1956 Grand Prix of Argentina

 1956 Grand Prix of Argentina

Racing data
1st of 8 races in the 1956 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	IV Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Date:	January 22, 1956
Place:	Buenos Aires , Argentina
Course:	Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Length:	383.376 km in 98 laps of 3.912 km
Weather:	cloudy, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Time:	1: 42.5 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Time:	1: 45.3 min
Podium
First:	Juan Manuel Fangio Luigi Musso	Ferrari
Second:	Jean Behra	Maserati
Third:	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati

The 1956 Argentina Grand Prix took place on January 22, 1956 at the Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires and was the first race of the 1956 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

After Mercedes withdrew from Formula 1 after the 1955 season, only Italian cars competed in the season opener, the Argentine Grand Prix. Ferrari and Maserati were the only factory teams to take part in the race, two other teams with private Maserati vehicles.

Ferrari used cars for five drivers in this race, the majority of which were the new Ferrari D50 , which was based on the Lancia D50 , whose team sold their cars to Ferrari in 1955. The reigning world champion Juan Manuel Fangio switched to Ferrari. Ferrari also strengthened itself with Luigi Musso , Peter Collins and Formula 1 debutant Olivier Gendebien . Ferrari only kept Eugenio Castellotti from last year's drivers .

Maserati fielded seven cars in this Grand Prix. Stirling Moss switched to the team. As in the previous year, Carlos Menditéguy and Jean Behra also drove for Maserati . The Italians Luigi Piotti and Gerino Gerini made their Formula 1 debut in a Maserati, the Brazilian Chico Landi contested his last Grand Prix.

Mike Hawthorn started for the Owen Racing Organization in a private Maserati. This team entered the races with this car at the beginning of the season, and later in the season developed its own car, which celebrated successes under the name BRM , especially in the 1960s.

Óscar González and Alberto Uria also shared a private Maserati . For both of them it was the last Formula 1 race of their careers, and for González it was the only one.

Only 13 vehicles were registered for the race, seven of which were canceled and six made it to the finish line.

training

The superiority of the Ferrari D50 was shown in training . Fangio secured pole position with over two seconds ahead of second-placed Castellotti. Musso in the third Ferrari D50 qualified in third place. Ferrari secured pole position again after a year, after José Froilán González had entered the race for the last time at the 1955 Grand Prix of Argentina from first place.

Behind the Ferrari, five Maserati started, four from the works team with drivers Behra, González, Menditeguy and Moss and the private Maserati from Hawthorn. The Ferrari 555 were not competitive compared to the D50, which means that Collins and Gendebien only qualified in ninth and tenth place, more than five seconds behind Fangio.

Uria did not achieve any time in practice, but nevertheless took part in the race due to the small number of participating teams and cars.

run

The superiority of the Ferrari in training was not initially confirmed in the race. Moss and Menditeguy's Maserati started well, overtook the Ferrari and took the lead. Menditeguy came in first in the team-internal duel against Moss and was leading in the first laps of his home race.

For Fangio, the winner of the last two Argentina Grands Prix, the race ended prematurely on lap 22 and his car had problems with the fuel pump. The team then decided that Musso had to give his car to Fangio so that Fangio could continue the race. At the 1956 Italian Grand Prix later that season, Musso was in the lead and was also asked to hand over his car to Fangio. In this race, however, he refused and retired shortly before the end of the race.

Fangio took over Musso's car on lap 30 and then worked his way up to the front seats. He passed Behra, but made a mistake and turned off the track. Fangio was stuck and unable to pull himself out of the situation. Marshals pushed him and Fangio continued the race behind Behra. After the race, Maserati made an official protest demanding that Fangio be disqualified for pushing. The protest was rejected by the race stewarts and the FIA.

After his spin, Fangio fought his way back to Behra and overtook him when several drivers in front of him had technical difficulties with their cars from lap 40. First Castellotti dropped out in third place with a gearbox failure, then two laps later the half-wave of leading Menditeguy, who held first place 42 laps of the race, broke. Thereupon Moss took over this position in front of Fangio and Behra, when smoke rose from his engine as well. He continued the race for several more laps, but lost speed and was overtaken by Fangio and Behra. In midfield, Piotti worked his way up several positions until he was just behind the leading group. During an overtaking maneuver against Collins, a misunderstanding between the two led to an accident that resulted in the retirement of both drivers.

Moss gave up the race due to the engine failure of his Maserati on lap 81, so that Fangio and Behra dueled for victory. Like Fangio, Behra made a driving mistake and spun. Fangio then crossed the finish line safely, while Behra took second place. Only the two drivers were in the lead, Hawthorn in third was already two laps behind. Gerini, who shared the car with Landi, crossed the finish line in fourth, while Gendebien scored his first points in fifth.

Since Fangio shared the car with Musso, both drivers won the race. For Musso it was the only victory in his Formula 1 career. Fangio won the third of four races in a row at his home race in Argentina, and for Ferrari it was the second of a total of three wins at the Argentine Grand Prix .

Fangio and Musso shared the points they scored for victory, while Fangio received an additional one for the fastest race lap. Behra took the lead in the drivers' championship for the first time in his career, as he received six points for second place.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Officine Alfieri Maserati	02	Stirling Moss	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	04th	Jean Behra
	06th	Carlos Menditeguy
	08th	Luigi Piotti
	10	Chico Landi
		Gerino Gerini
	12	José Froilán González
Owen Racing Organization	14th	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
Alberto Uria	16	Óscar González	Maserati A6GCM / Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6
		Alberto Uria
Scuderia Ferrari	30th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	E.
	32	Eugenio Castellotti
	34	Luigi Musso
		Juan Manuel Fangio
	36	Peter Collins	Ferrari 555 Super Qualo
	38	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 555 Supersqualo / Ferrari D50

Remarks

1. ↑ Chico Landi and Gerino Gerini drove the car 46 laps each.
2. ↑ Óscar González and Alberto Uria drove the car 44 laps each.
3. ↑ Luigi Musso drove the car 30 laps, Juan Manuel Fangio 68 laps.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	1: 42.5	137.40 km / h	01
02	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	1: 44.7	134.51 km / h	02
03	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	1: 44.7	134.51 km / h	03
04th	Jean Behra	Maserati	1: 45.1	134.00 km / h	04th
05	José Froilán González	Maserati	1: 45.2	133.87 km / h	05
06th	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	1: 45.6	133.36 km / h	06th
07th	Stirling Moss	Maserati	1: 45.9	132.99 km / h	07th
08th	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	1: 47.4	131.12 km / h	08th
09	Peter Collins	Ferrari	1: 47.7	130.76 km / h	09
10	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	1: 50.4	127.57 km / h	10
11	Chico Landi	Maserati	1: 52.1	125.63 km / h	11
12	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	1: 57.9	119.45 km / h	12
13	Alberto Uria	Ferrari	no time		13

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Luigi Musso Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	98		3: 00: 03.7	03
02	Jean Behra	Maserati	98		+ 24.4	04th
03	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	96		+ 2 rounds	08th
04th	Chico Landi Gerino Gerini	Maserati	92		+ 6 rounds	11
05	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	91		+ 7 rounds	10
06th	Óscar González Alberto Uria	Maserati	88		+ 10 rounds	13
-	Stirling Moss	Maserati	81		DNF	07th		Engine failure
-	Peter Collins	Ferrari	58		DNF	09		accident
-	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	57		DNF	12		accident
-	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	42		DNF	06th		Half wave
-	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	40		DNF	02		transmission
-	José Froilán González	Maserati	24		DNF	05		Engine failure
-	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	22nd		DNF	01		Fuel pump

World Cup stand after the race

The first five of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 points. The driver with the fastest race lap received an additional 1 point. Only the five best results from seven races counted.

In 1956, 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 eight 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.	Jean Behra	Maserati	6th								6th
2.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari Lancia	5 *								5
3.	Luigi Musso	Ferrari Lancia	4th								4th
	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	4th								4th
5.	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari Lancia	2								2
6th	Gerino Gerini	Maserati	1.5								1.5
	Chico Landi	Maserati	1.5								1.5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "GP Stories - The Races of 1956" (www.motorsport-magazin.com on August 9, 2013)

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com