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1955 British Grand Prix

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1955 British Grand Prix
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Race details
Date 16 July 1955
Official name 8th RAC British Grand Prix
Location Aintree Circuit, Liverpool, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.828 km (3.000 miles)
Distance 90 laps, 434.52 km (270.00 miles)
Weather Hot, dry.[1]
Attendance 75,000-100,000[1]
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 2:00.4
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Stirling Moss Mercedes
Time 2:00.4
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Mercedes
Third Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 1955 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Aintree on 16 July 1955. It was race 6 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers. British driver Stirling Moss led a Mercedes 1–2–3–4 domination of the race, to win his first Formula One race narrowly ahead of his illustrious Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. Several people, including Moss, believed that the Argentine allowed his British protégé to claim his debut win in front of his home crowd. This was, however, at Moss' inquiry, consistently denied by Fangio, who claimed that Moss "was simply faster that day."

Subsequent to the race, the German, Swiss and Spanish Grands Prix were cancelled, in the wake of the Le Mans disaster. With only one Championship round therefore remaining (the Italian Grand Prix some 2 months later), Fangio's points advantage over Moss was sufficient to secure his third World Drivers' Championship.

This was the last all-Mercedes-powered podium until the 2014 Italian Grand Prix.

Classification

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Qualifying

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 12 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Mercedes 2:00.4
2 10 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 2:00.6 +0.2
3 2 France Jean Behra Maserati 2:01.4 +1.0
4 14 Germany Karl Kling Mercedes 2:02.0 +1.6
5 50 Italy Piero Taruffi Mercedes 2:03.0 +2.6
6 6 Argentina Roberto Mieres Maserati 2:03.2 +2.8
7 30 United States Harry Schell Vanwall 2:03.8 +3.4
8 8 France André Simon Maserati 2:04.0 +3.6
9 4 Italy Luigi Musso Maserati 2:04.2 +3.8
10 20 Italy Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 2:05.0 +4.6
11 22 France Robert Manzon Gordini 2:05.0 +4.6
12 16 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 2:05.4 +5.0
13 18 France Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 2:05.4 +5.0
14 36 United Kingdom Tony Rolt Connaught-Alta 2:06.6 +6.2
15 28 United Kingdom Ken Wharton Vanwall 2:08.4 +8.0
16 46 United Kingdom Lance Macklin Maserati 2:08.4 +8.0
17 32 United Kingdom Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Alta 2:09.6 +9.2
18 24 Brazil Hermano da Silva Ramos Gordini 2:10.6 +10.2
19 38 United Kingdom Leslie Marr Connaught-Alta 2:11.6 +11.2
20 44 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Maserati 2:11.6 +11.2
21 34 United Kingdom Jack Fairman Connaught-Alta 2:11.6 +11.2
22 48 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 2:11.8 +11.4
23 26 France Mike Sparken Gordini 2:12.6 +12.2
24 42 United Kingdom Peter Collins Maserati 2:13.4 +13.0
25 40 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Bristol 2:27.4 +27.0
Source:[2]

Race

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Mercedes 90 3:07:21.2 1 91
2 10 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 90 +0.2 2 6
3 14 Germany Karl Kling Mercedes 90 +1:11.8[3] 4 4
4 50 Italy Piero Taruffi Mercedes 89 +1 Lap 5 3
5 4 Italy Luigi Musso Maserati 89 +1 Lap 9 2
6 16 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn
Italy Eugenio Castellotti
Ferrari 87 +3 Laps 12
7 26 France Mike Sparken Gordini 81 +9 Laps 23
8 46 United Kingdom Lance Macklin Maserati 79 +11 Laps 16
9 28 United Kingdom Ken Wharton
United States Harry Schell
Vanwall 72 +18 Laps 15
Ret 18 France Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 59 Overheating 13
Ret 6 Argentina Roberto Mieres Maserati 47 Engine 6
Ret 40 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Bristol 30 Engine 25
Ret 32 United Kingdom Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Alta 30 Oil Pressure 17
Ret 42 United Kingdom Peter Collins Maserati 28 Clutch 24
Ret 24 Brazil Hermano da Silva Ramos Gordini 26 Oil Pressure 18
Ret 44 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Maserati 23 Gearbox 20
Ret 48 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 22 Brakes 22
Ret 30 United States Harry Schell Vanwall 20 Throttle 7
Ret 36 United Kingdom Tony Rolt
United Kingdom Peter Walker
Connaught-Alta 19 Transmission 14
Ret 38 United Kingdom Leslie Marr Connaught-Alta 18 Brakes 19
Ret 20 Italy Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 16 Transmission 10
Ret 8 France André Simon Maserati 9 Gearbox 8
Ret 2 France Jean Behra Maserati 9 Oil Leak 3
Ret 22 France Robert Manzon Gordini 4 Transmission 11
DNS 34 United Kingdom Jack Fairman Connaught-Alta Engine 21
Source:[4]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  • This was the Formula One debut of future triple world champion Jack Brabham.
  • This was only the second time a Ferrari (powered-car) did not finish in a points position (be it through the classification or a fastest lap). It ended a 37-race streak since the 1950 Belgian Grand Prix of a Ferrari ending a race with at least one point.

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 33
2 United Kingdom Stirling Moss 22
3 France Maurice Trintignant 11 13
4 Italy Nino Farina 10 13
5 United States Bob Sweikert 8
Source:[5]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "100,000 at British Grand Prix". Liverpool Echo. 16 July 1955. Retrieved 9 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "1955 British GP Qualification". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  3. ^ Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 90. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
  4. ^ "1955 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Britain 1955 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


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