1957 British Grand Prix
The fourth round of the 1957 Formula-1 World Championship took place on July 20 in Great Britain at the Aintree circuit, which this year replaced the Silverstone track in order of priority, while receiving the honorary title of the European Grand Prix. In the two years since the last Grand Prix at Aintree, the configuration of the track had not undergone any changes, and its length was still 4.828 km, while the drivers had to complete 90 laps.
After three victories in the previous three rounds, the Maserati team arrived in Great Britain in the best of spirits, hoping that their leader Juan-Manuel Fangio would be able to continue his winning streak here and thereby come close to winning his fifth championship title.
The Argentine's teammates at Aintree, as at the previous stage in France, were the same Jean Behra, Harry Schell and Carlos Menditeguy, but this time the Italian team brought only lightweight 6-cylinder 250F cars to the track, leaving the 12-cylinder bolid that did not live up to expectations at their factory in Modena.
Scuderia Ferrari, after a double podium in France, also counted on a successful performance, relying on the experience and talent of two local stars, Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn, who, like their teammates Luigi Musso and Maurice Trintignant, received new Ferrari 801 cars at their disposal.
However, the favorites of local fans, of course, were the British teams, of which there were as many as three, and Tony Vandervell's team received special attention, which this year has already managed to score a successful performance in Monaco.
Vandervell himself was also quite optimistic and did not hide his relief at the return to action of his two main drivers Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, who had to miss the previous stage due to health problems, however, pleased with the performance of Lewis-Evans in France, the head of Vanwall decided to leave him in the team too, thus entering three cars for the first time.
Meanwhile, Roy Salvadori, who had lost his place at Vanwall following the return of Moss and Brooks, found a new shelter at Cooper, thus changing the third British team this season. Needless to say, Charles and John Cooper were just happy to get a talented Englishman into their team, and Roy was able to immediately make sure of their full support by receiving the same Formula-2 car with a 2-liter Climax engine as Jack Brabham’s.
As for the last British team, BRM, they approached their home Grand Prix having experienced yet another shock. Even at the previous stage in France, their leader Ron Flockhart had a serious accident and suffered a broken leg, which put the Scot out of action for a long time. And just a week before the British Grand Prix, the Bourne team also lost their second driver, American Herbert Mackay-Fraser, who, after a superb debut race in France, suffered an accident in the Formula-2 race in Reims, which cost him his life.
Nevertheless, despite these misfortunes, Alfred Owen did not allow the thought of missing his home event, and, having brought two of his P25 cars to Aintree, the head of BRM gave them to two local drivers, Les Leston and Jack Fairman.
The remaining places on the Grand Prix field were filled by three private drivers, Jo Bonnier, Horace Gould and former Connaught driver Ivor Bueb, who competed in Maseratis 250F, as well as British veteran Bob Gerard, who entered his own Cooper T44 with a 2-litre Bristol engine.
Qualification
Qualifying at Aintree took place over two days, with a tense battle for the best time between the Maserati and Vanwall drivers, however, to the delight of local fans, Stirling Moss still prevailed in this fight, who, beating by 0.2 sec his own record he achieved in a Mercedes, brought the British team their first pole position!
In addition, Vanwall's success was further supported by the excellent result of Tony Brooks, who was just 0.2 sec behind Stirling and took 3rd place on the grid, while their teammate Lewis-Evans also looked very good in 6th.
Meanwhile, the main rival of the Vanwall drivers was, to the surprise of many, not Juan-Manuel Fangio at all, but his teammate Jean Behra, who, having shown the same result as Brooks, shared the first row of the starting field with the British.
The world champion himself did not look very confident on the Aintree track and, losing 0.4 sec to Moss, took only 4th place on the starting grid.
As for the Ferrari drivers, their cars looked noticeably slower than Maseratis and Vanwalls during both days of training, and as a result, the fastest of them, which was Mike Hawthorn, managed to cling to only 5th position, while his teammates took only 8th, 9th and 10th at all, also losing to Schell in a Maserati. Also quite disappointing were the qualifying results for the other two British teams, BRM and Cooper, with neither driver able to make it into the top ten, which was understandable given that the Bourne cars had constant problems with the brakes, and the cars from Surbiton, as before, simply did not have enough power in their 2-liter engines. As for the private racers, they were also beset by various problems, and none of them managed to show any decent result. At the same time, Horace Gould was most unlucky, who turned out to be faster than his colleagues, winning 14th place on the grid, however, the Englishman never made it to the start due to a foot injury that he received while trying to prevent a fire at Bob Gerard's Cooper.
Race
On Saturday morning, a downpour hit the track, which lasted until noon, but by the start a strong wind not only dispersed the clouds, but also drained most of the circuit, which allowed spectators and drivers to hope for a dry race.
Start. Behra again, as in France, starts the best and enters the first turn as the leader, but even before the end of the first lap Moss is ahead of him, bringing the crowded stands to full delight!
Meanwhile, the main losers of the start are Fangio and Lewis-Evans, who immediately lose many positions and end up only 8th and 11th, respectively!
Position after 1st lap: Moss, Behra, Brooks, Hawthorn, Collins, Schell, Musso, Fangio, Menditeguy, Leston.
Lap 2: Moss, having taken the lead, immediately sets an incredible pace, breaking away from his pursuers literally before our eyes!
Meanwhile, Hawthorn, feeling that his Ferrari behaves much more confidently in racing conditions, attacks and passes Brooks for 3rd!
Also on the same lap, Schell loses two positions to Musso and Fangio, while Lewis-Evans gains one by overtaking Leston's BRM.
Lap 3: Menditeguy attacks Schell in the fight for 8th place and passes his teammate!
Lap 5: Lewis-Evans continues his breakthrough to the top, and in one lap the Englishman passes at once two fighting Menditeguy and Schell, who again change places, as well as the four-time world champion himself!
Lap 6: Leston gives up another position, missing Trintignant.
Lap 7: After driving the Vanwall for only six laps, Brooks begins to experience pain in his injured side, which immediately affects his pace and allows the following Collins to begin to put pressure on his compatriot!
Meanwhile, Leston is falling further and further and is now inferior even to Salvadori in Cooper!
Lap 8: Bueb, whose engine starts to misfire, pulls into the pits to change the spark plugs.
Lap 9: After a couple of laps of struggle, Collins finally manages to pass Brooks, taking 4th!
Lap 10: Brooks lets another Ferrari pass, this time of Musso, thus dropping already to 6th!
Position after 10 laps: Moss, Behra, Hawthorn, Collins, Musso, Brooks, Lewis-Evans, Fangio, Schell, Menditeguy. Moss continues to fly along the track, bringing his lead over Behra already to 7.5 sec!
Lap 11: Musso makes a mistake and lets two Vanwall drivers and Fangio through! In addition, on the same lap, Leston is attacked by another Cooper driver, this time Brabham, and allows the Australian to take the lead!
Lap 12: Fangio, having a completely unimpressive race, gives way to Musso again, dropping to 8th!
Lap 15: Brooks, continuing to lose pace, lets his teammate Lewis-Evans through into 5th, thus already falling out of the points!
Lap 19: Bonnier, in penultimate position, drops out of the race with a broken transmission.
Position after 20 laps: Moss, Behra, Hawthorn, Collins, Lewis-Evans, Brooks, Musso, Fangio, Schell, Menditeguy. Moss continues to lead confidently, bringing his lead over Behra to 9 sec!
Lap 22: Moss' Vanwall starts to misfire, and the pursuing Behra and Hawthorn win back two seconds from Stirling at once! Also on the same lap, Gerard gains two positions, leaving both BRM drivers behind!
Lap 23: Moss pulls into the pits and reports a problem, suspecting a magneto fault. Without hesitation, the mechanics cut off the ground wire on the magneto and release the Englishman back to the track, but a whole group of drivers has already rushed past, and it is Behra who now becomes the new leader of the race!
Lap 24: Having still not gotten rid of the misfire problem, Moss, to the sigh of the crowd, again turns into the pits, where the mechanics immediately begin to look for the problem. Having climbed out of the cockpit, Stirling sadly shakes his head, but Tony Vandervell, who approaches him, immediately reassures his driver, promising to provide him with a new car.
Lap 25: Leston counterattacks Gerard, and thus the BRM driver finally wins back his first position in the race!
Lap 27: Salvadori, having managed to completely close his gap to Trintignant, goes on the attack and gets ahead of the Ferrari driver!
Lap 28: Brooks, following instructions from the pits, makes a pit stop and, seeing Moss waiting for him, immediately nods his head in understanding. At the same time, Tony, due to his injury, cannot get out of the cockpit on his own, and Vanwall mechanics come to his aid, while Stirling immediately jumps into the vacant seat and rushes back to the track!
Lap 29: Returning to the race in 9th place, Moss immediately sets an incredible pace and gains one position, overtaking Menditeguy!
In addition, on the same lap, Schell’s engine, as in France, begins to overheat, and the American also gives up his position to Stirling, who is already 7th!
Meanwhile, Brooks, in the Vanwall pits, takes a seat in his teammate’s former car, which the mechanics still were unable to fix, and, not counting on anything, also gets back to the track.
Lap 30: Schell's overheating problems become even more serious, and the American pits for repairs, dropping to 12th.
Position after 30 laps: Behra, Hawthorn, Collins, Lewis-Evans, Musso, Fangio, Moss, Menditeguy, Salvadori, Trintignant. Behra manages to break away from Hawthorn by a few seconds, and so it is the Frenchman who now looks the most likely contender to win the race!
Lap 31: Moss continues to fly around the track and sets a new fastest lap!
Lap 33: Trintignant, still not believing that he could have been passed by a low-powered Cooper, counterattacks Salvadori, thereby regaining 9th position!
Lap 34: Fairman, following his teammate, also passes Gerard, moving into 14th place.
Lap 35: Moss easily catches up with Fangio and passes the world champion without much effort!
Lap 36: Menditeguy, in 8th place, is forced to retire once again, this time due to a transmission failure. Meanwhile, his teammate Schell, despite the overheating engine, wins back one position, overtaking Brabham!
Lap 37: In Collins's Ferrari, the engine begins to overheat due to a water leak, and the Englishman succumbs to the attacks of Lewis-Evans, losing 3rd place!
Lap 38: Smoke begins to pour out from under the bonnet of Schell's car, and the American has no choice but to finish this race in the pits.
Lap 40: Musso becomes Moss' next victim, and thus the Englishman is already in the points!
Position after 40 laps: Behra, Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans, Collins, Moss, Musso, Fangio, Trintignant, Salvadori, Brabham.
Lap 43: After spending a few laps on Trintignant's tail, Salvadori goes on the attack again and takes the lead!
Lap 45: The engine fails on Leston's BRM, and the Englishman pulls to the side of the road, retiring from the race.
Lap 47: Moss catches up with Collins, who has lost pace, and overtakes Ferrari for 4th place!
Meanwhile, just two laps after Leston's retirement, the engine on Fairman's BRM also fails, thereby drawing a line under the completely disastrous performance of the Bourne team.
Lap 50: Fangio, having perhaps the worst race in his career, pulls into the pits with a faulty valve mechanism, and thus the world champion saves himself from a disgraceful finish outside the points.
Position after 50 laps: Behra, Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans, Moss, Collins, Musso, Salvadori, Trintignant, Brabham, Gerard. Behra continues to confidently lead the race, bringing his lead over Hawthorn to already 10 seconds, and it seems that the Frenchman today has every chance of finally winning his first victory in the Formula-1 championship!
Lap 52: The engine in Brooks' Vanwall, already misfiring, begins to make very ominous sounds, and the Englishman, out of harm's way, pulls into the pits, retiring from the race.
Lap 54: Left with almost no coolant, Collins enters the pits, retiring from the race and giving way to 5th to his teammate Musso! However, in the Scuderia they decide to give the Englishman another opportunity to reach the finish in his home race, and immediately call Trintignant in!
Lap 55: Moss continues to fly around the track and sets another best lap with a time of 1’59.2 and thereby surpasses his own qualifying time by 1 sec!
Lap 57: Trintignant, following instructions from the pits, pulls in and hands over his Ferrari to Collins, after which the Englishman returns to the race in 7th position!
Lap 61: After just four laps in the Frenchman's car, Collins returns to the pits complaining about its handling and hands it back to Trintignant! At the same time, Maurice, as if nothing had happened, gets back behind the wheel of his car and returns to the track, but during the stop, Brabham manages to rush past!
Lap 65: Being much faster than the Australian, Trintignant easily catches up and passes the Cooper, thereby regaining 7th position!
Lap 69: Moss, thanks to his incredible pace, reduces his gap to the leader Behra to 22 sec and now is very close to Hawthorn and Lewis-Evans fighting for 2nd place!
Lap 70: Behra's transmission literally shatters on the Stepton straight, and, cursing everything in the world, the Frenchman abruptly slows down, thus losing a sure victory!
Meanwhile, the trio Hawthorn-Lewis-Evans-Moss is already entering the same straight line, and Mike, having driven over the wreckage of a Maserati, gets a puncture on the left rear tire, as a result of which both Vanwall drivers easily take the lead to the loud roar of the stands! At the same time, Moss still manages to get ahead of his teammate at the end of the straight, and thus it is Stirling who becomes the new leader of the race!
As for Hawthorn, he pulls into a pit stop at the end of the lap, thus losing his last opportunity to compete for victory in this Grand Prix!
Position after 70 laps: Moss, Lewis-Evans, Musso, Hawthorn, Salvadori, Trintignant, Brabham, Gerard, Bueb. After the events of the last lap, the two Vanwalls are leading the race with an advantage over Musso by almost a full lap, so Moss, having passed his teammate, immediately slows down and gestures for Lewis-Evans to do the same!
Meanwhile, after Behra's retirement, Salvadori takes 5th place in his low-power Cooper, and thus the Englishman today has every chance of bringing the Subirton team their first points!
Lap 73: Despite taking precautions, just three laps later Lewis-Evans' Vanwall suddenly loses speed, forcing Stuart to pull over! A sigh of disappointment immediately passes over the stands, but the young Englishman, not at all broken in spirit and not paying attention to the cars rushing past, immediately removes the bonnet from his Vanwall and begins to dig into the insides, trying to find out the cause of the malfunction!
Lap 75: Brabham, already in 6th place, is forced to retire due to a clutch failure!
Lap 79: With 11 laps to go, Moss unexpectedly pulls into the pits and the crowd literally jumps out of their seats, expecting the worst!
However, the mechanics surrounding Vanwall are just refueling the car, while Moss is calmly quenching his thirst with a bottle of Coca-Cola! Having finished the bottle, the Englishman jumps back into the cockpit and returns to the track, with his lead over Musso still being 40 seconds!
Lap 80: Lewis-Evans finally manages to figure out the cause of the malfunction, which turns out to be that a ball-joint on the throttle linkage had come adrift, and by some miracle securing it back, the Englishman manages to get to the pits!
At the same time, despite the fact that there are only 10 laps left, the mechanics still make proper repairs to the Vanwall, after which Stuart returns to the race again!
Lap 82: Salvadori also makes a pit stop for refuelling without losing a single position!
Lap 84: Six laps before the finish, the Cooper still lets Salvadori down, however, even despite the split gearbox housing, Roy still manages to reach the finish line, thus getting credit in this race!
Last lap: Moss, having completely slowed down on the last lap, crosses the finish line first to thunderous applause, thus winning his home Grand Prix and bringing Vanwall their first World Championship victory!
Having finished, Stirling immediately falls into the arms of his team, and one of the first to congratulate him is Tony Brooks, who, thanks to Stirling’s excellent performance in this race, also manages to celebrate his first victory in the World Championship!
And of course, the head of Vanwall, Tony Vandervell, deserves no less honor, whose cars turned out to be the best today and managed to bring the British crown its first success in Formula-1!
Stirling Moss: It was something I had dreamed about for years; winning a Grand Prix in a British car. Then, to do it at home into the bargain; you know, Tony and I being the first British drivers to win a Grand Prix since Segrave and Sunbeam back in 1923. And also to be the first all-British winners of the British Grand Prix. Fantastic experience.
Meanwhile, Musso finishes second, who today was lucky to be the only Ferrari driver to avoid any problems, and thanks to this success, the Italian receives another six points, which allows him to become Fangio's main rival in the fight for the title! Third place goes to another hero of the day, Hawthorn, who was incredibly fast today, but dropped out of the contenders for victory due to an unfortunate puncture. Meanwhile, the fourth is Trintignant, who wasn't fast enough but quite reliable today to get another productive finish, while fifth goes to Salvadori, who still manages to earn the first points for both himself and the entire Cooper team!
Interesting facts:
- Tony Brooks' first victory;
- Roy Salvadori's first points;
- Vanwall team's first victory;
- Vanwall team's first pole position;
- Cooper team's first points.
Driver standings
Alternative GP results
