1956 Monaco Grand Prix

 1956 Monaco Grand Prix

Racing data
2nd of 8 races of the 1956 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Date:	May 13, 1956
Place:	Monte Carlo , Monaco
Course:	Circuit de Monaco
Length:	314.5 km in 100 laps of 3.145 km
Weather:	warm, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Time:	1: 44.0 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Time:	1: 44.4 min
Podium
First:	Stirling Moss	Maserati
Second:	Peter Collins Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari
Third:	Jean Behra	Maserati

The 1956 Monaco Grand Prix took place on May 13, 1956 on the Circuit de Monaco near Monaco and was the second race of the 1956 World Cup .

Reports

background

After only the two Italian teams Scuderia Ferrari and Maserati and two teams took part in the race with private cars at the season opener in Argentina, the number of participating drivers and teams increased significantly at the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix.

Ferrari only used the new Ferrari D50 for the four regular drivers Juan Manuel Fangio , Eugenio Castellotti , Luigi Musso and Peter Collins . Maserati started with a significantly lower number of cars than in previous races. Stirling Moss , Jean Behra and Cesare Perdisa started for the team. The French team Gordini was back after a race break and used both the new Gordini Type 32 car and the previous year's model Gordini Type 16 . The drivers for Gordini were Robert Manzon , Élie Bayol , André Pilette and Hernando da Silva Ramos . It was Bayol's last Formula 1 race.

The British team Vanwall also took a break from the first race, then used their new Vanwall VW2 car for the first time at the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix . Designed by Colin Chapman , this car was used throughout the season and scored some points. Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell drove for Vanwall .

Another British team, BRM , also took part in this race, for the first time with a specially designed car. BRM previously competed in various Formula 1 races under the name Owen Racing Organization , but with a private Maserati 250F . The new BRM P25 initially did not score any points, but in the following years it was the basis for successful BRM cars, with which the team won the driver's title and the designer title in 1962 and became one of the most successful teams of the 1960s. At the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix, BRM Mike Hawthorn and Formula 1 debutant Tony Brooks competed.

Furthermore, Louis Rosier , Horace Gould and Giorgio Scarlatti took part in the race with private cars. For Scarlotti it was his first Formula 1 race.

With Fangio and Trintignant, the two drivers who won the two previous Monaco Grands Prix also took part; in the drivers' standings, Fangio was one point behind the driver standings leader Behra.

training

Like the 1956 Argentina Grand Prix, training was previously dominated by Fangio. He put his Ferrari on pole position with a time of 1: 44.0 and was more than half a second faster than his former teammate Moss in the Maserati.

Maserati secured second and fourth on the grid in practice, while Ferrari secured pole position and third on the grid. Castellotti and Behra started behind Fangio and Moss. With a gap of only three tenths of a second to the top Italian teams, Schell and Trintignant qualified in fifth and sixth place at the same time and showed an upward trend at Vanwall.

Perdisa qualified in seventh place, followed by the Ferrari of Musso and Collins. The three Gordini finished ten to twelve on the grid and, with more than three seconds behind the competition, were not competitive this weekend.

Of the drivers with private cars, Rosier and Gould qualified for the race, Scarlatti was too slow with an outdated Ferrari 500 and, 25.1 seconds behind Fangio's pole time, did not qualify.

BRM was forced to withdraw its two new cars because the cars had major engine problems, a similar fate befell Louis Chiron, who also withdrew from the race after an engine failure. With the start he would have surpassed his own record as the oldest participant in a Formula 1 race, which is still valid today.

run

The race was marked by the battle between Ferrari and Maserati. Moss and Castellotti overtook Fangio on the first lap of the race and then fought a duel in which Moss kept the lead and passed Fangio Castellotti again. This duel allowed Moss to extend his lead to more than five seconds within the first lap.

On the second lap of the race, Fangio drove in the curve “St. Devote ”into the route limitation and blocked the route for a short time. Several cars tried to avoid him, but Musso and Schell did not succeed and they collided. For the two of them the race was over, while Fangio drove on with the slightly damaged Ferrari. Lying in fourth place, he started a race to catch up with the leaders.

After Schell's accident, the second Vanwall also retired on lap 13, Trintignant's car overheated and was unable to continue the race. A lap later, Castellotti, who was in second position, was eliminated, making Collins the new second. Behind Collins, Behra and Fangio dueled for third place, which Fangio claimed by overtaking Behra. Then the stable control took over at Ferrari and Collins let his teammate Fangio by so that Fangio was able to continue his chase after the leading Maserati driver Moss unhindered.

On lap 32, Fangio made the next driving error and collided with the track barrier again. He drove the badly damaged car into the pits and handed it over to Castellotti, who had already retired. Fangio himself waited in the pits for Collins, who was instructed by the Ferrari team management to come into the pits and make his car available to Fangio. With this car the reigning world champion tried again to reduce Moss' lead.

With 30 laps to go, Fangio overtook Behra again and was 45 seconds behind Moss. Fangio's aggressive driving style narrowed the gap by more than a second every lap. Moss relied on a conservative and careful driving style and managed the lead.

On lap 86, the leading Moss collided while lapping Perdisa and suffered minor damage to the car. One of the bonnet brackets was destroyed in the process, so that it rose slightly in some bends. Moss reduced his speed significantly in the last laps of the race, so that Fangio caught up two seconds per lap, but could not catch up with the leader.

Moss won the second Grand Prix of his career six seconds ahead of Fangio, who shared the points for second place with Collins. For Collins it was his first career podium and the first points. It was the first time in Formula 1 history that two British drivers stood on the podium.

The podium was completed by Behra, who kept the lead in the drivers' championship with one point ahead of Fangio. Castellotti crossed the finish line in fourth place with the badly damaged car of Fangio and received half of the points, while Fangio only received half points for second place and an additional one for the fastest lap. Da Silva Ramos in Gordini achieved fifth position and received the only points of his career.

Moss caught up with victory in the drivers' championship and was one point behind Fangio in third place.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Equipe Gordini	02	Robert Manzon	Gordini Type 16 / Gordini Type 32	Gordini 2.5 L6 / Gordini 2.5 L8	E.
	04th	Élie Bayol	Gordini Type 32	Gordini 2.5 L8
		André Pilette
	06th	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini Type 16	Gordini 2.5 L6
Ecurie Rosier	08th	Louis Rosier	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Owen Racing Organization	10	Mike Hawthorn	BRM P25	BRM 2.5 L4	D.
	12	Tony Brooks
Vandervell Products Ltd	14th	Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall VW 56	Vanwall 2.5 L4	D.
	16	Harry Schell
Goulds' garage	18th	Horace Gould	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
Scuderia Ferrari	20th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	E.
		Eugenio Castellotti
	22nd	Eugenio Castellotti
	24	Luigi Musso
	26th	Peter Collins
		Juan Manuel Fangio
Officine Alfieri Maserati	28	Stirling Moss	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	30th	Jean Behra
	32	Cesare Perdisa
Scuderia Centro Sud	34	Louis Chiron	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Giorgio Scarlatti	36	Giorgio Scarlatti	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P

Remarks

1. ↑ Élie Bayol and André Pilette drove the car 44 laps each.
2. ↑ Juan Manuel Fangio drove the car 40 laps, Eugenio Castellotti 54 laps.
3. ↑ Peter Collins drove the car 54 laps, Juan Manuel Fangio 46 laps.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	1: 44.0	108.87 km / h	01
02	Stirling Moss	Maserati	1: 44.6	108.24 km / h	02
03	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	1: 44.9	107.93 km / h	03
04th	Jean Behra	Maserati	1: 45.3	107.52 km / h	04th
05	Harry Schell	Vanwall	1: 45.6	107.22 km / h	05
06th	Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	1: 45.6	107.22 km / h	06th
07th	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	1: 46.0	106.81 km / h	07th
08th	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	1: 46.8	106.01 km / h	08th
09	Peter Collins	Ferrari	1: 47.0	105.81 km / h	09
10	Élie Bayol	Gordini	1: 50.0	102.93 km / h	10
11	Robert Manzon	Gordini	1: 50.3	102.65 km / h	11
12	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	1: 50.6	102.37 km / h	12
13	Louis Rosier	Maserati	1: 51.5	101.45 km / h	13
14th	Horace Gould	Maserati	1: 51.7	101.36 km / h	14th
15th	Giorgio Scarlatti	Ferrari	2: 09.1	87.70 km / h	DNQ

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Stirling Moss	Maserati	100		3: 00: 32.9	02
02	Peter Collins Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	100		+ 6.1	09
03	Jean Behra	Maserati	99		+ 1 lap	04th
04th	Juan Manuel Fangio Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	94		+ 6 rounds	01
05	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	93		+ 7 rounds	12
06th	Élie Bayol André Pilette	Gordini	88		+ 12 rounds	10
07th	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	86		+ 14 rounds	07th
08th	Horace Gould	Maserati	85		+ 15 rounds	14th
-	Robert Manzon	Gordini	90		DNF	11		accident
-	Louis Rosier	Maserati	72		DNF	13		Engine failure
-	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	14th		DNF	03		coupling
-	Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	13		DNF	06th		Overheating
-	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	02		DNF	08th		accident
-	Harry Schell	Vanwall	02		DNF	05		accident
-	Tony Brooks	BRM	00		DNS			Valve
-	Louis Chiron	Maserati	00		DNS			engine
-	Mike Hawthorn	BRM	00		DNS			engine

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.

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.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari Lancia	5 *	3 + 1.5 *							10.5
2.	Jean Behra	Maserati	6th	4th							10
3.	Stirling Moss	Maserati		8th							8th
4th	Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	4th								4th
	Luigi Musso	Ferrari Lancia	4th								4th
6th	Peter Collins	Ferrari		3 *							3
7th	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari Lancia	2								2
	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini		2							2
9.	Gerino Gerini	Maserati	1.5								1.5
	Chico Landi	Maserati	1.5								1.5
	Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari Lancia		1.5							1.5

Individual evidence

Web links

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