The 1956 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 June 1956 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 4 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers.
After the first day of practice on Thursday, Fangio was on pole with a time almost 5 sec faster than second place Moss. These times would not be touched with wet conditions on Friday and windy conditions on Saturday.
It was raining when the race began and Fangio made a poor start and settled in fifth with Moss well in the lead. But by lap 3 Fangio would be in second having passed Behra, Collins, and then Castellotti. By the fifth lap he was in the lead and had opened up an 8-second lead on Moss by lap 10 with Collins third on a drying track. Collins took second when Moss lost a back wheel on the climb after the Eau Rouge bridge. He was able to safely stop and sprint back to the pits and take over Perdisa's car. He resumed in sixth but a lap down to the leaders. Collins took the lead for good when Fangio lost his transmission on lap 24. A tight battle for second between Behra and Frere ended when Behra's engine began to misfire. This allowed Moss to move to third as he had passed Schell earlier. Moss ended the race on a furious pace but the two leaders were too far ahead to make up the gap.
This was the first Formula One podium for a Belgian driver.
Classification Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap1 2 Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 4:09.8—2 30 Stirling Moss Maserati 4:14.7 +4.93 8 Peter Collins Ferrari 4:15.3 +5.54 32 Jean Behra Maserati 4:16.7 +6.95 4 Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 4:16.7 +6.96 10 Harry Schell Vanwall 4:19.0 +9.27 12 Maurice Trintignant Vanwall 4:22.8 +13.08 6 Paul Frère Ferrari 4:23.8 +14.09 34 Cesare Perdisa Maserati 4:35.7 +25.910 24 Louis Rosier Maserati 4:35.9 +26.111 22 Luigi Villoresi Maserati 4:37.7 +27.912 28 Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta 4:41.9 +32.113 38 Mike Hawthorn Maserati 4:48.9 +39.114 36 Paco Godia Maserati 4:49.8 +40.015 26 Horace Gould Maserati 4:50.4 +40.616 20 André Pilette Ferrari 4:51.9 +42.1 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Peter Collins Ferrari 36 2:40:00.3 3 8 2 6 Paul Frère Ferrari 36 +1:51.3 8 6 3 34 Cesare Perdisa Stirling Moss Maserati 36 +3:16.6 9 23 4 10 Harry Schell Vanwall 35 +1 Lap 6 3 5 22 Luigi Villoresi Maserati 34 +2 Laps 11 2 6 20 André Pilette Ferrari 33 +3 Laps 15 7 32 Jean Behra Maserati 33 +3 Laps 4 8 24 Louis Rosier Maserati 33 +3 Laps 10 2 Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 23 Transmission 1 12 Maurice Trintignant Vanwall 11 Fuel system 7 30 Stirling Moss Maserati 10 Wheel 2 4 Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 10 Transmission 5 28 Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta 10 Engine 12 26 Horace Gould Maserati 2 Gearbox 14 36 Paco Godia Maserati 0 Accident 13 38 Mike Hawthorn Maserati 0 Notes – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Shared drive Car #34: Perdisa (13 laps) and Moss (23 laps).
Notes
For the first time in 21 races, Fangio ended the race pointless. Since the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix, Fangio had ended his Formula One World Championship races with at least one point.
Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 8 1 Peter Collins 11 1 2 Stirling Moss 11 2 3 Jean Behra 10 2 4 Juan Manuel Fangio 9 1 5 Pat Flaherty 8Source:
References