1957 Grand Prix of Argentina

 1957 Grand Prix of Argentina

Racing data
1st of 8 races of the 1957 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	V Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Date:	January 13, 1957
Place:	Buenos Aires , Argentina
Course:	Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Length:	391.2 km in 100 laps of 3.912 km
Weather:	warm, rain
Pole position
Driver:	Stirling Moss	Maserati
Time:	1: 42.6 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Stirling Moss	Maserati
Time:	1: 44.7 min
Podium
First:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Second:	Jean Behra	Maserati
Third:	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati

The 1957 Grand Prix of Argentina took place on January 13, 1957 at the Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires near Buenos Aires and was the first race of the 1957 World Cup .

Reports

background

The 1957 automobile world championship began very early in the year with the opening race in Argentina. The teams therefore only entered with slightly modified cars from the previous year, the British teams did not even start. Juan Manuel Fangio , the world champion of the previous three years, switched back to Maserati due to a broken relationship of trust between him and Enzo Ferrari . With Maserati, Fangio was world champion driver together with Mercedes in 1954 . Stirling Moss , last year's runner-up, also changed teams and went to Vanwall . Due to the non-participation of British teams in the Argentine Grand Prix, Moss drove one last race for Maserati and became team-mate of Fangio. Both drivers had previously dominated the 1955 World Cup together in a Mercedes . Maserati also started with Jean Behra and Carlos Menditéguy . For Menditeguy, 1957 was the only season of his career in which he participated in several races, otherwise he usually only started at the Argentine Grand Prix .

Maserati's only competitor in this race was Ferrari , who competed with six vehicles. With Luigi Musso , Peter Collins , Eugenio Castellotti and Alfonso de Portago , four regular drivers from the previous year were retained. Mike Hawthorn switched back to Ferrari after racing at various other racing teams and Cesare Perdisa came from Maserati. José Froilán González also started for Ferrari like in previous years, but only in his home race, Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips did not receive his own car, but was allowed to take over the Perdisa in the race.

Another Italian team, Scuderia Centro Sud , used three cars for Harry Schell , Jo Bonnier and Alejandro de Tomaso . For Tomaso it was his Formula 1 debut, he later became known as a sports car manufacturer and entered Formula 1 with his own team in 1970. Luigi Piotti also took part in the race in a private Maserati.

The months after the 1957 Argentine Grand Prix were tragic for Ferrari. Castellotti died two months after the race during tests in Modena. Perdisa was so shocked by this event that he ended his career. De Portago, who took part for Ferrari in the 1957 Mille Miglia , died in this race in a serious accident with several deaths. The season opener in 1957 was the last Formula 1 race for all three drivers.

Fangio won the race in each of the three previous years, Ferrari was twice successful, Maserati once on this track. Two weeks later, a Grand Prix also took place in the same place, but it was not part of the World Championship, Fangio won on a Maserati.

training

In practice, the Maserati were superior to their rival Ferrari and secured the first three starting positions. Moss, in his last race for Maserati, finished on pole position almost a second ahead of teammate Fangio. A few tenths of a second behind Fangio, Behra qualified for the front row, which was completed by Castellotti. Three Ferraris qualified on row two, Collins ahead of Musso and Hawthorn. Behind them, Menditeguy was eighth, followed by Schell in ninth place and González in tenth.

run

Maserati won the start of the 1957 Argentine Grand Prix. On the first lap of the race, Behra took the lead from Fangio. Ferrari driver Castellotti inherited third place after Moss got off badly at the start and the throttle cable tore. He then pitted for a repair that lasted nine laps.

On lap three, Castellotti managed to overtake both Fangio and Behra and take the lead in the race. Ferrari thus proved that they could keep up with the Maserati in the race despite poor lap times in training. It then developed into an exciting race and a battle for victory between the two Italian top teams. Behra regained the lead on lap nine, while Collins worked his way up one position after the other and then took the lead on lap 13. He defended this lead for twelve laps in front of Behra and Fangio, until he was forced to give up the race on lap 26 due to a damaged clutch. Behra was about to inherit the lead when Fangio overtook him on the same lap of Collins's failure. Fangio then stayed in front of his teammate Behra until lap 80, but he kept the gap to Fangio small. Behind the front, Castellotti spun in third, allowing Hawthorn to overtake him.

At Ferrari, there were severe problems with the clutch on almost every car in this race. after Collins was eliminated because of this, Musso followed on lap 30 and Hawthorn on lap 34, each with a clutch defect. Castellotti remained the only Ferrari driver in the race who came close to the two leading Maserati. For the other Ferraris that were still in the race, the team relied on driver changes, which were still compliant for a final season in the 1957 Automobile World Championship . Portago took over González's car on lap 49, while Collins, who had already retired, took over Perdisa's car and passed it on to Count Berghe von Trips later in the race.

On lap 75, a wheel hub pin broke on Castellotti's car and he was eliminated from the race because the wheel was subsequently lost. For Maserati, this meant an undisputed one-two victory at this point in the race, which Fangio and Behra negotiated among themselves. Behra overtook Fangio on lap 81, Fangio countered one lap later and led again. On lap 84, Behra attacked Fangio again, but again only defended the lead for one lap. Behra then failed to overtake again and Fangio won the Argentine Grand Prix for the fourth time in a row. This was Fangio's last win at his home Grand Prix and to date he is the driver with the most wins at this Grand Prix, for Maserati it was the second and last win at the Argentine Grand Prix. Menditeguy completed the podium for Maserati, which was the only podium finish in his career. Schell finished fourth for Scuderia Centro Sud, the only Ferrari in the points was Portago's in fifth. He shared the last points of his career with Portago and competed one last time for Ferrari at a Grand Prix at the 1960 Argentina Grand Prix. Moss, who finished eighth seven laps behind, received a point for setting the fastest race lap.

After the first race of the season, Fangio led the drivers' standings ahead of Behra, Menditeguy and Schell.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Officine Alfieri Maserati	02	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	04th	Stirling Moss
	06th	Jean Behra
	08th	Carlos Menditeguy
Scuderia Ferrari	10	Peter Collins	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	E.
	12	Luigi Musso	Ferrari D50A
	14th	Eugenio Castellotti
	16	Mike Hawthorn
	18th	Cesare Perdisa	Ferrari D50
		Peter Collins
		Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips
	20th	Alfonso de Portago
		José Froilán González
Scuderia Centro Sud	22nd	Harry Schell	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	24	Jo Bonnier
	26th	Alejandro de Tomaso	Ferrari 500 Ferrari 625	Ferrari 2.5 L4
Luigi Piotti	28	Luigi Piotti	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Cesare Perdisa drove the car 30 laps, Peter Collins 35 laps and Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips 33 laps.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Alfonso de Portago and José Froilán González drove the car 49 laps each. González denied the training.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Stirling Moss	Maserati	1: 42.6	137.26 km / h	01
02	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	1: 43.4	135.81 km / h	02
03	Jean Behra	Maserati	1: 44.0	135.42 km / h	03
04th	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	1: 44.2	135.16 km / h	04th
05	Peter Collins	Ferrari	1: 44.6	134.64 km / h	05
06th	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	1: 44.8	134.38 km / h	06th
07th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	1: 44.8	134.38 km / h	07th
08th	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	1: 45.1	134.00 km / h	08th
09	Harry Schell	Maserati	1: 46.4	132.36 km / h	09
10	José Froilán González	Ferrari	1: 46.8	131.87 km / h	10
11	Cesare Perdisa	Ferrari	1: 48.6	129.68 km / h	11
12	Alejandro de Tomaso	Ferrari	1: 56.1	121.30 km / h	12
13	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	1: 58.2	119.15 km / h	13
14th	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	1: 58.2	119.15 km / h	14th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	100		3: 00: 55.9	02
02	Jean Behra	Maserati	100		+ 18.3	03
03	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	99		+ 1 lap	08th
04th	Harry Schell	Maserati	98		+ 2 rounds	09
05	José Froilán González Alfonso de Portago	Ferrari	98		+ 2 rounds	10
06th	Cesare Perdisa Peter Collins Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	98		+ 2 rounds	11
07th	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	95		+ 5 rounds	13
08th	Stirling Moss	Maserati	93		+ 7 rounds	01
09	Alejandro de Tomaso	Ferrari	91		+ 9 rounds	12
10	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	90		+ 10 rounds	14th
-	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	75		DNF	04th		Wheel hub pin
-	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	34		DNF	07th		coupling
-	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	30th		DNF	06th		coupling
-	Peter Collins	Ferrari	26th		DNF	05		coupling

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 eight races counted.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 8th 02  Jean Behra Maserati 6th 03  Carlos Menditeguy Maserati 4th 04th  Harry Schell Maserati 3 05  Alfonso de Portago Ferrari 1 06th  José Froilán González Ferrari 1 07th  Stirling Moss Maserati 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "GP Stories - The Races of 1957" (www.motorsport-magazin.com on September 24, 2013)

Web links

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