Stirling Moss is recovering in hospital after falling down a lift shaft at home and breaking both his ankles, a friend of the British motor racing star said today.
Moss, who turned 80 last September, opened the lift door on the third floor of his house in central London and stepped forwards, not realising that the lift had stopped on the floor above due to a malfunction.
The friend said he spent the weekend in intensive care but, despite suffering damage to some vertebrae, had no internal injuries.
The driver's wife Susie was quoted as saying Moss was in good spirits and already complaining about the size and quality of the hospital breakfast.
Moss is widely regarded as the greatest driver never to have won the Formula One championship, racing at the same time as possibly the greatest of all time in Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.
The Briton lost the title by a single point to compatriot Mike Hawthorn in 1958, despite winning four races to his rival's sole victory.
Winner of 16 grands prix, he finished overall runner-up on three more occasions and retired after a career-ending 1962 crash at Goodwood.
PA