1958 Belgian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Spa-Franchorchamps
* Location – Belgium
* Corners – 13
* Laps – 36
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 5:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 3:57.100 (Mike Hawthorn)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 4:12.008 (Onofre Marimon – H Whitworth)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds\*
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

Note that this season pit-stops will last longer than in previous seasons; this number represents the time it takes to travel down the pit-lane NOT including the time you will spend stationary.

## Qualifying

The challenge of Spa helps to somewhat alleviate the difference in cars on track, which means that the Maserati's of Piottti, Gerard and Bonnier are as diversely placed as 2nd, 9th and 11th on the grid respectively. The veteran Gerard may be in the lower reaches of the Top 10, but watch for him making his way through the pack during the race!

Another team with a strong showing in qualifying are Cooper, with Behra 4th, Herrmann 5th, Flockhart 8th and Godia 28th with rumours abounding the Spaniard is running with last season's engine design! Ferrari will be even happier with their qualifying (for the most part), as von Trips claims his 1st ever Pole Position here and Gould lines up in 3rd, which is his best ever qualifying performance. Salvadori in 6th and Brabham in 10th are a little further back - but they could still easily get involved during the race!

Collins in the Vanwall is a respectable 7th in an otherwise off-pace qualifying for the British marque, as Fairman can only manage 23rd, Brooks 24th and de Beaufort 29th as a communication error with the team prevents the final Vanwall from completing all of his laps. Another British team further back than usual are BRM, who have Musso 12th, Gibson 13th and Hill 15th - with the Top 10 potentially being the best they can hope for this race…

Porsche will be encouraged by a better showing in qualifying here, as home-town favourite Gendebien lines up 14th, with Trintignant 16th and Schell 17th - while OSCA getting two cars inside the Top 20 (Chiron in 19th and Hawthorn in 20th) is also a good achievement, although another race without Fangio taking the start is clearly a disappointment.

Lotus are also disappointed not to have Tom Bridger in their ranks for this race, as illness prevented him from qualifying, which means McLaren (18th), Menditeguy (21st) and Scarlatti (22nd) will be flying the flag for the Lotus team at Spa. That leaves Connaught, who line up in 25th, 26th and 27th for Emery, Moss and Marsh respectively - and they will be hoping for a high attrition race that allows them to come through the pack even more quickly!!!

## Grid

A cracking race in prospect here at Spa, with the next chapter of Maserati v Ferrari being gatecrashed by the Cooper squadron at this stage. The British team are looking odds on to move past BRM in the Teams Standings with a good performance here, while Collins will be hoping to get in amongst the points for Vanwall this time out!

Further back Porsche will be looking to improve on their best finish of 13th, and if possible crack the Top 10 to pass OSCA's best result and move into 6th in the Championship. Meanwhile 16th is the position that both Lotus and Connaught will be aiming for, as they strive to avoid being the last constructor standing (so to speak).

It promises to be an eventful race, even if there are only 24 laps of action coming up…

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* – Von Trips has a decent start, as he gets off the line with Piotti close behind him – while the next Ferrari doesn’t have the best of starts. Gould pulls off the line slowly and finds first Herrmann and then Behra passing him (amongst others…)! In fact, Herrmann goes one step further and manages to dive up the inside of Piotti to claim 2nd place on the road down to Les Combes!!!

And it gets even better for Cooper, as Flockhart charges through the field and manages to pass team-mate Behra and then also Piotti into La Source too – which means Cooper are now 2nd (Herrmann), 3rd (Flockhart) and 5th (Behra)! Following Flockhart through is Gerard, who doesn’t manage to pass Piotti or Behra, but does already sit 6th after the 1st lap.

That means Gould is now 7th, with Salvadori 8th, Brabham 9th and Collins dropping to 10th position after a poor start for the Vanwall. Bonnier maintains 11th place, with Gibson and Musso swapping places for BRM behind. Trintignant starts strongly for Porsche and moves up to 14th with Hill still 15th and Gendebien dropping to 16th, as the home pressure seems too much for him to cope with initially!

Hawthorn also starts well, as he passes both Chiron and McLaren to move up to 18th place right behind Schell already. Also moving up is Fairman, who goes from 23rd to 19th in the space of the first lap with passes on Scarlatti, Menditeguy, Chiron and McLaren!

Brooks initially gets away quickly and disrupts some of the drivers flow off the start line but ends up out-braking himself and crashing at L’Eau Rouge and ending his race prematurely at the bottom of the hill. That chaos allows Emery to advance past Scarlatti to move into 23rd place immediately. Behind them come Moss, de Beaufort (who gets away well from the rear of the grid), Marsh and Godia now 28th overall after Brooks’ retirement.

*Lap 2* – Von Trips’ exit from La Source is nowhere near as smooth as he needed it to be, and he finds himself under serious pressure from a whole host of cars behind! He moves to block Herrmann’s advance on the inside – but that leaves space on the outside for Flockhart to pick up a double slipstream and move into the race lead!!!

Behra is another Cooper on the charge, and he manages to out-brake Piotti at Les Combes to move up to 4th, before Herrmann moves over to let the Frenchman inherit 3rd position. Gerard is likewise allowed through by Piotti to take 5th, with the Italian now down to 6th overall. On the outskirts of the Top 10, Collins is struggling to stick with the pace being set and finds himself losing positions to both Bonnier and Gibson at La Source, as they claim 10th and 11th respectively.

Further back, Musso is holding up Trintignant and Gendebien is unable to find a way past Hill, despite his best efforts and the roars of the home fans. Meanwhile Hawthorn and Fairman come perilously close to colliding with each other, but their order – and their bodywork – remains intact! Chiron passes McLaren for 20th place with a daring move at L’Eau Rouge that pays off handsomely, while behind them Emery takes inspiration and does exactly the same to take 22nd from Menditeguy. Finally, de Beaufort is pressuring Moss for 25th, but with no luck as yet…

*Lap 3* – Behra allows Herrmann to draft behind him – after his own passing attempt on von Trips at L’Eau Rouge had been unsuccessful – and that gives the German enough of a boost to pass both Behra and von Trips to claim 2nd position…but he isn’t the only one using the draft, as Gerard also latches on to move into 3rd ahead of von Trips in 4th and then in 5th comes…Salvadori!!!

The Ferrari driver started the lap in 8th but thanks to a slipstream behind team-mate Gould he moves past Piotti on the run up through Kemmel, before Behra’s move aside for Herrmann benefits both Salvadori and Piotti, who take up 5th and 6th as a result, with Behra now down to 7th overall and Gould dropping to 8th position.

Gibson is pressuring Bonnier for 10th, but the Maserati is holding firm as it stands, while Trintignant is trying every trick in the book to try and pass Musso for 13th but nothing has worked as yet…meanwhile near the back Emery has started this race with real vigour as he passes both McLaren and Chiron in the space of the Kemmel straight and claims 20th place as a result! Chiron at least keeps hold of 21st, as McLaren misses his braking point and is forced to surrender 22nd to team-mate Menditeguy as well. De Beaufort passes Moss for 25th on this lap with a well-timed move at Masta Kink to advance his own cause one step further…

*Lap 4* – Salvadori continues his advance, as von Trips generously moves aside to let his team-mate through into 4th. Piotti meanwhile is holding both Behra and Gould behind him, as he makes his Maserati as wide as he possibly can to defend 6th position.

Trintignant at last makes the move on Musso going through Les Combes, as the Porsche moves into 13th place – while Gendebien tries a carbon copy of that move on the BRM of Hill, but finds the door slammed unceremoniously in his face as a result! Fairman manages to pass Hawthorn for 18th on this lap, after the two come perilously close to banging wheels at Masta Kink.

Chiron overtakes Emery for a Top 20 position, as the Connaught’s early rise looks to have been halted – while McLaren and Scarlatti swap places for Lotus to allow the Italian to move onto the back of team leader Menditeguy.

*Lap 5* – A new Fastest Lap for Flockhart in the lead, as he sets a 3:58.0 to extend his advantage over team-mate Herrmann to 1.2 seconds. Piotti meanwhile is being harried by Behra for 6th, with the Maserati barely surviving the onslaught as they come out of La Source…

The only other action on track this lap is Chiron blocking Emery over the last spot within the Top 20.

*Lap 6* – …and Piotti still manages to cover off the advances of the Frenchman, with Gould now right on their tail and pushing to take advantage of any slip-up from either driver! Gendebien makes a half-hearted attempt at passing Hill at Burnenville, but truthfully he was never in any danger of making the move stick.

Meanwhile Chiron’s cohort of followers now includes Emery, Menditeguy and Scarlatti – as they all fight to break into the Top 20 in the race!

*Lap 7* – Flockhart breaks the 3:58 barrier with a 3:57.7 and his lead is now out to 1.7 seconds, given that no other driver has managed that! Meanwhile it’s mere inches that separate Piotti, Behra and Gould as they dice for position down the Kemmel straight…and it’s the Cooper who brakes latest to move into 6th, with Piotti just shutting the door on Gould in time to retain 7th at least.

Brabham in 9th is starting to come under pressure from both Bonnier and Gibson, though neither has been able to make a convincing move as yet.

*Lap 8* – Trintignant makes an audacious move on Collins stick, as the Porsche passes the Vanwall for 12th by going around the outside at Stavelot – and is very lucky that the Vanwall gave him space on the outside! Meanwhile in another Porsche v Vanwall battle it is the latter giving pressure, as Fairman finds himself being held up by Schell as it stands.

Further back the secret to Emery’s early pace becomes all too apparent as he pits from 21st to emerge in 28th – albeit with clear air in what looks to be a real gamble after such an early stop!!!

*Lap 9* – Flockhart continues to look peerless up front, with his advantage now out to 2.2 seconds – though he is no longer the only driver in the 3:57s, as he is joined by team-mate Behra. The Frenchman is bearing down on von Trips in 5th at a rate of knots in what is looking an incredibly promising race for the Cooper team!

Piotti is forced to defend from Gould again this time around, and Brabham is still holding up both Bonnier and Gibson right now. Fairman is beginning to get more desperate in his attacks on Schell, with 17th place (and those directly ahead) very much in the Vanwall’s sights!

*Lap 10* – Disaster strikes for the leader, as Flockhart rounds La Carriere and grinds to a halt completely out of fuel and out of luck! That promotes Herrmann to the race lead, though there are anxious faces on the Cooper pit-wall as to whether their other drivers could be impacted too!!!

That means Gerard is now 2nd with Salvadori 3rd, von Trips 4th and Behra now into the points paying positions and right on the back of the German in the Ferrari ahead! Piotti is 6th from Gould 7th, Brabham 8th, Bonnier 9th and Trintignant in 10th thanks to Gibson electing to pit on this lap. Collins is now 11th, with Musso 12th, Hill 13th, Gendebien 14th, Schell 15th, Fairman 16th, Hawthorn 17th, Chiron 18th, Menditeguy 19th and Scarlatti now 20th overall.

McLaren sits 21st, from de Beaufort 22nd, Moss 23rd, Marsh 24th and then Gibson emerging in 25th with a significant amount of clean air – meanwhile Emery is gaining on Godia for what is now 26th at an alarmingly quick rate!

*Lap 11* – Herrmann, Trintignant and Hawthorn all elect to come into the pits on this lap, which puts Gerard into the familiar position of leading the race from Salvadori in 2nd and then von Trips now actively blocking Behra in 4th for Cooper. Both Piotti and Gould are now in rather closer attendance in 5th and 6th with Brabham in 7th defending stoutly from Bonnier and then comes Collins in 9th, Musso 10th, Hill 11th, Gendebien 12th, Schell 13th still keeping Fairman behind, Chiron 15th, Menditeguy 16th, Scarlatti 17th, McLaren 18th, de Beaufort 19th and Moss rounding out the Top 20.

Marsh is 21st with Herrmann out in 22nd, Gibson up to 23rd, Trintignant out in 24th some 2 seconds behind (though that is around 1 second closer than he was before the stops) and Hawthorn out in 25th position.

*Lap 12* – An incredible lap from Gerard now he has hit the front comes out of nowhere, as he sets a 3:57.4 that might cast doubt on Herrmann’s ability to reclaim the lead after the stops! Meanwhile pits from Behra, Piotti, Gould, Chiron and Godia are almost overshadowed by the chaos in the Porsche boxes, as Schell follows Gendebien in and finds himself queued up for nearly half a minute behind his team-mate before his car can be seen to!

That means Gerard still leads Salvadori and von Trips, with Brabham now 4th, Bonnier now 5th, Collins 6th, Musso 7th, Hill 8th, Fairman 9th, Menditeguy 10th, Scarlatti 11th, McLaren 12th, de Beaufort 13th, Moss 14th and Marsh up to 15th overall. Herrmann is now 16th (though 1st of those that has pitted), with Behra out in 17th and Gould JUST emerging ahead of Piotti to gain a spot in the pits!

Gibson is up to 20th, from Trintignant 21st, Gendebien out in 22nd, Chiron out in 23rd and narrowly in front of team-mate Hawthorn, which is a net change in positions. Emery is now 25th from Schell, who finally emerges in 26th after being queued behind his team-mate with Godia then in 27th place after his stop.

*Lap 13* – Von Trips, Bonnier, Scarlatti and Marsh all pit this lap, while Vanwall fall afoul of the same mistake Porsche made a few laps ago as Fairman pits on the same lap as de Beaufort, which causes the latter to lose around 15 seconds waiting for his team-mate to finish his stop!

All of those stops mean Brabham is now 3rd from Collins 4th, Musso 5th, Hill 6th, Menditeguy 7th, McLaren 8th, Moss 9th and then Herrmann’s pace is enough to keep him in 10th position and ahead of von Trips, who emerges in 11th place. Behra is now 12th from Gould 13th, Piotti 14th and Bonnier out in 15th overall.

Gibson is now 16th, from Trintignant 17th and Fairman out in 18th having gained quite a few places thanks to staying out longer. Gendebien is 19th from Chiron and Hawthorn in the OSCA’s, while Scarlatti comes out of the pits in 22nd with Emery now 23rd, de Beaufort out in 24th after his longer stop, Schell 25th, Marsh out in 26th and then Godia bringing up the rear in 27th.

*Lap 14* – Stops for Gerard, Salvadori, Collins, Hill, McLaren and Moss mean that the only drivers yet to stop are Brabham, Musso and Menditeguy, who now occupy 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Meanwhile Gerard and Salvadori staying out longer proves to be a quicker and more effective strategy, as they emerge 2 and 4 seconds ahead of Herrmann in 4th and 5th respectively.

Herrmann, von Trips, Behra, Gould, Piotti and Bonnier are back up to positions 6th to 11th, while Collins is another to benefit from extending his 1st stint as he emerges in 12th ahead of Gibson (which is a gain of at least two places). Trintignant is now 14th, with Hill out in 15th (which has also gained him a couple of spots), Fairman up to 16th, Gendebien 17th, Hawthorn up to 18th as Chiron moves over to let him through and McLaren rounding out the Top 20 after his stop.

Scarlatti is now 21st, Emery now 22nd and Moss out in 23rd ahead of the remaining four drivers (de Beaufort, Schell, Marsh and Godia).

*Lap 15* – Brabham and Menditeguy both pit, which means Musso now leads the race for BRM (though is still yet to stop!). Gerard is now up to 2nd, from Salvadori 3rd, Herrmann 4th, von Trips 5th with Behra 6th still pushing to overtake the Ferrari driver – Gould is now 7th, from Piotti 8th and then Brabham emerges in 9th overall after his stop.

Bonnier is back inside the Top 10, with Collins back up to 11th, Gibson 12th, Trintignant 13th, Hill 14th, Fairman 15th, Gendebien 16th and Menditeguy out in 17th place (a net gain of 4 places after staying out longer).

*Lap 16* – Musso finally pits, which means Gerard now leads the race by 3.5 seconds. Salvadori is now 2nd, with Herrmann 3rd and von Trips & Behra still duking it out over 4th position! Gould is 6th, Piotti 7th, Brabham 8th and gaining ground on the Maserati ahead, Bonnier 9th, Collins 10th and Musso out in 11th JUST behind the Vanwall and JUST ahead of team-mate Gibson in 12th!!!

Emery makes his 2nd stop, which drops him down to 26th place with only Godia behind him. Meanwhile Schell is now pressuring de Beaufort for 24th after his less than stellar pit-stop!

*Lap 17* – Musso passes Collins for 10th place with a well-timed move at La Source, while de Beaufort is still frustrating Schell over 23rd position.

*Lap 18* – 3.5 seconds is Gerard’s lead over Salavdori, with Herrmann a further tenth back and moving much quicker than the two ahead of him! Brabham is still stuck behind Piotti in 7th, as he has a sniff of points just 3 seconds up the road!!!

Gibson meanwhile is the latest BRM to overtake Collins and claim 11th place, with a strong dive up the inside at Les Combes – meanwhile another Vanwall is under pressure, as Gendebien passes Fairman for 15th position. Chiron and Hawthorn swap places again, as the younger OSCA driver looks like he is on fire right now!

Schell finally manages to overtake de Beaufort for 23rd place, as the Porsche slipstreams past the Vanwall on the run down to Masta Kink.

*Lap 19* – Gerard still leads but only by 2.8 seconds now over Hans Herrmann, who manages to overhaul Salvadori with a late-braking manoeuvre at La Source and put himself right in the frame for a race victory today! Everyone from von Trips in 4th down to Gibson in 11th is moving more quickly than the leader right now, as this race looks set for a grandstand finish!!!

Hawthorn defends strongly from McLaren this time around, as the two come perilously close to clashing with each other at Les Combes!

*Lap 20* – The gap between Gerard and Herrmann is down to 2 seconds with just 4 laps remaining! Meanwhile Salvadori looks like he will soon come under pressure from the trio of von Trips, Behra and Gould…and Brabham is now forced to defend from Bonnier as they duel over 9th position!

Collins is unfortunately struggling to keep with the pace, as Trintignant passes him down the Kemmel Straight, before Hill manages to slipstream past the pair of them and claim 12th as a result! Chiron continues his progress as he passes Menditeguy for 17th place, while Emery passes Marsh for 25th as the Connaughts swap places.

*Lap 21* – Gerard is losing whole heaps of time to Herrmann in 2nd place, as the Cooper is now less than a second behind the Maserati! The fastest man on track is actually von Trips in 4th, though he still has his team-mate Salvadori in 3rd to navigate…Behra and Gould are also coming on strong in 5th and 6th in what promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the race!

Brabham defends from Bonnier again, as the Ferrari looks determined to keep hold of 8th place until the end of the race! Back in 15th home favourite Gendebien is rapidly hauling in the drivers in front of him, as he looks to secure a season’s best finish for himself and Porsche – Hawthorn meanwhile is concentrating on holding on to his Top 20 spot, as he defends rigorously from the advances of Scarlatti’s Lotus!

*Lap 22* – Herrmann narrows the gap to just 0.1 seconds, with Gerard needing to be alert to the danger behind him…and that danger is compounded by Salvadori moving aside for von Trips to thunder his way past and now move to just 1.9 seconds behind the leader! Salvadori will now need to concentrate on Behra and Gould who are 0.4 and 0.7 seconds behind him respectively…

Meanwhile Collins race finale goes even further downhill, as Gendebien is the latest man to pass him and thus inherit 14th position – with Porsche now looking at comfortably their best race of the season! Further back Scarlatti overtakes Hawthorn for 20th position at Les Combes and Schell looks to be gaining solid ground on Moss for 22nd place.

*Lap 23* – Herrmann’s gains have been prolific, and as they roar down the Kemmel Straight there is nothing that Gerard can do to defend, as despite forcing the Cooper to go around the outside it isn’t enough to prevent him from completing the overtake at Les Combes. Gerard now has 1 lap to try and hold 2nd place from von Trips, who is less than a second behind and moving significantly more quickly!

Salvadori meanwhile is playing the role of rear gunner to great effect, as he manages to block Behra’s attempt to pass at Masta Kink – though in turn that does slow Gould up as well…meanwhile Brabham elects to try attacking rather than defending for once, as he takes a look round the outside of Piotti on the Kemmel Straight…but that moves him off-line and that is all the invitation that Bonnier needs to dive up the inside and break later than both the Ferrari and his team-mate to inherit 7th, with Piotti now 8th and Brabham 9th overall. Musso’s 10th place looks reasonably secure at this stage, barring any last lap incidents.

*Lap 24* – Herrmann manages to cross the line and take the race victory without incident on the final lap, which makes it his 3rd career victory (albeit the 1st Cooper win since the 1957 French GP triumph by Behra and the 1st win for Herrmann since his title winning season in 1954!). All attention is on La Source on the final lap though, as Gerard and von Trips head into the corner level-pegging…but the Maserati is an experienced campaigner, and he manages to position his car to make it impossible for the German to overtake him…and thus Gerard crosses the line in 2nd just 0.03 of a second ahead of von Trips in 3rd!!!

The battle for the final points positions goes down to the wire as well, but this time there is an overtake – as Behra manages to perform a switch-back on Salvadori to claim 4th…though Gould is unable to follow him through and must settle for 6th just 0.04 seconds behind his team-mate!

Bonnier, Piotti, Brabham, Musso, Gibson and Hill finish in 7th to 12th positions, while Porsche perform a final lap swap (much to the delight of the home fans), as Trintignant makes way for Gendebien to inherit 13th position. Collins and Fairman come home 15th and 16th, as the Vanwall looked woefully off the pace today, with Chiron 17th, McLaren finishing as top Lotus in 18th thanks to Menditeguy moving over at the last minute, while Scarlatti rounds out the Top 20.

Hawthorn comes home 21st, with Schell 22nd after a last lap pass on Moss proves successful, followed by de Beaufort 24th, Emery 25th, Marsh 26th and Godia 27th overall. After Flockhart’s unfortunate retirement looked to have deprived the fans of an exciting race at the front it did eventually deliver, while unfortunately Brooks never made it past the 1st corner…

The next race of the season will take place at Silverstone in the next week or so.

## Milestones

* 20th race entry for Horace Gould
* Fangio up to 4th in Most Race Entries, at the expense of Toulo de Graffenried
* Moss up to 8th in Most Race Entries, at the expense of Giuseppe Farina
* Hawthorn moves up to 3rd in Most Starts ever, at the expense of Toulo de Graffenried
* 40th race start for Roy Salvadori
* 20th race start for Ron Flockhart
* Menditeguy up to 7th in Most Races without a Win, at the expense of Piero Taruffi
* Herrmann’s win moves him up to 5th in the all-time standings at the expense of Ken Wharton
* Herrmann winning the race from 5th place or below moves him into the Top 10 for Wins from Furthest Back on the Start Grid
* Gerard won both the Belgian GP in 1951, 1953 and 1956, while Herrmann won in 1954 and this time around (this makes him only the 4th driver to win more than once at the same circuit)! Other past winners are Pietsch (’50 - retired), Rol (’52 - retired) and Wharton (’55 – retired).
* Points finish for Salvadori moves him into 5th for Most Points Finishes ever, at the expense of Collins
* Points finish for von Trips and Herrmann moves them into 8th and 9th for Most Points Finishes ever at the expense of Stirling Moss
* Points finish for von Trips is his 7th points finish in a row, which moves him up to 5th place in Most Consecutive Points Scores ever
* A 3rd consecutive points finish for Gerard here, while it is a 2nd consecutive points finish for Salvadori as well
* FL for Gerard is his 3rd Fastest Lap in a row, something that only 2 drivers have ever achieved!
* Gerard has set FL in Belgium in 1950, ’56 and this time round too (making Belgium his 3rd best track on the calendar for setting Fastest Lap!), while Collins managed FL in 1956; other past Fastest Laps are held by Ken Wharton (’55 – retired), Onofre Marimón (’54 – retired), Sergio Mantovani (’53 – retired), de Toulo de Graffenried (’52 – retired) and John James (’51 – retired)
* Pole for von Trips is his 1st ever Pole, while Gerard has achieved Pole in Belgium in 1951 and ’56; past Pole Sitters were Paul Pietsch (’50 – retired), Élie Bayol (’52 – retired), Sergio Mantovani (’53 – retired), Onofre Marimón (’54 – retired) and Ken Wharton (’55 – retired)
* Podium for von Trips movs him into 7th for Most Podiums ever, at the expense of Stirling Moss
* Podium for Herrmann moves him into 8th for Most Podiums ever, also at the expense of Moss
* Podium for Gerard is a 3rd consecutive podium finish for him, which puts him in the Top 10 for Most Consecutive Podium Finishes ever