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Triple Formula One world champion Jackie
Stewart led the tributes for a driver, widely regarded as the
greatest never to win the title, who died aged 90 in April 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic made such a public gathering, with some
2,000 guests in attendance on Wednesday, impossible at the time.
"There will never be another Stirling Moss. He drove well, he
presented himself well, he dressed well and he was just an
amazing character," said Stewart, 84.
"I don’t think in the history of the sport there has been
somebody so well loved and who has continued to be so well
loved."
The son of Argentina's late five times world champion Juan
Manuel Fangio, Moss's friend, rival and team mate, attended the
service along with champions Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.
Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton was represented by his
father Anthony while title-winning team boss Ross Brawn and Red
Bull's Christian Horner also attended.
The Mercedes car with which Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia was
on display outside the abbey.
Stewart showed off the autograph he secured from Moss as a boy
in the Scottish borders and recalled how in later life he was
pulled over for speeding by a London police officer.
"I stopped, wound down the window, and he said 'who do you think
you are, Stirling Moss?' And I had just won the world
championship," said Stewart.
Moss's son Elliot read a letter from his father, whose
professional racing career ended in 1962 after a near-fatal
accident at Goodwood left him unconscious for a month and
paralysed for six months.
"Be reminded that everything worth achieving comes at a cost,"
he said.
"If you are lucky, you might never get the bill. But don’t bank
on it. Before you start, be sure you are willing to pay the
price. I was, and I did, and I have no regrets."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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