1956 Belgian Grand Prix

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1956 Belgian Grand Prix
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Spa-Francorchamps layout
Spa-Francorchamps layout
Race details
Date June 3, 1956
Official name XVIII Grote Prijs Van Belgie
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 14.120 km (8.774 miles)
Distance 36 laps, 508.320 km (315.855 miles)
Weather Wet and overcast, later drying
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 4:09.8
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Stirling Moss Maserati
Time 4:14.7
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third Maserati
Lap leaders

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 Formule One podium for a Belgian driver.

Classification[edit]

Qualifying[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 4:09.8
2 30 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Maserati 4:14.7 +4.9
3 8 United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari 4:15.3 +5.5
4 32 France Jean Behra Maserati 4:16.7 +6.9
5 4 Italy Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 4:16.7 +6.9
6 10 United States Harry Schell Vanwall 4:19.0 +9.2
7 12 France Maurice Trintignant Vanwall 4:22.8 +13.0
8 6 Belgium Paul Frère Ferrari 4:23.8 +14.0
9 34 Italy Cesare Perdisa Maserati 4:35.7 +25.9
10 24 France Louis Rosier Maserati 4:35.9 +26.1
11 22 Italy Luigi Villoresi Maserati 4:37.7 +27.9
12 28 Italy Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta 4:41.9 +32.1
13 38 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Maserati 4:48.9 +39.1
14 36 Spain Paco Godia Maserati 4:49.8 +40.0
15 26 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 4:50.4 +40.6
16 20 Belgium André Pilette Ferrari 4:51.9 +42.1
Source:[1]

Race[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari 36 2:40:00.3 3 8
2 6 Belgium Paul Frère Ferrari 36 +1:51.3 8 6
3 34 Italy Cesare Perdisa
United Kingdom Stirling Moss
Maserati 36 +3:16.6 9 2
31
4 10 United States Harry Schell Vanwall 35 +1 Lap 6 3
5 22 Italy Luigi Villoresi Maserati 34 +2 Laps 11 2
6 20 Belgium André Pilette Ferrari 33 +3 Laps 15
7 32 France Jean Behra Maserati 33 +3 Laps 4
8 24 France Louis Rosier Maserati 33 +3 Laps 10
Ret 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 23 Transmission 1
Ret 12 France Maurice Trintignant Vanwall 11 Fuel system 7
Ret 30 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Maserati 10 Wheel 2
Ret 4 Italy Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 10 Transmission 5
Ret 28 Italy Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta 10 Engine 12
Ret 26 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 2 Gearbox 14
Ret 36 Spain Paco Godia Maserati 0 Accident 13
DNS 38 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Maserati 0
Source:[2]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drive[edit]

  • Car #34: Perdisa (13 laps) and Moss (23 laps).

Championship standings after the race[edit]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
8 1 United Kingdom Peter Collins 11
1 2 United Kingdom Stirling Moss 11
2 3 France Jean Behra 10
2 4 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 9
1 5 United States Pat Flaherty 8
Source: [3]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1956 Belgian GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  2. ^ "1956 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Belgium 1956 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


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1956 Indianapolis 500
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1956 season
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1956 French Grand Prix
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1955 Belgian Grand Prix
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1958 Belgian Grand Prix