Sir Stirling Moss is considered to be one of the greatest drivers, if not the greatest driver, not to have won the Formula One World Championship along with being considered as one of the best drivers as a whole. His record of 16 championship wins and 18 non-championship wins (34 in total) is very impressive for the time as seasons only contained on average 8 races but what can be seen as more impressive is his record in all competitions from all the races he took part in. Over his career, Moss entered 529 races and won 212 of them. That’s an incredible win record of 40.1%. There are many reasons why Moss didn’t win the championship and this piece aims at giving a brief overview on his seasons where he could’ve won the title but in which he ultimately fell short.
Note: The team-mates noted are from the team Moss did the most races for that year
1955– Finished 2nd to Fangio- 40 points to 23
Moss’ Season- 6 races competed
- 1 win
- 2 podiums (excl. wins)
- 1 pole position
- 2 fastest laps
- 112 laps led
Team- Mercedes/ Team-mate- Juan Manuel Fangio
1955 was the first year Moss had a truly competitive car and this paired with his team-mate being the 2x champion Fangio, who would go on to win his 3rd title that year, its clear to say that Moss played ‘second fiddle’. He was by no means completely beaten but it was just that Fangio had more experience and had been with Mercedes the year prior. It was the young pretender entering the home of the master, it was only ever going to go one way. Moss’ first win at Aintree however was a sign of his talent as he led all but 10 laps and had a 12 second lead over the newly crowned 3x champion.
1956– Finished 2nd to Fangio- 30 points to 27
Moss’ Season- 7 races competed
- 2 wins
- 2 podiums (excl. wins)
- 1 pole position
- 3 fastest laps
- 224 laps led *most of any driver that year*
Team- Maserati/ Team-mate- Jean Behra
With Fangio and Moss going their different ways after Mercedes left the sport (Fangio to Lancia-Ferrari, Moss to Maserati) and with Peter Collins in the mix the 1956 title went down to the wire. For Moss it must have felt like something didn’t want him to win the title that year as twice he retired from the lead of the race, the first being the opening round in Buenos Aires and at round 6 at Silverstone. Crucially, both of these races saw Fangio the fortuitous victor. In the finale Collins showed great sportsmanship to hand over his car and thus his title to Fangio as Moss did all he could by winning said finale in Monza. The second race in Monaco saw another great drive from Moss. He started second but led into the first corner and was in complete control throughout the 100 laps, leading Fangio by 47 seconds at one point.
1957– Finished 2nd to Fangio- 40 points to 25
Moss’ Season- 6 races competed
- 3 wins
- 0 podiums (excl. wins)
- 2 pole positions
- 3 fastest laps *most of any driver that year*
- 136 laps led
Team- Maserati (1), Vanwall (5)/ Team-mate- Tony Brooks
Like most of his years Moss was beset by reliability issues that made a title challenge hard to form. For example at the season opener at Buenos Aires, Moss had achieved pole by 1.1 seconds but in the race he lost 9 laps due to a deranged throttle linkage. Maserati finished 1-2-3 so the speed and the car was there for the win but it just had to be Moss to pick up the issues. On top of these reliability issues he was ill and missed the French Grand Prix. After the season opener with Maserati he joined Brooks at Vanwall and won the final two grand prix, the penultimate round in Pescara was won by over 3 minutes. His and Brook’s win at Aintree (they shared Moss’ car) was the first British Grand Prix win for a British team and Moss’ win there back in 1955 was the first British Grand Prix win for a British driver and so Moss had a trend at Aintree.
1958– Finished 2nd to Hawthorn- 42 points to 41
Moss’ Season- 10 races competed
- 4 wins *most of any driver that year*
- 1 podium (excl. wins)
- 3 pole positions
- 3 fastest laps
- 234 laps led *most of any driver that year*
Team- Cooper-Climax (1), Vanwall (9)/ Team-mate- Tony Brooks
Moss, at the first round, became the first driver to win a grand prix with a rear-engined car with Rob Walker’s privately entered Cooper-Climax. For the rest of the season he joined Brooks back at Vanwall and with 6 wins between them they helped Vanwall clinch the first ever Constructors’ Championship. Moss would’ve done the double had it not been for his display of extreme sportsmanship. At the Portuguese Grand Prix Hawthorn, Moss’ title rival, spun and rejoined the track in the wrong direction and was later disqualified due to this. Moss obviously thought this was unjust and fought on Hawthorns side to have the penalty overturned. It was and Hawthorn was reinstated his 2nd place and 6 points. Without this selfless act Moss would’ve won the title by 5 points.
1959– Finished 3rd to Brabham and Brooks- 31 points to 27 to 25.5
Moss’ Season- 8 races competed
- 2 wins *tied for most of any driver that year*
- 1 podiums (excl. wins)
- 4 pole positions *most of nay driver that year*
- 4 fastest laps *most of any driver that year*
- 173 laps led *most of any driver that year*
Team- Cooper-Climax (6), BRM (2)/ Team-mate- Jack Brabham
1959 for Moss is characterised by gearbox failures at the worst possible times. Victory at round 1 at Monaco was robbed from Moss by a gearbox failure as he was leading on lap 81 out of 100 by a whole minute. Round 3 at Zandvoort, Moss had fought back through the field to take the lead on lap 60 out of 75 but three laps later the gearbox gave out. It was another certain victory taken away from Moss which resulted in Brabham having 15 points after 3 rounds compared to the 0 of Moss which should have been 17. A win at Portugal, in which Moss lapped the whole field, and a win at Monza had brought Moss back into the title fight going into the finale at Sebring in the USA. Brabham, Moss and Brooks all needed victory to be certain of the title. Moss got a great start, was in the lead, and on course for the title when on lap 5, yep you guessed it, he had another gearbox failure. Moss couldn’t have done anything more.
Additional Years:
The years 1960 and 1961 can’t really be classified as title challenging seasons from Moss. Whilst he finished 3rd in both years they weren’t as competitive as the years that had come before and were hindered more often by factors largely out of Moss’ control. At the opening round of the 1960 season Moss was fighting for the win with Tritignant but had to retire due to suspension failure. At the next race everything held and he won at Monaco by 52 seconds and gave Lotus their first ever win. Round three was a great drive of which the result doesn’t show. Moss was dueling with Brabham for the lead but a puncture forced Moss to pit on lap 17 out of 75. What followed was a great recovery drive back up to forth place and it put Moss right in the championship hunt. However, his title challenge all but ended at the next race in Belgium as he was heavily injured in a crash during practice. It would force Moss to miss that race and the two following rounds. At the time of his return for the Portuguese Grand Prix Brabham had won three races on the bounce, the race of Moss’ return being Brabham’s forth. Moss didn’t even get to competed at the next round in Monza as the British teams boycotted the event due to the usage of the Monza banking which was becoming more unfavorable to modern F1 cars. The final race in the USA went the way of Moss as he won by 38 seconds to at least end the season on a positive. He would end the season third on 19 points, behind Brabham (43 points) and McLaren (34 points).
1961 was somewhat of a lost season. Moss had the experience and the speed to compete for the world title and was arguably at the peak of his abilities but Lotus, along with other British teams, were caught out by the new engine regulations which reduced the engine capacity from 2.5 litre to 1.3 (max 1.5). Whilst the British teams struggled the prancing horse of Ferrari was the best prepared for the rules and 1961 subsequently became their year, winning both titles. Moss did taste success however as he won the opening round in Monaco, his third win at the principality, in a great ‘against all odds’ scenario as he was 30bhp down on the Ferraris. His skill through the traffic however sealed the day. A changeable weather race at the Nurburgring was his second win of the season. He made an inspired decision to stay out on wets whilst the rest of the grid were juggling between said wets and drys. He won the race by 21.4 seconds. Moss would end the season third behind both Ferraris on 21 points. (P.Hill had 34 points, von Trips had 33).
Moss’ win at the Nurburgring was to be his last however as he suffered a severe head injury in a pre-season crash at the Easter Goodwood F1 meeting. He recovered, but retired from racing before the 1962 season began as he mentioned he no longer had that ‘final bit’ needed for the high competition of grand prix racing. Had Moss been given a clean run in any other his seasons he would’ve surely been champion. Despite not becoming champion though he is still held in such high regard by fellow f1 drivers, by the paddock and by fans including myself. I see him as the best driver not to win a championship and he is in my top 10 drivers throughout F1 history.
There are certain enigmas in F1 and Moss not being a champion is one of the largest there is.