Roberto Mieres

Argentinian Grand Prix driver Roberto Mieres, who has died aged 87, was a keen sportsman who represented his country at sailing in the 1960 Olympics.

But his passion was motor racing, and after competing in his own MG and Bugatti, he was one of three drivers funded by his national motor club to travel to Europe in 1950. The others were the daunting pairing of Froilan pairing of Froilan Gonzales and Juan Manuel Fangio, but his fourth place in the Geneva GP showed promise.

His Grand Prix debut came in 1953 after being invited back by Amedee Gordini to race the French cars. He then bought a Maserati and after some decent results he was invited to join the Maserati works team for that year alongside Stirling Moss and Luigi Musso.

A pair of fourth places kept him in the team for 1955, with Musso and Jean Behra, when his best results were in non championship races, peaking with a second at Turin. Thereafter he raced intermittently in sports cars while developing his business career and farming in Uruguay.