1959 Formula One season

The 1959 Formula One season included the 10th FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on May 10, 1959, and ended on December 12 after nine races. Jack Brabham won the title in a sport still reeling from the tragic loss of several drivers, including reigning champion Mike Hawthorn.

Season summary

Vanwall's withdrawal, believed to have been a result of the high mortality rate of the 1958 season, left Ferrari as the only race-winning team in the Championship. However, the British dominance continued with Cooper's revolutionary rear-engined cars. Powered by the compact Coventry-Climax 2.5 litre engine, the Coopers driven by Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren won five races and BRM finally won one in the hands of Jo Bonnier.

Aston Martin also appeared with a car which, in the face of Cooper's rear-engined revolution, was outdated and overweight. The German Grand Prix was held for the second time on the very high speed AVUS circuit, where Ferrari's Jean Behra was killed during an unrelated sports car race.

Ferrari's Tony Brooks took the fight to the Coopers and going into the final race he, Moss or Brabham could win the title. Moss retired from the race, the inaugural United States Grand Prix, giving Brabham the lead. Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap but pushed his car across the line to finish fourth. With Brooks unable to do better than third Brabham became the first Australian World Champion while Cooper won the Constructors crown.

Season review

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
1	Monaco Grand Prix	May 10	Monaco	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
2	Indianapolis 500	May 30	Indianapolis	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	Report
3	Dutch Grand Prix	May 31	Zandvoort	Joakim Bonnier	BRM	Report
4	French Grand Prix	July 5	Reims	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	Report
5	British Grand Prix	July 18	Aintree	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
6	German Grand Prix	August 2	AVUS	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	Report
7	Portuguese Grand Prix	August 23	Monsanto Park	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	Report
8	Italian Grand Prix	September 13	Monza	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	Report
9	United States Grand Prix	December 12	Sebring	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	Report

1959 Constructors Championship final standings

Place	Constructor	Points[1]
1	Cooper-Climax	40 (53)
2	Ferrari	32 (38)
3	BRM	18
4	Lotus-Climax	5
5	Cooper-Maserati	0
6	Aston Martin	0
7	Porsche	0
8	Maserati	0
9	Connaught	0
10	JBW-Maserati	0
11	Fry-Climax	0
12	Vanwall	0
13	Cooper-OSCA	0
14	Cooper-Borgward	0
15	Tec-Mec-Maserati	0
16	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	0

1959 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos. Driver MON 500 NED FRA GBR GER POR ITA USA Pts.[1] 1 Jack Brabham 1* 2 3 1 Ret Ret 3 4 31 (34) 2 Tony Brooks 2 Ret 1 Ret 1* 9 Ret 3 27 3 Stirling Moss Ret Ret* DSQ* 2* Ret 1* 1 Ret 25.5 4 Phil Hill 4 6 2 3 Ret 2* Ret 20 5 Maurice Trintignant 3 8 11 5 4 4 9 2* 19 6 Bruce McLaren 5 5 3* Ret Ret Ret 1 16.5 7 Dan Gurney Ret 2 3 4 13 8 Joakim Bonnier Ret 1 Ret Ret 5 Ret 8 10 9 Masten Gregory Ret 3 Ret 7 Ret 2 10 10 Rodger Ward 1 Ret 8 11 Jim Rathmann 2 6 12 Johnny Thomson 3* 5 13 Harry Schell Ret Ret 7 4 7 5 7 Ret 5 14 Innes Ireland 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 5 15 Olivier Gendebien 4 6 3 16 Tony Bettenhausen 4 3 17 Cliff Allison Ret 9 Ret 5 Ret 2 18 Jean Behra Ret 5 Ret 2 19 Paul Goldsmith 5 2 20 Roy Salvadori 6 Ret Ret 6 6 Ret Ret 0 21 Ron Flockhart Ret 6 Ret 7 13 0 22 Ian Burgess Ret Ret 6 14 0 23 Wolfgang von Trips Ret 6 0 24 Johnny Boyd 6 0 25 Graham Hill Ret 7 Ret 9 Ret Ret Ret 0 26 Duane Carter 7 0 27 Harry Blanchard 7 0 28 Carroll Shelby Ret Ret 8 10 0 29 Giorgio Scarlatti DNQ 8 12 0 30 Alan Stacey 8 Ret 0 31 Eddie Johnson 8 0 32 Carel Godin de Beaufort 10 9 0 33 Paul Russo 9 0 34 Fritz d'Orey 10 Ret Ret 0 35 A. J. Foyt 10 0 36 Chris Bristow 10 0 37 Mario de Araujo Cabral 10 0 38 Colin Davis Ret 11 0 39 Gene Hartley 11 0 40 Henry Taylor 11 0 41 Bob Veith 12 0 42 Peter Ashdown 12 0 43 Al Herman 13 0 44 Ivor Bueb DNQ 13 0 45 Jimmy Daywalt 14 0 46 Chuck Arnold 15 0 47 Giulio Cabianca 15 0 48 Jim McWithey 16 0 — Hans Herrmann Ret Ret 0 — Jack Fairman Ret Ret 0 — Bruce Halford Ret 0 — Eddie Sachs Ret 0 — Al Keller Ret 0 — Dick Rathmann Ret 0 — Bill Cheesbourg Ret 0 — Don Freeland Ret 0 — Ray Crawford Ret 0 — Don Branson Ret 0 — Bob Christie Ret 0 — Bobby Grim Ret 0 — Jack Turner Ret 0 — Jud Larson Ret 0 — Jimmy Bryan Ret 0 — Red Amick Ret 0 — Len Sutton Ret 0 — Pat Flaherty Ret 0 — Mike Magill Ret 0 — Chuck Weyant Ret 0 — Brian Naylor Ret 0 — David Piper Ret 0 — Mike Taylor Ret 0 — Alessandro de Tomaso Ret 0 — George Constantine Ret 0 — Bob Said Ret 0 — Alain de Changy DNQ 0 — Lucien Bianchi DNQ 0 — Maria Teresa de Filippis DNQ 0 — Pete Lovely DNQ 0 — Jean Lucienbonnet DNQ 0 — André Testut DNQ 0 — Bill Moss DNQ 0 — Keith Greene DNQ 0 — Mike Parkes DNQ 0 — Trevor Taylor DNQ 0 — Dennis Taylor DNQ 0 — Tim Parnell DNQ 0 — Azdrubal Fontes DNS 0 — Phil Cade DNS 0 Pos. Driver MON 500 NED FRA GBR GER POR ITA USA Pts.

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Light blue Practiced only (PO) Friday test driver (TD) (from 2003 onwards) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

• * Fastest lap (1 point awarded)

Non-Championship race results

Other Formula One races also held in 1959, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
VII Glover Trophy	Goodwood	March 30	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	Report
XIV BARC Aintree 200	Aintree	April 18	Jean Behra	Ferrari	Report
XI BRDC International Trophy	Silverstone	May 2	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	Report
VI International Gold Cup	Oulton Park	September 26	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	Report
IV Silver City Trophy	Snetterton	October 10	Ron Flockhart	BRM	Report

Notes