Sir Jackie Stewart: F1's unforgettable Sir Stirling Moss was one of a kind

Four years after Moss' death, close to 2,000 people - including Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and former Formula One world champions Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill - attended a service in his memory.

Three-time world champion Stewart, 84, who sat alongside the Duke of Kent, said at the memorial: "There will never be another Stirling Moss.

"He drove well, he presented himself well, he dressed well and he was just an amazing character. I don't think in the history of the sport there has been somebody so well loved and who is continued to be so well loved.

"It is wonderful for Great Britain to have a Briton that was as famous as this. He will never be forgotten."

Moss never won an F1 world championship, yet his remarkable talent at the wheel set him apart from his peers.

Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the Italian racing giants, described Moss as the greatest driver in the world. Five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio called Moss the best of his era.

Moss' career ended on Easter Monday 1962 when he was cut out of his car following a terrifying 100mph crash at Goodwood that almost killed him.

He tried to test himself behind the wheel again, but reluctantly called time on front-rank competition at the age of 32.

Despite his official retirement, Moss continued to race until he was 81. But in the post-war years - where he carried British sporting fame across the globe - Moss accumulated a record 212 wins from 529 races across 15 scintillating seasons.

He raced in every sort of car, and perhaps his most famous and greatest win of all was the 1955 Mille Miglia in which he covered 1,000 miles of open Italian roads at an average speed of 97.96mph in 10 hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds.

The Mercedes which carried him to victory in Italy was on display outside Westminster Abbey on Wednesday.

Current Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's father Anthony also attended the service, as did actor Rowan Atkinson and former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn.

Stewart, who won the F1 title in 1969, 1971, and 1973, continued: "I had just won the world championship and I was driving, late for something, and a policeman stopped me.

"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!

"He asked to see my driver's licence. I said I was Jackie Stewart and there was a smile on his face and he said, pardon my French, 'Oh s***'.

"But I don't ever think we will see this again, one man, who has been respected in such a fashion. I am tremendously proud I could call Stirling a friend."