1957 Formula 1 World Championship
Juan-Manuel Fangio Clinched F1 Title at German Grand Prix
Dec 31, 2008
Juan-Manuel Fangio travelled to the 1957 German Grand Prix in the knowledge that he could clinch his fifth Formula 1 World Championship at the Nurburgring. The race which unfolded has passed into motor racing folklore.
Fangio Wins Greatest Race of Career
Fangio started the German Grand Prix from pole, but it was Ferrari drivers Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins who battled for the lead in the early laps. By the third lap Fangio was ready to make his move and passed both men to take the lead. He built up a sizeable lead before pulling in for a scheduled pit stop.
At the pit stop the Maserati mechanics were painfully slow, and Fangio rejoined almost 50 seconds behind the leaders. The situation looked hopeless, but Fangio thought otherwise. He would later explain how, by using a higher gear than normal through corners, he was able to make up the time.
Incredibly, he caught and passed both Collins and Hawthorn, who were playing at the front. It was the final victory of Fangio’s career, and his greatest. The win secured his fifth World Championship. Hawthorn finished second and Collins third. Luigi Musso was fourth in his Ferrari, Stirling Moss fifth and Jean Behra sixth.
Moss Beats Fangio in Pescara Formula 1 Race
The penultimate round of the Formula 1 World Championship was held on the majestic, sweeping Pescara road circuit. Ferrari didn’t bother attending, although Musso was present in a privately entered car from Maranello. Fangio was on pole, but it was Moss who dominated the race. Musso challenged the Vanwall driver in the early stages, before retiring with an engine problem. Fangio finished a distant second, after surviving a spin on oil. The colourful American Harry Schell was third, ahead of his countryman Masten Gregory. Stuart Lewis-Evans finished in fifth and Giorgio Scarlatti was sixth in a Maserati.
Moss and Vanwall Win on Italian Soil
The season ended at Monza, and the Italian fans were not best pleased to see three cars painted British Racing Green at the front of the grid. Vanwall dominated qualifying, with Lewis-Evans on pole ahead of team-mates Moss and Tony Brooks.
The race soon became a classic slipstreaming battle. Lewis-Evans and Brooks both experience car problems, leaving Moss as the sole Vanwall representative at the front. He proved unbeatable and won the race by a considerable margin from Fangio. Between the two of them they had won every Grand Prix in 1957. A young German aristocrat, Count Wolfgang von Trips, was third in a Ferrari. Gregory came home fourth, ahead of a Maserati shared by Scarlatti and Schell.
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