1958 Portuguese Grand Prix

 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix

Racing data
9th of 11 races in the 1958 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	VII Portuguese Grand Prix
Date:	August 24, 1958
Place:	Porto , Portugal
Course:	Circuito da Boavista
Length:	370 km in 50 laps of 7.4 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Stirling Moss	Vanwall
Time:	2: 34.21 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Time:	2: 32.37 min
Podium
First:	Stirling Moss	Vanwall
Second:	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Third:	Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall

The 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix took place on August 24, 1958 on the Circuito da Boavista near Porto and was the ninth race of the 1958 World Cup .

Reports

background

For the first time in Formula 1 history, a Portuguese Grand Prix was held in 1958. The race took place on a street circuit near Porto and led over cobblestones and train tracks. There were few safety precautions, making this the first of only two grands prix on this track, a second race took place in the 1960 automobile world championship . The race was organized by Casimiro de Oliveira , who also registered as a driver. He lent a Maserati 250F for the planned race, but withdrew after a test drive with the car and then ended his racing career.

Ferrari had lost Peter Collins three weeks earlier in a fatal accident at the 1958 German Grand Prix . The team decided not to replace Collins and therefore only drove with two cars, for Mike Hawthorn and Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips . Ferrari had already lost Luigi Musso before Collins and Alfonso de Portago and Eugenio Castellotti a year earlier, and as a result Cesare Perdisa retired from motorsport. Hawthorn and Graf Berghe von Trips also died in fatal accidents in the following years.

Vanwall started again with three cars after Stuart Lewis-Evans paused a race. Cooper again relied on the driver pairing Jack Brabham and Roy Salvadori , while Maurice Trintignant drove again for the Rob Walker Racing Team . BRM and Team Lotus didn't change anything in their previous driver pairings either.

In the last few races there has been a clear drop in reports from drivers with private Maserati 250Fs ; at the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix, there were only three drivers who were registered for the race with a Maserati. The first of these drivers was Carroll Shelby, who drove for the new Temple Buell team , which took part in the last three races of the 1958 Formula 1 season. Maria Teresa de Filippis drove for Scuderia Centro Sud and Jo Bonnier for his own team. This was Bonnier's last race on a Maserati and he then switched to BRM

In the drivers' standings, all drivers with at least four points had a theoretical chance of becoming world champions, Hawthorn was leading with six points ahead of Moss, who was eight points ahead of Brooks. In the constructors 'championship there was a three-way battle between Ferrari, Vanwall and Cooper for the constructors' world championship, which was held for the first time. Vanwall separated four points from Ferrari before the race.

training

Training for the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix was a close duel between the two drivers' title contenders Hawthorn and Stirling Moss . Both drivers needed 2: 34.21 minutes for their fastest lap. However, since Moss set up this time earlier, the pole position was awarded to him. This was the second pole position of the season for Moss and the fourth for Vanwall. Vanwall confirmed his good racing performance in the last few races and also finished third with Lewis-Evans and fifth with Tony Brooks . BRM was also competitive, Jean Behra positioned himself in fourth place between the two Vanwalls. His team mate Harry Schell qualified in seventh place behind Graf Berghe von Trips.

Cooper reached positions in the midfield, the best driver with a Maserati was Shelby in tenth place. Lotus qualified again only in the back field, Allison had an accident with his car and destroyed it beyond repair. Lotus team boss Colin Chapman then terminated Allison's contract, which meant that he borrowed a car from Scuderia Centro Sud for the rest of the weekend and entered Maserati training and racing with it. After the race, however, Allison agreed again with Chapman and received a new contract for the remaining two Grands Prix of the season.

run

On race day it rained during the day, but the rain stopped before the start of the race. The track was initially still wet, but it dried up quickly. Moss won the starting duel against his rival Hawthorn and retained the lead on the first lap of the race, but Hawthorn overtook Moss on lap two. Behra improved to third, which meant that three constructors were fighting for victory.

On lap six, de Filippis, the only woman in the field, retired with an engine failure. One lap later, Moss overtook the leading Hawthorn in a duel. Bonnier, who drove a Maserati for the last time, gave up the race on lap nine because he was physically exhausted. The third retirement of the race took place on lap 15, again a Maserati, and as with de Filippis before, an engine failure. For Lotus, the race ended on lap 25, the only remaining driver on the team, Graham Hill, spun off the track. Brooks suffered the same fate twelve laps later, a spin ended the race for him and also the drivers' title chances.

At the front, Hawthorn needed a pit stop to get his brakes checked after spinning off the track. Hawthorn lost several positions due to the pit stop, but then worked his way up to third place and when Behra had engine problems, he was back in second place behind Moss. Lewis-Evans also benefited from Behra's technical problems and overtook him towards the end of the race.

Hawthorn drove the fastest race lap a few laps before the end, which, according to the 1958 points regulations, meant one point for the drivers' standings. Moss was in the lead with a sufficiently large gap and the Vanwall team signaled “Hawthorn Rec.” With the aid of a pit board to make him aware that Hawthorn had set the fastest race lap. However, Moss accidentally read "Hawthorn Reg.", Which he interpreted as information that Hawthorn is setting regular lap times. Moss then reduced his pace in the last laps and missed the chance to get the point for the fastest race lap himself. This went down in Formula 1 history as “Moss's reading error”, as this point was one of the decisive factors for the world championship. For Hawthorn it was the last fastest race lap of his career.

Moss won the race five minutes ahead of Hawthorn and teammate Lewis-Evans, who stood on the podium for a second and final time. It was also Lewis-Evans' last finish in a Formula 1 race. Jean Behra reached the finish in fourth place with his car. He reached the points again on his third finish in the 1958 Formula 1 season, but dropped out of all other races of the season. Graf Berghe von Trips crossed the finish line in fifth, ahead of Schell and Brabham.

After the race, Hawthorn was disqualified because he drove against the direction of travel after his spin, which was prohibited for safety reasons. Moss campaigned with those responsible for his opponent and achieved that the disqualification was withdrawn. Without this sporty behavior by Moss, he would have become world champion at the end of the season. Two years earlier, in the 1956 automobile world championship , the driver’s world championship was decided by a sporty, fair gesture when Collins gave Juan Manuel Fangio the title in the last race by letting him have his car.

In the drivers 'championship, Moss came within four points of Hawthorn, other drivers had no more chances of the drivers' championship. In the constructors' championship, Vanwall overtook Ferrari with one point due to the cancellation rules, but Ferrari had four points more than Vanwall in absolute terms. In addition to the two designers, Cooper still had theoretical chances for the title.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Vandervell Products Ltd	02	Stirling Moss	Vanwall VW57	Vanwall 2.5 L4	D.
	04th	Tony Brooks
	06th	Stuart Lewis-Evans
Owen Racing Organization	08th	Jean Behra	BRM P25	BRM 2.5 L4	D.
	10	Harry Schell
Rob Walker Racing Team	12	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper T43	Climax 2.0 L4	D.
Cooper Car Company	14th	Jack Brabham	Cooper T45	Climax 2.2 L4	D.
	16	Roy Salvadori		Climax 2.0 L4
Team Lotus	18th	Cliff Allison	Lotus 16	Climax 2.0 L4	D.
	20th	Graham Hill		Climax 2.2 L4
Scuderia Ferrari	22nd	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari Dino 246F1	Ferrari 2.4 V6	E.
	24	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips
Temple Buell	28	Carroll Shelby	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Scuderia Centro Sud	18th	Cliff Allison	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	30th	Maria Teresa de Filippis
Jo Bonnier	32	Jo Bonnier	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Stirling Moss	Vanwall	2: 34.21	172.53 km / h	01
02	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2: 34.21	172.53 km / h	02
03	Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	2: 34.61	172.30 km / h	03
04th	Jean Behra	BRM	2: 34.91	171.97 km / h	04th
05	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	2: 35.91	170.87 km / h	05
06th	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	2: 37.01	169.67 km / h	06th
07th	Harry Schell	BRM	2: 37.01	169.67 km / h	07th
08th	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	2: 37.41	169.24 km / h	08th
09	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	2: 37.91	168.70 km / h	09
10	Carroll Shelby	Maserati	2: 40.41	166.07 km / h	10
11	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	2: 43.01	163.43 km / h	11
12	Graham Hill	Lotus Climax	2: 46.21	160.28 km / h	12
13	Cliff Allison	Lotus Climax	2: 46.21	160.28 km / h	13
14th	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	2: 46.61	159.89 km / h	14th
15th	Maria Teresa de Filippis	Maserati	3: 01.91	146.45 km / h	15th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Stirling Moss	Vanwall	50		2: 11: 27.8	01
02	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	50		+ 5: 12.75	02	2: 32.37
03	Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	49		+ 1 lap	03
04th	Jean Behra	BRM	49		+ 1 lap	04th
05	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Ferrari	49		+ 1 lap	06th
06th	Harry Schell	BRM	49		+ 1 lap	07th
07th	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	48		+ 2 rounds	08th
08th	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	48		+ 2 rounds	09
09	Carroll Shelby	Maserati	47		+ 3 rounds	10
10	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	46		+ 4 rounds	11
-	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	37		DNF	05		Lathe operator
-	Graham Hill	Lotus Climax	25th		DNF	12		Lathe operator
-	Cliff Allison	Maserati	13		DNF	04th		Engine failure
-	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	09		DNF	14th		physical exhaustion
-	Maria Teresa de Filippis	Maserati	06th		DNF	15th		Engine failure

World Cup stands 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 six best results from eleven races counted. Only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted in the constructors' championship.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 36 (37) 02  Stirling Moss Cooper-Climax / Vanwall 32 03  Tony Brooks Vanwall 16 04th  Peter Collins Ferrari 14th 05  Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 13 06th  Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Climax 12 07th  Luigi Musso Ferrari 12 08th  Harry Schell BRM 12 09  Stuart Lewis-Evans Vanwall 11 10  Jean Behra Maserati / BRM 9

Item driver constructor Points 11  Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Ferrari 9 12  Jimmy Bryan Epperly-Offenhauser 8th 13  Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 7th 14th  George Amick Epperly-Offenhauser 6th 15th  Johnny Boyd Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser 4th 16  Tony Bettenhausen Epperly-Offenhauser 4th 17th  Cliff Allison Lotus Climax 3 18th  Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 3 19th  Jim Rathmann Epperly-Offenhauser 2

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Vanwall 41 02  Ferrari 40 (45) 03  Cooper-Climax 29 04th  BRM 15th 05  Maserati 6th 06th  lotus 3

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• Sporting Moss wins in Oporto at en.espnf1.com
• Grand Prix Results: Portuguese GP, 1958 at grandprix.com
• GP Stories - The races of 1958 at motorsport-magazin.com