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The 1955 Argentine Grand Prix (formally the III Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina) was the first race of the 1955 Formula One Season and the third Argentine Grand Prix. It was held at the Autódromo 17 de Octubre on 16 January 1955.

Run in extremely hot conditions, the race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio, ahead of the shard drive of José Froilán González, Giuseppe Farina and Maurice Trintignant. Farina and Trintignant, along with Umberto Maglioli, also finished third. Fangio took the fastest lap. The conditions caused many drivers to stop for relief, which resulted in drivers sharing different cars. The situation was so confusing that the organizers called in an accounting firm to audit the results.

As a result of the shared drives, Fangio lead the championship, 5 23 points ahead of Farina and Trintignant.

Background[]

The first race of the season, four months ahead of the second, was to the third held at the Autódromo 17 de Octubre.

Local hero and double World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio, was joined at Mercedes by old teammates Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann, and new teammate Stirling Moss.

Ferrari, having lost Mike Hawthorn to Vanwall, entered with 1950 champion Giuseppe Farina, Argentine José Froilán González, Frenchman Maurice Trintignant and spare driver Umberto Magioli for just his fifth race.

Maserati took new recruit Jean Behra to race alongside Luigi Musso, and Sergio Mantovani and Harry Schell as Roberto Mieres got to drive his home race. Local drivers Carlos Menditeguy and Clemar Bucci also drove for the team.

Lancia took along double World Champion Alberto Ascari and his teammates Luigi Villoresi and Eugenio Castellotti.

Gordini's three-man team included Frenchman Élie Bayol and Argentines Pablo Birger and Jesús Iglesias.

The only private entry was that of Uruguayan Alberto Uria, who drove a Maserati.

Qualifying[]

Qualifying Report[]

Post-qualifying[]

Qualifying Results[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 12 Argentina José Froilán González Italy Ferrari 1:43.1
2 32 Italy Alberto Ascari Italy Lancia 1:43.6 + 0.5
3 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Germany Mercedes 1:43.7 + 0.6
4 16 France Jean Behra Italy Maserati 1:43.8 + 0.7
5 10 Italy Giuseppe Farina Italy Ferrari 1:43.9 + 0.8
6 4 West Germany Karl Kling West Germany Mercedes 1:44.1 + 1.0
7 28 United States Harry Schell Italy Maserati 1:44.3 + 1.2
8 6 United Kingdom Stirling Moss West Germany Mercedes 1:44.6 + 1.5
9 40 Argentina Pablo Birger France Gordini 1:44.8 + 1.7
10 8 West Germany Hans Herrmann West Germany Mercedes 1:44.9 + 1.8
11 34 Italy Luigi Villoresi Italy Lancia 1:45.2 + 2.1
12 36 Italy Eugenio Castellotti Italy Lancia 1:45.3 + 2.2
13 24 Argentina Carlos Menditeguy Italy Maserati 1:45.4 + 2.3
14 14 France Maurice Trintignant Italy Ferrari 1:45.8 + 2.7
15 38 France Élie Bayol France Gordini 1:46.1 + 3.0
16 18 Argentina Roberto Mieres Italy Maserati 1:46.2 + 3.1
17 42 Argentina Jesús Iglesias France Gordini 1:46.3 + 3.2
18 22 Italy Luigi Musso Italy Maserati 1:46.4 + 3.3
19 20 Italy Sergio Mantovani Italy Maserati 1:46.4 + 3.3
20 26 Argentina Clemar Bucci Italy Maserati 1:47.6 + 4.5
21 30 Uruguay Alberto Uria Italy Maserati 1:52.1 + 9.0

Grid[]

Pos Pos Pos Pos
Driver Driver Driver Driver
______________
______________ 1
______________ 2 José Froilán González
______________ 3 Alberto Ascari
4 Juan Manuel Fangio
Jean Behra
______________
______________ 5
______________ 6 Giuseppe Farina
7 Karl Kling
Harry Schell
______________
______________ 8
______________ 9 Stirling Moss
______________ 10 Pablo Birger
11 Hans Herrmann
Luigi Villoresi
______________
______________ 12
______________ 13 Eugentio Castellotti
14 Carlos Menditeguy
Maurice Trintignant
______________
______________ 15
______________ 16 Élie Bayol
______________ 17 Roberto Mieres
18 Jesús Iglesias
Luigi Musso
______________
______________ 19
______________ 20 Sergio Mantovani
21 Clemar Bucci
Alberto Uria



Race[]

Report[]

The cars seemed closely matched and on the front row of the grid was one of each of the cars from the big four teams: Gonzalez just ahead of Ascari, Fangio and Behra.

Race day was extremely hot and Fangio delighted the locals by getting into the lead on the first lap with Ascari and a fast-starting Stirling Moss chasing him. Then came Gonzalez and Farina.

Fangio's lead did not last long. Ascari challenged him and got ahead only to lose the lead soon afterwards to a flying Gonzalez. The racing stayed close in the early laps but on lap 22 Ascari made a mistake and crashed. His Lancia team mate Villoresi was already out because of early mechanical trouble and had taken over Castellotti's car but before Ascari could claim the car, Villoresi crashed, ending the Lancia challenge.

Moss disappeared with a fuel feed problem and a few laps later Trintignant went out with an engine problem.

And then the heat began to tell on the drivers. Farina pitted because he was exhausted, his car being taken over by Ferrari's spare driver Umberto Maglioli. Then Gonzalez came into the pits and so a revived Farina was sent out in his place. Fangio had to stop for some water and this enabled Schell and Mieres to go ahead although an exhausted Schell was soon handing over to Behra. Mieres ran into technical trouble and that meant that Fangio was soon back in the lead.

He was caught in the closing laps by Gonzalez - who was back in his own car which had been driven in the interim by Farina and Trintignant - but he then had an accident and ruined his chances. He did manage to rejoin and handed the car back to Farina who brought the Ferrari home in second place.

Third place in this complicated race went to Farina's original car which had been driven by Maglioli and then handed on to Trintignant before being handed back to Maglioli.

Post-race[]

The hottest F1 race at the time meant that multiple drivers required replacements, and only Juan Manuel Fangio and Roberto Mieres survived the whole race without partaking in a shared drive. All in all, sixteen replacements took place, and three of the shared drives scored points, and while Fangio took the fastest lap, nine drivers scored points, and Fangio was left with a lead of 5 23 points in the championship over both Giuseppe Farina and Maurice Trintignant. Trintignant, Jean Behra and Harry Schell all managed to drive three different cars during the race.

Fangio suffered severe burns to his right leg after it rubbed against some exhaust-heated chassis frame for the duration of the race. It took the Argentine three months to recover, but he did not miss any championship events.

Results[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Germany Mercedes 96 3:00:38.6 3 9
2 12 Argentina José Froilán González
Italy Nino Farina
France Maurice Trintignant
Italy Ferrari 96 + 1:29.6 1 2
2
2
3 10 Italy Giuseppe Farina
France Maurice Trintignant
Italy Umberto Maglioli
Italy Ferrari 94 + 2 laps 5 1 13
1 13
1 13
4 8 West Germany Hans Herrmann
West Germany Karl Kling
United Kingdom Stirling Moss
West Germany Mercedes 94 + 2 laps 10 1
1
1
5 18 Argentina Roberto Mieres Italy Maserati 91 + 5 laps 16 2
6 28 United States Harry Schell
France Jean Behra
Italy Maserati 88 + 8 laps 7
7 22 Italy Luigi Musso
Italy Sergio Mantovani
United States Harry Schell
Italy Maserati 83 + 13 laps 18
Ret 20 Italy Sergio Mantovani
France Jean Behra
Italy Luigi Musso
Italy Maserati 54 Engine 19
Ret 26 Argentina Clemar Bucci
United States Harry Schell
Argentina Carlos Menditeguy
Italy Maserati 54 Fuel Pressure 20
Ret 42 Argentina Jesús Iglesias France Gordini 38 Transmission 17
Ret 14 France Maurice Trintignant Italy Ferrari 36 Engine 14
Ret 36 Italy Eugenio Castellotti
Italy Luigi Villoresi
Italy Lancia 35 Accident 12
Ret 6 United Kingdom Stirling Moss West Germany Mercedes 29 Fuel System 8
Ret 30 Uruguay Alberto Uria Italy Maserati 22 Out of Fuel 21
Ret 32 Italy Alberto Ascari Italy Lancia 21 Accident 2
Ret 38 France Élie Bayol France Gordini 7 Transmission 15
Ret 16 France Jean Behra Italy Maserati 2 Accident 4
Ret 4 West Germany Karl Kling West Germany Mercedes 2 Accident 6
Ret 34 Italy Luigi Villoresi Italy Lancia 2 Fuel Leak 11
Ret 40 Argentina Pablo Birger France Gordini 1 Accident 9
Ret 24 Argentina Carlos Menditeguy Italy Maserati 1 Accident 13

Shared drives[]

Note: The lap figures are the number of laps driven in the car of each entrant, not the individual stints.

Per car[]

No. Pos. Laps Starting drive Second drive Third drive Points
Driver Laps Driver Laps Driver Laps Total Per driver
8 4th 94 Hans Herrmann 30 Karl Kling 30 Stirling Moss 34 3 1
10 3rd 94 Giuseppe Farina 50 Umberto Maglioli 22 Maurice Trintignant 22 4 1 13
12 2nd 96 José Froilán González 60 Giuseppe Farina 20 Maurice Trintignant 16 6 2
20 Ret 54 Sergio Mantovani 30 Jean Behra 14 Luigi Musso 10 0 0
22 7th 83 Luigi Musso 50 Sergio Mantovani 20 Harry Schell 13 0 0
26 Ret 54 Clemar Bucci 30 Harry Schell 14 Carlos Menditeguy 10 0 0
28 6th 88 Harry Schell 50 Jean Behra 38 0 0
36 Ret 35 Eugenio Castellotti 20 Luigi Villoresi 15 0 0

Per driver[]

Driver Starting drive Second drive Third drive Totals
No. Laps Result Pts No. Laps Result Pts No. Laps Result Pts Laps Pts
Jean Behra 16 2/2 Ret 0 20 14/54 Ret 0 28 38/88 6th 0 54 0
Clemar Bucci 26 30/54 Ret 0 30 0
Eugenio Castellotti 36 20/35 Ret 0 20 0
Giuseppe Farina 10 50/94 3rd 1 13 12 20/96 2nd 2 70 3 13
José Froilán González 12 60/96 2nd 2 60 2
Hans Herrmann 8 30/94 4th 1 30 1
Karl Kling 4 2/2 Ret 0 8 30/94 4th 1 32 1
Umberto Maglioli 10 22/94 3rd 1 13 22 1 13
Sergio Mantovani 20 30/54 Ret 0 22 20/83 7th 0 50 0
Carlos Menditeguy 24 1/1 Ret 0 26 10/54 Ret 0 11 0
Stirling Moss 6 29/29 Ret 0 8 34/94 4th 1 63 1
Luigi Musso 22 50/83 7th 0 20 10/54 Ret 0 60 0
Harry Schell 28 50/88 6th 0 26 14/54 Ret 0 22 13/83 7th 0 77 0
Maurice Trintignant 14 36/36 Ret 0 12 16/96 2nd 2 10 22/94 3rd 1 13 74 3 13
Luigi Villoresi 34 2/2 Ret 0 36 15/35 Ret 0 17 0

Fastest lap[]

Note: No other fastest laps were recorded.

No. Driver Constructor Lap Time Avg Speed Race
2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio West Germany Mercedes 45 1:48.3 130.039 1

Laps in the lead[]

By Lap[]

Stint Driver Laps Total Distance
1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 01 – 02 02 007.824 km
2 Italy Alberto Ascari 03 – 04 02 007.824 km
3 Argentina José Froilán González 05 – 10 06 023.472 km
4 Italy Alberto Ascari 11 – 21 11 043.032 km
5 Argentina José Froilán González 22 – 25 04 015.648 km
6 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 26 – 34 09 035.208 km
7 United States Harry Schell 35 – 38 04 015.648 km
8 Argentina Roberto Mieres 39 – 42 04 015.648 km
9 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 43 – 96 54 211.248 km

Totals[]

Pos. Driver Laps Distance
1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 65 254.280 km
2 Italy Alberto Ascari 13 050.856 km
3 Argentina José Froilán González 10 039.120 km
4 United States Harry Schell 04 015.648 km
Argentina Roberto Mieres 04 015.648 km

Milestones[]

Standings after race[]

Drivers Championship only

Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts
1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 9
2 Italy Giuseppe Farina 3 13
France Maurice Trintignant 3 13
4 Argentina José Froilán González 2
Argentina Roberto Mieres 2
6 Italy Umberto Maglioli 1 13
7 West Germany Hans Herrmann 1
West Germany Karl Kling 1
United Kingdom Stirling Moss 1

Notes[]


External links[]

V T E Argentina Argentine Grand Prix
Circuits Buenos Aires (1953 - 1958, 1960, 1971 - 1975, 1977 - 1981, 1995 - 1998)
Buenos Aires
Races 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961–1970 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982–1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998
Non-Championship Race 1971
V T E 1955 Formula One Season
Constructors Arzani-Volpini • Connaught • Cooper • Ferrari • Gordini • HWM • Lancia • Maserati • Mercedes • Vanwall
Engines Alta • Bristol • Ferrari • Gordini • Lancia • Maserati • Mercedes • Vanwall
Drivers Ascari • Bayol • Behra • Birger • Brabham • Bucci • Castellotti • Chiron • Claes • Collins • Fairman • Fangio • Farina • Fitch • Frère • J. F. González • Gould • Hawthorn • Herrmann • Iglesias • Kling • Macklin • Maglioli • Mantovani • Manzon • Marr • McAlpine • Menditeguy • Mieres • S. Moss • Musso • Perdisa • Piotti • Pollet • Rolt • Salvadori • Schell • Silva Ramos • Simon • Sparken • Taruffi • Trintignant • Uria • Villoresi • Walker • Wharton • Whiteaway
Cars Arzani-Volpini F1 • Connaught B • Cooper T40 • Ferrari 555 • Ferrari 625 • Gordini T16 • HWM 53 • Lancia D50  • Maserati 250F • Maserati A6GCM • Mercedes W196 • Vanwall VW55
Tyres Continental • Dunlop • Englebert • Pirelli
Races Argentina • Monaco • Indianapolis • Belgium • Netherlands • Britain • Italy
See also 1954 Formula One Season • 1956 Formula One Season • Category
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