1956 Italian Grand Prix

 1956 Italian Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 8 races of the 1956 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXVII Gran Premio d'Italia
Date:	September 1, 1956
Place:	Monza , Italy
Course:	Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Length:	500 km in 50 laps of 10 km
Weather:	warm, rain
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Time:	2: 42.6 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Stirling Moss	Maserati
Time:	2: 45.5 min
Podium
First:	Stirling Moss	Maserati
Second:	Peter Collins Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Third:	Ron Flockhart	Connaught-Alta

The 1956 Italian Grand Prix took place on September 1, 1956 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Monza and was the eighth race of the 1956 World Cup . The Grand Prix also had the FIA ​​honorary title of European Grand Prix .

Reports

background

The season finale of the 1956 automobile world championship took place on the high-speed racetrack in Monza and decided the 1956 drivers’s championship between defending champion Juan Manuel Fangio , Peter Collins and Jean Behra . If Fangio did not take part in this race, both Ferrari driver Collins and Maserati driver Behra would have had a chance of winning the drivers' title. For this, however, a victory and the fastest race lap would have been necessary, for which there was still one point in 1956.

The race was won by Fangio in each of the previous three years, making him the only former winner of the race in the driver field. Ferrari had previously won the Italian Grand Prix three times , Maserati once.

Ferrari fielded six cars for the last race of the season. In addition to the four regular drivers Fangio, Collins, Eugenio Castellotti and Alfonso de Portago , two other Ferrari D50s were used for Luigi Musso and Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips . Von Trips drove his first Formula 1 race and a few years later became the first German Grand Prix winner in Formula 1. A similar approach to driver selection was also observed at Maserati , which also had six cars, mainly for the regular drivers, began. After Cesare Perdisa was still injured, Umberto Maglioli got his cockpit and started alongside Behra, Stirling Moss , Luigi Villoresi and Paco Godia . The Swede Jo Bonnier also made his debut at Maserati . This was a Swede's first participation in a Formula 1 race and he later became the first Swedish winner in Formula 1 history. For Villoresi, on the other hand, it was his last Formula 1 race.

After a race break, Vanwall again took part in a Grand Prix with drivers Piero Taruffi , Harry Schell and Maurice Trintignant . Taruffi retired from Formula 1 after the race and ended his motorsport career in 1957 at the age of 51. In addition to Vanwall, the British team Connaught also competed in the race. Three vehicles were made available to drivers Les Leston , Ron Flockhart and Jack Fairman , Leston drove for the first time in Formula 1.

The French Gordini team used three cars, two Gordini Type 32 for Robert Manzon and Hernando da Silva Ramos and an outdated Gordini Type 16 for André Simon . Gordini was increasingly in the back field in the 1956 season and they lacked competitiveness. This fact and the team's financial difficulties prompted Gordini to withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the season. The team was there from the Automobile World Championship in 1950 , won no races but often scored world championship points. With Gordini's withdrawal, only Ferrari and Maserati remained from those teams that were there from the start of Formula 1. For Silva Ramos and Manzon, this meant the end of their careers; from 1957 onwards they found no new teams. Toulo de Graffenried also drove his final Grand Prix, he was one of five starters with private Maserati 250F .

training

As is typical for the 1956 Formula 1 season, the training for the 1956 Italian Grand Prix was dominated by Ferrari, who again occupied the front row. Fangio outclassed the competition and took pole position with eight tenths of a second ahead of second placed Castellotti . He succeeded this season for the sixth time in eight races, at the Indianapolis 500 Fangio did not take part and in the 1956 Grand Prix of Great Britain he scored the same time as Moss, who started from first place. Musso completed Scuderia Ferrari's training success with third place.

Taruffi positioned himself behind the Ferrari in the Vanwall, title candidate Behra as the best Maserati driver only came in fifth. Moss, who still had ambitions for the runner-up title, qualified in sixth place, ahead of Collins. The top 10 were completed by Villoresi, Portago and Schell.

Connaught and Gordini were not competitive in training, Fairman was 15th as the best Connaught driver, Silva-Ramos was only 20th in the best Gordini. Von Trips was injured in a training accident at his first Grand Prix and therefore did not take part in the race, Bonnier was absent from practice but made his debut in racing.

run

As in several races before, Fangio did not take advantage of his pole position and lost two positions at the start. Castellotti passed Fangio together with Musso and the two drivers then fought a duel in which Castellotti maintained the lead for four laps. Fangio was overtaken by Moss, who took the lead of the race on lap four as both Castellotti and Musso made an early pit stop. The duel destroyed both tires and needed new ones after just a few laps. Several drivers retired in the early stages of the race, Silva Ramos suffered an engine failure on lap two of his last race, Portago retired on lap five due to an accident after a tire damage and for Leston the race was over on the same lap due to a damage to the suspension. Bonnier, who took over Villoresi's car after four laps, also retired on lap six with an engine failure.

Moss fought against Fangio, Collins and Schell, but was able to assert himself against the opponents until round 10. Like before Castellotti and Musso, Collins had to pit to get new tires. As a result, he moved back several positions. Fangio stayed in third place behind Moss and Schell, as this point placement would have been enough for him for the drivers' title. Harry Schell took the lead in lap 11, but lost it one lap later to Moss, who then held first place until lap 45. Schell was the only Vanwall driver left in the race at the time. His two team-mates Trintignant and Taruffi retired in quick succession with suspension damage.

Shortly before halfway through the race there were important preliminary decisions for the drivers' world championship. On lap 22, Behra retired in third place with a defective ignition and thus had no chance to overtake Fangio in the drivers' world championship. He took over his team-mate Maglioli's car again on lap 31, but retired ten laps later, this time with a defective steering. Fangio came to a repair pit stop because his handlebar was broken. He was allowed to get out and the car repaired, but then the car was not returned to Fangio, but Castellotti was allowed to continue. For Fangio, however, Ferrari planned to let him take over the car from Musso. Musso was called to the pits, but he defied the team order and continued his own race. This was Musso's reaction to having to give his car to Fangio twice earlier in the season. Fangio was left without a car and his team mate Collins only needed a victory and the fastest race lap to become world champion. Musso was in second place at this point after Schell had been in the pits to refuel. Musso lost second place to Schell a few laps later, but finished second again after Schell retired on lap 31 with technical defects.

While Musso was fighting his way to the leader Moss, Collins came to the pits to have the tires checked. During this pit stop he decided to hand over his car to Fangio, as a great sporting gesture. With this campaign, Collins became the only Formula 1 driver in history who voluntarily renounced the world championship title in favor of his teammate. Collins justified this decision with the fact that he was still young and still had many chances to become world champion. However, this was a mistake, Collins did not build on his successes in 1956 in the following two years and died two years later in an accident at the 1958 German Grand Prix . Fangio was thus the driver world champion of the 1956 automobile world championship . It was his fourth overall title and first in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1993 turned Alain Prost one this record. In addition, the title win marked Fangio's third world championship in a row, which Michael Schumacher only succeeded in the 2002 Formula 1 World Championship again.

With five laps to go, Moss was leading Musso and Fangio when Moss ran out of gas. He did not make it back to the pits in time and was left without fuel on the track. Luigi Piotti , who drove a private Maserati, supported his fellow driver by driving him in the rear and pushing Moss to the pits. This campaign was also unique in Formula 1 history. Moss stayed ahead of Fangio and Musso took the lead for two laps for the first time in his career when his handlebar broke and he was eliminated from the race at the start and finish. Moss took the lead again and won the race six seconds ahead of Fangio, who shared the points with Collins. For Moss this victory meant the runner-up in the world championship, he passed Behra and Collins in the last race.

The podium was completed by Flockhart, who achieved his only podium placement. In addition, it was the only podium finish of his team Connaught in Formula 1. Fairman scored further points in fifth place for the team, Godia reached fourth place.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Connaught Engineering	02	Les Leston	Connaught Type B	Alta 2.5 L4	P
	04th	Ron Flockhart
	06th	Jack Fairman
Equipe Gordini	08th	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini Type 32	Gordini 2.5 L8	E.
	10	Robert Manzon
	12	André Simon	Gordini Type 16	Gordini 2.5 L6
Scuderia Centro Sud	14th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Vandervell Products Ltd	16	Piero Taruffi	Vanwall VW56	Vanwall 2.5 L4	P
	18th	Harry Schell
	20th	Maurice Trintignant
Scuderia Ferrari	22nd	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	E.
		Eugenio Castellotti
	24	Eugenio Castellotti
	26th	Peter Collins
		Juan Manuel Fangio
	28	Luigi Musso
	30th	Alfonso de Portago
	50	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips
Officine Alfieri Maserati	32	Jean Behra	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	34	Luigi Villoresi
		Jo Bonnier
	36	Stirling Moss
	38	Paco Godia
	46	Umberto Maglioli
		Jean Behra
Luigi Piotti	40	Luigi Piotti	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Scuderia Guastalla	42	Gerino Gerini	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Gilby Engineering	44	Roy Salvadori	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
Bruce Halford	48	Bruce Halford	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Juan Manuel Fangio drove the car 30 laps, Eugenio Castellotti 16 laps.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Peter Collins drove the car 35 laps, Juan Manuel Fangio 15 laps.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Luigi Villoresi drove the car 4 laps, Jo Bonnier 3 laps.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Umberto Maglioli drove the car 31 laps, Jean Behra 3 laps.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	2: 42.6	221.40 km / h	01
02	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	2: 43.4	220.32 km / h	02
03	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	2: 43.7	219.91 km / h	03
04th	Piero Taruffi	Vanwall	2: 45.4	217.65 km / h	04th
05	Jean Behra	Maserati	2: 45.6	217.39 km / h	05
06th	Stirling Moss	Maserati	2: 45.9	217.00 km / h	06th
07th	Peter Collins	Ferrari	2: 46.0	216.87 km / h	07th
08th	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	2: 47.7	214.67 km / h	08th
09	Alfonso de Portago	Ferrari	2: 47.8	214.54 km / h	09
10	Harry Schell	Vanwall	2: 50.1	211.64 km / h	10
11	Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	2: 51.6	209.79 km / h	11
12	Umberto Maglioli	Maserati	2: 52.7	208.45 km / h	12
13	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	2: 54.6	206.19 km / h	13
14th	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	2: 58.6	201.57 km / h	14th
15th	Jack Fairman	Connaught-Alta	2: 59.2	200.89 km / h	15th
16	Gerino Gerini	Maserati	3: 02.6	197.15 km / h	16
17th	Paco Godia	Maserati	3: 02.9	196.83 km / h	17th
18th	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	3: 03.3	196.40 km / h	18th
19th	Les Leston	Connaught-Alta	3: 04.3	195.33 km / h	19th
20th	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	3: 04.8	194.81 km / h	20th
21st	Bruce Halford	Maserati	3: 05.0	194.59 km / h	21st
22nd	Robert Manzon	Gordini	3: 06.6	192.93 km / h	22nd
23	Ron Flockhart	Connaught-Alta	3: 08.1	191.39 km / h	23
24	André Simon	Gordini	3: 13.3	186.24 km / h	24

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Stirling Moss	Maserati	50		2: 23: 41.3	06th
02	Peter Collins Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	50		+ 5.7	07th
03	Ron Flockhart	Connaught-Alta	49		+ 1 lap	23
04th	Paco Godia	Maserati	49		+ 1 lap	17th
05	Jack Fairman	Connaught-Alta	47		+ 3 rounds	15th
06th	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	47		+ 3 rounds	14th
07th	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	46		+ 4 rounds	18th
08th	Juan Manuel Fangio Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	46		+ 4 rounds	01
09	André Simon	Gordini	45		+ 5 rounds	24
10	Gerino Gerini	Maserati	42		+ 8 rounds	16
11	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	41		+ 9 rounds	13
-	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	50		DNF	02		tires
-	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	50		DNF	03		steering
-	Umberto Maglioli Jean Behra	Maserati	41		DNF	05		steering
-	Harry Schell	Vanwall	31		DNF	10		Power transmission
-	Jean Behra	Maserati	22nd		DNF	05		ignition
-	Bruce Halford	Maserati	15th		DNF	21st		Engine failure
-	Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	12		DNF	11		rear suspension
-	Piero Taruffi	Vanwall	11		DNF	04th		suspension
-	Robert Manzon	Gordini	06th		DNF	22nd		chassis
-	Luigi Villoresi Jo Bonnier	Maserati	06th		DNF	08th		Engine failure
-	Les Leston	Connaught-Alta	05		DNF	19th		suspension
-	Alfonso de Portago	Ferrari	05		DNF	09		tires
-	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	02		DNF	20th		Engine failure

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 Ferrari 30 (33) 02  Stirling Moss Maserati 27 (28) 03  Peter Collins Ferrari 25th 04th  Jean Behra Maserati 22nd 05  Pat Flaherty Watson 8th 06th  Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 7.5 07th  Sam Hanks Kurti's power 6th 08th  Paul Brother Ferrari 6th 09  Paco Godia Maserati 6th 10  Jack Fairman Connaught-Alta 5 11  Luigi Musso Ferrari 4th 12  Mike Hawthorn Maserati 4th 13  Don Freeland Phillips 4th 14th  Ron Flockhart Connaught-Alta 4th

Item driver constructor Points 15th  Johnnie Parsons Kuzma 3 16  Harry Schell Vanwall 3 17th  Cesare Perdisa Maserati 3 18th  Alfonso de Portago Ferrari 3 19th  Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 2 20th  Hernando da Silva Ramos Gordini 2 21st  Dick Rathmann Kurti's power 2 22nd  Luigi Villoresi Maserati 2 23  Horace Gould Maserati 2 24  Louis Rosier Maserati 2 25th  Chico Landi Maserati 1.5 26th  Gerino Gerini Maserati 1.5 27  Paul Russo Kurti's power 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "GP Stories - The Races of 1956" (www.motorsport-magazin.com on September 18, 2013)

Web links

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