1955 British Grand Prix

The 1955 British Grand Prix was the sixth race of the 1955 Formula One Season. It was held at Aintree Circuit on July 16, 1955, and became the penultimate round of the year, following the Le Mans disaster which led to the cancellation of the French, German, Swiss and Spanish Grands Prix.

This Grand Prix saw history being made, as Stirling Moss became the first Briton to win a British Grand Prix, winning in a Mercedes 1-2-3-4. In fact, the team was so dominant during the weekend that the top four in the race were Mercedes drivers, the highest of the non-Mercedes cars being the Maserati of Luigi Musso.

The podium was completed by Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and German Karl Kling. It was also the debut for Australian driver, and future world champion, Jack Brabham.

BackgroundEdit

Entry ListEdit

The full entry list for the 1955 British Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
2	Jean Behra	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
4	Luigi Musso	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
6	Roberto Mieres	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
8	André Simon	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Daimler Benz AG	Mercedes	W196	Mercedes	M196 L8 2.5	C
12	Stirling Moss	Daimler Benz AG	Mercedes	W196	Mercedes	M196 L8 2.5	C
14	Karl Kling	Daimler Benz AG	Mercedes	W196	Mercedes	M196 L8 2.5	C
16	Mike Hawthorn	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	555	Ferrari	555 L4 2.5	E
18	Maurice Trintignant	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	555	Ferrari	555 L4 2.5	E
20	Eugenio Castellotti	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	555	Ferrari	555 L4 2.5	E
22	Robert Manzon	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T16	Gordini	23 L6 2.5	E
24	Hermano da Silva Ramos	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T16	Gordini	23 L6 2.5	E
26	Mike Sparken	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T32	Gordini	25 L6 2.5	E
28	Ken Wharton	Vandervall Products	Vanwall	VW 55	Vanwall	254 L4 2.5	P
30	Harry Schell	Vandervall Products	Vanwall	VW 55	Vanwall	254 L4 2.5	P
32	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	B	Alta	GP L4 2.5	D
34	Jack Fairman	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	B	Alta	GP L4 2.5	D
36	Tony Rolt	Rob Walker Racing Team	Connaught	B	Alta	GP L4 2.5	D
38	Leslie Marr	Leslie Marr	Connaught	B	Alta	GP L4 2.5	D
40	Jack Brabham	Cooper Car Company	Cooper	T40	Bristol	BS1 L6 2.0	D
42	Peter Collins	Owen Racing Organisation	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	D
44	Roy Salvadori	Gilby Engineering	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	D
46	Lance Macklin	Stirling Moss Ltd.	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	D
48	Horace Gould	Gould's Garage	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	D
50	Piero Taruffi	Daimler Benz AG	Mercedes	W196	Mercedes	M196 L8 2.5	C

PracticeEdit

Practice ResultsEdit

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

GridEdit

RaceEdit

Race ResultsEdit

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

Standings after the raceEdit

TriviaEdit

• First win and pole position for Stirling Moss.
• Moss' pole and fastest lap times are the same (2:00.4), a rare occurrence in Formula One.
• First races for Jack Brabham and Mike Sparken. The latter's only appearance.
• First win for a British driver at the British Grand Prix.
• All laps were timed using equipment for horse racing, which timed to ¹⁄₅ of a second.

NotesEdit

1. ↑ Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 90. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.

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