1957 Pescara GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Pescara
* Location – Italy
* Corners – 10
* Laps – 18
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 11:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 9:44.600 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – N/A
* Pit Lane Length – 20 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – Very High
* Tyre Wear – High

## Qualifying

Gerard extends his record for Most Pole Positions in a row, though the F1R committee have released information that means that next season an achievement such as this will be an incredibly tough one to replicate!

Collins will start in 2nd place as he looks to keep his faint championship hopes alive - but nothing less than a win will do for either him or Hawthorn, who is back in 6th on the grid. Maglioli and Perdisa hold the home fans interest in 3rd and 4th respectively, with von Trips a thorn in his team-mates side in an impressive 5th place on the grid!

Castellotti and Piotti are also representing for Italy, and line up 7th and 9th with Salvadori in between them and Fairman rounding out the Top 10 for Vanwall. All three Vanwall's that have qualified are inside the Top 10 as the team's performance goes from strength to strength! Menditeguy, Behra, Brabham, Gonzalez, de Beaufort, Musso, Flockhart, Simon, Gould, Gregory, Gibson and Scarlatti are the other qualifiers for the race. With 22 drivers on the starting grid there are opportunities for several to set their Personal Best performances this race!

## Grid

A single point for Gerard will see him clinch the title here, though even if he fails to score it would need either Hawthorn or Collins to take victory and the Fastest Lap to prevent him from being the 1957 F1R Champion!

Maglioli qualifies in a season-high 3rd place for both him and BRM, in what promises to be an exciting spectacle for the British team. Perdisa will be challenging him for the final podium position, which would be either Italian's 2nd career visit to the rostrum.

Meanwhile Castellotti in 7th and Piotti in 9th both have a chance to get rid of an unwanted record, as they both currently sit in the Top 10 for Most Races without Points - could today be the day that the Italian duo get something on the board at last!?!

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* – Gerard gets away cleanly, but behind him it’s absolute pandemonium! Perdisa gets the best start of all from 4th on the grid and quickly moves past Collins and Maglioli – and the Vanwall’s start goes from bad to worse as he ends up with the BRM ahead of him as well…

Hawthorn gets a poor start and finds himself in 8th place behind both von Trips, Castellotti and Salvadori. Fairman manages to squeeze past Piotti at Montani to inherit 9th, with Behra right behind them thanks to a strong pass on Menditeguy at Capelle. However, the whole group is shocked on the run down to Monte Silvano by the pace of Gonzalez, who goes from 14th to 9th in an incredible series of overtakes down the straight and through the hairpin!

Flockhart is able to draft behind Gonzalez and into 10th overall ahead of Fairman, Piotti and Behra – while Musso is going the opposite way and finds himself behind Simon and Gould as a result. Gibson passes Gregory off the start to move inside the Top 20 in a thrilling opening lap here in Pescara!!!

*Lap 2* – Maglioli does well to hold off Collins this lap, as the chasing pack are already over 5 seconds behind Gerard – who looks odds on to claim the title today. Castellotti manages to battle past von Trips on this lap as he squeezes up the inside at Spoltore to take the final points paying position!

Hawthorn recovers one of his lost places this lap, with a good pass on Salvadori at the hairpin, while Piotti does the same to Fairman to claim 11th position. Simon meanwhile manages to out-brake himself at the same corner, thus allowing both Gould and Musso into 17th and 18th respectively!

*Lap 3* – Fastest Lap for Gerard here of a 9:28.5 as he is travelling comfortably 2 seconds per lap faster than his nearest rivals. Meanwhile Piotti and Fairman are having a ding-dong battle over 11th place, and it’s the Vanwall that brakes latest to claim the position…but neither was paying attention to the outside line, and it’s Behra that springs a surprise to go around the outside of both at Madonna! Simon also passes Musso in the all-BRM battle over 18th position.

*Lap 4* – Another FL for Gerard of a 9:28.1, but the crowd are focused on the battle over the final podium position – as Maglioli’s resilience finally comes to an end, with Collins now up into 3rd much to the displeasure of the home fans.

We have the 1st pit-stop this lap, as Flockhart comes in from 10th to emerge in 21st place with only Scarlatti behind him. That means Flockhart’s team-mate Behra inherits 10th place, from Fairman, Piotti, Menditeguy et al.

*Lap 5* – Yet another FL for Gerard, and this time a 9:27.3 is enough to move him a full 13 seconds ahead of his team-mate Perdisa. Gibson pits from 19th and emerges in 21st to promote Gregory to 19th and Flockhart to 20th overall.

*Lap 6* – We are now seeing more of what are likely to be 2 stoppers coming in, as Perdisa and Castellotti both come in for their opening stops. Meanwhile Maglioli tries to capitalise by passing Collins at Montani, but finds the door shut in his face as they are now fighting over 2nd position.

Von Trips is up to 4th, with Hawthorn 5th, Salvadori 6th, Gonzalez 7th, Behra 8th, Fairman 9th and Perdisa out in 10th position. Piotti is 11th, with Menditeguy 12th and Castellotti emerging in 13th position – while further back Scarlatti overshoots Madonna and damages the under-side of his car, though it’s hardly likely to affect his race result much!

*Lap 7* – A strong lap for Salvadori, as he not only reaches the back of Hawthorn, but manages to stick one up the inside at Spoltore to claim 5th position! Meanwhile Gonzalez and Behra pit from 7th and 8th respectively, emerging in 17th and 18th places – though it looks like they haven’t fully attached one of the wheels on Gonzalez’ car, and he is losing time in some of the corners as a result!!!

Perdisa is flying back through the field, as he easily gets the better of Fairman to move into 7th place now – though the fastest Maserati on track is still Gerard as he betters his own FL with a 9:26.6 this time around.

*Lap 8* – A 9:26.1 for Gerard, though attention is on the pits as both Maglioli (3rd) and von Trips (4th) come in, with the BRM out in 6th place behind Perdisa who is now 5th, some way behind the squabbling duo of Salvadori and Hawthorn! Von Trips meanwhile emerges in 9th with his own battling duo to contend with in the form of Fairman and Piotti…

Simon pressures Gould on this lap but is unable to find a way past in any of the 28km track! And thanks to his wheel issues Gonzalez is losing places hand over fist! Behra is up to 17th, and after Gregory hesitates while trying to pass the ailing Connaught Flockhart takes advantage to take 18th with the BRM 19th and Gonzalez now clinging on to a Top 20 spot!!!

*Lap 9* – Most drivers come into the pits this lap as they look to make a 1 stopper work, which includes Gerard – who emerges in 1st place still, as he looks odds on to take the race win. Perdisa is up to 2nd position and flying along – while Collins emerges just behind in 3rd overall. Maglioli is up to 4th place with Piotti in an impressive 5th (though yet to come in) and Salvadori out in 6th place.

Hawthorn is out in 7th, with von Trips in 8th and Castellotti in 9th – with all three only separated by less than a second!!! Brabham is up to 10th, though yet to stop with Musso up to 11th and also yet to come in. Fairman is out in 12th, from Behra 13th, Menditeguy out in 14th, Flockhart 15th, de Beaufort is out in 16th, with Simon 17th after passing Gould in the pits. Gonzalez is now 19th with Gibson 20th and Gregory out in 21st overall.

*Lap 10* – Piotti, Brabham, Musso and Gregory all come into the pits this lap, which moves Castellotti up to 5th after an incredibly fast lap-time that sees him pass von Trips, Hawthorn and Salvadori through both long straights! Salvadori is now 6th, with von Trips getting the better of Hawthorn to claim back 7th place this time around.

Piotti is out in 9th position, with Fairman 10th, Behra 11th and Flockhart passing Menditeguy for 12th place at Monte Silvano. Brabham is out in 14th place after stopping, with de Beaufort 15th, Musso out in 16th from Simon, Gould, Gonzalez and Gregory in 20th after Gibson stops and emerges in 21st overall.

*Lap 11* – Von Trips overtakes Salvadori with a well-executed switch-back at the Pescara corner to claim 6th place, while Flockhart pits for the 2nd time to drop from 12th to 18th behind Simon, who is unable to prevent Gould from making his way past at Villa St. Maria.

*Lap 12* – Perdisa and Castellotti both pit again, as they try to make a 2-stopper work. That moves Collins back into 2nd place from Maglioli 3rd, von Trips 4th, Salvadori 5th, Hawthorn 6th and then comes the 2-stopping duo of Perdisa and Castellotti – with the Maserati only 7 seconds behind von Trips in 4th place and with 6 laps to make an impression on those ahead!

Behra passes Fairman for 10th this time around, with a slipstream pass down to Monte Silvano as the race moves into its final phase…

*Lap 13* – The main battle on track is over 4th place, with von Trips narrowly leading Salvadori, Hawthorn and the recovering Perdisa with only 6 seconds separating the entire group. Meanwhile Gonzalez finally pits to fix his damage, emerging in 21st place and thereby promoting Gregory to 19th and Gibson to 20th place.

*Lap 14* – Behra pits from 10th place, promoting Fairman back into the Top 10, Menditeguy to 11th, Brabham to 12th, de Beaufort to 13th, Musso to 14th, Gould to 15th and then it’s Behra out in 16th position. Meanwhile further back Gibson pits for an astonishing 3rd time, and again finds himself back in 21st behind Gonzalez who is back inside the Top 20 now.

*Lap 15* – Behra passes Gould for 15th place, as he looks to make strides in ensuring his 2-stopper is successful, while up front Perdisa continues to eat into the lead of those ahead of him by around 1.5 seconds per lap…and he is now just less than a second behind Hawthorn in 6th!

*Lap 16* – Perdisa makes his move on Hawthorn in 6th place, as he dives up the inside at Spoltore. Meanwhile Brabham runs wide at Pescara and picks up some damage on the side of his car, which allows de Beaufort to move into 12th position as a result.

*Lap 17* – Disaster strikes for Salvadori!!! He runs out of fuel on the long straight down to Mulino and ends his race after having been in a points-scoring position! That moves Perdisa up to 5th for Maserati some 3 seconds behind von Trips – while the Top 3 look fairly settled, including the surprise package of Maglioli’s BRM in 3rd!

Hawthorn is now 6th from Castellotti 7th, Piotti 8th, Fairman 9th and Menditeguy rounding out the Top 10. De Beaufort is now up to 11th, while Brabham is slipping backwards quickly and is now behind Musso 12th, Behra 13th and his team-mate Gould in 14th! Simon is 16th, from Flockhart, Gregory, Gonzalez and Gibson now 20th – and even Scarlatti is now up to 21st place!

*Lap 18* – Gerard comes across the line to not only win the race and take a 10th hat-trick, but also claim the records for Most Consecutive Points Finishes ever (13) and Most Fastest Laps in a row (4) – not to mention taking the F1R title for the 2nd season in succession, and his 4th championship ever!

Collins comes over the line in 2nd place, which isn’t a bad result in his 40th race in the series – while Maglioli sends the home crowd into raptures with a strong podium position that will help his position in the standings no end! Von Trips finishes 4th, with Perdisa in 5th – though with another lap or two those positions would certainly have been reversed!!!

Hawthorn and Castellotti just miss out on the points, while Piotti, Fairman and Menditeguy complete the Top 10. De Beaufort is 11th, with Musso 12th, Behra 13th, Gould 14th and Simon up to 15th after a last lap pass on the ailing Brabham, who does drag his car over the line in 16th position.

Flockhart is 17th after the 2-stop strategy didn’t quite work out for him, with Gregory 18th, the recovering Gonzalez in 19th and Gibson completing the Top 20. Scarlatti finishes on the lead lap in 21st, as he takes his best finish ever – while Salvadori will rue his team’s miscalculation as he ends up 22nd a lap down thanks to running out of fuel.

## Milestones

* 10th race entry for Horace Gould
* Gonzalez up to 5th Most Entries ever (at the expense of Giuseppe Farina)
* Maglioli up to 9th Most Entries ever (at the expense of Alberto Ascari)
* Maglioli up to 3rd in Most Races without a Win (at the expense of Alberto Ascari)
* Moss up to 5th in Most Races without a Win (at the expense of Piero Taruffi)
* Castellotti up to 4th in Most Races without Points after Simon failed to start last race
* Godia up to 7th in Most Races without Points (at the expense of Robert Manzon)
* Bonnier up to 10th in Most Races without Points (at the expense of Hermano da Silva Ramos)
* 40th race start for Collins
* 30th race start for Gonzalez
* 10th race start for Musso
* Maglioli and Salvadori move up to 5th and 6th respectively ahead of Giuseppe Farina in Most Starts ever
* Gonzalez moves up to 9th in Most Race Starts ever
* Win for Gerard makes it 3 in a row – the 4th time he achieved that in his career
* Gerard takes his 10th hat-trick ever here!
* Maglioli moves up into 5th in Most Points without a Win with his podium here
* Points finish for Perdisa here moves him into 8th in most points without a win
* Points finish for Gerard takes the record for Most consecutive Top 5 finishes (13 in total) at the expense of Peter Whitehead
* Collins achieves 3rd consecutive points finish
* FL for Gerard makes it his 4th Fastest Lap in a row, which sets a new record
* Pole for Gerard makes it his 6th consecutive Pole Position, which is a brand-new record!
* Podium for Gerard is the 3rd time he has managed the feat of 6 consecutive podiums
* Collins 3rd consecutive Podium moves him inside the Top 10 for that particular statistic, at the expense of Hans Herrmann's 1954 achievement.