Les Leston

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Les Leston
Formula One World Championship career
Born	(1920-12-16)16 December 1920 Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, England
Died	13 May 2012(2012-05-13) (aged 91) Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England
Nationality	British
Active years	1956 – 1957
Teams	Connaught, Cooper, BRM
Races	3 (2 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1956 Italian Grand Prix
Last race	1957 British Grand Prix

Alfred Lazarus Fingleston (16 December 1920 – 13 May 2012), better known as Les Leston, was a British racing driver, born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire.^[1]

He started racing in a Jaguar SS100 before acquiring a Cooper and his own Leston Special. He become a Cooper works driver in 1954 and took the British Formula Three championship in the same year. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 September 1956. He scored no championship points. Leston won the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1952.

Following retirement from racing, Leston manufacturered and sold aftermarket parts for cars, such as steering wheels and gear shifters. Later he expanded into clothing, and was instrumental in pioneering the development of safety equipment such as flameproof overalls and properly constructed crash helmets.^[1] In the 1960s Leston became a Formula One pit reporter for the BBC, until he was replaced by Barrie Gill.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	WDC
1956	Connaught Engineering	Connaught Type B	Alta Straight-4	ARG	MON	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA Ret	NC
1957	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T43	Climax Straight-4	ARG	MON DNQ	500	FRA					NC
1957	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P25	BRM Straight-4					GBR Ret	GER	PES	ITA	NC

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 "Obituaries: Les Leston". The Daily Telegraph. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.

Les Leston profile at The 500 Owners Association

v t e British Formula Three & Formula Junior champions

Three-time	Don Parker Jim Russell Dave Walker Roger Williamson

Two-time	Tony Brise Jim Clark Brian Henton Harry Stiller Trevor Taylor

One-time	Alguersuari Arundell Asmer Banting Barrichello Brabham Brandon Burt Byrne Conway Daly Dean Dumfries Fenning de Ferran Firman Fittipaldi Gavin Giacomelli Gugelmin Haberfeld Häkkinen Harvey Hynes Johansson Kane Keegan Kerr King Ledbrook Lehto Leston Magnussen van der Merwe Moss Nasr Nilsson von Opel Pace Palmer Parente Piquet Piquet, Jr. Pitcher Pizzonia Ricciardo Sato Schenken Senna Serra South Stewart I. Taylor Trimmer Vergne Wallace Warwick

Persondata
Name	Leston, Les
Alternative names
Short description	British racing driver
Date of birth	16 December 1920
Place of birth	Bulwell, Nottinghamshire
Date of death	13 May 2012
Place of death	Eastbourne, East Sussex, England

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