We started the race and did 14km, I put my foot on the brake and the pedal broke in half

When Trackside’s Keith Collantine asked him how modern F1 compares to the sport of fifty years ago Sir Stirling fired back a straight answer: “Modern Formula 1 is not a sport.”

Find out why he thinks so below.

Sir Stirling Moss is widely regarded as one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers of all time – and he’s full of praise for Britain’s latest F1 hope, Lewis Hamilton.

He said: “Lewis Hamilton is the best thing to happen to racing for years. He’s a wonderful role model and I think he’s got a tremendous talent.

“He can certainly win a world title – whether it will be this year or another year I don’t know.”

Classic cars

I met Sir Stirling as he was re-united with one of the classic cars of his past – the glorious Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing.

In 1955 Moss drove a Mercedes 300SLR to one of his most celebrated triumphs – winning Italy’s 1,000 mile Mille Miglia road race at a new record average speed of almost 100mph.

He told me about his favourite cars from his career: “The Gullwing was a very beautiful car with terrific lines, but it was quite difficult to drive particularly in the wet.

“It was a real classic. When you see it it makes a statement, I think it’s one of the nicest road cars. I used to have a lightweight version which today would be worth a fortune.”

”The best sports car I ever raced in my life was the Mercedes 300 SLR which was terrific. So was the 300S Maserati, the Birdcage, and the DBR1 and DBR2 Aston Martins – those were all classic cars and really very good.”

Dicing with death

But his return to the Mille Miglia in 1956 almost ended in tragedy. Moss explains: “I had a Maserati, an incredible 4.7 litre car with a five-speed gearbox, really very, very powerful. We started the race and did 14km, I put my foot on the brake and the pedal broke in half.

“Thank God I was able to pull up without having an accident Luckily I came into the corner and I had sufficient safety margin so I was able to put my foot on the brake and then it snapped around. We were alright but that finished the race.”

“Crumpet and cars”

Moss famously never won the Formula 1 world championship and many consider him the best driver never to have claimed the title.

A recent book by a respected Formula 1 author hailed Moss as the best driver of all time, but he feels that accolade belongs to his friend, team mate and mentor Juan Manuel Fangio.

Moss said: “Fangio was revered because he was probably the best Formula 1 driver ever, in my opinion. He was a gentleman.

“I was team mate to him and unfortunately I had to speak to him in Italian because I can’t speak Spanish and my Italian isn’t very good either, but talking about crumpet and cars we were able to get away with it!”

F1 today

Moss’s best chance to win the title was 50 years ago, when Mike Hawthorn won the championship despite only having won one race to Moss’s four.

And he wouldn’t have won at all had Moss not given evidence to stop the organisers of one race from disqualifying Hawthorn.I suggested to Sir Stirling that modern Formula 1 drivers would probably not stick up for each other in the same way.

He replied: “No but there isn’t the spirit you see. Modern Formula 1 is not a sport. It was a sport, but modern Formula 1 is a business. A very good business, well run and incredibly safe now.

“But it’s not a sport, whereas racing once was.”

Do you agree with Sir Stirling? Have your say on the Auto Trader blog.