1955 Italian Grand Prix
Racing data | ||
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7th of 7 races of the 1955 World Automobile Championship | ||
Surname: | XXVI Gran Premio d'Italia | |
Date: | September 11, 1955 | |
Place: | Monza | |
Course: | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | |
Length: | 500 km in 50 laps of 10 km
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Weather: | dry and warm | |
Pole position | ||
Driver: | Juan Manuel Fangio | Mercedes |
Time: | 2: 46.3 min | |
Fastest lap | ||
Driver: | Stirling Moss | Mercedes |
Time: | 2: 46.9 min | |
Podium | ||
First: | Juan Manuel Fangio | Mercedes |
Second: | Piero Taruffi | Mercedes |
Third: | Eugenio Castellotti | Ferrari |
The 1955 Italian Grand Prix took place in Monza on September 11, 1955 and was the seventh and final race of the 1955 Automobile World Championship after the German, French, Spanish and Swiss Grand Prix had been canceled. The reason for the cancellation was the accident at the Le Mans 24-hour race , the worst accident in motorsport history with over 80 deaths.
Reports
background
Monza, 09/11/1955 Fangio wins the Italian Grand Prix. Taruffi finished second in the W 196 R Monoposto. |
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NN , 1955 |
Photography (black and white) |
Mercedes Benz
Link to the picture |
After finishing second at the British Grand Prix , Juan Manuel Fangio was already established as world champion early on. The Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows had won four of the six races of the season to date . The only exceptions were the Monaco Grand Prix , where they retired with defects, and the Indianapolis 500 , in which they did not participate. Ferrari, on the other hand, had only been able to win in Monaco and otherwise had to be content with the following places, just like the other teams.
With Juan Manuel Fangio, the winner of the two previous years entered the race. Giuseppe Farina , the 1950 winner , also qualified, but did not take part in the race due to tire problems. For a total of seven drivers it was the last Formula 1 Grand Prix of their careers, including Farina, the 1950 world champion .
The 1955 Italian Grand Prix took place on a modified course that was largely based on the original course from 1922. Compared to the previous season, the route was expanded to include a high-speed oval with two steep curves made of concrete slabs for speeds of up to 285 km / h. As a result of these modifications, the Grand Prix course was extended to 10 km (previously 6.3 km). At 500 km, the total distance was only slightly shorter than in previous years (504 km). The number of laps was reduced from 80 to 50. The 10 km variant was the longest circuit ever driven in Formula 1 races in Monza, only four times (1955, 1956, 1960 and 1961). Even at the Italian and Monza Grand Prix of the time before 1950, the longest variant driven in Monza was 10,000 km (a total of nine times: 1922-28, 1932 and 1933).
training
Mercedes, Ferrari and Maserati carried out their first test drives on August 22nd, 24th and 25th. Difficulties were revealed that were less in the vehicles than in the route. There were inaccuracies between the concrete slabs of the steep turns, which at the high speeds looked like small ski jumps. The Lancia D 50 from Ferrari in particular had problems with the tires, which could not withstand the acceleration of 3 g in the banked turns. Farina also suddenly lost the protector of his left rear wheel at 250 km / h and slid across the slope. However, he managed to intercept his vehicle.
Farina's mishap was repeated in Saturday training. His participation was withdrawn. It was Farina's last Grand Prix in his career. Shortly afterwards, Castellotti burst a front tire. His Lancia was also withdrawn. In order to still be able to start, a Ferrari 555 Supersqualo was hastily prepared for him. Villoresi also had to cancel the race due to tire problems. Mercedes, on the other hand, competed with tires that had been specially reinforced for this race. They signaled their willingness to help Ferrari out with these tires, but this failed because there were not enough available. After all, Castellotti was still able to qualify in fourth. The first three places, and thus the entire front row, were occupied by Mercedes drivers: Fangio, Moss and Kling. In addition to Mercedes, Maserati also used a special streamlined version of its racing car this weekend.
run
Of the 23 registered drivers, 20 drove the race. Both Farina and Villoresi and Piotti did not take part because of the defects in their vehicles. John Fitch, who started for Mercedes in the test drives in August, drove a private Maserati in the race.
On lap 19, Moss had to pit because of a damaged windshield. A blown stone had caused the damage. Moss fell back ten places. On lap 21 he drove the fastest lap of the race. The race ended prematurely for Moss. On lap 29 he had to give up because of a defective drive shaft. On lap 33, Kling also retired, who at this point was safely in second place. The reason was a locking pin forgotten by the pit crew, which led to a broken cardan shaft.
Only nine drivers made it to the finish. The rest failed prematurely with defects. Fangio won 0.7 seconds ahead of Taruffi and Castellotti, who as the best Ferrari driver was 46.2 seconds behind. As the best Maserati driver, Behra was almost four minutes behind and was the last to be on a lap with the top three. His car only ran with five cylinders and had been smoking for a number of laps. No vehicle from the other teams was included in the ranking.
Several records were set in this race. For Fangio it was the third victory in a row at the Grand Prix of Italy. No other driver before him had done it, and no other driver after him ever did it again. With an average speed of 206.792 km / h, Fangio also set a new record for a Grand Prix of Italy. It was the first time since this Grand Prix was introduced in 1921 that an average speed of more than 200 km / h was achieved. At the same time, it was the highest average speed in a Formula 1 World Championship race outside of North America. For the first time in a World Cup season, the Indianapolis 500 was not the race with the highest average speed.
Registration list
- ↑ a b streamlined version
- ↑ a b Hernando da Silva Ramos was a dual citizen, he had both Brazilian and French citizenship.
Classifications
Starting grid
Pole position was on the right.
Item | driver | constructor | time | Starting row |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Juan Manuel Fangio | Mercedes | 2: 46,500 | 1 |
2. | Stirling Moss | Mercedes | 2: 46.800 | 1 |
3. | Karl Kling | Mercedes | 2: 48,300 | 1 |
4th | Eugenio Castellotti | Ferrari | 2: 49.600 | 2 |
5. | Giuseppe Farina | Ferrari | 2: 49.900 | DNS |
6th | Jean Behra | Maserati | 2: 50.100 | 3 |
7th | Roberto Mieres | Maserati | 2: 51.100 | 3 |
8th. | Luigi Villoresi | Ferrari | 2: 51.600 | DNS |
9. | Piero Taruffi | Mercedes | 2: 51.800 | 4th |
10. | Luigi Musso | Maserati | 2: 52.100 | 4th |
11. | Peter Collins | Maserati | 2: 55,300 | 5 |
12. | Umberto Maglioli | Ferrari | 2: 55,400 | 5 |
13. | Harry Schell | Vanwall | 2: 55,500 | 5 |
14th | Mike Hawthorn | Ferrari | 2: 56.200 | 6th |
15th | Maurice Trintignant | Ferrari | 2: 56.300 | 6th |
16. | Carlos Menditeguy | Maserati | 2: 58,400 | 7th |
17th | Ken Wharton | Vanwall | 2: 59,500 | 7th |
18th | Hernando da Silva Ramos | Gordini | 2: 59.800 | 7th |
19th | Jacques Pollet | Gordini | 2: 59.900 | 8th |
20th | John Fitch | Equipe Moss | 3: 03,100 | 8th |
21st | Horace Gould | Maserati | 3: 05.200 | 9 |
22nd | Jean Lucas | Gordini | 3: 15.900 | 9 |
Luigi Piotti | Luigi Piotti | DNS |
Race result
Item | driver | constructor | Round | time | km / h | s. Rd. | guide |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Juan Manuel Fangio | Mercedes | 50 | 2: 25: 04.4 | 206.79 | 49 | |
2. | Piero Taruffi | Mercedes | 50 | 2: 25: 05.1 | |||
3. | Eugenio Castellotti | Ferrari | 50 | 2: 25: 50.6 | |||
4th | Jean Behra | Maserati | 50 | 2: 29: 01.9 | |||
5. | Carlos Menditeguy | Maserati | 49 | 2: 26: 24.9 | |||
6th | Umberto Maglioli | Ferrari | 49 | 2: 27: 32.5 | |||
7th | Roberto Mieres | Maserati | 48 | 2: 27: 14.9 | |||
8th. | Maurice Trintignant | Ferrari | 47 | 2: 25: 50.1 | |||
9. | John Fitch | Maserati | 46 | 2: 25: 25.7 | |||
DNF | Mike Hawthorn | Ferrari | 38 | Gearbox damage | |||
DNF | Karl Kling | Mercedes | 32 | Gearbox damage | |||
DNF | Luigi Musso | Maserati | 31 | Gearbox damage | |||
DNF | Horace Gould | Maserati | 31 | Suspension damage | |||
DNF | Stirling Moss | Mercedes | 27 | Engine failure | 2: 46.9 | 1 | |
DNF | Jacques Pollet | Gordini | 26th | Engine failure | |||
DNF | Hernando da Silva Ramos | Gordini | 23 | Defective fuel pump | |||
DNF | Peter Collins | Maserati | 22nd | Suspension damage | |||
DNF | Harry Schell | Vanwall | 7th | Suspension damage | |||
DNF | Jean Lucas | Gordini | 7th | Engine failure | |||
DNF | Ken Wharton | Vanwall | 0 | Injection pump defective | |||
DNS | Giuseppe Farina | Ferrari | 0 | tires | |||
DNS | Luigi Piotti | Luigi Piotti | 0 | Engine failure | |||
DNS | Luigi Villoresi | Ferrari | 0 | tires |
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 | 6th | 8th | 40 | |
2. | Stirling Moss | Mercedes | 1 | 6th | 6th | 9 * | 1* | 23 | ||
3. | Eugenio Castellotti | Lancia | 6th | 2 | 4th | 12 | ||||
4th | Maurice Trintignant | Ferrari | 3.3 | 8th | 11.3 | |||||
5. | Giuseppe Farina | Ferrari | 3.3 | 3 | 4th | 10.3 | ||||
6th | Piero Taruffi | Mercedes | 3 | 6th | 9 | |||||
7th | Bob Sweikert | Kurtis power | 8th | 8th | ||||||
8th. | Roberto Mieres | Maserati | 2 | 1 | 4 * | 7th | ||||
9. | Luigi Musso | Maserati | 4th | 2 | 6th | |||||
Jean Behra | Maserati | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6th | |||||
11. | Karl Kling | Mercedes | 1 | 4th | 5 | |||||
12. | Jimmy Davies | Kurtis power | 4th | 4th | ||||||
13. | Johnny Thomson | Kuzma | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Tony Bettenhausen | Kurtis power | 3 | 3 | |||||||
Paul Russo | Kurtis power | 3 | 3 | |||||||
Paul Brother | Ferrari | 3 | 3 | |||||||
17th | José Froilán González | Ferrari | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Cesare Perdisa | Maserati | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Luigi Villoresi | Ferrari Lancia | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Carlos Menditeguy | Maserati | 2 | 2 | |||||||
21st | Umberto Maglioli | Ferrari | 1.3 | 1.3 | ||||||
22nd | Hans Herrmann | Mercedes | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Walt Faulkner | Kurtis power | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Bill Homeier | Kurtis power | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Bill Vukovich | Kurtis power | 1* | 1 |
particularities
The end of the silver arrows
Despite all the successes, after nine wins, eight poles and two drivers' world championships, it was the last Grand Prix for Mercedes for several decades. The withdrawal was planned at the beginning of the season. The Le Mans disaster, where the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of Pierre Levegh was thrown into the crowd and killed more than 80 people who made this decision final.
Mercedes was only to return in 1993, initially indirectly at Sauber , from 1994 as an engine supplier and then, after 55 years, in 2010 again with its own works team .
Mercedes celebrated its first victory after re-entering the market as an engine builder on March 9, 1997 at the Australian Grand Prix by David Coulthard with McLaren , 51 years 5 months and 26 days after Monza 1955. On April 15, 2012, Nico Rosberg won the Grand Prix China is finally celebrating a victory as a works team for the first time in 56 years, 7 months and 4 days.
On November 23, 2014, Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . After 59 years, 2 months and 12 days, Mercedes was again a world driver champion. With Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's double victory at the Russian Grand Prix on October 12, 2014, Mercedes also secured the Constructors' World Championship for the first time. In 1955 there was no such thing.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1955-1971 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE HIGH SPEED TRACK ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) on: Monazanet , accessed April 29, 2012, 10:54 p.m.
- ^ Riedner, Michael: Mercedes-Benz W 196 - The last Silver Arrow. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart. 1st edition, 1986. ISBN 3-613-01157-3 . Pages 272-275.
- ↑ dto., Pages 275-276.
- ↑ dto., Pages 276-279.
Web links
- Official Formula 1 website Results Italian Grand Prix 1955 (English)
- motorsport-total.com, Grand Prix of Italy 1955
- Motorsportarchiv.de, Grand Prix of Italy 1955