Roberto Mieres dies aged 87
Former Maserati grand prix driver Roberto Mieres has died at the age of 87.
Mieres, who started 17 world championship grands prix during the early 1950s, passed away in Uruguay, where he had lived for a number of years.
Born in Argentina in 1924, Mieres was 23 when he took up racing in 1947. He won first time out in an MG at a makeshift event organised by his friends at a local speedway.
With numerous wins in his homeland under his belt, an appearance in a pre-war Alfa Romeo grand prix car at Rosario in 1950 was spotted by Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari - the pair advising him to further his racing in Europe.
Through his friend Harry Schell he became reserve driver for the Gordini grand prix team in 1953 and made his world championship debut at that year's Dutch Grand Prix.
He scored points in seven of the eight grands prix he finished for Gordini, Maserati and his own machinery, and finished a career-best fourth on three separate occasions.
The 1954 campaign was his best, fourth places in Switzerland and Spain helping him to sixth place in the standings. He returned to South America at the end of the '55 season (during which he also featured in Maserati's Le Mans line-up) and raced mostly in sportscars for the rest of his career.
Fascinated by many sports, after winding down his driving activities Mieres turned his attention to sailing and represented Argentina at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
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RIP Roberto Mieres
RIP François Migault also, who died yesterday at 67.
MAY GOD REST HIS SOUL :(
Hey Eurosport, this is a good example of why you shouldn't just lift articles from Autosport without fact-checking them yourselves.
Mieres only scored points at 5 races, not 7. His best world championship finish was 8th in 1955, in 1954 he was only 11th.
I suspect that the office junior who was commissioned to write the article is unaware that only the top 5 drivers scored points in GPs at the time, not the top 10 as is the case today. He probably included races at Monza and Silverstone in his calculations, a 1953 6th place, a 1954 6th place.
#3 I think the "Masterbater" was being sarcastic regarding all the returning EX F1 drivers from reading his comment. 87 is a fantastic age considering the great one died at 34
Another link with grand prix racing of the 1950s lost. God bless you Roberto.
masterbater what do you mean by that comment?
shame he was proberly going to be asked to drive for a team next year ??
rip
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