1956 French Grand Prix

The 1956 French Grand Prix was held on July 1. It was the fifth race of the 1956 Formula One Season, and was held at the Reims-Gueux circuit. A race of attrition led to an exciting battle between the two surviving Lancia-Ferraris of Peter Collins and Eugenio Castellotti, which was thwarted 10 laps from the end when the team ordered the drivers to hold place with Collins in front, eventually winning by 0.3 seconds. Almost a minute and a half later came third place finisher Jean Behra in a Maserati, the only other car on the lead lap.

BackgroundEdit

This race was notable for the only appearance of the Bugatti 251. Powered by an oversquare Inline eight engine, mounted transversely behind the driver. The car was entrusted to Maurice Trintignant, but the lack of development and funding was painfully obvious, and he retired it after 18 laps.

Entry ListEdit

The full entry list for the 1956 French Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entreat	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
2	Stirling Moss	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
4	Jean Behra	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
6	Cesare Perdisa	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
8	Piero Taruffi	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari	D50	Ferrari	DS50 V8 2.5	E
12	Eugenio Castellotti	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari	D50	Ferrari	DS50 V8 2.5	E
14	Peter Collins	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari	D50	Ferrari	DS50 V8 2.5	E
16	Alfonso de Portago	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari	D50	Ferrari	DS50 V8 2.5	E
22	Harry Schell	Vandervell Products	Vanwall	VW 2	Vanwall	254 L4 2.5	P
24	Mike Hawthorn	Vandervell Products	Vanwall	VW 2	Vanwall	254 L4 2.5	P
26	Colin Chapman	Vandervell Products	Vanwall	VW 2	Vanwall	254 L4 2.5	P
28	Maurice Trintignant	Automobiles Bugatti	Bugatti	T251	Bugatti	L8 2.5	E
30	Robert Manzon	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T32	Gordini	25 L8 2.5	E
32	Hermano da Silva Ramos	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T32	Gordini	25 L8 2.5	E
34	André Pilette	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	T16	Gordini	23 L6 2.5	E
36	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
38	Luigi Villoresi	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
40	Francisco Godia-Sales	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
42	André Simon	Privateer	Maserati	250F	Maserati	250F1 L6 2.5	P
44	Olivier Gendebien	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari	D50	Ferrari	DS50 V8 2.5	E

Practice OverviewEdit

QualifyingEdit

ReportEdit

Qualifying ResultsEdit

The full qualifying results for the 1956 French Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	2:23.3	—
2	12	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia-Ferrari	2:24.6	+1.3s
3	14	Peter Collins	Lancia-Ferrari	2:24.9	+1.6s
4	22	Harry Schell	Vanwall	2:26.1	+2.8s
5*	26	Colin Chapman	Vanwall	2:26.8	+3.5s
6	24	Mike Hawthorn	Vanwall	2:27.0	+3.7s
7	4	Jean Behra	Maserati	2:27.8	+4.5s
8	2	Stirling Moss	Maserati	2:29.9	+6.6s
9	16	Alfonso de Portago	Lancia-Ferrari	2:32.8	+9.5s
10	38	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	2:33.3	+10.0s
11	44	Olivier Gendebien	Lancia-Ferrari	2:34.5	+11.2s
12	36	Louis Rosier	Maserati	2:34.5	+11.2s
13	8	Piero Taruffi	Maserati	2:35.3	+12.0s
14	32	Hermano da Silva Ramos	Gordini	2:35.9	+12.6s
15	30	Robert Manzon	Gordini	2:36.0	+12.7s
16	6	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	2:36.4	+13.1s
17	40	Francisco Godia-Sales	Maserati	2:40.4	+17.1s
18	28	Maurice Trintignant	Bugatti	2:41.9	+18.6s
19	34	André Pilette	Gordini	2:46.8	+23.5s
20	42	André Simon	Maserati	2:57.9	+34.6s

• * Colin Chapman qualified 5th as he crashed and injured and did not take the start of the race.

GridEdit

RaceEdit

ReportEdit

ResultsEdit

The full results for the 1956 French Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	14	Peter Collins	Lancia-Ferrari	61	2:34:23.4	3	8
2	12	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia-Ferrari	61	+ 0.3	2	6
3	4	Jean Behra	Maserati	61	+ 1:29.8	7	4
4	10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	61	+ 1:35.1	1	4
5	6	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	39	+ 2 Laps	16	1
		Stirling Moss		20			1
6	36	Louis Rosier	Maserati	58	+ 3 Laps	12
7	40	Francisco Godia-Sales	Maserati	57	+ 4 Laps	17
8	32	Hermano da Silva Ramos	Gordini	57	+ 4 Laps	14
9	30	Robert Manzon	Gordini	56	+ 5 Laps	15
10	24	Mike Hawthorn	Vanwall	10	+ 5 Laps	16
		Harry Schell		46
11	34	André Pilette	Gordini	55	+ 6 Laps	19
Ret	42	André Simon	Maserati	41	Engine	20
Ret	8	Piero Taruffi	Maserati	40	Engine	13
Ret	44	Olivier Gendebien	Lancia-Ferrari	38	Clutch	11
Ret	38	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	23	Brakes	10
Ret	16	Alfonso de Portago	Lancia-Ferrari	20	Gearbox	9
Ret	28	Maurice Trintignant	Bugatti	18	Throttle	18
Ret	2	Stirling Moss	Maserati	12	Gearbox	8
Ret	22	Harry Schell	Vanwall	5	Engine	4
DNS	26	Colin Chapman	Vanwall	Practice accident

MilestonesEdit

• Colin Chapman's first and only race entry, but did not start due to an accident in practice.

StandingsEdit

V T E	French Grand Prix
Circuits	Reims (1950–1951, 1953–1954, 1956, 1958–1961, 1963, 1966) Rouen-Les-Essarts (1952, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1968) Charade Circuit (1965, 1969–1970, 1972) Bugatti Circuit (1967) Circuit Paul Ricard (1971, 1973, 1975–1976, 1978, 1980, 1982–1983, 1985–1990, 2018-present) Dijon-Prenois (1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1984) Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1991–2008)
Races	1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009–2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020
European Championship Races	1931 • 1932 • 1933–1937 • 1938 • 1939
Non-Championship Races	1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909–1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 • 1915–1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931–1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938–1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949