1958 Argentine GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Buenos Aires
* Location – Argentina
* Corners – 8
* Laps – 80
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 2:30.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 1:42.500 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 1:29.832 (Carlos Menditeguy – Jun Ho)
* Pit Lane Length – 15 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – Medium
* Tyre Wear – Medium

## Qualifying

An unusual look to the 1st grid of the new season sees fresh blood dominate the top couple of spots in the shape of Graham Hill's BRM and Bruce McLaren's Lotus who close out 1st and 2nd respectively. A pole on debut is a great start to the Brit's career - and BRM will now be expecting big things from the man who looks to be leading their title challenge!

Cooper are well represented near the front of the grid, as their car looks on-song here - with Herrmann a strong 3rd from Flockhart 5th and Behra 6th after a late charge by that latter duo. Godia in the final Cooper is somewhat further back in 24th overall…

Meanwhile given how challenging 1957 was for the Porsche squadron, it will bring a smile to the face of team manager Rocco Stallone to see Trintignant up in 4th place, though Schell in 25th couldn't quite match his more illustrious team-mates efforts. Speaking of the other "smaller" teams Lotus have Scarlatti in 8th, Menditeguy in 17th after the home favourite seems to be taking things very casually thus far, and Bridger in 23rd after his early crash…OSCA have Hawthorn in 16th and Fangio in 19th…and Connaught have Emery 26th and Moss 27th after a session to forget for them. As usual Chiron and Marsh prop up the grid for OSCA and Connaught respectively…

That only leaves the "Big 3" - Ferrari, Maserati and Vanwall. The latter will be pleased with 9th for de Beaufort and 13th for Fairman, but will have hoped for more from Brooks (21st with a lap he didn't manage to run) and Collins (28th and hampered after his opening run, so didn't go out again despite having plenty of time!). Maserati will also be pleased with Bonnier (7th) and satisfied with Piotti (15th), but the mystery for them will be where Gerard's pace has disappeared to - as the former Pole Position king can only manage 18th on the grid, and will have the rather foreign task ahead of having to overtake a significant amount of cars in order to get anything from this race.

Though the most disappointed team in the paddock may well be Ferrari; having won last year with Ferrari they came to this race with big hopes - but may already be in trouble after qualifying! Top Ferrari is Brabham in 10th, with von Trips 14th, Gould 20th and Salvadori 22nd - meaning they are statistically only the 6th best team as they line-up.

With clouds starting to gather overhead and the humidity intensifying, this promises to be an exciting 1st round of the season in prospect…

## Grid

With 4 teams in the top 4 places - and 7 in the Top 10 this promises to be an incredibly open race…the pre-season favourites are starting rather out of place here with Trintignant highest up in 4th, Behra in 6th, von Trips in 14th, Gerard in 18th (this would be the 2nd best ever win from the lowest starting position if he managed it!), Fangio in 19th, Salvadori in 22nd (holds the record for win from the lowest position, after winning from 19th at the 1954 French GP!) and Collins in 28th.

That could easily open the door for a newcomer to make their mark, such as Pole-sitter Graham Hill, 2nd placed Bruce McLaren or even one of the Cooper's who looked so impressive during qualifying!

With dark clouds gathering overhead this promises to be a very exciting race ahead…!

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* – With rumours up and down the paddock of rain on the horizon, it promises to be an exciting race that could swing from driver to driver as the conditions develop! The cars line up on the grid…and the flag waves, which sees Hill launch off the line and move over to cover McLaren’s Lotus – but that lets Herrmann’s Cooper up the inside of both of them to take the lead from the BRM and Lotus in 2nd and 3rd respectively!

Meanwhile Trintignant bogs down off the line…which means both Flockhart and Behra in the Cooper’s move past the Porsche, and in fact swap places as they go past the Frenchman! However, all that group are helpless to defend from the charging Musso in the BRM, who gets off the line fantastically – and by the time he emerges from the final Horquilla corner he now sits 4th overall ahead of Behra and Flockhart.

Another man with an incredible start is Fairman, who goes from 13th to 7th in the space of an epic lap for the Vanwall – basically the opposite of what happens to Bonnier, as the Maserati stalls off the line and plummets down to 17th already…and still struggling even now! It could be worse though, as de Beaufort ably proves in the Vanwall – as he is also slow off the line, and even slower round the corners as the Dutchman drops from 9th to 20th with team principal Mike Baston looking utterly baffled in the paddock right now…

All of the above allows Gibson up to 8th, from the unfortunate Trintignant in 9th and then Scarlatti in 10th after a somewhat lacklustre start for the Lotus, who has the Ferrari of Gould behind him in 11th after a good start for the Brit, who is in a Lotus sandwich with Bridger and Menditeguy directly behind him – after both have incredibly quick starts to rise 11 and 4 places respectively!

Brabham is now 14th with team-mate von Trips 15th as Ferrari’s difficult race weekend continues, while Collins has put his qualifying struggles behind him as he propels himself forward to 16th with real gusto! The aforementioned Bonnier is 17th, with Schell up to 18th after a good start for Porsche, which puts him in front of Hawthorn and de Beaufort as they round out the Top 20.

Salvadori, Piotti, Gerard, Brooks, Fangio (who looks very heavy on fuel at this point!), Emery, Moss, Chiron and Marsh round out those who make it to the end of Lap 1 – but 1 driver fails to make it further than the 1st corner, as Paco Godia for Cooper slides wide at Curva Uno to end his race in the hay bales at the side of the track in 30th place.

*Lap 2* – At the front it is evenly matched, as Herrmann sets the pace, but everyone in the Top 8 is within 6 tenths of the leader’s lap-time. Scarlatti is forced to defend from Gould this lap, but manages to keep hold of his Top 10 spot for now – while behind them Bridger opens the door for his team-mate Menditeguy as they go through Tobogan, but that lets the Ferrari duo of Brabham and von Trips through as well – and the latter gets such a strong slipstream that he 12th with Menditeguy 13th and Brabham now up to 14th ahead of Bridger.

Meanwhile Salvadori begins his comeback, with a well-timed pass on de Beaufort to reclaim a spot inside the Top 20 – while Gerard’s start goes from bad to worse as Brooks picks his braking point at Mixtos to slide up the inside of the Maserati for 23rd. Emery also passes the struggling Fangio this lap for 25th overall.

*Lap 3* – Musso challenges McLaren for 3rd place this time – but is unable to pass at Horquilla…and that brings Behra right onto their tail as they cross the start/finish line! Gould is again blocked by Scarlatti, but smartly elects to take a wide line at Mixtos that is defended by the Lotus – who finds himself overtaken by the Ferrari of von Trips that slipped past both up the inside!!!

Behind them Menditeguy moves swiftly to the inside of Horquilla to thwart Brabham’s passing attempt – and the Lotus holds the Ferrari up just long enough to allow Bridger to drive around the outside of the Ferrari…and pass his team-mate on the straight as well to move back into 13th place! Collins is now on the back of that particular battle but is unable to capitalise, while Schell is crawling all over the back of Bonnier for 17th position.

Hawthorn is holding up both Salvadori and de Beaufort for 19th as it stands, while Brooks passes Piotti for 22nd overall, with a well-timed move at Ascari that the Maserati was clearly not expecting!

*Lap 4* – McLaren is starting to cause something of a blockage behind him, as he slows up a whole train of drivers from 4th placed Musso down to 7th placed Fairman…though the latter uses this to his advantage as he manages to split the Coopers of Behra and Flockhart thanks to braking latest at Horquilla this lap.

Gould again challenges Scarlatti but is unable to make his pressure tell yet – the concertina effect this causes behind sees a place swap between Bridger and Menditeguy to let the Argentine through into 13th place. Meanwhile Schell dives up the inside of Bonnier at Mixtos, but the gap was never really there, and they come together – though Schell looks significantly worse off than the Maserati…

That causes Hawthorn to swerve to avoid the slowing Schell, which in turn promotes Salvadori up to 17th and de Beaufort up to 18th ahead of Hawthorn, Brooks, Piotti and Gerard with Bonnier now down to 23rd with Schell 24th and the final 5 cars on track behind now gaining ground on that pair!

Bonnier and Schell both pull into the pits at the end of this lap, as they drop to the rear of the field – but have at least fixed the rather significant amount of damage both sustained in that crash.

*Lap 5* – McLaren is again forced to defend from Musso as the Top 2 are starting to pull away from this group! And thanks to the concertina effect it is again Fairman who capitalises, as he passes Behra for 5th this time around – and as the Vanwall completes the block pass at Mixtos that allows Gibson through around the outside of both of them, who had already completed the move on Flockhart at Ascari corner.

So that means Gibson is now up to 5th (gaining 3 places in a single lap!), Fairman is 6th, Trintignant also capitalises on the slow exits for the Cooper duo as he moves up to 7th, with Behra now 8th and Flockhart down to 9th overall. Scarlatti blocks Gould again, while Menditeguy reluctantly allows team-mate Bridger back past him – and he is right to be reluctant as not only does Brabham follow Bridger through, but Collins also manages to hook up the Ombu-Tobogan sequence of curves to slingshot past the whole group of them to move up to 13th overall ahead of Bridger, Brabham and Menditeguy.

Brooks passes Hawthorn for 19th here, and Emery eases past the struggling Schell with his damage on board for 24th. And there is a collision near the back between Fangio and Moss, as these two experienced drivers tussle and end up with quite severely damaged cars as a result…and thus come in at the end of this lap to mend that damage, which sees Bonnier back up to 26th, Schell back to 27th and then comes Fangio in 28th and Moss in 29th and last of the surviving cars on track at this stage.

*Lap 6* – Herrmann continues to lead the way for Cooper at the front and sets a new Fastest Lap of 1:41.6 to extend his lead to 1.5 seconds ahead of Hill in 2nd. McLaren is still defending from Musso, who now has 5 cars within a second of him with the final podium place very much in the balance!

Once again Gould tries to pass Scarlatti, but is unable to 100% commit due to the pressure from those behind him – who again use the concertina effect to switch places, as this time Bridger out-brakes Collins for 13th and Brabham out-brakes himself to drop behind Menditeguy and team-mate Salvadori to fall to 17th overall. Brooks also defends successfully from Hawthorn this lap over 19th place.

*Lap 7* – Musso is again blocked by McLaren, and the BRM will feel like he should be fighting for the lead with team-mate Hill right now! Meanwhile Gibson looks to be really struggling for pace, and so when Fairman puts his nose up the inside at Horquilla the BRM elects to swing over and shut the door…with disastrous consequences, as both drivers are caught up in a collision and elect to come in to fix their cars at the end of the lap!

That promotes Trintignant to an impressive 5th for Porsche – which becomes 4th as he uses his momentum to drag-race past Musso! Next up are Behra, Flockhart, von Trips, Scarlatti and Gould in 10th still stuck behind the Lotus ahead!!! Bridger is now 11th, with Collins 12th and then in 13th is…Brabham! The Ferrari gains two places thanks to the crash, is let through by team-mate Salvadori and manages to brake later than Menditeguy to inherit his position as well!

Salvadori also manages to pass the Argentine for 14th as Menditeguy is now 15th, from Brooks (who is let through by his team-mate), de Beaufort, Hawthorn, Piotti and Gerard – who now rounds out the Top 20. Fairman emerges in 22nd, narrowly in front of Chiron, while Gibson is out in 25th with Marsh just ahead and Bonnier making up for lost time behind!!!

*Lap 8* – A new Fastest Lap for Herrmann again of a 1:41.5, as he now leads by 2.3 seconds from Hill. Meanwhile Trintignant wastes no time in challenging McLaren for 3rd place – but Musso knows exactly what the Lotus will do, and so uses the phenomenal slipstream he picks up behind that pair to go around the outside at Horquilla and gain a better exit to overtake them both and move into 3rd position! Not only that, but Behra is sharp to pick up on Musso’s lead – and he follows through into 4th, which demotes McLaren to 5th and Trintignant to 6th overall!

Gibson and Bonnier both pass the simply off-the-pace duo of Chiron and Marsh to advance into 23rd and 24th, with Schell up to 26th ahead of Marsh and now right on the gearbox of Chiron.

*Lap 9* – A 1:41.3 for the peerless Herrmann at the front, while Gould, Bridger and Collins continue to be frustrated by Scarlatti – and that allows the trailing Ferrari duo to hatch a rather ingenious plan…Salvadori gets a tow from Brabham, and forces past Collins, Bridger and Gould to now sit RIGHT behind Scarlatti in 10th place! Incredible work from the Ferrari team…though Brabham is now down in 14th as a result. Schell also passes Chiron for 25th this lap as well.

*Lap 10* – McLaren blocks Trintignant for 5th…and was this the Ferrari plan all along!?! As Gould was frustrated by Scarlatti for so long, he is given a helping slipstream by the recently advanced Salvadori and drafts past into 9th place! And this time it is Bridger who enterprisingly tags along to move into 10th, from Scarlatti 11th and Salvadori in 12th. Menditeguy also blocks Brooks for 15th as we are starting to see the race settle into a rhythm…

*Lap 11* – Herrmann sets a new Fastest Lap for Cooper of a 1:41.3, while his team-mate Flockhart defends from von Trips to maintain 7th place. Salvadori holds up Collins in their fight over 12th place, while Menditeguy defends expertly from Brooks in an otherwise quiet lap.

*Lap 12* – Flockhart goes from blocking to attacking, but Trintignant is alert to the danger and shuts the door at Mixtos to maintain 6th position. Salvadori manages to finally do what his team-mates did a few laps ago and overtakes Scarlatti at Horquilla to claim 11th place and put Collins right on Scarlatti’s tail! Menditeguy continues to hold up Brooks for 15th as well…

*Lap 13* – A 1:41.1 for Herrmann means he is now over 4 seconds ahead of Hill at this stage, while a small slip from McLaren running through Viborita is enough for Trintignant to pounce and move into the final points paying position in 5th! Von Trips continues to be frustrated by Flockhart, with Gould now right on the back of that pair…Collins meanwhile is unable to repeat what Salvadori managed last lap as he is thwarted by Scarlatti.

Brooks is forced to move off-line by Menditeguy, who is being fairly cautious this stage of the race, and in fact Brooks moves over to let de Beaufort have a crack at the Lotus next time around…

*Lap 14* – Von Trips moves over to let Gould have a crack at passing Flockhart next time around, while Scarlatti manages to keep both Collins and Brabham behind him and Brooks gets a slipstream behind team-mate de Beaufort, which he uses to propel himself comfortably past Menditeguy and up to 15th position overall!

Meanwhile Fangio passes Marsh, but the Connaught makes it difficult enough that his team-mate Moss is able to pass the OSCA without a crash this time around! Up front Herrmann continues set an astonishing pace with a 1:41 flat this lap!!!

*Lap 15* – The reason for Herrmann’s early pace becomes crystal clear, as he dives into the pits clearly in need of fuel! The Cooper emerges in 20th place, narrowly ahead of Emery’s Connaught – which moves Hill back into the lead, Musso into 2nd, Behra now up to 3rd, Trintignant 4th and McLaren 5th overall. Then comes Flockhart in 6th defending from Gould and causing the Brit to allow von Trips through to have another crack at the Cooper! Scarlatti meanwhile is still keeping Collins and Brabham behind him, with Brooks now right on the back of this trio – while Fangio may have hoped Chiron would do him a favour against Fangio, but the Monegasque is unable to defend effectively and that puts Moss into 26th and Fangio into 27th as it stands.

*Lap 16* – McLaren defends heavily from Flockhart for 5th place, which sets off a chain reaction that allows Gould to slipstream behind von Trips on the run through Tobogan down to Horquilla, and the Brit manages to use his extra pace to drive past Flockhart and into 6th place! Collins is again held up by Scarlatti, which is allowing Brabham right onto their tail.

*Lap 17* – Gould challenges McLaren for 5th immediately, which sets off a chain reaction at Mixtos – which sees the fast-arriving Bridger capitalise to take 8th place from von Trips, much to the Ferrari’s surprise! Collins is again held up by Scarlatti, while Herrmann is moving around 2 seconds per lap slower than he was before after his recent stop and fuel increase.

*Lap 18* – Salvadori endeavours to use the slipstream behind von Trips to catapult past the Lotus in 8th, but the Ferrari’s find themselves attacking thin air (though they do swap positions in the move) as the young Lotus driver manages to set a 1:40.9 lap-time to claim Fastest Lap and move within touching distance of Flockhart ahead.

Collins is blocked again by Scarlatti, while Brooks is looking to support his team-mate – but is still stuck behind Brabham in their fight over 13th position.

*Lap 19* – Gould is still pressuring McLaren for 5th, while Bridger is doing likewise with Flockhart over 7th place and Scarlatti is now 2 seconds behind von Trips ahead, as the Lotus is certainly holding up Collins, Brabham and Brooks right now. Menditeguy is also now defending from de Beaufort’s Vanwall as it stands…

*Lap 20* – A new fastest lap from Musso in the BRM here, with a 1:40.7 – but the main focus is on the pits as we see Gould, Bridger and Brooks all come in for their 1st scheduled stop, which means Flockhart is now 6th, Salvadori 7th, von Trips 8th, Scarlatti 9th and Collins rounding out the Top 10. Brabham is now 11th, with Menditeguy 12th, de Beaufort 13th, Hawthorn 14th, Piotti 15th, Gerard 16th, Herrmann 17th, Emery 18th, Fairman in 19th (which tells you something about his pace given that he has pitted with damage already!) and then Gould emerges in 20th, from Bridger in 21st after his stop, Gibson 22nd and then Brooks out in 23rd after he was the last man to pit this time around.

*Lap 21* – McLaren blocks Flockhart for 5th place, with Ferrari again hooking up their slipstream move to slingshot von Trips past the Cooper of Flockhart via his team-mate Salvadori! Collins and Emery both pit to drop down to 21st and 25th respectively.

Up front it’s another Fastest Lap for Musso, who sets a blisteringly quick 1:40.6, which will be tough for anyone to beat…particularly with rain clouds looming on the far horizon…!

*Lap 22* – The usual blocking happens this lap, but attention is mostly on the pits as Salvadori and de Beaufort both pit – emerging in 15th and 20th respectively, which is good for Salvadori to be ahead of Gould and Bridger…but he is still 8 seconds behind Herrmann in the Cooper! Meanwhile the Vanwall pit-crew are still waiting for another driver…but no-one is arriving, and that is because Fairman in the Vanwall has pulled over at Ascari corner seemingly out of fuel!!!

*Lap 23* – Gibson is making up for lost time, as he uses Gould’s vigorous defence against Bridger to roar past both of them down the start/finish straight and claim 16th place.

*Lap 24* – Gould blocks Bridger for 17th place, while Bonnier blocks Schell as the two renew acquaintances after their initial accident. Meanwhile the leading duo pit for BRM, which sees Musso queued behind team-mate Hill…for an incredibly long period of time, given how long it takes in order to change tyres and refuel an F1R car! As such Behra now leads from Trintignant, McLaren, Flockhart, Scarlatti, Brabham, Menditeguy, Hawthorn, Piotti and Gerard completing the Top 10 now.

Hill comes out in 11th, some 4 seconds ahead of Herrmann, von Trips pits and emerges in 13th, from Salvadori, Gibson, Gould, Bridger, Collins, de Beaufort, Brooks, Bonnier and Schell, with Musso out in a lowly 23rd after a colossal error by the BRM team to pit both cars on the same lap!

*Lap 25* – Brabham pits from 6th place to drop down the order…and he exits the pits alongside team-mate Salvadori, but the Brit’s momentum carries both him and the on-rushing Gibson past Brabham who is now out in 15th place. Bridger is blocked by Gould as they fight over 16th just behind this group.

*Lap 26* – Gibson is blocked by Salvadori for 13th as the BRM is in a serious Ferrari sandwich as he has two Ferrari’s in front and two behind him. And all these cars being in such close proximity has potentially slowed them down, and that means Flockhart pits and comes out in 11th behind Herrmann but ahead of von Trips and the other 3 Ferrari’s! That means Lotus now have 3 drivers in the points with McLaren 3rd, Scarlatti 4th and Menditeguy 5th.

Vanwall meanwhile switch Brooks and de Beaufort on track for 19th, while Bonnier pits for his first scheduled stop to come out in 24th place overall.

*Lap 27* – Attention is on the pits this lap, as almost everyone has now come into the pits at least once now (twice now in the case of Gibson, Moss and Fangio!), with only Gerard yet to come in – meaning the Maserati now leads the race, which wouldn’t have been a surprise last season but certainly is unusual this time around!

Hill is now back into 2nd place, with Herrmann 3rd and Behra out in 4th place from Trintignant in 5th. McLaren is 6th and should move back into the points paying position in an otherwise catastrophic lap for Lotus, as not one, not two…but three drivers all pit on the same lap meaning Scarlatti loses around 30 seconds and Menditeguy drops a full minute, much to the dismay of the home crowd!

Flockhart is 7th by a narrow margin behind McLaren, with von Trips 8th, Salvadori 9th, Brabham 10th and Gould 11th as the Ferarri’s are all line-astern now! Bridger is 12th, from Collins 13th, Hawthorn out in 14th splitting the Vanwall team, Brooks 15th, de Beaufort 16th, Piotti 17th, Schell up to 18th, Musso pressuring him in 19th and then comes Scarlatti in 20th with Gibson 21st, Emery in 22nd and Menditeguy narrowly behind the Connaught in 23rd. The final four also pit this lap, with Moss, Fangio, Chiron and Marsh all coming in this time around – with both OSCA and Connaught narrowly avoiding queuing their cars thanks to how far behind Chiron and Marsh had fallen behind their team-mates.

*Lap 28* – Gerard does pit from the lead this time around, while the other man yet to take a scheduled stop is Schell in the Porsche…but unlike the Maserati he doesn’t manage to make it back to the pits and thus ends his race out of fuel and fuming on the outside of Tobogan corner to make it 3 retirements already! All of that means Hill reclaims the lead from Herrmann, Behra, Trintignant and McLaren, who is still holding off Flockhart’s advances to try and claim 5th place.

Von Trips leads the Ferrari quarter from 7th through to 10th with just 5 seconds separating them all, with Bridger 11th, Collins 12th, and de Beaufort up to 13th after using team-mate Brooks’ two to slingshot past both him and Hawthorn this time around! Piotti is 16th, with Gerard out in 17th from Musso, Scarlatti and Gibson now rounding out the Top 20. Menditeguy is still stuck behind Emery in what is now 21st and 22nd places, ahead of Bonnier 23rd, Moss 24th and Fangio in 25th position.

*Lap 29* – Von Trips in the lead Ferrari has caught the McLaren v Flockhart battle, but is yet to make any kind of impact there – while Gould is showing some good pace and comfortably eases past team-mate Brabham for 9th…but the Australian fails to move back across to cover the racing line in time, and that allows Bridger to capitalise and move back inside the Top 10!

Meanwhile Hawthorn on his colder tyres is unable to defend from Brooks, and so lets the Vanwall past into 14th as a result. Menditeguy also dispatches Emery on this lap to claim 21st, and not before time given that Bonnier is now just 3 seconds behind the pair and gaining ground…

*Lap 30* – Bridger challenges Gould for 9th, but the Ferrari is alert to the danger and closes the door at Horquilla, with Collins similarly denied by Brabham this time around – while Vanwall swap de Beaufort and Brooks around to give the charging Brit a shot at moving forwards more easily.

At the front things are really getting exciting though, as Herrmann is the fastest man on track by some distance and is only a mere half a second down on Hill in their battle for the race lead!!!

*Lap 31* – Herrmann crosses the line less than 1 tenth behind Hill, but the questions remain as to whether he is on a different fuel strategy to the BRM…! Gould defends solidly from Bridger for 9th, while Collins picks his braking point to perfection to edge ahead of Brabham at the Mixtos hairpin and claim 11th overall.

*Lap 32* – We have a change for the lead! Herrmann roars past Hill on the straight between Curvon and Ascari, but how much longer will he stay out to build this lead up…?!? Meanwhile Bridger’s best attempt to pass Gould yet results in the Ferrari forcing the Lotus to tough it out around the outside of Ombu, where he ultimately runs out of road and grip.

Contrasting fortunes for Maserati on this lap, as Gerard does well to defend from the charging Musso (still clearly upset after that pit-stop mishap) but Bonnier is thwarted in his attempt to pass the somewhat sluggish Emery.

*Lap 33* – McLaren is falling back from Trintignant in 4th (much to Porsche Team Principal Rocco Stallone’s delight!) and is now forced to defend heavily from both Flockhart and von Trips, while Bridger is still stuck behind Gould and unable to find a way past!

Meanwhile it’s again contrasting fortunes for Maserati, but for very different reasons – as Bonnier glides past Emery effortlessly while Gerard is equally outclassed by Musso in the BRM…so much so that the Maserati Team Principal John Ibbotson looks to be consider a rain dance to help out his star driver and best championship hope!

*Lap 34* – A half-hearted attempt by Bridger on Gould this time sees Collins now move into attacking range of this pair, while another Ferrari being forced to defend is Brabham as he gamely hangs onto 12th place despite Brooks’ best efforts. Further back, after the stops Fangio has found some decent pace (as the mechanics seemed to barely touch his fuel on-board) and he eases past Moss for 24th on the road now.

*Lap 35* – Herrmann pits again, in what is an incredibly bold strategy – though he does emerge in clean air, albeit down in 18th position. That means Hill inherits the lead from Behra and Trintignant now up to 3rd for Porsche! McLaren and Flockhart round out the current points scoring positions (which still do not include any of Ferrari, Maserati or Vanwall!!!), but the Cooper driver finally seizes the opportunity to dive past the Lotus at Horquilla to move into 4th place.

Von Trips is 6th from Salvadori 7th, Gould 8th, Bridger 9th and Collins now very close behind in 10th. And the Vanwall may soon have some support, as Brooks comfortably overtakes Brabham into Curva Uno to move into what is now 11th on track.

*Lap 36* – Von Trips and Salvadori waste no time in employing the slipstreaming technique that has proved so successful here, as the Brit uses the double two down the start/finish straight to move past McLaren into 5th and finally put a Ferrari into the point scoring positions (much to the dismay of Lotus Team Principal Jun Ho). Collins is still being frustrated by Bridger in their fight for 9th meanwhile.

*Lap 37* – Von Trips cannot get past McLaren on his own, though he may not have to wait long given that Gould in the Ferrari is now right with that pair…though he brings Bridger and Collins close proximity along with him too!

*Lap 38* – Salvadori wastes no time in getting onto the back of Flockhart’s Cooper, but his fellow Brit sees the move coming this lap and slams the door shut to keep hold of 4th place. Von Trips meanwhile finally gets his nose up the inside of McLaren going through Tobogan to give himself the inside at Horquilla…and his aggressive block pass ensures there is no way for the Lotus to turn in and therefore he must cede the place. However, that manoeuvre takes them both very wide indeed, which lets Gould past both of them into 6th from von Trips 7th, Bridger now up to 8th after a solid exit from the Lotus that moves him ahead of the luckless McLaren in 9th place with Collins now closing up in 10th.

*Lap 39* – No rain as yet, but many of the Team Principals are looking anxiously up to the sky as the dark clouds are certainly getting closer…

While the race is still dry Bridger continues to make progress, as this time he uses his solid exit from the last corner of the previous lap to brake a fraction later than von Trips and claim 7th place from the Ferrari. Collins almost repeats the feat but finds McLaren alert to the danger instead.

Further back in the battle of the Luigi’s it’s an easy pass for Musso, who is back up to 15th and flying along in his pursuit to reclaim a place near the front of the field!

*Lap 40* – Hill’s lead over Behra in 2nd place is out to 10 seconds…and there is still no rain on track as yet! That doesn’t stop several drivers diving into the pits to refuel in the hopes of drops falling as they make their way in…but to no avail. More on them in a moment…

Up front Salvadori is unable to find a way past Flockhart, and so gives Gould a shot – with the knowledge that the slipstream could easily be on if they time it correctly! Collins gets the better of McLaren on this lap with a well-timed move at Ascari…and given the stops by Bridger and Brooks the Vanwall is now into 8th overall.

All the above action means that McLaren is 9th from Brabham 10th, de Beaufort 11th, Hawthorn a solid 12th for OSCA, Musso now 13th on his comeback drive, Piotti 14th, Gerard 15th, Herrmann 16th and picking up the pace a little now, Scarlatti 17th, Bridger out of the pits in 18th, Gibson back up to 19th and Brooks out of the pits to round out the Top 20. Menditeguy, Bonnier and Emery complete those still on the lead lap, with Fangio moving away from Moss, Chiron and Marsh at the back.

*Lap 41* – The big news is…still no rain, though the clouds above now look incredibly ominous! Gould defers to the experience of Salvadori, enabling the more experienced Ferrari to take the next shot at passing Flockhart for 4th place…while Gibson takes Bridger for 18th in what is quite literally the calm before the storm on this lap…!

*Lap 42* – And now…at last…the heavens open!!! The rain comes in from the East side of the track and hits at Horquilla first…and we now start to see a real change in driving style with some backing off completely, others not adapting their style at all (more on them in a moment) and finally others finding that sweet spot to pick up pace in the conditions that are slowly deteriorating.

Hill in 1st looks to be relishing the conditions, as he comes through having pulled out a massive lead on those behind him! Meanwhile the Ferrari’s look to be incredibly hooked up when it comes to how they as a team are handling the conditions, as von Trips makes his way past both Gould and Salvadori before comfortably out-braking Trintignant into Mixtos and then passing Behra into Horquilla to move the German up to 2nd position!

He is followed through by the reasonably confident Salvadori now up to 3rd, with Behra 4th (though taking things very easily!), Gould right on his gearbox in 5th and then Brabham up to 6th after a brilliant sequence of corners sees him ease past McLaren and Trintignant. Speaking of the Porsche he is now down to 7th after really backing off to avoid any kind of incident!

And speaking of incidents Horquilla corner is resembling a scrapyard now, as first of all Flockhart completely bins it from what had looked a hopeful 4th place for Cooper (and is lucky not to roll the car!)…he is followed by Scarlatti and then the Connaught duo of Emery and Moss as all four of them head for early retirement after some heavy impacts at the final turn!!!

Collins does survive the lap, but pits for his scheduled stop – but it looks as if the mechanics had dry tyres ready for him there (as the rain hadn’t reached them in the pits yet!); what a waste for the Vanwall team that could have had the jump on the field if they had pitted a single lap later – but as such he emerges in 14th place.

The drivers are still coming through the start/finish line – behind Trintignant in 7th we have de Beaufort in 8th for Vanwall, McLaren down to 9th after he is caught napping by the Dutchman that is now in front of him, Musso up to 10th after a strong passive move on Hawthorn drops the OSCA down to 11th and then comes Piotti in 12th and Herrmann now up to 13th after an easy pass on Gerard – the Maserati has backed off massively, and though that is a safe approach, it’s not necessarily a fast one…and the defending champion is now down to 16th overall as Gibson also claims a place from him.

Brooks has a new lease of life meanwhile, and he makes short work of passing Bridger’s Lotus round the outside at Ascari to claim 17th, with Menditeguy 19th, Bonnier 20th, Fangio 21st, Chiron 22nd and Marsh 23rd the only remaining drivers on track…

*Lap 43* – Von Trips is the class of the field in these tough conditions, and though Hill is no slouch the German is gaining some 4 seconds per lap on him – and is now only 11 seconds down in total! Brabham meanwhile hooks up another impressive lap, as he passes both his team-mates and Behra (who was busy – unsuccessfully – defending from Gould) to move up to 3rd on track. Salvadori is now 4th with Gould in 5th as we have 4 Ferrari’s in the points positions as it stands!

The man on a real charge here is Musso, who eases past McLaren, Trintignant and Behra on track to go from 10th to 6th in the space of a single lap! Behra is 7th, from Hawthorn in 8th – who uses all his expertise to make the most of these tough conditions – and McLaren in 9th, who manages to out-drag Trintignant off the exit of Horquilla, though both stay in the Top 10 by virtue of someone stopping this lap…

…and that someone is Carel Godin de Beaufort, who pits at the end of this lap and elects to become the 1st man onto the wet tyres, which could be an absolute masterstroke! He emerges in 15th place, behind Piotti 11th, the fast-moving Herrmann in 12th and his team-mate Collins defending 13th from Gibson as it stands. Brooks is up to 16th as Gerard’s cautious approach looks to be costing him heaps of time – with Bridger right behind him now in 18th.

*Lap 44* – We now seem to be at the point where wet tyres are the better tyre to be on…and that precipitates a huge dash to the pits led by Behra in 7th with every other driver behind him electing to come in (having weighed up whether it was worth waiting for their next scheduled stop or not!). With the huge rush in the pits, and the varying entry speeds for many drivers there is a huge shuffling of the pack…not least with de Beaufort moving up to 7th overall!

Though it’s not all good news for the Vanwall, as he doesn’t pick his braking point for Horquilla correctly (given the rapidly worsening conditions) and ends up clouting one of the stranded cars and doing some damage to his Bodywork as a result.

Of those pitting Hawthorn is first out 8th for OSCA, from Behra 9th, Herrmann 10th, McLaren 11th, Trintignant 12th, Piotti 13th, Gibson 14th, who leaps Collins (15th) in that stop, Brooks 16th, Bridger 17th and Gerard 18th after losing out to the young Lotus driver after his pit-stop.

*Lap 45* – The gap at the front is just 3.8 seconds, as von Trips looks to be about to demolish Hill’s lead in the space of just a few laps! Gould takes the opportunity to pit for a well-timed scheduled stop, which sees him emerge in 6th place narrowly ahead of the slightly ailing de Beaufort – which sees Musso now up to 4th place as a result, as the BRM takes advantage of Gould’s lack of defending to slipstream past both him (before he pits) and the other Ferrari of Salvadori too!

Behra moves over to let team-mate Herrmann into 9th, as the German takes on the responsibility of pursuing Hawthorn’s OSCA. Meanwhile Gibson has the bit between his teeth, as he passes both Piotti and Trintignant at Mixtos to move up to 12th – with Collins following him through into 13th, ahead of Piotti 14th and Trintignant 15th.

*Lap 46* – Hill’s lead over von Trips is down to just 0.5 seconds, with Brabham and Musso also gaining ground on the leader by quite a significant amount each lap. Meanwhile despite his damage de Beaufort is actually gaining on Gould ahead of him, while the quickest man on track is Herrmann in 9th place overall!

Gibson is still making strong progress, as he eases past McLaren to claim 11th and put himself on the back of Behra for a place in the Top 10 – though he still has Collins right on his tail! Menditeguy also passes Gerard for 18th this time around…

*Lap 47* – Von Trips passes Hill with a comfortable move around the outside at Ascari, with Brabham and Musso setting a similarly strong pace – albeit on the dry tyre, which is now clearly the slower option on track. Salvadori pits from 5th to emerge in 7th place, which elevates Gould into 5th with de Beaufort now less than a second behind him despite the damage he sustained earlier. Speaking of damage, if Salvadori isn’t careful he will end up in the wall himself given how he is taking some of the corners on track!

Gibson and Collins both make short work of passing Behra to move into 10th and 11th respectively, while Piotti passes McLaren for 13th and Gerard moves over to let Bonnier chase Menditeguy without being impeded…in what was certainly not the start to his title defence that the most successful F1R driver in history would have wanted!!!

*Lap 48* – Von Trips, Hill and Musso all come into the pits this lap – emerging in 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively with Brabham now the only man out on the dry tyres in these conditions, though he is leading the race and his pace is still on par with many of those on wet tyres! Meanwhile de Beaufort challenges Gould for 5th place, but the Ferrari stands strong to shut the door at Mixtos and maintain the position.

Herrmann is still setting a scintillating pace (though around 1 second per lap slower than Gibson in 10th), as he scythes past Hawthorn into 8th with around 20 seconds to make up on those in the points paying positions now. And things are finally looking up for Fangio, who moves past Gerard on this lap to reassume a place in the Top 20 that he has not held since the 1st lap!!!

Brooks was setting a brilliant pace for Vanwall, but he overcooks it at Horquilla and runs wide to damage his car quite severely – but a hasty pit-stop sees him manage to pit to mend the damage and come out still in 16th overall…though now over 30 seconds behind Trintignant in front.

*Lap 49* – Gould continues to defend bravely from de Beaufort’s onslaught – but both of them are markedly slower in these conditions than the 3 drivers in front that have stopped. Further back there is some good news for Maserati, as Piotti continues his progress to slide past Behra at Ombu and move into 12th overall.

Bridger repeats Brooks’ mistake last lap at Horquilla – but also dives in the pits to fix the damage and returns in 20th place, which means that Fangio’s pass on Bonnier this lap not only moves him up to 18th, but also now sees him right on the back of Menditeguy ahead!

*Lap 50* – Brabham has stayed out on these dry tyres for far too long, and his lead over von Trips has dropped dramatically to now just 1.8 seconds and he will have to still pit to put on wet tyres soon. Von Trips is the fastest driver on track by some distance now – and looks odds on to bring victory home for Ferrari, if he can avoid a crash!

De Beaufort finally makes his pressure pay, with a well-timed dive up the inside at Mixtos to claim 5th from Gould. Further back Menditeguy is busy watching his mirrors through Tobogan, which are filled with the OSCA of Fangio…and maybe he is too busy as he totally misses his braking point to run wide and damage his car – giving Fangio the easiest pass of his life and now putting Bonnier right on the home driver’s gearbox!

*Lap 51* – Brabham pits from the lead so that the whole field is now on wet tyres for the rain that shows no signs of abating. Von Trips now leads the race and is looking a strong bet to maintain 1st place, with BRM now 2nd and 3rd with Hill and Musso – though the latter is gaining on his less experience team-mate each and every lap, with Brabham now out in 4th position some two seconds ahead of de Beaufort.

Bonnier passes Menditeguy for 18th place, as it seems the wheels have come off the Lotus challenge ever since the rain started coming down…

*Lap 52* – Salvadori was running a comfortable-ish 7th, but suddenly sees the British Racing Green appearing behind him in the shape of Herrmann and begins to push to the limit…and he pushes too far at Ascari to cause a fair amount of damage to his car…but although he loses 7th to Herrmann in the process (who is now right on the back of Gould for 6th!) he is still 8th, but will soon have Gibson’s BRM to contend with, who just overtook the OSCA of Hawthorn!

Bonnier pits on this lap for a scheduled stop, which drops him down to 20th to give the Lotus team their first good news for a while, as both Menditeguy and Bridger gain a place as a result.

*Lap 53* – Herrmann passes Gould for 6th place with a great pass around the outside at Ascari and is now haranguing de Beaufort for the final points paying position! Gibson meanwhile continues his excellent progress in the rain, as he moves past the ailing Salvadori for 8th position.

Piotti pits from 12th to emerge in 14th behind Behra and McLaren, while Brooks has no issue in forcing his way past the tentative Trintignant in the Porsche to claim 15th position.

*Lap 54* – Another lap and another pass for Herrmann, who is now into 5th place as his pace deserves! De Beaufort is hanging on remarkably well considering he is still carrying the same level of damage, but he is at least still 6th on the road.

Meanwhile in the pits 6 of the 9 teams are prepared – and we see Gibson, Hawthorn, Behra, McLaren, Trintignant, Fangio and Menditeguy come in this time around. That means Salvadori is back up to 8th, with Collins right behind him in 9th and Gibson out in 10th position with Hawthorn just a little way behind him.

Piotti is now 12th, from Brooks 13th, Behra out in 14th ahead of McLaren out in 15th, while Trintignant and Fangio maintain their places in spite of their stop and Menditeguy comes out in 20th behind both Bridger and Bonnier.

*Lap 55* – Brabham is now right on the back of Musso, and there is only 6 seconds covering Hill in 2nd from the Ferrari in 4th position. Collins eases past the struggling Ferrari of Salvadori for 8th place as the Vanwall continues to move forwards in these tricky conditions…

*Lap 56* – Brabham is back up to 3rd position, as he out-brakes Musso at Horquilla – and is now just 3 seconds behind the BRM of Hill as he looks to put the Ferrari 1-2 back into place!

Gerard also pits this lap, though he is rather out of contention given how safely he is driving around right now. Chiron and Musso also come in, but all three of them look like their places are now set in stone.

*Lap 57* – Brabham eats up the ground to Hill, and tries to pass at Horquilla – and he brakes later than the BRM into the corner…but it’s a little too late, and that allows the Brit to reclaim 2nd place for another lap at least. Herrmann pits on this lap, which drops him to 9th and gives de Beaufort 5th place back, also moving Gould up to 6th, Collins up to 7th narrowly behind his countryman and Salvadori up to 8th despite his damage.

Brooks continues the recent trend of Vanwall’s moving forward, as he overtakes Piotti for 12th position with a strong pass down the start/finish straight – though he still has some way to go in order to catch the Top 10!

*Lap 58* – Brabham could not be resisted any longer, and Hill can do nothing to defend against the advances of the Ferrari – though the British debutante’s focus will now surely drift to trying to keep his podium place against his own team-mate, as Musso is now just 1.3 seconds behind him! Collins passes Gould for 6th and will shortly reach his own team-mate de Beaufort, who is still maintaining a points-paying position despite his damage!

*Lap 59* – Musso is slipstreaming effectively behind Hill, but he is still behind his less experienced team-mate at this stage. Herrmann meanwhile reclaims 8th place from the struggling Salvadori, while further back Fangio continues his own move forward to take 16th from Trintignant.

*Lap 60* – Musso eases past Hill, as the junior driver defers to his senior team-mate (and more likely greater championship hope) and potentially pays the Brit back for forcing him to queue up behind him in the pits earlier on! Collins meanwhile is in hot pursuit of de Beaufort, and he brakes late at Horquilla…too late, and he causes some significant damage to his car – which means there are two damaged Vanwall’s in 5th and 6th respectively, though still moving at a similar pace to Gould…which will be music to the ears of the charging Herrmann in 8th position!

Brooks pits from 12th to drop behind Piotti in 13th and Bridger comes in for Lotus, but a slow stop sees him come out just 3 seconds ahead of Bonnier in 18th place…

*Lap 61* – Gibson looks wary of Salvadori and some of the damage the Ferrari has picked up and he elects to take a wide berth as he passes him at Ascari…but it’s too wide and a damp patch on track causes him to spin and pick up some damage. And though he recovers to stay ahead of Salvadori he certainly isn’t moving as quickly as before…

*Lap 62* – De Beaufort comes in for his scheduled stop, and finally fixes the damage he sustained earlier – though that stop drops him right down to 10th place behind the still struggling Collins, along with Gould, Herrmann, Gibson and Salvadori that are also now ahead of him.

*Lap 63* – Collins pits to fix his own damage and comes out in 9th place, just behind de Beaufort – who narrowly passes his team-mate in the pits, after getting past the ailing Salvadori earlier in the lap! All that means Gould reclaims 5th for Ferrari ahead of Herrmann and Gibson.

*Lap 64* – Von Trips pits for what is likely the last time…and not only does he come out ahead of Brabham, but that exit seems to distract the Australian, who isn’t concentrating through Ombu and manages to do some damage to his car after going wide at that corner. Meanwhile Collins and de Beaufort switch places for 8th and 9th to maximise the team’s chances of points, and McLaren defends vigorously from Fangio as he looks to hang onto 15th position.

*Lap 65* – Gould pits from 5th on the road and is the latest man to emerge in 10th place – though is only a couple of seconds behind the struggling Salvadori now. Fangio makes no mistake this time in scything past McLaren and moves into 15th position.

*Lap 66* – Brabham comes into the pits to fix his own damage this time around and emerges in 4th position with around 25 seconds to gain on Musso in 2nd place – and the small matter of Hill in the middle of them too! Fangio’s expertise is really starting to show, as he moves past Behra without any problem whatsoever to claim 14th overall.

*Lap 67* – Salvadori at last comes in to fix his own damage, which promotes Gould to 9th and Hawthorn to 10th on track.

*Lap 68* – Brabham is moving around 2 seconds per lap faster than the two ahead of them – but with 23 seconds to gain on Musso it may be nip and tuck as to whether he can get there in time!!!

*Lap 69* – Not much movement on track, as we enter the final stages of the race…

*Lap 70* – Brabham is now just 4 seconds behind Hill – though up front Musso may be feeling the pressure somewhat, as he goes around Ombu and loses control to aquaplane off the track…but does recover, albeit certainly with some damage on-board now.

*Lap 71* – Brabham is now less than a second behind Hill, and with Musso now losing more time thanks to his damage a Ferrari 1-2 is surely the most likely outcome here! The battles to look out for in the closing stages are Brooks gaining on Piotti for 12th (2 seconds per lap with a 14 second gap right now), Collins gaining on Gibson for 6th (1 second per lap with a 9 second gap right now) and of course Brabham’s pursuit of 2nd position – though accidents in the rain could still cause havoc for the remaining drivers!

*Lap 72* – Von Trips has had a comfortable ride up front up until this point, but he loses concentration for just a moment at Horquilla and ends up doing some fairly significant damage to his car – though with a 36 second lead it’s unlikely that he will be caught…but he is now losing time to Brabham in particular!

And Brabham’s first challenge has been removed, as Hill makes a late scheduled stop to come out in 4th with Herrmann starting to gain ground behind him!

*Lap 73* – In the main battles to watch Brabham is down to 12 seconds behind the ailing Musso, Herrmann is 9 seconds behind Hill and gaining at around 1 second per lap, Collins’ progress has slowed somewhat as the gap is still at 8.7 seconds and Brooks has the gap down to 11 seconds in pursuit of Piotti.

*Lap 74* – Hawthorn makes an error at Ombu (as a few others before him have), sliding wide and damaging his bodywork as a result – though a 27 second gap over Salvadori should be sufficient to protect his Top 10 place in the closing stages.

*Lap 75* – Herrmann was gaining on Hill, but he pushes too hard and slides wide at Horquilla – and by the looks he is now just grateful to still be in the race and in the points…though he needs to get a move on, given that Gibson (despite his own damage) is 12 seconds behind him and moving much more quickly now! Meanwhile Fangio becomes the latest man to make an error at Ombu, but he also looks relatively safe in his 14th place given that Behra is over a minute behind him.

*Lap 76* – Gould is lapping McLaren at Horquilla, and both manage to miss their braking points simultaneously…and though they don’t touch either other, they certainly do hit the tyre barriers at the side of the course! Both continue, though a sizeable amount of damage for Gould means that he is at risk of Hawthorn catching and passing him in the closing stages!!!

*Lap 77* – The key battles to look out for in the remaining laps are Brabham 2.2 seconds behind Musso for 2nd place (lapping around 3 seconds per lap faster), Gibson 7.6 seconds behind Herrmann for 5th place (lapping around 2.5 seconds per lap faster – though both are carrying damage!) – Collins is faster in 7th and not that far behind, but his pace isn’t enough right now – then Hawthorn 8.2 seconds behind Gould for 9th (lapping around 2.5 seconds per lap faster) and finally Brooks 4.3 seconds behind Piotti for 12th (lapping around 2 seconds per lap faster)!

*Lap 78* – Our first battle is resolved, as Brabham does pass Musso to take 2nd place and restore the Ferrari 1-2. Musso will finish on the podium though, barring a miracle. Gibson is 5 seconds behind Herrmann now (Collins a further 7 seconds back), Hawthorn is 6 seconds behind Gould and Brooks is 2.8 seconds behind Piotti…

*Lap 79* – Gibson is 2.6 seconds behind and this lap he was 2.5 seconds faster than the struggling Herrmann!!! Hawthorn is 3.4 seconds behind and this lap he was 2.7 seconds faster than Gould and Brooks is now just 0.8 seconds down on Piotti as we move into the final lap of the race…

*Lap 80* – Von Trips takes the victory!!! That moves him inside the Top 10 for Most Race Wins, Most Podiums and Most Points in F1R history in some style…as from 14th on the grid that means there has only been one other race where a race was won from lower down on the starting grid (19th by Salvadori at the 1954 French GP). Anyway, however you look at it, it’s the perfect start for von Trips and Ferrari!

Speaking of Ferrari, it’s von Trips’ team-mate Brabham home in 2nd to score a Ferrari 1-2 and get their season off to a flyer, while Musso becomes only the 18th driver to ever record consecutive podium finishes after he picks up where he left off last season to claim a strong 3rd for BRM – and the point for Fastest Lap in the process! Hill completes a 3-4 for the British marque after an excellent debut race leads to points – and over the line (right under the nose of leader von Trips, who wisely backed off to avoid lapping the duelling pair) it is Herrmann who takes the final points paying position, though he had to defend at Horquilla to prevent Gibson from grabbing it off him.

*1 LAP DOWN* – A decent race for Collins sees him come home 7th for Vanwall only 5 seconds outside the points, with team-mate de Beaufort 8th, Gould 9th after keeping Hawthorn in 10th (though that’s still a good result for the OSCA driver on his 40th race and the team’s 1st race back in the championship!) just 1 second behind him at the line and then comes Salvadori in 11th place.

//2 LAP DOWN // – The battle for 12th is resolved at the final corner of the final lap, as Brooks manages to brake later than Piotti to claim the position. Maybe not the way the Maserati had hoped to celebrate his 20th race start, but it’s still a respectable position to finish in.

//3 LAP DOWN // – Fangio celebrates his 30th race start with a solid drive to 14th place, including some good overtaking in tricky conditions near the end – while Behra trails home in 15th after his hopes of points evaporated with the rain pouring down.

//4 LAP DOWN // – McLaren and Trintignant finish 16th and 17th respectively, as the Lotus challenge really fell away with the rain – but they will have been encouraged by their dry pace, and likewise Trintignant was really in the mix for points in the dry – so both will be hoping for a drier outing next time out!

//6 LAP DOWN // – Bridger finishes 18th from Bonnier 19th, and Menditeguy in 20th at his home race – though he gave the crowd a late thrill by almost closing Bonnier down thanks to some good pace at the end!

//10 LAP DOWN // – Finishing 5 seconds behind the leader would have been an ok start to the season for Gerard, but it’s safe to say he couldn’t have anticipated finishing 10 laps (and 5 seconds) behind the winner. An ignominious beginning to his title defence will leave many questions open for debate, but Gerard is likely to simply be relieved that there are 4 dropped scores this year so he can forget this race and focus on the remaining 9!

//12 LAP DOWN // – In the final two finishing positions Chiron leads home Marsh, with the rain catching out Flockhart, Scarlatti and the Connaught duo of Emery and Moss, fuel being an issue for Schell and Fairman and Godia never getting past the first corner.

Join us next time for the 1958 Monaco GP!!!

## Race Setups

**How close setups were to perfect - Dry**

**How close setups were to perfect - Wet**

## Milestones

* 20th race entry for Luigi Piotti
* Fangio up to 6th most entries ever (39 total), at the expense of Giuseppe Farina
* Moss up to 9th most entries ever (35 total), at the expense of Umberto Maglioli
* Bruce McLaren becomes 1st ever New Zealander to compete in F1R
* Moss up to 4th in Most Races without a Win, at the expense of Alberto Ascari
* Piotti up to 4th in Most Races without Points, at the expense of both Eugenio Castellotti and André Simon
* 40th race start for Mike Hawthorn
* 30th race start for Juan Manuel Fangio
* 20th race start for Luigi Piotti
* Fangio moves into 9th for most starts ever ahead of Alberto Ascari
* Win for Von Trips moves him inside top 10 on the all-time list
* Von Trips’ win from 14th is the win from 2nd lowest on the grid ever!
* 2 more points for Herrmann than Moss moves the German up to 8th most points ever
* 3 points for von Trips moves him into Top 10 most points ever
* Points finish for von Trips moves him into Top 10 for most points finishes ever
* Points finish for von Trips is his 3rd points finish in a row
* Points finish for Musso is his 2nd points finish in a row
* Hill’s Pole Position means he has a 100% record for Pole Positions so far
* Podium for von Trips moves him into top 10 most podiums of all time
* Podium for Musso is his 2nd Consecutive Podium, which makes him the 18th driver to achieve that feat.