Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The list does not include those who only contested the Indianapolis 500.
- Pink background denotes F2 entrants to the German Grand Prix
The 1957 Formula One season was the 11th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1957 World Championship of Drivers, [1] which commenced on 13 January 1957 and ended on 8 September after eight races. Juan Manuel Fangio won his fourth consecutive title, his fifth in total, in his final championship. A feat that would not be beaten until Michael Schumacher in 2003. The season also included numerous non-championship races for Formula One cars.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The list does not include those who only contested the Indianapolis 500.
| Round | Grand Prix | Circuit | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Argentine Grand Prix | Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires | 13 January |
| 2 |  Monaco Grand Prix | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo | 22 May |
| 3 |  Indianapolis 500 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway | 30 May [lower-alpha 1] |
| 4 |  French Grand Prix | Rouen-Les-Essarts, Orival | 7 July |
| 5 |  British Grand Prix | Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Merseyside | 20 July |
| 6 |  German Grand Prix | Nürburgring, Nürburg | 4 August |
| 7 |  Pescara Grand Prix | Pescara Circuit, Pescara | 18 August |
| 8 | Italian Grand Prix | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza | 8 September |
The French Grand Prix was moved from Reims-Gueux to Rouen-Les-Essarts for a year.
The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone Circuit to Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.
The Belgian Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on June 2nd but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
The Dutch Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on June 16th but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
The Spanish Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on October 20th but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis. [2]
The Pescara Grand Prix was added as a replacement race as the Belgian Grand Prix, Dutch Grand Prix and Spanish Grand Prix were cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
Fangio chose to switch teams again, joining Maserati before the start of the season. The decision to switch proved to be a masterstroke, with Ferrari's line-up of Peter Collins, Eugenio Castellotti and the returning Mike Hawthorn failing to win a race. Castellotti and Alfonso de Portago were killed during the season (neither in Formula One crashes), making this a truly disastrous year for Ferrari.
The man Fangio replaced at Maserati, Stirling Moss, moved to Vanwall, a team beginning to fulfill their promise. Between them, Fangio and Moss won every championship race of the season except the Indianapolis 500, with Fangio taking four victories to Moss' three. Fangio's drive at the Nürburgring, where he overtook Collins and Hawthorn on the penultimate lap after a pit stop had put him nearly a minute behind, is regarded as a particularly notable one.[ citation needed ]
At the end of the year, it was announced Fangio would not return for another season. Maserati also pulled out, citing financial reasons. This was also the final year in which points were awarded for shared drives.
The first race of the season was in January at the Buenos Aires Autodrome in Argentina's capital city. Briton Moss took pole ahead of Fangio, Behra, and Ferrari drivers Castellotti, Collins, Musso, and Hawthorn. At the start of the race, Behra took the lead from Fangio and Castellotti. Moss was taken by surprise, and a juddering start damaged the throttle mechanism, and he pitted at the end of the first lap. While Moss sat in the pits, Castellotti led but was then overtaken by Behra. Soon afterwards, Collins worked his way to the front, but within a few laps, he was in trouble with his clutch and had to pit. This left Behra in the lead again, but Fangio soon passed him. Castelotti had lost his third position after a spin, so now Hawthorn was leading the charge, although both he and Musso would retire after a while with clutch problems. Castellotti remained the only challenge to the Maseratis at the front, but his race ended when a wheel fell off with 24 laps to go. Menditeguy and Schell were promoted to third and fourth when Castellotti went out, so Maserati started the season by romping home with a 1-2-3-4 result, with Fangio winning his 4th Argentine Grand Prix in a row ahead of Behra.
Argentina '57 would be Castellotti's last Grand Prix. He was killed testing a Ferrari at the Modena Aerodrome in March. A non-championship race was held in Syracuse on the southern Italian island of Sicily; Peter Collins won this race for Ferrari. The Pau Grand Prix, held on the city streets of the southwestern French town of Pau, was won by home favourite Behra in a Maserati, while on the same day, the Glover Trophy at the Goodwood circuit in southern England was won by Briton Stuart Lewis-Evans in a Connaught-Alta. Six days after these two events, Collins won the Naples Grand Prix. Another works Ferrari driver, Spaniard Alfonso de Portago, was killed in May while contesting the Mille Miglia sportscar race in Italy for Ferrari.
Four months after the Argentine round and several non-championship races, the teams assembled in Monaco for the second championship round of the season. Moss had joined Vanwall from Maserati, driving a car designed by Colin Chapman and financed by Tony Vandervell, a wealthy British industrialist, leaving Fangio as the undisputed team leader at Maserati. Fangio took pole position. However, Moss took the lead at the first corner with Fangio behind him, but on the second lap, Collins got ahead of the Argentine driver. Moss went off and crashed at the chicane on lap 4, and Collins swerved to avoid the crash and ended up hitting a stone wall. Fangio managed to get through without a problem, and Brooks braked hard only to be rammed from behind by Hawthorn. Only Brooks could keep going, but he was five seconds behind Fangio by the time he was up to speed again. Von Trips was third, with Menditeguy fourth and Schell fifth. Menditeguy would have to stop early for new tyres after hitting a curb, so Schell moved to fourth until his suspension broke. Brabham was next in the little Cooper with Trintignant chasing him, but the Frenchman soon dropped away with a stop to cure a misfire. After several retirements, Australian Jack Brabham was up to third, but a fuel pump failure left him to push the car to the line. He was classified sixth, and Fangio won again ahead of Brooks, Masten Gregory in a Maserati, Lewis-Evans, and Trintignant.
The Indianapolis 500 was the 3rd round of the championship, but since that race was not run to Formula One rules, no competitors who raced in Formula One raced at the Indy 500, and vice versa. The Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix, scheduled for 2 and 16 June, were both cancelled because of disputes over money affected by the Suez crisis in Egypt. This resulted in a six-week break between Monaco and the French GP, which was to be held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts public road circuit in northern France, extended from its previous layout used in 1952.
In practice, Fangio was fastest, with Behra and Musso alongside on the front row. Behind them were Schell and Collins, with the third row consisting of Salvadori, Hawthorn, and Trintignant. Behra went into the lead at the start, but Musso soon got ahead. Fangio followed in third, with Collins and Schell giving chase. Then came a fast-starting McKay-Fraser. Fangio worked his way past Behra on the second lap and took Musso for the lead on lap four. BRM suffered a setback when Flockhart seriously damaged his car in a high-speed accident, although he himself was not hurt. Collins worked his way past Behra, and the order remained unchanged at the front all the way to the flag, with Fangio winning from Musso and Collins. Behra slipped behind Hawthorn, allowing the Englishman to give the Lancia-Ferraris a 2-3-4 finish behind Fangio. McKay-Fraser's promising run ended with a transmission failure at one-third distance, but the American would not be seen again in Formula 1. He was to die a few days later in the annual Formula 2 race at the Reims public road circuit before the Reims Grand Prix, which Musso won in a Lancia-Ferrari.
The British Grand Prix was held at the Aintree circuit in Liverpool instead of at the Silverstone circuit between London and Birmingham the previous year. The Aintree circuit was located in the middle of the horse-racing course where the famous Grand National was held. Both Vanwall drivers missed the French Grand Prix and were back in action for their home race. This was to be a landmark race for British motorsports. At the start of the race, Behra took off into the lead with Moss in hot pursuit, and the Englishman emerged ahead at the end of the lap, to the delight of the partisan crowd. Brooks was third, with Hawthorn fourth and Collins fifth. There were four British drivers in the top five positions. Then came Schell, Musso, and Fangio. Moss was able to build up his lead, but the car began to sound rough, and he pitted. Behra took the lead with Brooks behind him, but the second Vanwall driver was soon called into the pits to give his car to Moss, who re-joined in ninth position. He began to work his way through the field. Behra remained ahead, with Hawthorn unable to challenge him. Then came Lewis-Evans and Collins. Moss was quickly back up to fifth. The field was thinned out by a series of mechanical failures, including Fangio and Collins. Moss caught Lewis-Evans, but on lap 69, the whole race changed when Behra's clutch exploded. Hawthorn ran over some of the wreckage and suffered a puncture. Lewis-Evans took the lead but was passed almost immediately by Moss. The dream of a Vanwall 1–2 was punctured when Lewis-Evans suffered a broken throttle linkage which dropped him to seventh place. Moss duly won the race, claiming the first World Championship victory for a British car. Musso was second, with Hawthorn third.
The Caen Grand Prix, another important non-championship Formula One race held in the town of Caen in northern France (further west of Rouen), held between the British and German Grands Prix, was won by Behra in a BRM.
At the Nürburgring in Germany, the field was as expected, with Lancia-Ferrari fielding Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, and Luigi Musso and Maserati running Juan Manuel Fangio, Jean Behra, and Harry Schell in their leading cars. The field was bolstered for the first time by Formula 2 machinery, which included a trio of Porsches and various Cooper-Climaxes; the length of the circuit allowed for these cars to run alongside each other.
Pole position went to Fangio, with Hawthorn, Behra, and Collins completing the front row. Then came Brooks, Schell, and Moss. At the start, Hawthorn and Collins went into a battle for the lead, with Fangio and Behra giving chase. On the third lap, Fangio passed Collins and soon took the lead. Collins then passed Hawthorn and chased after Fangio, but the Argentine driver was edging gradually away. A slow mid-race pit stop lasting 1 minute and 18 seconds (originally supposed to be 30 seconds) dropped Fangio one minute behind the two Lancia-Ferraris, but he chased back hard, broke the lap record ten times, and passed first Collins and then Hawthorn on the penultimate lap. Fangio thus won the race and his fifth World title.
The cancellation of the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix earlier in the season enabled the FIA to include the Coppa Acerbo Pescara Grand Prix in the World Championship for the first time, although it had been contested since 1924. It was held during the 1930s Grand Prix days of Mercedes, Auto Union, and Alfa Romeo and continued as a non-championship race throughout the 1950s. The 25.6 kilometres (15.9 mi) public road circuit, the longest ever used for a Formula One race (even longer than the Nürburgring), was very dangerous. Practice was limited, and Enzo Ferrari did not bother to send cars for Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, partly because the World Championship had already been won by Juan Manuel Fangio and partly in protest against the Italian government's moves to ban road racing following Alfonso de Portago's accident earlier in the year in the Mille Miglia. Luigi Musso managed to convince Ferrari to lend him a car and entered the race as a privateer.
Maserati's Fangio set the fastest time in qualifying, with Stirling Moss second in his Vanwall. Musso was third. The second row of the 3-2-3 grid featured the Maseratis of Jean Behra and Harry Schell, while row three had Vanwall's Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans split by the Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati of Masten Gregory.
The weather was hot, at the start, Musso took the lead. Maserati privateer Horace Gould hit a mechanic who was slow to get off the grid. Vanwall's challenge was blunted when Brooks retired with mechanical troubles on the first lap. Moss took the lead from Musso on lap two, but the two cars remained together. Fangio ran third, but the field thinned out quickly as the hot temperatures took their toll, with Lewis-Evans losing nearly a lap because of two tyre failures and Behra suffering an engine failure. On lap 10, Musso disappeared when his engine blew, the oil causing Fangio to have a spin which damaged one of his wheels. By the time Fangio re-joined, Moss was un-catchable. Moss's lead was even able to stop for a drink and to have his oil topped up, and he won the race ahead of Fangio. Schell finished third, with Gregory fourth and Lewis-Evans grabbing fifth at the end of the race from the fourth Maserati factory driver Giorgio Scarlatti. The Coppa Acerbo was never again used for a Formula One championship race; the race was last held in 1961 as a sportscar race.
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza was held only on the road circuit without the poorly constructed concrete banking this year, as it had caused problems for the Italian constructors the year before. The track was very like the Monza of today, although without the chicanes. Ferrari was back in action for this most important of Italian races after boycotting Pescara. So it was a three-way fight between the Lancia-Ferraris, the Maseratis, and the Vanwalls. The British cars were strong, with pole position going to Stuart Lewis-Evans with Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks alongside him. Juan Manuel Fangio put his Maserati on the outside of the 4-3-4 grid while his teammates Jean Behra and Harry Schell shared row two with Peter Collins's Lancia-Ferrari. There were three more cars on row three with Wolfgang von Trips, Luigi Musso, and Mike Hawthorn alongside the Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati of Masten Gregory.
Although the Vanwalls went away from the grid at the front, Behra moved up to second on the first lap. Fangio attached himself to the train of cars ahead of him, and the five began to pull away from the rest of the field while indulging in a traditional Monza slipstreaming battle which saw the lead constantly changing between Moss and Behra. On lap seven, Fangio took the lead, but he was soon toppled in favour of Moss, Brooks, and then Lewis-Evans. On lap 20, Brooks dropped out of the fight with a sticking throttle. Then Lewis-Evans ran into trouble and pitted. This left Moss in the lead with Fangio and Behra behind him, although Behra would pit soon afterwards for new tyres. This moved Schell into third place, but he disappeared with an oil leak which meant that third was passed on to Collins. At two-thirds distance, Collins ran into engine trouble and pitted. This promoted Hawthorn to third, but a split fuel pipe dropped him to sixth in the closing laps, leaving third place to Von Trips.
Three more non-championship races were held, all of which were won by Jean Behra. The BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in England, Jean Behra won driving a BRM; the Modena Grand Prix at the Modena Aerodrome (where Eugenio Castellotti had been killed previously) and the Moroccan Grand Prix at the Ain-Diab public road circuit in Casablanca, both won in a Maserati.
All seven FIA-mandated championship races had been won by two drivers in 1957: Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and Briton Stirling Moss. Although Moss took over an ill Tony Brooks's car during the British Grand Prix, he won with it on the road at that event.
All Grand Prix races were run for Formula One cars, while the Indianapolis 500 was run for USAC National Championship cars and also counted towards the 1957 USAC Championship. The ongoing Suez crisis, which affected oil tankers delivering oil to their respective countries, affected several countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. These countries were to each have Grands Prix, but they were all cancelled because of the very high oil prices in those countries. [3]
Championship points were awarded on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis for the first five placings in each race. An additional point was awarded for the fastest race lap.
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The following Formula One races, also held in 1957, did not count towards the World Championship of Drivers.
| Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VII Gran Premio di Siracusa | Syracuse | 7 April | Peter Collins | Lancia-Ferrari | Report |
| XVII Pau Grand Prix | Pau | 22 April | Jean Behra | Maserati | Report |
| V Glover Trophy | Goodwood | 22 April | Stuart Lewis-Evans | Connaught-Alta | Report |
| X Gran Premio di Napoli | Posillipo | 28 April | Peter Collins | Lancia-Ferrari | Report |
| II Grand Prix de Reims | Reims | 14 July | Luigi Musso | Lancia-Ferrari | Report |
| V Grand Prix de Caen | Caen | 28 July | Jean Behra | BRM | Report |
| IX BRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 14 September | Jean Behra | BRM | Report |
| V Gran Premio di Modena | Modena | 22 September | Jean Behra | Maserati | Report |
 VI Grand Prix de Maroc | Ain-Diab | 27 October | Jean Behra | Maserati | Report |
The 1955 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Buenos Aires on 16 January 1955. It was race 1 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers.
The 1955 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on June 5, 1955. It was race 4 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers. The 36-lap race was won by Mercedes driver Juan Manuel Fangio after he started from second position. His teammate Stirling Moss finished second and Ferrari driver Nino Farina came in third.
The 1956 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 January 1956 at Buenos Aires. It was race 1 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers.
The 1956 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 September 1956 at Monza. It was the eighth and final race of the 1956 World Championship of Drivers.
The 1957 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 January 1957 at the Buenos Aires circuit. It was race 1 of 8 in the 1957 World Championship of Drivers.
The 1957 Pescara Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 18 August 1957, at the Pescara Circuit near Pescara in Italy. The race was the 7th round of the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The 25.579 km (15.894 mi) circuit is the longest to ever hold a world championship race in Formula One. The race was the first and only Formula One World Championship race to take place at the track. It was also the first of two consecutive Italian races, which meant that it was the first time that the same country had held two Formula One World Championship races in the same season.
The 1958 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 19 January 1958 at Autodromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires Circuit. It was race 1 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers and race 1 of 10 in the 1958 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the sixth Argentine Grand Prix. It was held on the #2 variation of the circuit. The race was held over 80 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 313 kilometres.
The 1958 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 6 July 1958. It was race 6 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers and race 5 of 10 in the 1958 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The 1958 Formula One season was the 12th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1958 World Championship of Drivers, which commenced on 19 January 1958 and ended on 19 October after eleven races. This was the first Formula One season in which a manufacturers title was awarded, the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers being contested concurrently with the World Championship of Drivers except the Indianapolis 500 which did not count towards the Cup. Englishman Mike Hawthorn won the Drivers' title after a close battle with compatriot Stirling Moss and Vanwall won the inaugural Manufacturers award from Ferrari. Hawthorn retired from racing at the end of the season, only to die three months later after a road car accident. It was the first of only two occasions in Formula One history where a driver won the championship, having won only one race in the season, the other being Keke Rosberg in 1982.
The 1956 Formula One season was the tenth season of FIA's Formula One motor racing. It featured the seventh World Championship of Drivers, and numerous non-championship races. The championship series commenced on 22 January 1956 and ended on 2 September after eight races. Juan Manuel Fangio won his third consecutive title, the fourth of his career. Until the 2006 season, this was the last season during which no British constructor won any championship race.
The Swedish Grand Prix was a round of the Formula One World Championship from 1973 to 1978. It took place at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) from Jönköping, in Småland, Sweden. The first race to hold the title of Grand Prix in Sweden was the Swedish Winter Grand Prix, an ice race similar to races held in Estonia, Finland and Norway. The first Swedish Summer Grand Prix was held in 1933, but was not repeated until 1949.
Luigi Musso was an Italian racing driver. In 1955 he joined the Ferrari team, entering into a fierce rivalry with Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, which boosted the performance of the team, but also encouraged greater risk-taking. According to Musso's fiancée, he was deep in debt by the time of the lucrative 1958 French Grand Prix, where he was fatally injured, somersaulting into a ditch while chasing Hawthorn.
The 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix, formally the VII Grand Prix International Automobile du Maroc, was a Formula One motor race held at Ain-Diab Circuit, Casablanca on 19 October 1958, after a six-week break following the Italian Grand Prix. It was race 11 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers and race 10 of 10 in the 1958 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It is the only time Morocco has hosted a World Championship Grand Prix.
The 1956 Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance powered by Amoco took place on 24 March, on the Sebring International Raceway,. It was the second round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For the sixth running of the event, was a sign to many in the automotive community that this race had become North America's premier sports car race, and from an international standpoint second only to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 1956 Sveriges Grand Prix took place on 12 August, at the Råbelövsbanan, Kristianstad. Although this was the second running of the race, it was the first time as a round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. The previous year's race, won by Juan Manuel Fangio was the first big race held in Sweden, and the organiser, Kungl Automobil Klubben dealt with it so well, the F.I.A. promoted the race. For this year's event, the circuit was widened and resurfaced.
The 2. Internationales ADAC 1000 Kilometer Rennen auf dem Nürburgring took place on 27 May, on the Nürburgring Nordschleife,. It was also the fourth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. This was the first time the event had taken place, since it was dropped from the championship following its inaugural event in 1953. It was also round two of the German Sportscar Championship.
The 1957 12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance for The Amoco Trophy took place on 23 March, on the Sebring International Raceway,. It was the second round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. This was sixth running of the 12-hour race, and with the growing popularity of sports car racing in post World War II America, the event was finally coming into its own since its creation in 1952.
The 1957 Sveriges Grand Prix took place on 11 August, at the Rabelövsbanan, Kristianstad. Although this was the third running of the race, it was the last time as round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship, and to sportscar regulations. Held on the same bumpy circuit as in 1956, the race differed this time, as it was for a period of six hours, instead of 1,000 km, it being felt that a time race would be more acceptable to the Swedish public.