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The1956 Formula One season was the tenth season ofFIAFormula One motor racing. It featured the seventhWorld Championship of Drivers, which was contested over eight races between 22 January and 2 September 1956. The season also included nine non-championship races for Formula One cars.
Juan Manuel Fangio driving forFerrari won his third consecutive championship.[1] It was his fourth in total, a record that would not be beaten untilMichael Schumacher in2002. Fangio's main rivals were his teammatePeter Collins andMaserati driverStirling Moss.
None of the championship races were won by aBritish constructor. This would not happen again until2006.
At 29 October, veteran racerLouis Rosier crashed in asports car race atMontlhéry. He sustainedhead injuries and succumbed to them three weeks later.[2][3]
The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1956FIAWorld Championship. The list does not include those who only contested theIndianapolis 500.
Argentinianracing driverJuan Manuel Fangio had already won threeFormula OneWorld Championships, while driving for three differentconstructors. Now he was aiming to make it four in four: after his previous employerMercedes had withdrawn, he moved toScuderia Ferrari for 1956. The first race of the season was his home race, theArgentine Grand Prix, and he managed to takepole position in front of the adoring crowd. TeammatesEugenio Castellotti andLuigi Musso started alongside him on the front row. Behind them came a series ofMaserati, with the whole field consisting of just thirteen cars, all of themItalian. At the start, sixth-starting ArgentinianCarlos Menditeguy managed to take the lead, ahead of teammateStirling Moss. Fangio was able to follow until hisfuel pump broke on lap 21. Musso was called into thepits to give his car to the team leader, but Fangio spun off and was almost lapped by Menditeguy. The latter, however, spun off in sympathy and retired on the spot. Fangio made an inspiring recovery drive until he was in second place and, on lap 70, took the lead when his1955 teammate Moss's engine failed. He won the race, but received half the points because of the shared drive, ahead ofFrenchmanJean Behra andBritMike Hawthorn.[6][7]
As it had been since the inclusion of the Argentine Grand Prix on the calendar, there was a four-month gap to the second race in the championship, theMonaco Grand Prix. ConstructorsVanwall,BRM andGordini attended, but it was Fangio who once again started on pole, ahead of Moss and Castellotti. It was Moss who reached the hairpin first and quickly extended his lead, with the Ferrari trio of Fangio,Collins and Castellotti in pursuit. Suddenly, Fangio spun and ended up facing the wrong way. Hurrying to turn round, he got in the way ofLuigi Musso andHarry Schell, who avoided the Ferrari but in doing so, both crashed out. Like in Argentina, Fangio made an impressive recovery drive up to second place. But through the narrow streets ofMonte Carlo, there is little margin for error and the reigning champion tapped a wall, bent his rearwheel and retreated into the pits. But again, like in Argentina, he received the car of a teammate - Collins sacrificed his second place - so he could continue. From almost being lapped by Moss, he pressed on to get within six seconds of the lead, but could not stop the Brit from taking his second career victory. Behra finished third, a lap down.[8]
TheIndianapolis 500 was included in the Formula One championship, but no active drivers attended. Former championNino Farina did, but he failed to qualify.Pat Flaherty won the race.
In the Drivers' Championship,Jean Behra (Maserati) was leading with 10 points, ahead ofJuan Manuel Fangio (Scuderia Ferrari) on 9 andStirling Moss (Maserati) andPat Flaherty (winner of theIndianapolis 500) on 8.
TheBelgian Grand Prix began with a tensequalifying battle, in which theMaseratis andFerraris seemed evenly matched, untilJuan Manuel Fangio set a lap that was more than ten seconds under the lap record and almost five seconds faster than his closest competitor. However, as it had happened already two times this year, the reigning champion fell back at the race start.Stirling Moss (Maserati) andPeter Collins (Ferrari) had started next to Fangio on the front row and led away. Moss was leading over six seconds before Fangio recovered to second place, but after nine laps, it was theArgentinian leading theBrit by the same distance. Things took a turn when Moss's left rear wheel came off andCastellotti retired with a brokentransmission. Moss took over the car from one of his teammates but was over a lap down, while Fangio was setting multiple lap records. Collins was in second place, until on lap 24, the leader's Ferrari suddenly came to a halt at the far end of thecircuit, providing no opportunity for a car swap in thepit. So Collins won the race, ahead of teammate and local heroPaul Frère and Moss.[9]
Fangio scored his fourthpole position in a row during theFrench Grand Prix, with teammates Castellotti and Collins making it an all-Ferrari front row. TwoVanwalls separated them from their main rivals, Maserati. Fangio again lost the lead at the start, but the trio of red cars did run away from the rest of the field. Moss andSchell retired and the Ferrari team even occupied five positions at the front. Schell, however, took over the car from one of his teammates, set a new lap record and managed to close up to the unsighted leaders. The green car from Britain was faster on the straight, so theItalian squad drove side-by-side to try and block him. But going into one of thehairpins, Schell managed to pass Collins and Castellotti in one move and immediately dove into Fangio'sslipstream. The reigning champion held on, however, and Schell's valiant drive came to a halt when technical issues forced a pit stop. On lap 40, Fangio also pitted with a splitfuel line. It seemed not one race was going smoothly this year. Collins was carefree as he scored his second win in a row, ahead of teammate Castellotti andFrenchmanJean Behra.[10]
TheBritish Grand Prix saw three local drivers qualify on the front row, which the wideSilverstone circuit allowed to consist of four cars: Moss, Fangio,Hawthorn (BRM) and Collins. The BRM seemed the odd one out, even more so when he took the lead at the start and was closely followed by his teammateBrooks. Fangio got past into second place on lap six, but in an attempt to catch the leader, he spun off and fell back to fifth. Moss was the next to pass Brooks for second and managed to get Hawthorn on lap 16. Both BRMs then sadly retired, as did fellow BritSalvadori, who was running second at one stage, and Collins. When Moss pitted formotor oil, Fangio closed right up, and when the Brit pitted again due to hisengine losing power, there was nothing left to stop the Argentinian from winning. In second came Collins, who had taken over the car from one of his teammates, and in third came Behra.[11]
In the Drivers' Championship,Peter Collins (Ferrari) was leading with 22 points, ahead ofJuan Manuel Fangio (Ferrari) with 21 andJean Behra (Maserati) with 18.
After an exhilaratingBritish Grand Prix with lots of local drivers, noBritish teams entered theGerman Grand Prix. So the grid consisted of theItalianFerraris andMaseratis, and a fewFrenchGordinis at the back.Juan Manuel Fangioqualified onpole position, three tenths ahead of rival and teammatePeter Collins. Once again, Fangio lost the lead at the start, but he retook it later in the opening lap.Stirling Moss started fourth in his Maserati but overtook Ferrari'sEugenio Castellotti. The leading trio got into a rhythm in which they focussed on finishing the race instead of fighting. They all broke the lap record that was set in1939. Collins suddenlypitted, he was barely conscious at the wheel. After examining the car, they figured that a leakingfuel line had sent fumes into the cockpit. Collins recovered quickly and took over the car from one of his teammates. But trying everything to catch the leaders, he spun off the track. Fangio won the race quite comfortably, ahead of Moss andJean Behra. The Frenchman was not in the spotlights but this fifth podium of the year brought him to a shared second place in the championship.[12]
Collins was trailing Fangio by 8 points and the only way for him to win the championship, was to win theItalian Grand Prix and for Fangio to score three points or less, because then his result would not count towards the championship. This scenario would end in both men equalling on 30 points, but Collins winning oncountback. The extra point for a fastest lap could make a big difference as well. Future race winnerWolfgang von Trips made his debut with the Ferrari team, but he crashed inpractice while doing around 130 mph (210 km/h). He was thrown out and escaped with scratches and bruises, but the car was a complete wreck. The Ferrari team accepted it as the cost of a young driver in a fast car and were blind to the fact that it was caused by atyre blowout. Fangio scored his sixth pole of the year, ahead of teammates Castellotti and Musso. It might not have surprised anyone, but Fangio lost the lead at the start, this time to both his teammates, who decided to have a personal battle and completely overlook any team tactics.Harry Schell managed to put his Vanwall ahead of Fangio, putting the championship leader close to Moss and Collins. After just five laps, the fierce fighting led to tyre troubles for the leading pair and they both pitted. Castellotti would have anotherpuncture on lap 10, this time crashing out on the steepMonzabanking. Schell, Moss and Fangio were released and for the next six laps, there was nothing between them. Collins pitted for new tyres, but the championship leader retired with a broken right frontsuspension. Moss managed to overtake Schell and grew a big lead, so when Collins came in for another tyre change, he gave his car to Fangio in a gesture of great sportsmanship. A win at Monza would mean so much to the Ferrari team, so he granted his teamleader the opportunity to try and catch the Maserati. Moss pitted twice, bringing him very close to Fangio, but in similar fashion toMonaco, Moss won with a six seconds lead over Fangio.Ron Flockhart took advantage of all the tyre troubles and finished third in hisConnaught.[13]
Juan Manuel Fangio (Ferrari) had gathered 30 points and was awarded the 1956Drivers' Championship.Stirling Moss (Maserati) finished second on 27 points,Peter Collins (Ferrari) third on 25.
Points were awarded to the top five classified finishers, with an additional point awarded for setting the fastest lap, regardless of finishing position or even classification. Only the best five results counted towards the championship. Shared drives result in shared points for each driver if they finished in a points-scoring position, however, if both cars driven in a shared drive finished in a points-scoring position, only the highest finishing position would count. If more than one driver set the same fastest lap time, the fastest lap point would be divided equally between the drivers. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Source:[14] | ||||||
The following non-championship races forFormula One cars were also held in 1956:
| Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 IVGlover Trophy | Goodwood | 2 April | Stirling Moss |  Maserati | Report |
| VIGran Premio di Siracusa | Syracuse | 15 April |  Juan Manuel Fangio | Lancia-Ferrari | Report |
| XIBARC Aintree 200 | Aintree | 21 April | Stirling Moss | Maserati | Report |
| VIIIBRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 5 May | Stirling Moss | Vanwall | Report |
| IXGran Premio di Napoli | Posillipo | 6 May |  Robert Manzon | Gordini | Report |
| IAintree 100 | Aintree | 24 June | Horace Gould | Maserati | Report |
| IVanwall Trophy | Snetterton | 22 July | Roy Salvadori | Maserati | Report |
| IVGrand Prix de Caen | Caen | 26 August |  Harry Schell | Maserati | Report |
| IBRSCC Formula 1 Race | Brands Hatch | 14 October | Archie Scott Brown | Connaught-Alta | Report |
