with Macklin's car, which unexpectedly jumped out right in front of his Mercedes.
Having hit with its right front wheel into the rear left wheel of the Austin, the Frenchman's Mercedes immediately took off from the ground, and, as if launched by a giant catapult, set off on its deadly flight to the main stands, bringing death and destruction with it. Having fallen off the car's frame while still in flight, the engine and front axle landed right in the middle of the crowd, sweeping away everyone in their path, while the Mercedes hood, flying right after them, multiplied the deadly harvest, turning into a real guillotine. The frame of the Silver Arrow itself, having landed first at the very beginning of the stands, bounced off the impact with the ground, burying several spectators under it, and then, having turned over, landed again in a narrow zone between the stands and the track, after which it immediately exploded. Considering that the body of the Mercedes was covered with magnesium alloy, the fire from the remains of the car instantly turned into a real inferno, which immediately covered the nearby spectators with an incinerating wave, after which it began, like a volcano, to throw fountains of hot sparks around itself. As for the unfortunate Levegh, he was thrown out of the cabin of his car during the first rollover, and, landing right on the side of the track, the Frenchman died in the blink of an eye from a fatal head injury. As another Jaguar driver Duncan Hamilton, who was in the pits at the time, later recalled, the situation in the stands on the opposite side of the track in the first minutes after the accident was completely indescribable, cries of pain, horror and despair were heard from all around, and everywhere there reigned such chaos, as if the Great War had come to the world again.
Meanwhile, neither Hawthorn nor his Jaguar received the slightest damage in this crash, but seeing something dark rushing across the stands and Macklin's completely out of control Austin crashing first into the outer fence, and then, bouncing off it, hitting three people near the pit lane, Mike immediately realized that something terrible had happened. At the same time, distracted by the scene unfolding before his eyes, he slightly missed his pits, which is why he had to run back there, but he barely had time to exchange a few words with his boss, as Macklin literally ran at him with his fists, who, miraculously surviving this accident, began to accuse Mike of all mortal sins. In this situation, Lofty had no choice but to order his driver back into the car and go for another lap, during which he managed to send Lance away and at the same time assess the current situation on the track. However, when Hawthorn re-parked opposite him a few minutes later, he was literally white as a sheet, and as soon as he left the cockpit of his Jaguar, in a voice trembling with profound shock, he told his boss that he would never get behind the wheel of a racing car again.
However, being a man of the old school, Lofty was not very impressed by this statement from his leading driver, so, deciding that a rest would bring him to his senses, he entrusted Mike to the care of his friend Rob Walker, while he himself occupied himself with suppressing a revolt on the part of another "refusenik", Ivor Bube, who thought it was sheer madness to continue the race in such conditions and whom he had to practically kick into Hawthorn's car. At the same time, unlike Ivor, the authorities had a completely different opinion on the matter, and, quite sensibly judging that stopping the race would only create additional obstacles to the evacuation of the wounded, they soon informed all the teams that the race would continue as planned. Having received this information, Lofty breathed a sigh of relief, because, despite the fact that the race was now led by Stirling Moss, who had replaced Fangio, Bube still confidently occupied 2nd, and in case of problems with the Mercedes, it was his guys who would become the main contenders for victory. At the same time, the only weak point in this scenario was the condition of Hawthorn himself, however, as he expected, after three hours of rest Mike still managed to pull himself together, and having left Walker's trailer, he unquestioningly took his place behind the wheel of the Jaguar, after which he began chasing the leading Moss.
However, making up more than a 10-minute deficit to the strongest pair of drivers of the 50s was too much even for Mike, so closer to midnight it became obvious to Lofty that only a miracle could help him win this race. And it actually happened: realizing that a victory for his team after such dramatic events would only put it in an even worse light, the head of Daimler-Benz Alfred Neubauer held an internal meeting and, having received the approval of the board of directors, he still decided to withdraw his team from the race.
Waiting until the dead of night, when most of the spectators had already left the track, Neubauer called his two remaining cars into the pits, and with the Ferraris no longer posing any threat to them, Hawthorn and Bueb easily brought the race to victory, thus giving Jaguar their third Le Mans victory.
However, the very next day, after reading the morning papers, Mike began to regret that he even went to the start of this race. Having focused on this ill-fated accident, which, according to official figures, killed 84 people and injured more than 120 more, most journalists placed the main blame for it exactly on Mike, and while in his native Britain he got off with only the fact that he had turned from Golden Boy into Mr. X, the French newspapers, without any embarrassment, directly proclaimed him a murderer. Unsurprisingly, the next few weeks were some of the most difficult in Hawthorn's life from a psychological point of view, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief only a month later, when, having sorted out all aspects of this case, the race organizers finally officially found him innocent of the catastrophe. Freed from the heavy burden of accusations, the Englishman immediately felt a taste for racing again and began to look for ways to resume his career in Formula 1, and a real lifeline for him then became the offer of Commendatore, who was not at all averse to returning Mike to his team again, without paying a single lira for it.
However, Hawthorn's second coming to the Scuderia did not bring him the slightest success, turning into a complete failure. In 1955, the main favorites of the Grand Prix were, without a doubt, the Silver Arrows drivers, while the new Ferrari 555, nicknamed "Super Sharks", were never able to create any worthy competition for them and allowed the Scuderia drivers to hope only for a fight in the second tier with their eternal rivals from Maserati, as well as for occasional successes (such as Maurice Trintignant's victory in Monaco). Hawthorn himself, having driven at the wheel of Ferrari in three Grand Prix in the Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy, was never able to achieve a single scoring finish and, as a result, for the first time in his career, shamefully finished the season without a single point.
However, considering that at the end of the year Commendatore managed to get his hands on the magnificent Lancia D50 cars, which were left idle after the Turin team left Formula 1, as well as the simultaneous departure of Daimler-Benz from motorsport (the root cause of which was that same accident at Le Mans), already in the following year, 1956, the Scuderia had an excellent chance to forget all of their failures of the previous year and once again ascend to the top of the racing Olympus. Naturally, with such prospects, Hawthorn himself was not at all averse to staying with the Maranello team for another season, however, as soon as he began negotiations with Commendatore, he immediately encountered an insurmountable obstacle. A prerequisite for extending his contract with Ferrari was a complete severance of his relationship with Jaguar, something Mike could not do at the time, so, having been turned down by Enzo, he once again turned his attention to the British teams, this time deciding to try his luck with BRM.
And Mike's partnership with the Acton team got off to a good start, bringing him success in the very first Grand Prix of the season, which, as had become custom in those years, was held in Argentina. Having qualified 8th, Hawthorn drove quite confidently in the race itself, and after many of his rivals encountered technical problems, it was he who eventually crossed the finish line in 3rd, more than two laps behind the winner Fangio, who took his place in the Scuderia.
At the same time, it should be noted that the Englishman achieved this success at the wheel of the most common racing car of the time, the Maserati 250F, while he only got the opportunity to drive the team’s main car, BRM P25, two and a half months later during the non-championship Glover Trophy race in Goodwood.
And the very first acquaintance with this car clearly demonstrated to the Englishman both its strengths and weaknesses, and, to his great regret, the latter turned out to be much more significant. Having a fairly powerful engine, the P25 accelerated well and developed high speed on straights, however, these advantages were almost completely leveled by disgusting controllability and ineffective rear brakes, which the team's chief designer Peter Burton for some reason combined into one unit, which was attached to the gearbox. Trying to overcome these shortcomings, Mike immediately after the start of the race began to take desperate risks, driving his car at the limit, however, at some point he was unable to cope with the control and flew off the track at the Fordwater, which the drivers passed at full throttle. Having jumped on one of the bumps, his BRM, under the influence of centrifugal force, immediately soared into the air and turned over, after which, having flown a couple of dozen meters, it fell upside down right in the middle of a plowed field, losing one of its wheels in the process.
Fortunately, Mike himself was no longer in the cockpit at that moment, as he had fallen out of it before landing, and, unlike two other drivers, Tony Dennis and Bert Rogers, who suffered fatal injuries in a similar situation, Hawthorn was much luckier then, and he managed to escape with only minor bruises.
However, as it turned out, this incident was only the first bell for the Englishman, and all his subsequent trips behind the wheel of the BRM also brought him nothing but new troubles. While testing at Silverstone, Mike received a blow to the face at full speed from a suddenly flying hood cover, and only his helmet with a visor, which took most of the impact, was able to save him from serious injury. A little later, getting to the start of the 200-mile non-championship Formula 1 race at Aintree, Hawthorn experienced a few more very unpleasant moments when, during a battle for the lead, the brake pedal on his BRM suddenly fell off, and, as in Goodwood, his car flew straight into the open field, but this time he managed, by some miracle, to keep the bolid from overturning and even return to the pits in one piece. Two weeks later, taking part in the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone, Mike once again started the race beyond all praise and at some point even managed to take the lead, however, he was again not destined to see the checkered flag: this time, it was the magneto that let him down.
Meanwhile, the second stage of the championship, which took place on the street circuit of Monte Carlo, also did not bring him any relief, and, having encountered serious problems with the engine already in trainings, Mike was unable to even get to the start of the Grand Prix there and was eventually forced to resign himself to the role of a mere outside observer.
Naturally, this endless series of problems could not but affect the mental state of the Englishman, and with each new failure he expressed increasing dissatisfaction with both the car itself, which he already called nothing less than “an absolute time bomb”, and cooperation with BRM as a whole. Realizing that in the case of another failure it would be difficult for him to keep Hawthorn in his team, the head of BRM, Alfred Owen, decided after the Monaco Grand Prix to temporarily stop participating in the championship and fully concentrate on improving the P25s, while he gave Mike carte blanche to join any other stable for this period. Having agreed to these conditions, Hawthorn hastened to offer his services to both Maserati and Ferrari before the next Grand Prix in Belgium, however, given the long-standing rivalry between these two Italian teams, this step turned out to be a big mistake. Having received an invitation from the Modena team, Mike subsequently had to refuse the then manager of the Scuderia, Eraldo Sculatti, who was so unhappy with the whole situation that he did not fail to complain about the negligent Englishman Enzo Ferrari. Naturally, spoiling relations with Commendatore was not in Hawthorn's plans, so after driving only a few laps in practice behind the wheel of a Modenese car, he eventually decided to refuse to participate in this Grand Prix, which, of course, immediately helped him completely rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Enzo.
When it was time for the next Grand Prix, which was held in Reims, Mike wisely decided not to step on the same rake twice and turned to his former boss Tony Vandervell for help, who, fortunately, was generous enough not to remember past grievances, and was happy to accept the Englishman back into his team. At the same time, as soon as Hawthorn got behind the wheel of the new Vanwall, he immediately had to admit that the Acton team managed to make a big step forward since last year, and thanks to the excellent speed characteristics of the British car, he even managed to win the prize of 100 bottles of champagne established by the French organizers on the first day of training, which was intended for the first driver who overcame the average lap speed of 200 km per hour!
However, despite such a strong performance in qualifying, Mike's chances of equally successful performance in the race were highly questionable, since he also had to take part in the 12 Hours of Reims sports car race that same weekend, which was supposed to end just four hours before the start of the main Grand Prix. Thus, having spent more than seven hours behind the wheel of the Jaguar and having taken 2nd in the sports car race, an extremely exhausted Mike managed to hold out in the Formula 1 Grand Prix for only 12 laps, after which he handed over his car to the American Harry Schell, who, despite an excellent drive, also failed to achieve success due to problems with the fuel pump and finished only 10th.
Meanwhile, the next round on the championship calendar was the one in Great Britain, which Alfred Owen did not consider it possible for himself to miss, and so after two Grand Prix spent elsewhere, Mike appeared in Silverstone before his home crowd, driving a BRM again. At the same time, this weekend began for the Englishman beyond all his expectations, and, having managed to show an excellent 3rd in qualifying, Mike was full of the most optimistic hopes before the start of the race, seriously counting on fighting for victory in his home Grand Prix.
And the start of the race seemed to live up to his expectations: Mike made a great start and immediately took the lead, while his rear was reliably protected from the first lap by his teammate Tony Brooks, who had made an even more impressive start from 9th. However, as in previous rounds, luck was clearly not on Hawthorn’s side that day, and after he had lost the lead to his compatriot Moss, his car let him down once again, forcing him to retire on lap 25.
However, given what happened to his teammate ten laps later, Mike had no reason to complain about his relatively calm retirement in the pits. Having encountered a broken throttle linkage, Brooks somehow managed to make it to the pits, where his mechanics carried out a “quick repair”, however, this turned out to be a clear “disservice” on their part, since five laps later the throttle jammed completely, and Tony flew off the track at full speed at Abbey corner. At the same time, having crashed into an earthen embankment, the Englishman’s BRM immediately flipped over from the powerful impact and flew back onto the track, after which it burst into flames like a candle, and Brooks was very lucky that he fell out of it during the rollover and as a result got away with “only” a broken jaw, a slight concussion and a bruised ankle.
It is not surprising that after such a spectacular crash, the first words out of Tony's mouth when he came to his senses were "I will never drive a BRM again", and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the same thoughts crossed Mike's mind at the time. Realizing that he could very well have ended up behind the wheel of this car, Hawthorn eventually decided not to tempt fate any longer and immediately announced to Owen his final retirement, and thus it was this Grand Prix that drew the line under his performances in British Formula 1 teams.
Meanwhile, given that there were still several Grand Prix left in the championship, Mike was counting on spending the rest of the season with the Scuderia, however, these plans were never destined to come true. Having decided to take part in the minor Daily Herald International Trophy race at Oulton Park in mid-August, Mike lost control of his Lotus Eleven in the pouring rain and flew off the track, and another rollover cost him then a severe internal concussion and serious wrist and ankle injuries that put him out of action for the rest of the season.
Thus, Hawthorn's only success in Formula 1 that year was a third place in the first round in Argentina, which ultimately brought him only 10th in the overall standings, and considering that his performances for Jaguar also did not bring him a single victory, 1956 could frankly be called a complete failure for him.
However, very soon, luck began to turn to the Englishman again, and, surprisingly, the first step on his path to new successes was the unexpected decision of Jaguar to stop participating in the sports car championship, which actually freed Mike from all his obligations and thus gave him every opportunity to knock on Enzo Ferrari's door again. At the same time, given the departure of the Scuderia's leader Juan Manuel Fangio, who, even after winning another title at the wheel of Ferrari, was never able to find a common language with him and preferred to return to Maserati, Commendatore this time turned out to be much more accommodating and unexpectedly easily signed a contract with the Englishman, thus making it clear to everyone that in the new season he decided to bet on youth.
Once again in the "scarlet" team, Mike seemed to have found a second wind, and not the least of this was his close acquaintance with his new teammate Peter Collins, with whom they almost immediately became best friends.
Being a compatriot (and almost the same age) as Hawthorn, Peter was one of the most open and friendly drivers in the paddock, never missing a chance to have fun over a glass of beer or in the company of some beauty, and as soon as Mike exchanged a few words with him, he immediately saw a true kindred spirit in him. At the same time, although he led a rather stormy and frivolous life, this did not prevent Peter from remaining one of the strongest Formula 1 drivers of that era (which, undoubtedly, also related him to Hawthorn), and in the past, 1956, he demonstrated such impressive results that he almost defeated the Maestro himself in the fight for the title.
However, despite high expectations, the beginning of 1957 turned out to be very difficult for the Maranello team. Arriving at the first stage of the championship in Buenos Aires as one of the main favourites, the Scuderia drivers faced massive clutch failures on their cars due to the intense heat, and as a result, having lost all their main rivals, the next victory in his homeland was celebrated by none other than Fangio, who at 45 years old could still easily give a head start to any of the youngsters.
The break in the championship calendar following the Argentine Grand Prix, which, as in previous years, lasted several months and was used by the teams to prepare new cars and compete in secondary competitions, this time turned out to be completely black for the "scarlets". First, during tests of the new Ferrari 801 in Modena, Eugenio Castellotti was involved in a fatal accident, who, having received direct orders from Commendatore, overdid it in an attempt to beat the lap record set the day before by Jean Behra in a Maserati.
And just a week before the second stage, during the famous Italian sports car race Mille Miglia, another tragic accident occurred, which took the life of not only another Scuderia driver, the Spanish Marquis Alfonso de Portago, but also his teammate Ed Nelson, as well as nine more spectators, half of whom were children.
Given his team's direct involvement in these two tragic events and the huge hype immediately raised against him personally by the Italian public and press, the Commendatore literally had to go through all the circles of hell in the next few days, and the only thing he passionately desired then was to wipe the noses of his opponents with another victory. And the next Grand Prix in Monaco seemed to have every opportunity to fulfill these aspirations. Already in qualifying, Collins, who got behind the wheel of the 801 for the first time, turned out to be one of the fastest drivers and easily made it to the front row of the starting field, while Hawthorn himself also looked very good, showing the 5th result.
However, in the race itself, everything went wrong again. Having left pole position holder Fangio behind already on the 2nd lap, Peter immediately began to put pressure on the leading Moss (who this year was already driving for the British Vanwall) and eventually forced him to make a mistake, however, this mistake came back to haunt the Scuderia drivers first and foremost. Unable to brake in time before the chicane, Moss flew into a fence made of logs, which fell right onto the track, and, having no way to avoid them, Collins ended the race right there, crashing into the barrier on the other side of the track. Meanwhile, when Moss' teammate Brooks and Hawthorn, who was hanging on his tail, approached the scene of the accident a few seconds later, Tony, who was the first to see the chaos on the track, braked sharply and thus left Mike no choice but to drive straight into the back of his Vanwall!
At the same time, Hawthorn's Ferrari immediately lost one of its wheels in the process, and Mike, like Peter, was very lucky then that his uncontrollable car stopped literally a few centimeters from both his teammate's car and the cliff, and both of them only miraculously managed to avoid a repeat of the famous fall into the bay that Alberto Ascari had made two years earlier.
At the same time, when Mike returned to the pits, the new Scuderia manager Romolo Tavoni insisted that he continue the race at the wheel of his teammate Wolfgang von Trips' car, however, given that the German's Ferrari was much shorter, this turned out to be a very bad idea. After spending only three laps in the cramped cockpit, Hawthorn decided that he had had enough and handed the car back to Wolfgang, who, despite a fairly confident race, was also destined to not see the checkered flag due to engine failure.
However, despite the complete failure in Monaco, already at the next round, which was held on the French circuit in Rouen, Fortune finally began to turn in favor of the Scuderia drivers, and after a very pushing race, Musso, Collins and Hawthorn managed to take 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively.
The only man who managed to get ahead of the whole cavalcade of "scarlets" that day was the incomparable Juan Manuel Fangio, who after his third victory in a row was only a stone's throw away from his next, already fifth, championship title.
Meanwhile, having arrived at the next round, which was held at his home track in Aintree, Mike expected to achieve a more significant success before his compatriots, and, despite the not very happy coincidence of circumstances, he really managed to have a very impressive Grand Prix. Having started from 5th, the Englishman had already made it to 3rd at the very beginning of the race, and after first Moss and then Jean Behra encountered serious problems during the competition, he had an excellent chance to win his home Grand Prix.
Unfortunately, immediately after the Frenchman's retirement, Mike was careless enough to drive over the remains of his transmission, scattered right on the track, and after a puncture of one of the tires and a forced pit stop, he could no longer count on more than the bottom step of the podium. Nevertheless, the British fans still found another reason to rejoice that day, since the victory in this Grand Prix was ultimately celebrated by another of their favorites, Stirling Moss, who, having moved to the car of his teammate Brooks during the race, managed to bring Vanwall their first victory in Formula 1, which became a truly significant event for all of British motorsport.
Meanwhile, inspired by his performance at Aintree and his first podium, Mike arrived at the next round in Germany in great spirits, and already in qualifying he was able to confirm his excellent form, showing the 2nd result behind Fangio.
At the same time, even though the Maestro was almost 3 seconds ahead of him, Mike was sure that he could beat the Argentine champion, because, unlike Ferrari, they in Maserati used much softer Pirelli tires and thus could not do without at least one pit stop. And the first part of the Grand Prix seemed to confirm all his expectations. Having made a great start, Mike and Peter immediately took the lead in the race, and although Fangio managed to overtake them both on the 3rd lap, by the time he stopped he had not managed to create a sufficient gap to remain the leader. Moreover, during the wheel change, one of the Maserati mechanics accidentally dropped a hub nut, which caused a real stir in the pits of the Modena team, as a result of which, having lost a lot of time, Juan Manuel returned to the track more than 45 seconds behind the two Englishmen!
Naturally, after such a failure, few people at that moment could have imagined that the Argentine would be able to reduce such a gigantic gap in the remaining ten laps, but that day the Maestro seemed to have gone beyond human capabilities and performed a real miracle. Using high gears in almost every one of the 76 turns of the Nordschleife, balancing on the edge of tire grip, fighting for every millimeter of this most difficult and dangerous track, the Argentine managed to make up fractions of a second in every turn, on every straight, at every jump and every landing, inexorably reducing his gap to the Ferraris with each lap, and Mike and Peter, no matter how hard they tried, could do nothing about it. The denouement of this truly incredible chase came two laps before the finish.
Having managed to win back more than 11 (!) seconds from the two Ferraris on the previous lap, Fangio dealt with Collins in the first set of turns, and half a lap later, the same fate befell Mike, whom the Argentinean passed at the exit to the Breitscheid bridge. At the same time, as Hawthorn himself later recalled, there was only enough room for one car on this narrow bridge, and no matter how much he wanted to win, he was forced to brake first, being sure that otherwise "the Old Devil" would simply drive over him. When the Argentinean finally crossed the finish line first, and the overjoyed Maserati mechanics, accompanied by the unanimous chanting of "Fangio, Fangio!" from the stands, carried him on their shoulders straight to the podium, Mike clearly realized at that moment that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to reach the same level of skill as the great Maestro.
However, this victory, which Fangio himself admitted was truly the greatest triumph of his life, also turned out to be his swan song, and after winning his fifth championship title in Germany, the Argentine never again climbed to the top step of the podium, while the two remaining rounds in Pescara and Monza were won by Stirling Moss and the ever-gaining Vanwall. As for the Scuderia, both home Grands Prix turned out to be a complete fiasco for them, which was not at all surprising, given Enzo Ferrari's initial intention to refuse participating in them at all. Driven to the extreme by the Italian authorities, the press and the ongoing legal prosecution, the Commendatore was not in the best of spirits at the time, and, wanting to put all his opponents in their place, he publicly announced shortly before the Pescara Grand Prix that from now on his team would not set foot on Italian soil. Naturally, this news came as quite a surprise to Hawthorn and Collins, who after their success in Germany were full of hopes for a decent end to the season, however, a little later they were in for an even bigger shock when it turned out that their team in Pescara would still be represented by one car, at the wheel of which would be none other than their "favorite" teammate Luigi Musso! And although the Italian was then unable to achieve any success, retiring mid-distance due to an oil leak, this no longer mattered to Hawthorn, who, suspecting Luigi of unfair play and obvious favoritism on the part of the team, immediately added him to his blacklist.
As for the last race of the season in Monza, it also brought Mike nothing but disappointment, and, having lost a sure podium due to a fuel line malfunction literally ten laps before the finish, the Englishman also missed a great opportunity to win the title of the best Scuderia driver, losing it to the same Musso.
Nonetheless, despite the fact that 1957 turned out to be quite disappointing for the Maranello team, without bringing it a single victory in Formula 1, Mike himself was quite satisfied with his progress in the past season and expected to achieve even more impressive results next year. And the Englishman had more than enough reasons for such obvious optimism. Firstly, to replace the Ferrari 801s, which, in fact, were modified Lancia D50s of 1954, the chief designer of the Scuderia Vittorio Jano developed completely new Ferrari 246 Dino racing cars, which were distinguished not only by their lighter weight, but also by new, much more advanced engines.
With their V6 configuration, these engines produced roughly the same power as their predecessors, while running on regular high-octane commercial fuel, which became a mandatory requirement of the Formula 1 regulations starting in 1958. The second piece of good news for the "scarlets" was that their eternal rivals from Maserati, under the burden of serious financial problems, were forced to announce the end of their Formula 1 program at the end of the year, which effectively left the reigning world champion Juan Manuel Fangio on the sidelines of the championship and deprived him of any chance to defend his title. Thus, having got rid of their most serious rival, the Scuderia drivers were looking forward to fighting for nothing less than the championship title in 1958, expecting serious competition only from the Vanwall drivers, and, taking into account all of the above, Mike had already expressed the opinion before the start of the season (which was a real slap in the face of Luigi Musso) that the next world champion would undoubtedly be a Briton.
The new racing season opened, as usual, with the Argentine Grand Prix, however, due to the fact that the local organisers took too long to confirm this event, not a single British factory team was able to take part in it, and as a result, only 10 participants got to the start at the first round, the overwhelming majority of which were Scuderia drivers and private racers in Maseratis 250F. Needless to say, with such competition, the former became the favourites of the race, and the only ones who were able to put up a decent resistance to them were Juan Manuel Fangio, who was driving his last year's championship car as a private racer, and Stirling Moss, who was driving a tiny 2-litre Cooper T43 of the private Rob Walker's British team. At the same time, it was the five-time champion who turned out to be the fastest driver in qualifying, who, despite his age, still demonstrated absolutely phenomenal control over his car, however, in the race itself the Argentinean was unlucky, and, thrown back by problems with tires and the engine, he was forced to accept only 4th place at the finish. As for Moss, on the contrary, after an unsuccessful qualifying and a start from only 7th position, he demonstrated excellent speed in the race and, having managed to reach the finish without a single pit stop, it was he who ultimately won the debut Grand Prix of the season, simultaneously bringing the first triumph in Formula 1 to a rear-engined car.
At the same time, Hawthorn himself also looked very good on the track in Buenos Aires and had a very real chance of winning, however, due to an oil leak, the Englishman was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop and ultimately finished only 3rd, losing not only to Moss, but also to Musso.
Meanwhile, the second stage of the 1958 championship was the Monaco Grand Prix, and, as often happened, the race on the narrow streets of the principality turned into a real roulette, with Maurice Trintignant, who, as three years earlier, turned out to be the most lucky driver in the field and winning the main Monte Carlo cup for the second time in his career.
At the same time, Hawthorn himself, who, as in Argentina, turned out to be the fastest of the Scuderia drivers, was again able to show excellent driving, becoming one of the main contenders for the main prize along with Moss, Brooks and Behra, however, at the very moment when his rivals no longer posed a threat to him and victory seemed to be already in his pocket, the fuel pump mount on his Ferrari suddenly fell off, and he had no choice but to park his car on the side of the road.
However, the Englishman would not be himself if he lamented such trifles as the victory in Monaco for a long time, and literally fifteen minutes later he was seen climbing into the window of the ground floor of the station hotel to one of the charming spectators, who, according to his own assurances, offered him only to quench his thirst!
Meanwhile, the third stage, which took place in the sand dunes of Zandvoort, also did not bring anything to the Scuderia drivers except another disappointment, and after an extremely unconvincing race, Mike managed to cling there to only 5th, losing this time not only to a Vanwall, but also to two BRMs and one Cooper.
The winner of the Dutch round was none other than Moss, who drove the race in absolutely inimitable style, leading from start to finish, and thus, having won two victories in the first three Grand Prix of the season, it was Stirling who confidently led the championship, becoming the main contender for the title in 1958.
Naturally, after the rather high expectations before the start of the season, this state of affairs could not suit Mike at all, so, deciding not to put things off for long, the Englishman immediately after the Dutch Grand Prix wrote an angry letter to Enzo Ferrari, in which he criticized the design of the 246s, focusing in particular on their understeer and completely ineffective drum brakes. And, surprisingly, Commendatore took the criticism of his beloved cars quite adequately that time, and he even condescended to write a reply to Hawthorn with the assurance that already at the next stage in Belgium, Ferraris would be much more competitive.
And the "Great Old Man" turned out to be right. Even though no significant changes were made to the design of the 246s, the "scarlet" cars, thanks to their excellent speed characteristics, looked no worse than the Vanwalls on the fast track in Spa, and, unexpectedly even for himself, it was Mike who turned out to be the fastest driver in practice and thus won his first pole position in his career!
And although not everything went according to his plans in the race itself (having failed the start, Hawthorn let Brooks in a Vanwall through, who rushed ahead and was completely out of his reach for him until the very finish), the Englishman was quite happy with the 2nd place he had won, which allowed him not only to overcome his principal rival Musso in the championship, but also to significantly reduce his gap to Moss, who dropped out of the race with a failed engine on the first lap.
Meanwhile, the next on the championship calendar was the French Grand Prix, but with the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race scheduled two weeks before, the Scuderia drivers first headed to Sarthe to start in that world-famous event. At the same time, Hawthorn himself, due to his kidney problems and the well-known events of three years ago, was not particularly keen to take part in this grueling 24-hour race, and during practice he even allowed himself to make a few questionable jokes to his “mon ami mate” Peter Collins about how they should get rid of their new Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa as soon as possible in order to get home for Sunday lunch. And, you know, he must have had a crystal ball! Having started the race first, Mike, trying at all costs to stay behind the leading Moss, immediately began to squeeze everything possible out of their Ferrari and quickly killed the clutch, and at about 2 a.m., when it was Collins already behind the wheel, it finally ran out.
At the same time, Peter himself was already at the limit by this time, having been forced to drive a faulty car for many hours in incredibly difficult conditions (literally torrents of water poured down at Le Mans that weekend), so it is not surprising that the final breakdown of their Testa Rossa became "great news" for both Englishmen, who, without waiting for the end of the race, immediately left the track without any regrets and returned to their homeland, in order to enjoy the most delicious lunch at the Hawthorn estate the next day!
Naturally, such a blatant attitude of his drivers to one of the main motorsport events of the season could not escape the watchful eyes of Commendatore, and, having decided to subject the couple of Englishmen to exemplary punishment, Enzo chose Collins as his victim, who a couple of years ago was one of his favorites. And this was not at all accidental. Having finished 1956 as one of the main heroes of the championship, Peter frankly failed the following season, losing to both Hawthorn and Musso, and, as Commendatore himself believed, the main role in this was played by Peter's quick marriage to the American actress Louise King (Signor Ferrari was a staunch opponent of the marriages of his racers, sincerely believing that family ties had an extremely negative effect on their speed).
Moreover, having only confirmed Enzo's suspicions with his less than eloquent performances in early 1958, Peter did nothing to improve the situation when he decided to move out of the accommodation provided to him near Maranello to live with Luisa on his yacht in Monte Carlo, so that it can be said without any exaggeration that the incident at Le Mans was only the last straw that finally broke Commendatore's patience.
Arriving in Reims for the next round in France, the two friends were literally stunned by the news that Peter's place at the wheel of the Formula 1 car would be taken by the Scuderia reserve driver Wolfgang von Trips, while Collins himself was assigned the role of only a support driver in the minor Formula 2 race, which preceded the main Grand Prix. Having turned to Scuderia manager Romolo Tavoni for clarification, Peter received the answer that this order came from the very top, and no matter how hard he tried to persuade Tavoni to give him a second chance, he was adamant. And then, when the Englishman was already on the verge of despair, Hawthorn unexpectedly intervened in the matter, who, one might say, saved the situation. Seeing his friend's hopeless plight, Mike called Commendatore and stood up for Peter, taking all the blame for what happened at Le Mans on himself, after which he went even further and threatened Enzo with refusing to participate in the Grand Prix if his friend was not allowed to compete. Considering that Mike was Moss' main rival for the title at that time, Commendatore had virtually no choice but to give in, and this was bad news already for Musso, who was playing his own game behind the Englishmen's backs and sincerely hoped that the unbreakable alliance of his two teammates had finally come to an end.
Meanwhile, if we put aside the passions raging inside the Scuderia, from a sporting point of view, things were going great for the "scarlets" in France. Being one of the fastest tracks of that time, the Reims circuit for many years became a real arena of engine battles, and with the magnificent V6 at their disposal, the Scuderia drivers did not leave their rivals a single chance in trainings and easily won first, second and fourth places on the starting field. Moreover, the fastest, as has already become the custom this season, was again Hawthorn himself, who managed to win here his second pole position in a row and thus win the prize of 300 (!) bottles of champagne established by the organizers, while his neighbors on the front row were his "sworn" rival Luigi Musso, as well as Harry Schell in a BRM.
However, despite their complete superiority in qualifying, Mike had no illusions that the upcoming race would be an easy walk for him, and before the start of the Grand Prix he was preparing for the most serious fight with his teammates, for whom success in this race was no less important than for himself. Having found himself on the verge of dismissal, his friend Peter was ready to go out of his way to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Commendatore, and, despite the fact that he had to miss most of the trainings, the Englishman still managed to demonstrate very impressive speed, securing a place in the second row of the starting field. As for Musso, he needed success in Reims like air to solve all his financial problems (at that time, the organizers of the French stage offered the largest prize money of all the countries participating in the championship), not to mention the fact that he also expected to receive another hefty portion of points, which would not be at all superfluous for him in the fight for the championship title.
Considering all of the above, the race in Reims, as in previous years, promised to turn into a real thriller, however, contrary to expectations, the main battle for leadership lasted only ten laps and ended in the most dramatic way. Having not started the race very well, Hawthorn, Musso and Collins lost several positions each at the start, however, having an undeniable advantage in speed, they left all their rivals behind by the third lap, completely restoring the status quo. At the same time, after only two laps, Peter once again found himself a victim of an unfortunate coincidence, when a fallen air intake of the magneto got right under his pedals and blocked his brakes, as a result of which the Englishman was forced to use the escape road, let the entire peloton through and thus could no longer count on any decent result. Meanwhile, freed from the threat of Collins, Musso, who was in 2nd, immediately picked up the pace, trying to catch Hawthorn, who had gone ahead, and, driving his car at the limit, the Italian managed to completely reduce his gap to Mike by lap 10 and get on his tail. However, he was never destined to get ahead. Entering the first turn flat out, Musso slightly miscalculated and touched the inside kerb, and, having gone into an uncontrolled skid, his Ferrari immediately flew off the track and tumbled across a wheat field, while the Italian himself was thrown out of the cockpit in the process.
Naturally, being at that moment in the immediate vicinity of the scene, Mike could not help but notice his teammate's accident, however, knowing how many times the Italian came out of similar scrapes completely safe and sound, he immediately drove away any gloomy thoughts and continued to drive as fast as he could.
And his efforts were not in vain: in the absence of his two main rivals, he no longer had any difficulty in bringing his car to the winning finish, and thus, after a four-year wait, Mike finally achieved his third victory in Formula 1, which was destined to be the last in his career.
At the same time, it is worth noting that this Grand Prix also became a farewell for the great Fangio, who started his last race behind the wheel of the new super-lightweight Maserati 250F, and given the clutch failure that occurred on his car already in the middle of the distance, it is no exaggeration to say that the 4th place he won was a worthy end to the Maestro's amazing career. As for Mike himself, for him the departure of the great champion meant the end of an entire era, and taking his hat off to his incredible achievements, the Englishman showed himself to be a true gentleman on the last lap of the race, refusing to overtake the Argentinean by a lap and finishing right after him.
Meanwhile, immediately after the award ceremony, Mike and Peter went to the central hospital of Reims to find out about the condition of Luigi Musso, who had been taken there earlier by medical helicopter, but upon arrival they were shocked by the news that their teammate had not been able to survive the severe head and internal injuries he had sustained upon landing and had died without regaining consciousness. And although for both of them Luigi's death was not a tragedy of the same magnitude as for his compatriots, who, according to Commendatore, lost their "last driver of the international class" that day, Mike and Peter, having returned to the hotel, still paid tribute to the memory of the Italian, who, despite everything, was a worthy rival for them.
At the same time, it must be admitted that, however blasphemous it may sound, the death of Musso seemed to lift a huge weight from the shoulders of the two Englishmen, and when they appeared in public a few days later, Hawthorn and Collins were radiating undisguised optimism about their prospects for the rest of the season. And, indeed, their enthusiasm was understandable. With his brilliant victory in France, Mike had finally drawn level with Moss on points, far ahead of all other rivals in the overall standings, and thus, having acquired the undisputed status of Number Uno in the Maranello team, he could now count on their full support in his quest for the championship title.
As for Collins, he was already overjoyed by the fact that he no longer had to worry about his place in the Scuderia, so, putting his own ambitions aside, Peter already then made it clear to everyone that he would do anything to help his friend beat Moss.
And already at the next round, which took place on their home track in Silverstone, Collins brilliantly confirmed that he had not thrown his words to the wind. Having this time performed a not very convincing qualifying and taken only 4th and 6th positions on the starting field, the two friends, hoping to achieve much more significant success in the Grand Prix itself, secretly from everyone devised their own plan for the race, which was as genious as simple. As soon as the flag dropped, Collins shot past four rivals to immediately get on Moss' tail and, having passed his Vanwall at the Maggots, Peter took a confident lead on the first lap, thus brilliantly executing the first part of their plan.
When the unsuspecting Stirling tried to counterattack his compatriot, he was unpleasantly surprised by the absolutely phenomenal speed of Peter, who drove like a madman, completely ignoring the tachometer readings, and, trying at all costs to stay behind the leading Ferrari, Moss eventually took the bait, in turn squeezing everything possible out of his Vanwall. Of course, no car could maintain such an incredible pace throughout the entire race at that time, and, as expected, the engine of Stirling's car was the first to fry, thus forcing the Englishman to retire on the 26th lap. Meanwhile, Collins himself, whose main goal was to overdrive the car of Vanwall leader, immediately after the latter's retirement, slowed down, hoping to still bring his Ferrari to the finish in one piece, and, you know, he not only succeeded in this, but also remained at the head of the race right up to the checkered flag, thus winning his third victory in Formula 1!
As for Hawthorn, having entrusted the fate of the Grand Prix into the hands of his friend, he spent the first part of the race without interfering in any way with the fight for leadership, and in the end, having inherited 2nd after the retirement of his main rival, Mike was more than pleased with the achieved result, which brought him not only another hefty portion of points, but also unconditional leadership in the championship.
At the same time, while making a lap of honor, Hawthorn once again managed to stand out among all his colleagues, having crossed the finish line... with a mug of beer in his hand (!), which, by his own admission, seemed to have fallen on him right from the sky (while, in fact, it was noticed and taken away by him from his marshal friends standing at the side of the road). When Mike and Peter, under the approving cries of their compatriots, got out of their cars, climbed onto the podium and began to listen to national anthem in their honor, their hearts were filled with unprecedented joy and pride... and, of course, no one could have imagined then that already the next stage on the German Nurburgring would turn into a complete disaster for the two friends.
Arriving two weeks after the British Grand Prix at the famous Nordschleife, Hawthorn and Collins, still in the euphoria of their triumph, were determined to continue their winning streak, and already in qualifying both Englishmen confirmed the seriousness of their intentions, managing to stake out two places on the front row in a hot battle with the Vanwall drivers (Mike himself was again the fastest, thus winning his third pole position this season).
At the same time, realizing that Moss was unlikely to fall for the same trick twice, the two friends did not come up with any cunning plans this time and limited themselves to an agreement that Peter, if he ended up ahead, would give up his place to his teammate at the end of the race so that he could score more points. Meanwhile, as soon as the starting flag fell, Moss, taught by bitter experience, did everything possible to take the lead on the first lap, and, having succeeded, the Englishman immediately flew along the track as if on wings, trying to create the maximum gap from his pursuers. The Scuderia drivers themselves, on the contrary, did not start the race very well, letting Brooks and Schell through, so when they finally dealt with their rivals and rushed into pursuit, their gap to Moss was already no more, no less than 7 seconds, which furthermore only continued to increase with each lap, despite all their efforts. When, after the third lap, Hawthorn and Collins crossed the finish line 20(!) seconds behind the leading Vanwall, it became absolutely clear to them that only a miracle could help them beat Stirling that day... and, (surprise, surprise), it soon actually happened, in the form of another breakdown on Moss' car (this time, the Englishman was let down by the magneto!)
Naturally, having received such a generous gift from fate, Mike and Peter immediately perked up, and, being absolutely confident in their own superiority over all other rivals, the two friends immediately slowed down and allowed themselves to relax a little, arranging an impromptu fight for leadership with each other.
However, this was a big mistake on their part. Carried away by their own struggle, the two friends completely lost sight of another Vanwall driver Brooks, who seemed to be just waiting for the moment to pick up the fallen banner from the hands of his teammate, and, as if having found a second wind, Tony suddenly began to demonstrate such an impressive pace that after just a few laps he completely made up his 20-second gap to the two Ferraris and was hanging on their tail!
Meanwhile, seeing the Vanwall rapidly catching up to them in their mirrors, Mike and Peter undoubtedly experienced a very definite sense of déjà vu, and, having no desire to miss out victory at the Nürburgring on a second year in a row, the two Englishmen, without saying a word, immediately increased the pace, hoping that they would still be able to break away from their compatriot again.
However, it was already too late for this. Having caught the tail of the Scuderia drivers, Brooks immediately began to torment them with continuous attacks and, having passed Hawthorn already at the very beginning of the 10th lap, he actually left Mike and Peter no choice but to engage him in battle. The next lap and a half gave the German fans an unforgettable spectacle as two red and one green cars took turns to take the lead, with Tony Brooks having a clear advantage on the twisties and Hawthorn and Collins regaining on the straights.
At the same time, seeing how their drivers managed to successfully repel the first onslaught of Brooks and went into the next lap still in the lead, they in Scuderia hoped that they would still be able to maintain this status quo right up to the finish, but, unfortunately, this was not destined to happen. Having managed to overtake both Ferraris already in the first set of corners, Brooks began to slowly but surely move forward, and desperately trying to keep up with Vanwall's pace, Collins eventually made a mistake, entering the Pflanzgarten turn too quickly. Being right behind his friend's car, Mike witnessed first-hand how his Ferrari, having flown to the side of the road, crashed into the fence, soared into the air and fell wheels up on the other side of the net, and, not daring to tear his eyes away from this horrific picture, he managed to see in this chaos, as if in slow motion, Peter himself, who during the somersault was thrown out of the cockpit right into the thick of the nearby trees.
What happened to Mike immediately after this unfortunate accident was like some kind of bad dream. Overwhelmed by anxiety for his friend's life and no longer thinking about any prizes, the Englishman went on another lap, dreaming only of quickly getting to the scene of the accident and finding Peter safe and sound, but, as luck would have it, the clutch on his Ferrari, which had been bothering him for the last few laps, finally failed at the most inopportune moment, when Mike was at the opposite end of the track. After spending about half an hour in agonizing anticipation of the end of the race, in which Brooks predictably won, Hawthorn was eventually able to continue his way to the scene in the car of one of the marshals, but when he got there, he found only an overturned Ferrari, a cracked helmet, a glove and a boot of his friend, as well as a couple of representatives of the Red Cross, each of whom gave him a completely different picture of Peter's condition. Eventually, without any clear answers, Mike hurried back to the pits, and only there did he finally learn that his friend had suffered very serious head injuries and had been rushed by medical helicopter to the hospital in Bonn. Unable to get to Bonn himself, Hawthorn enlisted the help of BRM driver Harry Schell, who had a rental car and intended to visit Peter in hospital himself, but due to the long preparations and traffic jams on the roads, they lost a lot of time and eventually managed to get there only late in the evening.
When they stopped at the entrance to the hospital, Hawthorn noticed another colleague of his, German racing driver Wolfgang Seidel, in one of the cars parked nearby, who, apparently, had been there for quite some time. Deciding that he was probably already aware of all the latest news, Mike went to him first of all, hoping to get from him the most detailed report on Peter's condition, however, given the circumstances, their conversation turned out to be extremely short. "How is he?" Mike asked. "He's dead," Wolfgang answered gloomily, and these words shocked the Englishman to such an extent that he ... simply refused to believe them. Rushing into the clinic, Hawthorn found Collins' wife, Louise, and his boss, Tavoni, there, the sight of whom alone left him with no doubt about the truth of the German's words, however, upon learning that they had never seen the body, Mike desperately seized this last chance as if it were a straw and began to insistently demand that he be taken to his friend, still hoping in the depths of his soul that some terrible mistake had been made. Realizing that they would not be able to hold him back, the staff eventually complied with his request, and only upon seeing Peter's body covered with a sheet and looking into his calm, but already absolutely lifeless face, did Mike finally realize with all certainty that his friend was no more. Feeling an inexpressible pain rising in his heart, Mike hurried to leave the room, after which his legs gave way, and he, leaning against the wall, slowly sank to the floor...
After Peter's death, the whole world seemed to fade for Mike, and his attitude to racing, which had previously been the main meaning in his life, changed dramatically. As if having lost a piece of himself along with his friend, the Englishman for the first time looked at his occupation from a completely different angle, and, asking himself over and over again why Peter had given his life, and whether he was ready to be in his place, Mike was increasingly inclined to think that these games with death were not worth the candle and that it was time for him to finally stop with this whole business. And, perhaps, the only circumstance that kept him then from immediately retiring from motorsport was the promise he had once made to his friend. In one of their frank conversations, Mike and Peter swore to each other that if one of them was destined to die, then the survivor would continue to race, no matter what. Not daring to break his vow and feeling with all his heart that this is exactly what Peter would want from him, Mike finally made the decision to finish what he started and fight for this damn title until the very end, if not for himself or his team, then at least in memory of his friend.
And his chances of success were still quite high. Considering that the recent German Grand Prix did not bring a single point to either him or Moss, Mike arrived at the next round in Portugal as the undisputed leader of the championship, and, having managed to show an identical result to Stirling in qualifying, the Englishman quite clearly made it clear to everyone that he still had plenty of fuel left in his tanks.
However, as has happened many times before, the Grand Prix itself did not go as Hawthorn had hoped, and throughout the event he alternately felt hot and cold. Having started the race superbly in wet conditions, Mike managed to pass Moss already on the second lap to take the lead, but as the track dried out his advantage gradually faded and after just six laps he was forced to let Stirling through again, who immediately began to pull away.
Falling further and further behind his rival, Mike soon had no choice but to console himself with the prospect of another second place, but even that was soon in jeopardy when his Ferrari developed serious brake problems and he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. Having lost a fair amount of time in the pits, Mike let BRM driver Jean Behra through, who luckily for him was unable to take full advantage of the opportunity and soon also dropped back with a faulty engine, but he had barely had time to catch his breath before he was faced with a new threat in the face of Moss' teammate Stuart Lewis-Evans. In the aerodynamic shadow of Stirling's bolid, who had lapped him, Stuart began to close the gap to Hawthorn before his eyes, and with the brake problems returning, there was nothing Mike could do about it.
This confrontation between the two Britons reached its climax on the very last lap, and ended in the most unexpected way. With almost no feeling for the brakes, Mike finally made a mistake with the braking at the end of the main straight and, having lost several precious seconds, he allowed the Vanwall driver to close in on him. However, when his rival went to overtake and Hawthorn briefly met his gaze, he was astonished to find that it was not Stuart at all, but Moss, who was already a full lap ahead of him! Overwhelmed by a sense of his own impotence in the face of such humiliation, Mike could do nothing at that moment than curse under his breath, and it must be said that Stirling, instantly recognizing the feelings of his rival, behaved like a true gentleman, immediately retreating and deciding to finish right behind him. And, you know, but with this act he helped Mike save not only his dignity, but also his second place, serving as the most reliable defense for his rival from Lewis-Evans, who was rapidly catching up with him!
However, surprisingly, even after Hawthorn crossed the finish line ahead of the two Vanwalls, his suffering was still far from over. Being the only driver who remained in one lap with the winner, Mike was forced to drive one last lap, and at the very turn where he had had a mistake earlier, he made another mistake, which this time cost him not only an excursion to the escape road, but also a stalled engine! Feeling his hard-won second place literally slipping out of his hands, Mike jumped out of the cockpit and began desperately trying to revive his car with a push, however, it turned out to be no easy task. Luckily for him, it was at this moment that Moss reappeared on the scene, making his lap of honour, and seeing the difficulties of his rival, Stirling once again showed an example of true nobility, parking nearby and starting to provide Mike with practical advice (physical assistance on the track, of course, was out of the question). In the end, following the instructions of his compatriot, Mike still managed to turn his car around, gain sufficient speed and start his engine, after which it was no big deal for him to bring his car to the finish line and thus take his honorable place among the Grand Prix prize winners. At the same time, after the finish of the race he still had to answer to the judges about his actions on the last lap, and, believe it or not, but here too, none other than Moss came to his rescue, who personally volunteered to be his witness and gave testimony that completely justified him! Thus, thanks to Stirling's chivalrous behaviour, Mike managed to leave Portugal still leading the championship, and his lead over his fellow rival remained almost unchanged, having been reduced by only one point.
Meanwhile, after brake problems had almost deprived him of a well-deserved podium, Hawthorn decided to take advantage of the opportunity and once again tried to persuade Commendatore to abandon the outdated drum brakes in favor of more modern disc ones, and it must be said that this time his voice was heard. Thanks to the assistance of the Dunlop specialists, who designed and manufactured new components in the shortest possible time, the Scuderia's chief engineer Carlo Chiti was able to provide Mike with a new car with disc brakes already at the next, home for Ferrari, Italian Grand Prix, and, in addition, to further equalize the Englishman's chances in the fight with the Vanwall drivers, the Maranello team prepared three more cars for the race with improved drum brakes, which were driven by Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien.
Having shown quite an impressive speed in qualifying, the Scuderia drivers, together with those from Vanwall, managed to completely share the first two rows of the starting field between themselves, however, the start of the race was not very successful for the “scarlets”, and already on the first lap Mike lost his two teammates von Trips and Gendebien, who retired as a result of collisions with other drivers. Moreover, after Phil Hill also dropped back with a puncture five laps later, Mike had to stand alone against the superior forces of Vanwall, and it should be noted that he coped with this task brilliantly, managing to successfully break through their ranks to the head of the peloton and give a real fight to the leader of the British team and his main rival Moss.
At the same time, as if to reward Mike for his efforts, the scales of fortune soon tipped in the other direction, with the Vanwall drivers in turn falling back one after another with various technical problems, as a result of which Moss and Lewis-Evans were forced to retire, while Brooks was forced to make an unscheduled visit to the pits to fix an oil leak. With the immediate threat of his main rivals out of the way, Hawthorn had a golden opportunity to end the Grand Prix with another win and thus finally seal the title in his favour, however, due to the loss of time at the pit stop and the subsequent clutch problems, Mike was forced to cede the lead to the last of remaining Vanwall drivers and once again had to settle for second place.
The final event of this extremely tense and tragic season was the stage in Morocco, which forever entered in the history of Formula 1 as the first Grand Prix held on the African continent, and it was here, on the Ain Diab circuit near Casablanca, that two Englishmen in front of a crowd of 100,000 had to finally decide the fate of the championship title.
At the same time, assessing the chances of the two contenders before the start of the Grand Prix, most experts naturally gave their votes to Hawthorn, who was ahead of his opponent by 8 points and who only needed to finish second again to win the champion's crown (while Moss himself needed only a victory here at all costs). However, even with an undeniable advantage over his rival, Mike himself did not think that it was in the bag, and he was preparing for the toughest tests in the upcoming competition, which was to become the apogee of his entire racing career. And the most eloquent example of how much stress he was experiencing then is one incident that happened to him even before trainings. During lunch in a restaurant with his boss Tavoni, Mike had a chance to familiarize himself with the stickers for their cars, and as soon as he found out that he was destined for the same fateful number 2 that Musso and Collins had on the days of their tragic deaths, he immediately threw a real tantrum and began to demand that he was got rid of it. Naturally, when Tavoni realized his mistake, he immediately backed down and offered him another number, 6, while the "ill-fated" deuce went to another Ferrari driver Gendebien, who, along with Phil Hill, was supposed to support Hawthorn in this final, decisive race of the season.
Nonetheless, despite this momentary breakdown, on the track Mike was, as always, extremely focused, and, having spent a brilliant qualifying, it was he who ultimately won another pole position, beating his main rival by 0.1 sec.
At the same time, realizing that the fate of the title would largely depend on the reliability of their cars, Mike, together with Tavoni and Phil Hill, decided to use the experience of the British Grand Prix and developed a similar plan for the upcoming race, in which the main role of the Vanwall beater was taken by the American. And the start of this Grand Prix seemed to fully justify their hopes: having made a great start from 5th, Hill was able to break through to 2nd on the very first lap, after which he began to seriously press the leading Moss, making his life extremely difficult.
However, as further events showed, the "scarlets" did not have long to rejoice, and just a couple of laps later, during another attack, the American made a mistake with the braking in the first corner, as a result of which he lost a couple of positions and thus threw the entire Scuderia plan down the drain. Having got rid of the threat from Hill, Moss immediately rushed forward as if on wings, and although the American soon completely rehabilitated himself, fighting his way back to 2nd again, it no longer mattered: Stirling was out of his reach.
Meanwhile, as soon as they realized that they could no longer prevent Moss from winning, they in Scuderia immediately set themselves the goal of securing at least second place for Hawthorn, which would have guaranteed him the title anyway, however, after Mike voluntarily gave up his position to his teammate, and then was unable to keep Tony Brooks behind, his chances of success began to look very slim. And then, at the very moment when it seemed that everything was lost for the “scarlets”, Mike, summoning all his willpower, seemed to have found a second wind and, instantly reducing his gap to Vandervell's driver, engaged in a desperate fight with him. Over the next few laps, spectators witnessed the most exciting confrontation between Ferrari and Vanwall, with nothing less than the championship title at stake, and this incredibly intense battle could, without a doubt, be called the main decoration of this Grand Prix.
However, as they in Scuderia had supposed, it was ultimately reliability that decided everything, and as expected, it was the engine in the British car that failed the first, which exploded right during another attack by Brooks, and, one could say, the battle for the title thereupon was effectively over. As soon as they in Scuderia were convinced that Hawthorn's position was no longer threatened, they immediately showed Phil Hill a sign Slow down", and, obeying the order, the American unquestioningly yielded to his teammate that very coveted second place, which was supposed to bring him the title.
And even though Mike ended up lagging behind Moss for an eternity, it didn't matter to him anymore: when he completed his last lap and crossed the finish line, it was he, John Michael Hawthorn, who became the new world champion and the heir to the great Fangio that day!
When Mike, completely exhausted but infinitely happy, got out of his car, he was, naturally, immediately showered with congratulations from his team, friends and fans, not to mention his main rivals (Moss was one of the first to congratulate him), and perhaps the only thing the Englishman could regret at that moment was that he could not share his triumph with either his father or his "mon ami mate" Peter.
At the same time, even this truly significant day for all of British motorsport was unfortunately marred by yet another tragic incident, this time involving the third Vanwall driver Lewis-Evans. In the final part of the race, Stuart, like Brooks, suffered an engine failure, but he was much less fortunate than his teammate and, after flying off the track, crashed straight into a group of nearby trees, which caused the fuel tank on his Vanwall to rupture and immediately catch fire. Having suffered very serious burns, Stuart was flown to the Great Britain the following day, where he was entrusted to the care of specialists at the East Grinstead Burns Centre, but despite all their efforts, the Englishman could not survive this and slowly faded away five days later. Needless to say, this incident only strengthened Mike in his determination to quit racing forever, which he was already fed up with (especially since, like Fangio, he could afford to leave with his head held high), and, having made a final and irrevocable decision, he soon made a corresponding public statement, which, it must be admitted, was a big surprise for many (especially indignant was Commendatore, who was very much counting on seeing the Englishman in his team next year as well).
Meanwhile, even after finishing his racing career, Mike still remained in the spotlight of the motorsport community for some time, and given his championship victory, as well as his invaluable contribution to the development of British motorsport, he was soon honored to be received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace and awarded the highest awards of the BRDC and BARC.
Once the hype around him had died down a bit and he was able to calmly think about his future, Mike decided to devote the rest of his life to the family business at TT Garage and working on his racing memoirs, while, having met and started a romantic relationship with 21-year-old British model Jean Howarth, he also seriously thought about finally leaving his bachelor life behind and starting his own family.
However, unfortunately, all these plans were never destined to come true.
On January 22, 1959, a sports Mercedes pulled up in front of the Hawthorns' garage, driven by none other than his longtime acquaintance and owner of the Formula 1 team of the same name, Rob Walker, and, taking his welcoming gesture as an invitation to "warm up" a little, Mike, without a second's hesitation, immediately left the office and jumped inside his Jaguar to rush towards the last competition in his life. At the same time, having taken off about half a minute after his rival, Mike, in his desire to beat the Mercedes, immediately rushed into action, and despite the fact that this crazy race took place on public roads in absolutely disgusting weather conditions, in places he managed to develop a completely fantastic speed for those times of over 100 miles per hour. And then, just as Mike had finally caught up with Rob and pulled ahead, disaster struck. On entering a right-hand bend near Guildford, Mike, on a slippery road and in a strong crosswind, failed to keep the rear of his car from skidding, and, flying into the next lane, his Jaguar crashed sideways at full speed into a tree standing on the side of the road. Following directly behind the Jaguar, Rob became a direct witness to the accident, and when he parked next to it and ran to the scene, he was horrified to discover that due to the powerful impact, the Englishman's car had almost folded in half, while Mike himself was sprawled on the back seat with a severe head injury and was already showing almost no signs of life.
Realising that things were bad, Rob immediately called an ambulance, but when the paramedics arrived at the scene, they found only a mortal body in the mangled car, while the soul of the first British champion was already far away...
