# 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix

The 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monsanto on 23 August 1959. It was race 7 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 6 of 8 in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the eighth Portuguese Grand Prix and the second to be included in the World Championship of Drivers. It was the third time the race was held at Monsanto and the first for Formula One. The race was held over 62 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 337 kilometres.
The race was won by British driver Stirling Moss, his eleventh Grand Prix victory, driving a Cooper T51 for privateer race team Rob Walker Racing Team. Moss finished a lap ahead of American racer Masten Gregory driving a similar Cooper T51 for the factory Cooper Car Company team. American Scuderia Ferrari driver Dan Gurney finished third in his Ferrari Dino 246.

## Race report

Wins in France and Germany had given Tony Brooks a healthy second place in the championship behind Jack Brabham. Stirling Moss improved on his poor championship position with a dominating drive, lapping the entire field. Phil Hill and Graham Hill crashed into each other on lap 6, whilst Brabham had an enormous somersaulting crash from which he emerged unscathed. Gurney was the only Ferrari in the top eight with Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell rounding off the top five.
With Brabham failing to finish and Brooks finishing a distant five laps down in ninth, Moss closed the gap to just 9½ points behind Brabham and 5½ points behind Brooks in the championship race.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 4 | Stirling Moss | Cooper-Climax | 2:02.9 | |
| 2 | 1 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | 2:04.9 | +2.0 |
| 3 | 2 | Masten Gregory | Cooper-Climax | 2:06.3 | +3.4 |
| 4 | 5 | Maurice Trintignant | Cooper-Climax | 2:07.4 | +4.5 |
| 5 | 7 | Jo Bonnier | BRM | 2:07.9 | +5.0 |
| 6 | 16 | Dan Gurney | Ferrari | 2:08.0 | +5.1 |
| 7 | 15 | Phil Hill | Ferrari | 2:08.1 | +5.2 |
| 8 | 3 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax | 2:08.2 | +5.3 |
| 9 | 6 | Harry Schell | BRM | 2:09.1 | +6.2 |
| 10 | 14 | Tony Brooks | Ferrari | 2:11.0 | +8.1 |
| 11 | 8 | Ron Flockhart | BRM | 2:11.2 | +8.3 |
| 12 | 10 | Roy Salvadori | Aston Martin | 2:13.3 | +10.4 |
| 13 | 9 | Carroll Shelby | Aston Martin | 2:13.6 | +10.7 |
| 14 | 18 | Mário de Araújo Cabral | Cooper-Maserati | 2:15.3 | +12.4 |
| 15 | 11 | Graham Hill | Lotus-Climax | 2:15.6 | +12.7 |
| 16 | 12 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax | 2:18.5 | +15.6 |
| Source: ||||||

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Stirling Moss | Cooper-Climax | 62 | 2:11:55.41 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 2 | Masten Gregory | Cooper-Climax | 61 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 16 | Dan Gurney | Ferrari | 61 | + 1 Lap | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 | Maurice Trintignant | Cooper-Climax | 60 | + 2 Laps | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 6 | Harry Schell | BRM | 59 | + 3 Laps | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | 10 | Roy Salvadori | Aston Martin | 59 | + 3 Laps | 12 | |
| 7 | 8 | Ron Flockhart | BRM | 59 | + 3 Laps | 11 | |
| 8 | 9 | Carroll Shelby | Aston Martin | 58 | + 4 Laps | 13 | |
| 9 | 14 | Tony Brooks | Ferrari | 57 | + 5 Laps | 10 | |
| 10 | 18 | Mário de Araújo Cabral | Cooper-Maserati | 56 | + 6 Laps | 14 | |
| Ret | 3 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper-Climax | 38 | Transmission | 8 | |
| Ret | 1 | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax | 23 | Collision | 2 | |
| Ret | 7 | Jo Bonnier | BRM | 10 | Engine | 5 | |
| Ret | 15 | Phil Hill | Ferrari | 5 | Accident | 7 | |
| Ret | 11 | Graham Hill | Lotus-Climax | 5 | Accident | 15 | |
| Ret | 12 | Innes Ireland | Lotus-Climax | 3 | Gearbox | 16 | |
| Source: ||||||||

#### Notes

* ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Jack Brabham | 27 |
| | 2 | Tony Brooks | 23 |
| 3 | 3 | Stirling Moss | 17.5 |
| 1 | 4 | Phil Hill | 13 |
| | 5 | Maurice Trintignant | 12 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos | Constructor | Points |
| | 1 | Cooper-Climax | 34 (37) |
| | 2 | Ferrari | 28 |
| | 3 | BRM | 18 |
| | 4 | Lotus-Climax | 3 |
| Source: ||||
* Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards each Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.