The 1955 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on June 5, 1955. It was race 4 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers. The 36-lap race was won by Mercedes driver Juan Manuel Fangio after he started from second position. His teammate Stirling Moss finished second and Ferrari driver Nino Farina came in third.
Race report
Mercedes returned empty-handed from the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix despite entering three cars and a fourth driver after Hans Herrmann suffered season-ending injury. The promising Lancia D50 was as fast as the silver cars in the hands of Alberto Ascari, but he slipped on oil from Moss's W196 and crashed into the harbour. Even worse, Ascari died a few days later when testing a Ferrari sportscar in Monza, and Lancia stopped its F1 effort. The cars were later given to Ferrari, only the car of Eugenio Castellotti arrived as a private entry in Belgium.
Harry Schell set a grid time but his car was driven by teammate Maurice Trintignant. Castellotti secured pole position with the Lancia D50, becoming the youngest driver to do so (at age 24 years, seven months and 26 days), a record that stood for 13 years until Jacky Ickx's pole position at the 1968 German Grand Prix.
The 1955 Belgian GP was the easiest of 1-2 wins for Mercedes. With the absence of Lancia as a factory team, there was very little competition. Fangio disappeared into the distance with Moss tracking him round while Kling in the third Mercedes suffered an oil leak. Private entrant Eugenio Castellotti retired after 16 laps, Jean Behra crashed and Hawthorn's Vanwall also had an oil leak.
The domination of the silver cars was such that they came in over 2 minutes ahead of Farina in third place after he had lost a great deal of time attempting unsuccessfully to pass Castellotti.
Entries +TeamNoDriverCarEngineTyre Scuderia Ferrari2 Nino FarinaFerrari 555Ferrari 555 2.5 L44 Maurice Trintignant Harry Schell6 Paul Frère8 Piero Taruffi Daimler Benz AG10 Juan Manuel FangioMercedes-Benz W196Mercedes M196 2.5 L812 Karl Kling14 Stirling Moss Officine Alfieri Maserati22 Luigi MussoMaserati 250FMaserati 250F1 2.5 L624 Jean Behra Roberto Mieres26 Cesare Perdisa Ecurie Rosier28 Louis Rosier Scuderia Lancia30 Eugenio CastellottiLancia D50Lancia DS50 2.5 V8 Stirling Moss Ltd38 Johnny ClaesMaserati 250FMaserati 250F1 2.5 L6 Vandervell Products40 Mike HawthornVanwall VW 55Vanwall 254 2.5 L4
Classification Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap1 30 Eugenio Castellotti Lancia 4:18.1—2 10 Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 4:18.6 +0.53 14 Stirling Moss Mercedes 4:19.2 +1.14 2 Nino Farina Ferrari 4:20.9 +2.85 24 Jean Behra Maserati 4:23.6 +5.56 12 Karl Kling Mercedes 4:24.0 +5.97 22 Luigi Musso Maserati 4:26.4 +8.38 6 Paul Frère Ferrari 4:29.7 +11.69 4 Harry Schell Ferrari 4:31.0 +12.910 40 Mike Hawthorn Vanwall 4:33.0 +14.911 4 Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 4:33.2 +15.112 26 Cesare Perdisa Maserati 4:50.9 +32.813 28 Louis Rosier Maserati 4:55.4 +37.314 24 Roberto Mieres Maserati 5:09.0 +50.9 8 Piero Taruffi Ferrari No time 38 Johnny Claes Maserati No time Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 10 Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 36 2:39:29.0 2 9 2 14 Stirling Moss Mercedes 36 +8.1 3 6 3 2 Nino Farina Ferrari 36 +1:40.5 4 4 4 6 Paul Frère Ferrari 36 +3:25.5 8 3 5 24 Roberto Mieres Jean Behra Maserati 35 +1 Lap 13 11 6 4 Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 35 +1 Lap 10 7 22 Luigi Musso Maserati 34 +2 Laps 7 8 26 Cesare Perdisa Maserati 33 +3 Laps 11 9 28 Louis Rosier Maserati 33 +3 Laps 12 12 Karl Kling Mercedes 21 Oil Leak 6 30 Eugenio Castellotti Lancia 16 Gearbox 1 40 Mike Hawthorn Vanwall 8 Gearbox 9 20 Jean Behra Maserati 3 Spun Off 5 38 Johnny Claes Maserati Engine 48 Piero Taruffi Ferrari 4 Harry Schell Ferrari Notes – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Shared drive Car #24: Roberto Mieres (10 laps) and Jean Behra (25 laps). They shared the 2 points for fifth place.
Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Juan Manuel Fangio 19 1 2 Maurice Trintignant 11 1 3 Nino Farina 10 1 4 Bob Sweikert 8 11 5 Stirling Moss 7Source:
References
External links Steve Small - The Grand Prix Who's Who, 1996 Sheldon and Rabagliati - A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 6, 1954-1959, 1987 James Allen on F1 - video of 1955 event Half-hour HiDef copy of contemporary film of the 1955 GP