1955 Belgian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Spa-Franchorchamps
* Location – Belgium
* Corners – 13
* Laps – 36
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 5:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 4:18.100 (Eugenio Castellotti)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 4:12.008 (Onofre Marimon)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

## Qualifying

Farina is beaten to pole position for the 2nd time in three races! However this time it is a real shock, as the man taking pole position is Ken Wharton in the HWM - the Englishman has spent many years in Belgium and has used his local knowledge, plus the improved pace of the HWM, to great effect to claim 1st place on the grid!

The Ferrari lines up 2nd, with a real mix of manufacturers behind him, including the Vanwall of Collins in 3rd, the Lancia of Brabham in 4th (who also has a house near the circuit here), the Ferrari of Moss in 5th, the Vanwall of Bayol in 6th, another HWM in the shape of Fitch in 7th place and the leading Mercedes of Kling in 8th overall!

Reigning champion Herrmann is a disappointing 9th place, whilst Salvadori rounds out the top 10 with a tiny lead over Villoresi's Cooper in 11th. Perdisa and Castellotti are 13th and 14th for Maserati, both beaten by 12th placed Lucas in the HWM.

Fairman is 15th for Cooper ahead of McAlpine in 16th, with the lead Connaught of Rolt in 17th - somewhat surprisingly given that Claes has his home race here and lines up only 20th overall behind both Menditeguy a lowly 18th for Vanwall and Maglioli 19th for Lancia.

Further down the grid we have Iglesias 21st for Ferrari, Hawthorn 22nd for Cooper and then a mixture of Connaught, Gordini and Arzani-Volpini drivers rounding out the grid. More interesting are those who miss out, including the Mercedes of Trintignant again, the HWM of Manzon, the Coopers of Mieres and Gonzalez, the Lancia of Taruffi and then the usual mix of Connaught, Gordini and Arzani-Volpini cars that don't make the trip.

## Grid

Wharton's pole for HWM was as welcome as it was unexpected for the tiny British marque - though a handful of experts had anticipated something like this from one of several drivers who live in the vicinity. Brabham is another who has a house nearby, and he lines up 4th behind Farina and Collins.

In a race that is sure to be filled with intrigue and excitement all the teams are awaiting the start nervously, as no dry running up until now means that the race setups have been a matter of educated guesswork, and no-one has any real idea of who will be setting the pace! Prepare yourselves for one hell of a race, which will be getting under-way later today.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - And we are GO GO GO in Belgium!!! Wharton leaps away from the start, clearly nervous about the possibility of Farina exerting his dominance further - but the Ferrari looks much more concerned with the pressure being exerted from behind.

The Italian defends aggressively from Collins, which causes the Vanwall to take evasive action at Eau Rouge and run wide onto the gravel - and half the field streams past him as a result. Brabham is briefly into 3rd place, but on the run down to Les Combes he is unable to defend against the onslaught from Moss, who grabs 3rd place by the scruff of the neck.

Behind them the pack is swapping places left, right and centre! Bayol is up to 5th, with Lucas catapulting himself into 6th, Fitch maintains 7th place and defending champion Herrmann keeps his cool to move up to 8th. The best start of the day though - by some way - goes to Hawthorn in the Cooper, who avoids the ailing Collins and manoeuvres around the outside through Kemmel to claim an impressive 9th place. McAlpine completes a brilliant beginning to the race for HWM by moving into the top 10.

Salvadori loses a little ground to drop to 11th, with Perdisa up to 12th, Kling is one who is swallowed up at the start and is now 13th, with Maglioli up to 14th and Iglesias starting well to gain 15th. 16th place is held by Villoresi, who had some bad wheel-spin off the line to lose ground, whilst Rolt maintains 17th position despite the chaos around him.

Collins recovers from his 'off' to take up 18th, from Claes in 19th - who has opted for wet tyres!?!?! Impressive then, that he isn't right at the back of the pack, and indeed has gained a place!!! Fairman, meanwhile, has dropped to 20th place after a mixed start to the race for Cooper.

Castellotti is caught up in some real carnage, as he swerves to prevent Menditeguy coming through - the Vanwall is forced wide at the Masta Kink and has a coming together with Simon's Gordini!!! He is not the only Gordini to have to retire though, as Birger and Bucci have a high-profile crash at Eau Rouge to end both their races in the trees at the side of the track.

*Lap 2* - Wharton continues to move away from the field with a 4:28 lap-time, with Farina also moving away from Moss too. Brabham has both Bayol and Lucas in close company, but is holding steady thus far with Fitch also gaining ground.

Meanwhile Hawthorn gets the better of Herrmann out of Stavelot, but finds himself subsequently out-braked into La Source by McAlpine who uses the double tow on the run down to Blanchimont to gain 2 places inside of one lap and set up an HWM 6-7-8 as it stands!

Claes pits on this lap to switch over to dry tyres, which is the sensible option - though it's impressive that he's still not at the back of the pack as he comes out ahead of Piotti and Fangio in 25th place. That promotes Fairman to 19th, and thanks to a great dive up the inside by Ascari at Malmedy we now have a Gordini inside the top 20 at the expense of Castellotti!

Whiteaway is also moving forwards, as he dispatches Sparken at La Carriere as da Silva Ramos starts to drop backwards and loses 2-3 seconds as a result.

*Lap 3* - The pace of the race settles down - well, for all other than Wharton who sets another fastest lap and is moving some 8 seconds a lap faster than anyone else on track!!! Well, anyone else apart from the man in 25th place (though he's still some 7 seconds faster than him!) - as Claes exits the pits and puts in a devilishly quick lap-time to move within striking distance of da Silva Ramos in 24th place.

*Lap 4* - There are several close battles all the way down the field, including Bayol vs Lucas for 5th, Fitch vs McAlpine for 7th, Herrmann vs Salvadori vs Perdisa for the final spot inside the top 10, Kling vs Maglioli for 13th and Fairman vs Ascari for 19th.

Meanwhile Claes is absolutely storming his way through the field, as he dispatches da Silva Ramos, Sparken and Whiteaway in the space of a single lap. He does have nearly 20 seconds to catch-up on Castellotti in 21st place though, which may take a few laps.

*Lap 5* - Bayol and Lucas are still pressuring Brabham, but the Lancia continues to defend with aplomb - which is particularly impressive given how wide the track is here! Fitch probably would be gaining on them if it wasn't for the fact that he is occupied keeping team-mate McAlpine behind him.

Claes passes Castellotti, as the Maserati's race goes from bad to worse, as he out-brakes himself at Stavelot - runs off and looks to have done some minor damage to the under-body of the car. Claes meanwhile is now 8 seconds outside the top 20 with Ascari his next target.

*Lap 6* - Lucas pulls out from behind Bayol, and dives through at the inside of Les Combes to hold the place through Haut de la Cote and move into 5th place and a points paying position. Meanwhile Ascari takes Fairman for 19th place, possibly in anticipation of how quickly Claes is gaining ground!

However the Connaught makes a mistake at La Source and cedes 21st place back to the ailing Castellotti - but that situation will surely not last long. Meanwhile Whiteaway pulls into the pits for his 1st scheduled stop to let both Sparken and da Silva Ramos through.

*Lap 7* - Claes re-passes Castellotti, surely having learned from his error now - and sits within 3 seconds of Fairman in front of him. Meanwhile Hawthorn is now breathing down the neck of McAlpine and Fitch too.

Lucas is pressuring Brabham also, as 4th place is certainly well up for grabs now!

*Lap 8* - Lucas and Brabham are side by side at Eau Rouge!!! But the Lancia keeps the place. Both McAlpine and Hawthorn are within striking distance of Fitch as well, as the beleaguered American fights to keep hold of 7th place.

Further back Maglioli is pressuring Kling for 13th, and Claes makes his way inside the top 20 by passing Fairman at Burnenville and Ascari at Stavelot. 19th for the Connaught driver now, with the home fans roaring him on!

*Lap 9* - Yet another fastest lap for Wharton, as he is now 1 minute ahead of Farina - this must be a very unusual feeling for the Ferrari man who has been so dominant in the season thus far! Meanwhile the pit-stops begin in earnest for those outside the podium places - Brabham, Bayol, Fitch, Hawthorn, Herrmann and da Silva Ramos all come in to the pits on this lap.

That puts Lucas up to 4th place, McAlpine into 5th, Salvadori in 6th, Perdisa in 7th, Kling into 8th place, Maglioli up to 9th and Iglesias up inside the top 10. The driver in 11th may be a surprise though - as the Vanwall mechanics are on fire, and send Bayol out ahead of Brabham!!! Indeed they even have Villoresi in-between them in 12th place.

Rolt is 14th, whilst a great stop from the Cooper mechanics mean that Hawthorn emerges in 15th, with Fitch out in 16th place as the HWM mechanics struggle to get the car out as quickly as they really needed to. Herrmann emerges in 17th place, but is quickly overhauled by Claes who slides his way past the Maserati without any hesitation at Masta Kink.

Da Silva Ramos pit drops him behind Whiteaway for 24th place - whilst the Arzani looks odds-on favourite to also overhaul Sparken as and when he pits thanks to his pace.

*Lap 10* - Perdisa pits this lap, promoting everyone down to Herrmann in 18th place. Bayol moves past Iglesias on his fresher tyres, whilst Rolt's pit elevates all those down to Fairman in 21st place. Meanwhile Claes moves past Fitch, who has had a torrid couple of laps.

Castellotti also comes in on this lap to repair the damage to his car, which moves Sparken into 22nd for Connaught.

*Lap 11* - McAlpine comes into the pits on this lap, emerging in 14th place ahead of John Fitch. Meanwhile Bayol is in clear air and really making some big gains on those who are stuck in traffic. Brabham takes Villoresi on this lap, whilst Claes passes Hawthorn despite the pace of the Cooper.

*Lap 12* - A massive round of pit-stops for most of the field on this lap with the only man yet to pit being Jean Lucas in the HWM. Wharton comes out in the lead, with Lucas in 2nd place. Farina is out in 3rd, Moss in 4th and Bayol in 5th place.

Brabham is now in 6th, with Claes in 7th, Hawthorn 8th, McAlpine 9th and Fitch rounding out the top 10. Salvadori emerges in 11th place after some good work from the Mercedes mechanics, ahead of Herrmann 12th, Perdisa 13th and then those that just came out of the pits with Kling leading Maglioli, Iglesias and Villoresi.

Fairman has passed Ascari through the pits, whilst Collins has retained 19th place in a race of his own. Sparken's pit moves Castellotti back into 22nd place, whilst another stop for Whiteaway keeps him in 25th ahead of Piotti and Fangio, who almost switch places thanks to some solid work from the Connaught pit-crew.

*Lap 13* - Lucas comes in this time around, coming out behind Bayol who is now in 4th place. The HWM driver is however now inside the top 5 several seconds ahead of Brabham in the Lancia.

Iglesias in the Ferrari has a spin at Stavelot, and looks to have done some minor damage to his car as a result.

*Lap 14* - Claes is absolutely irresistible out there today, as he swoops past Brabham for 6th place and a season-high placing for Connaught! Herrmann is really pressuring Salvadori, but neither is within 10 seconds of the top 10 as things stand!

*Lap 15* - Claes is now just 1.2 seconds behind Lucas for 5th and a points-scoring position! Meanwhile Herrmann shows the class of a champion to perform an incredibly cool switchback manoeuvre on Salvadori at La Source and claim 11th place.

Villoresi meanwhile passes Iglesias for 16th place, as the Ferrari is really struggling after the damage he sustained previously.

*Lap 16* - Claes is inside the points! He gets a great exit from Stavelot to move comfortably past Lucas, and is even right on the back of Bayol and challenging for 4th place!!! How long can the Connaught possibly keep this pace up!?! The fans don't seem to care, as they go mental in the grandstands for this giant-killing achievement!

*Lap 17* - Claes continues to exert pressure on Bayol, and coming up to Masta Kink he jinks to the inside and manages to move past the Vanwall to claim 4th place for Connaught! Lucas almost follows him through, but the Frenchman shuts the door to keep ahead of the HWM.

*Lap 18* - At the half-way point in the race several drivers come into the pits, with Bayol in the Vanwall leading them in and coming out incredibly quickly! Also coming in are Brabham, Hawthorn, Fitch, Herrmann, da Silva Ramos and Whiteaway.

That means that Lucas now sits 5th, McAlpine 6th, Bayol out in a solid 7th, Salvadori 8th (though only just!), Perdisa 9th and Kling in 10th place. Maglioli is 11th, Brabham emerges in 12th, Hawthorn 13th, Fitch 14th and Herrmann 15th with Villoresi around 10 seconds down on them.

*Lap 19* - Claes tyres are beginning to give up, and Lucas is closing in on him as a result. Brabham roars past Maglioli, with Kling and a top 10 place now very much in sight.

*Lap 20* - Claes is really going backwards! Lucas glides past him with ease - though there is a good 30 seconds back down to McAlpine. Meanwhile Perdisa comes into the pits and emerges behind team-mate Herrmann in 15th overall.

Meanwhile Brabham does make the pass on Kling and takes what is now 9th position - though he has around a 20 second gap to Salvadori to make up! Castellotti also pits this time around, but has Sparken too far behind to make up enough time.

*Lap 21* - Wharton breaks the fastest lap of the race again - but no-one is within half a lap of him, so he can probably relax already at this stage! Also we're starting to see some of the older drivers getting a little tired with the strain of racing around this hectic and challenging circuit.

And the one suffering the most is Claes, the combination of tyres and stamina issues mean that he is now losing around 7 seconds per lap on McAlpine! Meanwhile Maglioli is really pressuring Kling for a top 10 spot, and Rolt is within touching distance of the ailing Iglesias.

*Lap 22* - No real action on the track - other than Rolt less than 2 seconds behind Iglesias and about 3 seconds faster than him!

*Lap 23* - Claes is losing 14 seconds per lap on those behind, as his tyres are clearly completely shot already! It's not all bad news for Connaught though, as Rolt moves past Iglesias to claim 17th place.

*Lap 24* - It's pit-stop time again for many of the leaders - with Wharton, Farina and Moss coming in, as well as Salvadori, Kling, Maglioli, Villoresi, Rolt, Iglesias, Collins, Fairman, Ascari, Sparken, Whiteaway, Piotti and Fangio all making their way into the pits to refuel and change tyres.

As such the leaders are now Wharton and Lucas in an HWM 1-2, Farina, Moss and McAlpine in 5th - meaning that HWM have 3 of the 5 points paying positions at this stage of the race, what a performance from the tiny British marque!!! That's largely down to Claes' demise, as the Belgian is down to 7th place behind Bayol who eases past him at Stavelot.

Brabham is up to 8th, with Hawthorn 9th, Fitch 10th and Salvadori out in 11th place. Herrmann is 12th, Perdisa 13th, with Kling and Maglioi exiting in 14th and 15th respectively. Further back the only change in position is Iglesias re-passing Rolt in the pits, and fixing his car too to give the advantage back to the Ferrari!

*Lap 25* - Lucas pits on this lap, handing 2nd back to Farina and 3rd to Moss - though coming out behind McAlpine and Bayol was almost certainly not part of the plan! Brabham is within a couple of seconds of overhauling Claes - who is obstinately staying out and refusing to pit!

Meanwhile Fitch comes over the start/finish line neck and neck with Hawthorn, but he can't quite get ahead before the 1st corner.

*Lap 26* - Claes loses 7th to Brabham as anticipated, whilst Moss is finally gaining ground on Farina - though there's a question mark over whether it will be enough with 30 seconds between the pair of them. At the same time Fitch makes a move on Hawthorn to claim 9th place and put himself next in line to pass the struggling Claes.

Salvadori runs wide!!! The Mercedes driver gets it all wrong at Eau Rouge and has done some serious damage to his gearbox by the sounds of things - that lets both Herrmann and Perdisa through, thought the latter does get caught by the returning Mercedes as the Brit comes back onto the track.

*Lap 27* - A lap that may well change the outcome of the race here! Firstly there are certainly dark clouds on the horizon - and the threat of rain has crept up on the unsuspecting drivers! Though none has fallen as yet.

Secondly most of the 3 stoppers come in for their final pit-stops, with Bayol, Brabham, Fitch, Hawthorn, Herrmann and da Silva Ramos all coming in. That moves Lucas back into the points in 5th, Bayol out in 6th, Claes briefly back up to 7th despite his slow progress, Brabham comes out of the pits in 8th from Perdisa who has some serious damage to his bodywork that is now apparent.

Salvadori struggles on with his own damage in 10th ahead of Kling in 11th and Maglioli in 12th. Fitch comes out in 13th, Hawthorn in 14th and Herrmann in 15th place - with a large gap back to Villoresi in 16th forming already.

*Lap 28* - Moss is now gaining 2 seconds per lap over the struggling Farina - but it still may not enough given his team-mate's advantage. Disaster strikes for McAlpine though!!! The HWM retires from the race in 4th place with no fuel left in the tank - it looks like in the excitement he simply forgot to pit for fuel again at all!

Brabham re-passes Claes, who really should pit to change his tyres as the lack of grip is costing him huge amounts of time! Despite the damage to his car Salvadori moves up to what is now 8th place with team-mate Kling poised to pass him. The reason for them both moving up is that Perdisa is forced into the pits to make amends to his damaged car, which drops him to what is now 14th behind Herrmann et al.

*Lap 29* - Claes is dropping like a stone - he loses places to both Mercedes, Maglioli, Fitch and Hawthorn. Meanwhile the Mercedes swap places, as Salvadori is powerless to defend against Kling, who is followed through by both Maglioli and Fitch as well!

*Lap 30* - Salvadori loses a place to Hawthorn on this lap, whilst Herrmann is the latest driver to overtake Claes as well. Perdisa pits on this lap, promoting Villoresi to 14th overall - Castellotti and Whiteaway both come into the pits this time around as well.

*Lap 31* - Another lap, another place lost for Salvadori who is now behind Herrmann - and of course Claes continues to lose ground, with Villoresi the beneficiary on this occasion.

*Lap 32* - Claes loses places to the recovering Perdisa and to Iglesias this time around as his free-fall continues, indeed he is certainly a danger to others out on track, as Whiteaway un-laps himself and is tagged by the Connaught to cause some serious damage to his Arzani.

Up-front Wharton laps Moss, with Farina now his next target - the Brit has driven an unbelievable race and had his car glued to the racing line every second of the way. Could he really put a lap on the world-championship leader? Only time will tell…

*Lap 33* - Moss takes another 2 seconds out of Farina, but it looks to be too little too late as there are still 20 seconds between the two of them. Meanwhile Fitch claims 8th from Maglioli with a strong manoeuvre at Les Combes to take the position and move right onto the back of Kling.

Claes allows Rolt through as the Connaughts switch places, whilst Herrmann is gaining ground on Hawthorn as he competes for a top 10 place!

*Lap 34* - Fitch continues his charge, as he takes 7th place away from Kling and put the HWM team in 1st, 4th and 7th position. Meanwhile Collins passes Claes for 17th place as he comes into the pits, and there is now a real question-mark over whether the Connaught can retain his top 20 position.

Wharton laps Farina on this lap - what an achievement for the HWM driver, who has made this race his own with an incredible lights to flag victory almost in the bag!

*Lap 35* - Disaster for Cooper! Hawthorn is unable to defend against Herrmann and the Brit loses his top 10 place to the Maserati with just 1 lap remaining! Meanwhile Claes is setting a decent pace with his fresh…WET TYRES?!? Madness from Connaught, who don't put dry tyres on the Belgian's car - he'll have to either stick it out on wets or pit and change back to dry tyres!

*Lap 36* - Wharton finishes the race in a class of his own, and a lap ahead of the entire field with the 2nd hat-trick of the season after Farina's last-time out. The championship leader comes home 2nd, with Moss still gaining but ultimately finishing around 12 seconds down on his team-mate.

Lucas takes a credible 4th for HWM, with Bayol home in 5th for Vanwall for the 3rd race in a row! Brahbam misses out in 6th, with Fitch 7th, Kling 8th just ahead of Maglioli 9th and Herrmann home in 10th place. Hawthorn has a good race, but 11th is the best he can manage, with the ailing Salvadori 12th, Villoresi 13th, Perdisa 14th, Iglesias 15th, Rolt 16th, Collins 17th - and then comes Claes, who makes the bizarre decision to come in and change tyres on the final lap!!!

As such we see Fairman finish 18th, Ascari 19th and…Claes come home in 20th for Connaught - what a missed opportunity this has been for the Belgian! Castellotti is 21st, with Sparken 22nd, da Silva Ramos 23rd, Whiteaway 24th, Piotti 25th and Fangio rounding out the finishers in 26th overall.

## Race Setups

**How close setups were to perfect**

* 2.18152 Kenneth McAlpine
* 2.55952 Cesare Perdisa
* 2.6345 Ken Wharton
* 2.6944 Jesus Iglesias
* 3.27912 Jean Lucas
* 3.618208 Stirling Moss
* 4.092928 Mike Hawthorn
* 4.10436 Tony Rolt
* 4.17008 Roy Salvadori
* 4.33848 Umberto Maglioli
* 4.444768 Hans Herrmann
* 4.8986 Jack Brabham
* 4.917376 John Fitch
* 4.93136 Elie Bayol
* 5.000704 Giuseppe Farina
* 5.32864 Karl Kling
* 5.712875 Johnny Claes
* 6.312768 Jack Fairman
* 6.450528 Luigi Villoresi
* 6.880352 Eugenio Castellotti
* 9.45408 Ted Whiteaway
* 9.4786 Mike Sparken
* 10.38068 Hermano da Silva Ramos
* 11.204032 Alberto Ascari
* 11.695712 Peter Collins
* 23.63128 Luigi Piotti
* 27.3531 Juan Manuel Fangio