Lewis Hamilton, Stirling Moss: Playing for Ferrari / Formula 1

The unforgettable Ayrton Senna once said: “I don’t think my Formula 1 career would have been fulfilled if I hadn’t driven for Ferrari.”

But he also told himself to close people: “I want to be world champion with Williams – and then finish my career at Ferrari.”

Many stars of the full throttle industry have competed for Ferrari. But some of the best drivers of their era never appeared in a Formula 1 Ferrari: Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna – and Stirling Moss, who died four years ago today, April 12, 2020.

After the sad news from England, Piero Ferrari, son of the company’s founder Enzo Ferrari, paid tribute to Moss: “Stirling Moss symbolized motorsport. He was a true man who left an indelible mark on the history of racing. His ability to adapt meant that it was capable of winning in many different classes of racing, from Formula 1 to sports cars to endurance races.It also showed incredible performances in road races like the Mille Miglia and set records that will last forever.

“Although Moss never won the Formula 1 World Championship, he is a legend, a formidable and formidable rival to Ferrari. Our paths should have joined, but unfortunately his fatal accident at Goodwood in 1962 intervened. At the time he was racing of 250GT SWB prepared by us in sports car racing, in British Racing Green, and he had a contract with us. Fate wanted it to be different. My father always said that Moss reminded him of Tazio Nuvolari because with these racers you can just feel the deep love of the motorcycle they rode, no matter what car they were driving.”

Even if the contract between Ferrari and Stirling Moss was signed then: Why didn’t the Englishman drive for the world’s most famous racing team earlier?

Moss was invited to Bari by Enzo Ferrari in 1951, when Stirling was just 20 years old. Moss later wrote about it in many of his books: “When you’re only twenty years old and you get a call from Ferrari, that’s a big deal. I was supposed to drive a new cylinder the fourth which was developed in Formula 2 for them in the south of Italy.

Then a strange thing happened that would decide the relationship between Ferrari and Moss.

Moss continued: “I found the car in the box and I got in. A technician came and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I replied, ‘Well, I’m Stirling Moss and I drive this car.’ “No, they don’t, Piero Taruffi does.”

“That made me angry. Nothing against Taruffi, a great guy and a great racing driver. Maybe Enzo Ferrari had changed his mind, but unfortunately he didn’t tell me anything about it. At that moment I swore to myself that I would never drive for his factory racing team.”

It is typical of Moss that he stuck to it with admirable tenacity. How many GP wins would he have won for Ferrari? In the next decade, Ferrari drivers won the world title five times – Alberto Ascari in 1952 and 1953, Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956, Mike Hawthorn in 1958, Phil Hill in 1961.

However, we occasionally found Moss in a Ferrari. “I drove a total of 13 Ferrari races,” Moss continued. “At Sebring I was disqualified because of unauthorized support, and at Le Mans I lost a fan blade. But I won every other race in a Ferrari, so my racing career with Ferrari cars was very successful.

In 1961, Ferrari brought the beautiful Sharknose to the track, the Ferrari 156 with this unique nose.

Only eight races of the World Championship were run that season, Ferrari won five times, but Stirling Moss won the two most difficult tracks in the Lotus 18, in Monaco and the Nürburgring, although the Englishman was running with 30 hp less!

Enzo Ferrari, who did not have the talent to swallow his pride, knew that when the new V8 engine came from Climax, the horse’s supremacy would be over. He offered Moss a contract to stay at the Ferrari factory from 1962.

Moss continued: “At the end of 1961 I went to Modena and Enzo Ferrari said to me: ‘Tell me what car you want us to build you and we will do it.’ I replied: ‘I want a Ferrari 250 GTO for the British Racing Partnership, painted in their colours. And I want a Ferrari 156 painted in team owner Rob Walker’s colours. Then I’ll drive for you.’ Ferrari agreed and had the two cars built.”

Unfortunately, we never got to see this photo: a blue Ferrari painted by Rob Walker with a prominent white stripe on the nose. A terrible accident at Goodwood in 1962 ruined everything.

Moss was in a coma for three weeks, took a year to recover, but when he was tested in 1963, he saw – the natural reflexes were gone. He retired from racing.

Enzo Ferrari and Stirling Moss have been regretting never working together. Ferrari admitted that his racing team missed out on many race wins without Moss.

And Stirling said, unlike Ayrton Senna: “If I regret anything in my career, it’s the fact that I never became a Ferrari factory driver.”

Things are different for Lewis Hamilton: he will be a Ferrari driver from January 1, 2025.