Thursday 22nd January 1959

Mike Hawthorn, only months into his retirement after becoming Britain’s first World Drivers Champion, was tragically killed at the age of 29 in a car crash on the A3 Guildford bypass in Surrey, England. He won Le Mans in 1955 with Jaguar, a year sadly best remembered for the Mercedes crash that killed French driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators. For most of his Grand Prix career Hawthorn drove for Ferrari, for whom he had clinched the World Drivers Championship the previous October by a single point from his great rival, fellow countryman Stirling Moss.