Jochen Mass: Legendary Formula 1 driver died

The lake was actually the great love of Jochen Mass. “Ships give me a lot, they have soul,” said the former Formula 1 pilot once. Mass originally wanted to be a captain. “But I had an excessive idea of ​​the seafaring,” he admitted. Mass, whose grandfather was captain, still worked as a sailor at the merchant navy at a young age.

With a mechanic apprenticeship, however, his motorsport career took its course-and what kind of one. The man from Dorfen near Munich contested 105 Formula 1 race, eight podium places and even a victory he drove in. “It is as if you scored a goal in your international career,” said Mass, who was only the second German Grand Prix winner after Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips in 1975.

This Sunday, the former racing driver, who suffered a stroke in February, died in the circle of his family in Cannes. This was confirmed by the family of the German Press Agency. Mass leaves his wife Bettina, four children and five grandchildren.

Mass initially experienced a short debut in Formula 1 in 1973. In his Surtees racing car, he was already eliminating in the first round after a mass collision. His only win in the premier class was overshadowed by a serious accident. In April 1975, Rolf Stommelen came off the route at Montjuic’s city course in Barcelona in April 1975 and shot into the crowd. Several people died – it was a highly dangerous time in motorsport.

“Of course it sounds a bit stupid, but the danger was part of a racing driver. You did it because you wanted it,” said Mass, who also won the long-distance classic from Le Mans in 1989 in a clean mercedes together with Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens. “I would not describe the feeling of danger as purely negative.” By awareness of danger, certain tasks could only be implemented.

Gilles Villeneuve’s death hurt long. The Canadian died in a horror accident in Zolder in Belgium in May 1982. The March-Pilot Mass, who was traveling ahead, wanted to make room for Villeneuve, but chose the track where his rival wanted to pass by. Villeneuve rose, overturned with his Ferrari and was thrown out of his car.

“I knew I wasn’t really to blame because he took an exaggerated risk,” said Mass, who had had a similar accident in Le Castellet in southern France. Even many years later, the former McLaren pilot wondered: “Why did I survive all of this?” Such a “bad memory no longer passes,” said mass. The collision with Villeneuve was one of the reasons why he got out of Formula 1 shortly afterwards.

Mass had two sons from his first marriage to Esti and two daughters from his second marriage to Bettina, with whom he had been married since 1994. “What I have around me around me can be very, very lucky,” said Mass, looking at his loved ones. He drove classic and classic races to the end.

Formula 1 pursued the former TV expert with “critical interest”-and also as a guide. Mass even recommended Michael Schumacher to switch to Ferrari in 1996 and not to the then superior Williams team. “If you make Ferrari strong again, you will become the king of Italy,” remembered his words. At times in the Mercedes sports car, he had previously shared his knowledge with the young Schumacher.

Despite his high -speed life, Mass always appreciated the leisure. “I was always able to enjoy peace and quiet, that was an absolute must,” emphasized the man, who had his center of life in the French Grasse. “Only hectic hustle and bustle is not possible. We live in a world in which it is never very quiet.”