1955 Dutch Grand Prix

 1955 Dutch Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 7 races of the 1955 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	Grote Prijs van Nederland V.
Date:	June 19, 1955
Place:	Zandvoort , the Netherlands
Course:	Circuit Park Zandvoort
Length:	419.3 km in 100 laps of 4.193 km
Weather:	cloudy, drizzle
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Time:	1: 40.0 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Roberto Mieres	Maserati
Time:	1: 48.3 min
Podium
First:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Second:	Stirling Moss	Mercedes
Third:	Luigi Musso	Maserati

The 1955 Dutch Grand Prix took place on June 19, 1955 at Circuit Park Zandvoort near Zandvoort and was the fifth race of the 1955 World Cup .

Reports

background

The 1955 Dutch Grand Prix took place a week after the Le Mans disaster . As a consequence of the accident, various races planned for the 1955 season were canceled, including the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten. Circuit races have been prohibited by law in Switzerland since this event , which means that no further races were held in Bremgarten. Former Formula 1 driver Pierre Levegh died in this accident.

The Dutch Grand Prix took place for the third time after a one-year break, the winner of the two previous races, Alberto Ascari died a few weeks earlier while driving a sports car.

While Mercedes started with the unchanged driver constellation of the last race, a large part of the team was changed at Ferrari . Giuseppe Farina , Harry Schell and Paul Frère no longer drove for Scuderia, but Eugenio Castellotti joined the team, as Lancia had withdrawn completely from Formula 1, and Mike Hawthorn returned to Ferrari.

Maserati, like Ferrari, had three cars in action for the regular drivers Jean Behra , Roberto Mieres and Luigi Musso . Gordini also fielded three cars and was back after a Grand Prix break with Robert Manzon , Hernando da Silva Ramos and Jacques Pollet . Four drivers in private cars were registered for the race.

Da Silva Ramos drove the first Formula 1 race of his career, Johnny Claes his last in a private Maserati.

training

The training was dominated by Mercedes, who placed their cars on the first three starting positions. World Championship leader Juan Manuel Fangio won the pole position with a 1: 40.0 in front of his teammates Stirling Moss and Karl Kling . Behind them the Maserati and Ferrari drivers followed at close intervals. Musso secured fourth place behind the Mercedes, Hawthorn came fifth on his Ferrari comeback. Behind them the Maserati from Behra and Mieres. Trintignant started further back, in 8th place. Castellotti, the pole setter from the previous race in Spa, started the race from ninth position. Gordini did not get past eleventh place on the grid with Manzon, the best driver in a private car was Peter Walker in tenth place.

run

At the start, Fangio kept the lead while Musso overtook Kling and Moss. Musso kept the gap to Fangio small and put him under pressure, but was overtaken by Moss again one lap later. Behind them, Kling and Behra dueled for fourth place.

Walker retired in his private Maserati after only two laps, Kling spun off the track on lap 21. Just two laps later, Horace Gould also spun in his private Maserati and had to give up the race. Then Mieres was in fifth position and attacked Behra. After he overtook him, Mieres tried to close the gap to Musso and the Mercedes, which he did not succeed, however, as the front of the field had already built up too great a gap.

Musso drove a strong race and a large part of the race distance directly behind the Mercedes, which had to drive at the limit to defend their positions against him. Later in the race, Musso made a driving mistake and spun off the track, but was able to continue the race.

Manzon dropped out on lap 43 due to a technical defect. This was Gordini's only retirement in the race, the other two cars finished eighth and tenth. Maurice Trintignant had a gearbox damage on lap 64 and also had to give up the race.

Fangio and Moss reduced their speed after Musso spun and drove Mercedes' double victory to the finish in a controlled manner. This was the second Mercedes double victory in a row and the team underlined its dominance. After Lancia withdrew from Formula 1, only Maserati was able to keep up with Mercedes, only Musso put Fangio and Moss under pressure in the race. Due to his driving error, however, he did not lose any position and finished the race in third place ahead of Mieres. Fangio congratulated the Italian after the race for this achievement and for the tough fight.

Castellotti scored points in his debut race for Ferrari with fifth place, Mieres got an additional point for the fastest race lap. This was the only fastest race lap of his career and the only one for Maserati in the 1955 World Automobile Championship . Behra and Hawthorn missed the points in positions six and seven. Da Silva Ramos finished eighth on his Formula 1 debut, Claes finished eleventh in his last race, twelve laps behind the winner, Fangio.

In the world championship standings, Fangio extended his lead to 14 points over Moss and thus had the opportunity to become world champion early in the next race. Trintignant was again pointless and Farina no longer drove for Ferrari, whereby both lost a place in the drivers' championship. Moss rose to second place and it became clear that the world championship was decided between the two Mercedes drivers Fangio and Moss.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari	02	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari 555 Supersqualo / Ferrari 625F1	Ferrari 2.5 L4	E.
	04th	Maurice Trintignant
	06th	Eugenio Castellotti
Daimler-Benz AG	08th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes-Benz W 196	Mercedes-Benz 2.5 L8	C.
	10	Stirling Moss
	12	Karl Kling
Officine Alfieri Maserati	14th	Jean Behra	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	E.
	16	Roberto Mieres			P
	18th	Luigi Musso
Equipe Gordini	20th	Robert Manzon	Gordini Type 16	Gordini 2.5 L6	E.
	22nd	Hernando da Silva Ramos
	24	Jacques Pollet
Stirling Moss Ltd.	26th	Peter Walker	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
Ecurie Rosier	28	Louis Rosier	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Equipe Nationale Belge	30th	Johnny Claes	Ferrari 500 / Ferrari 625F1	Ferrari 2.5 L4	P
Goulds' garage	32	Horace Gould	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	1: 40.0	150.95 km / h	01
02	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	1: 40.4	150.35 km / h	02
03	Karl Kling	Mercedes	1: 41.1	149.31 km / h	03
04th	Luigi Musso	Maserati	1: 41.2	149.16 km / h	04th
05	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	1: 41.5	148.72 km / h	05
06th	Jean Behra	Maserati	1: 41.5	148.72 km / h	06th
07th	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	1: 42.1	147.84 km / h	07th
08th	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	1: 42.4	147.41 km / h	08th
09	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	1: 42.7	146.98 km / h	09
10	Peter Walker	Maserati	1: 44.9	143.90 km / h	10
11	Robert Manzon	Gordini	1: 46.0	142.40 km / h	11
12	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	1: 48.6	138.99 km / h	12
13	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	1: 50.2	136.98 km / h	13
14th	Horace Gould	Ferrari	1: 50.4	136.73 km / h	14th
15th	Johnny Claes	Ferrari	1: 53.3	133.23 km / h	15th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	100		2: 54: 23.8	01
02	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	100		+ 0.3	02
03	Luigi Musso	Maserati	100		+ 57.1	04th
04th	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	99		+ 1 lap	07th
05	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	97		+ 3 rounds	09
06th	Jean Behra	Maserati	97		+ 3 rounds	06th
07th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	95		+ 5 rounds	05
08th	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	92		+ 8 rounds	14th
09	Louis Rosier	Maserati	92		+ 8 rounds	13
10	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	90		+ 10 rounds	12
11	Johnny Claes	Ferrari	88		+ 12 rounds	16
-	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	64		DNF	08th		transmission
-	Robert Manzon	Gordini	43		DNF	11		Power transmission
-	Horace Gould	Maserati	23		DNF	15th		Lathe operator
-	Karl Kling	Mercedes	21st		DNF	03		Lathe operator
-	Peter Walker	Maserati	02		DNF	10		Wheel bearings

World Cup stand after the race

In 1955, points were awarded according to the following scheme:

1st place	place 2	place 3	4th place	5th place	Fastest lap
8th	6th	4th	3	2	1

• Only the five best results from seven races counted. Deleted results are shown in brackets.
• The numbers marked with * include the point for the fastest lap.
• Fields marked in the same color indicate shared vehicles.

Item	driver	constructor								Points
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	9 *	1*		9 *	8th			27
2.	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	1			6th	6th			13
3.	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	3.3	8th						11.3
4th	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	3.3	3		4th				10.3
5.	Bob Sweikert	Kurtis power			8th					8th
	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia		6th			2			8th
7th	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	2			1	4 *			7th
8th.	Jimmy Davies	Kurtis power			4th					4th
	Luigi Musso	Maserati					4th			4th
10.	Johnny Thomson	Kuzma			3					3
	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis power			3					3
	Paul Russo	Kurtis power			3					3
	Jean Behra	Maserati		2		1				3
	Paul Brother	Ferrari				3				3
15th	José Froilán González	Ferrari	2							2
	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati		2						2
	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari Lancia		2						2
18th	Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari	1.3							1.3
19th	Karl Kling	Mercedes	1							1
	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	1							1
	Walt Faulkner	Kurtis power			1					1
	Bill Homeier	Kurtis power			1					1
	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis power			1*					1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ GP Stories - The races of 1955. In: motorsport-magazin.com , accessed on August 1, 2013.

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• "Zandvoort in color" at youtube.com