1955 Monaco Grand Prix

  1955 Monaco Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 7 in the 1955 Formula One season
Date	May 22, 1955
Official name	XIII Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco
Course	Street circuit 3.181 km (1.977 mi)
Distance	100 laps, 318.1 km (197.7 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Time	1:41.1
Fastest lap
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Time	1:42.4
Podium
First	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari
Second	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia
Third	Jean Behra Cesare Perdisa	Maserati

The 1955 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on May 22, 1955. It was the second round of the 1955 World Drivers' Championship and was given an honorary name, Grand Prix d'Europe.^[1]

Race report

Stirling Moss had been signed by Mercedes for the new season and Maserati had replaced him with Jean Behra. The Silver Arrows of Fangio and Moss dominated, running 1-2 until half distance, trailed by Ascari and Castellotti. At the halfway mark, Fangio retired with transmission trouble,^[2] giving the lead to Moss. Almost a lap ahead, a seemingly sure win for Moss was ended on Lap 80 when his Benz's engine blew.^[2] The new leader Ascari got it all wrong at the chicane coming out of the tunnel, his Lancia crashing through the barriers into the harbour and having to swim to safety. Maurice Trintignant, in a Ferrari 625 thought to be uncompetitive, inherited the lead and scored his first Formula One victory.^[2]

Mercedes driver Hans Herrmann injured himself in practice and was replaced by André Simon.

This race marked the Grand Prix debut for Cesare Perdisa. It was the only Grand Prix appearance for Ted Whiteaway. This was the last Grand Prix appearance for Alberto Ascari; he was killed four days later testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza.

It was the first win for Maurice Trintignant and Englebert tyres. It was also the first podium and points for Eugenio Castellotti and Cesare Perdisa, and the first win for a French driver.^{[citation needed]}

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	100	2:58:09.8	9	8
2	30	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia	100	+20.2 secs	4	6
3	34	Jean Behra Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	99	+1 lap	5	2 2
4	42	Nino Farina	Ferrari	99	+1 lap	14	3
5	28	Luigi Villoresi	Lancia	99	+1 lap	7	2
6	32	Louis Chiron	Lancia	95	+5 Laps	19
7	10	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	91	+9 laps	20
8	48	Piero Taruffi Paul Frère	Ferrari	86	+14 laps	15
9	6	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	81	+19 laps	3
Ret	40	Cesare Perdisa Jean Behra	Maserati	86	Spun off	11
Ret	26	Alberto Ascari	Lancia	80	Accident	2
Ret	46	Harry Schell	Ferrari	68	Engine	18
Ret	36	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	64	Transmission	6
Ret	12	Élie Bayol	Gordini	63	Transmission	16
Ret	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	49	Transmission	1	1
Ret	8	Robert Manzon	Gordini	38	Gearbox	13
Ret	4	André Simon	Mercedes	24	Engine	10
Ret	18	Mike Hawthorn	Vanwall	22	Throttle	12
Ret	14	Louis Rosier	Maserati	8	Fuel leak	17
Ret	38	Luigi Musso	Maserati	7	Transmission	8
DNQ	22	Lance Macklin	Maserati
DNQ	24	Ted Whiteaway	HWM-Alta
DNQ	4	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes		Driver injured

Lap leaders

Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, and Maurice Trintignant.

Shared drives

• • Car #34: Jean Behra (42 laps) and Cesare Perdisa (57 laps). They shared the 4 points for third place.
  • Car #48: Piero Taruffi (50 laps) and Paul Frère (36 laps).
  • Car #40: Cesare Perdisa (40 laps) and Jean Behra (46 laps).

Summary

• Juan Manuel Fangio broke the track record that had stood since 1937, when Rudolf Caracciola turned a lap in 1:46.5 in a 5.6-litre Mercedes W125, running the circuit in 1:41.1 on the first day of practice in his Mercedes W196.
• Alberto Ascari matched Fangio's time in his Lancia D50 during the Saturday practice, though the order had been set on the first day of practice in a singular exception to the policy of the time of all practice laps counting towards grid position.
• In practice, Mercedes youngster Hans Herrmann crashed into a harbour wall and suffered injuries that took him out for the rest of the season.
• Ascari was driving the number 26 car, the same number that had been on the P2 Alfa Romeo his father, Antonio Ascari, had been driving when killed in the July 26, 1925 French Grand Prix. The superstitious Ascari was between Mercedes drivers Fangio and Stirling Moss in the numbers 2 and 6 respectively.
• Andre Simon had the first Mercedes to leave contention in the race, when engine failure took him out of the race. Of the Mercedes, Fangio left the race next with transmission problems on lap 50, leaving Stirling Moss in first and Ascari in second. Lap 80 saw Moss taken out by a minor problem in his car's sophisticated valve train, leaving Ascari in first. He never made it past the pits to see that, however: his Lancia didn't make the chicane (possibly losing traction on oil from Moss's engine failure) and he flipped over the barrier and in to the harbor. His Lancia was craned out of 25 feet of water while he spent the night in the hospital.
• Later events indicate that he probably should have kept his superstitions up and taken this as an omen, but his motivation wouldn't quit and four days later he was back in the cockpit at Monza, where he was killed in a bizarre accident while testing a Ferrari. On the 26th of the month. There are no definite explanations for either of Ascari's accidents, but the Monza incident was, apart from possible undetected brain injuries after the crash, probably caused by an improperly-sized tire – 7.00x16 rather than 6.50x16 – combined with an imperfect track surface.
• Mercedes also had not seen the last of their troubles – after all three cars left contention with mechanical problems at Monaco, the worst accident in racing history involved a Mercedes.
• Louis Chiron's start made him the oldest driver to start a grand prix (55 years, 292 days).

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Maurice Trintignant	11 1⁄3
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	10
1	3	Nino Farina	6 1⁄3
10	4	Eugenio Castellotti	6
1	5	José Froilán González	2

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

Sources

• Kettlewell, Mike. "Monaco: Road Racing on the Riviera", in Northey, Tom, editor. World of Automobiles, Volume 12, pp. 1381–4. London: Orbis, 1974.