1958 Dutch Grand Prix
The third round of the 1958 Formula-1 World Championship took place on May 26 in the Netherlands at the Zandvoort circuit, located on the North Sea coast right in the middle of sand dunes. For the last two years, the Dutch Grand Prix was absent from the Formula-1 calendar, which was due to the serious financial problems of KNAC that arose against the backdrop of the Suez Crisis, however, this year the necessary funds were found, and the Zandvoort circuit again hosted the World Championship stage, while remaining completely unchanged.
Considering the expansion of the geography of the Formula-1 championship and the simultaneous increase in the number of Grand Prix, the calendar of this racing season was quite different from previous years with shorter intervals between stages, and the shortest of them was this one, between the Monaco and the Dutch Grand Prix, which was only one week. Naturally, in order to get their cars from Monte Carlo to Zandvoort on time, all the teams had to make a lot of effort, and thus it was this Grand Prix that clearly demonstrated who was the “real” participant of the championship and who was just a statistician. As would be expected, the main five works teams of Ferrari, Vanwall, BRM, Cooper and Lotus were confidently among the first, however, they were also very well accompanied by Rob Walker's private team, which scored two sensational victories in the first two stages and which was represented here, as in Monaco, by Maurice Trintignant.
Meanwhile, unlike Rob Walker, Tony Vandervell after two stages could not boast of not only victories, but even a single point, and after an offensive triple retirement in Monaco, his entire team arrived in Zandvoort in the most fighting mood, hoping for an immediate revenge. At the same time, Vanwall's main line-up, as usual, included Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans, while their cars this time had the more familiar “flattened” nose cones and, as in Monaco, lightweight magnesium alloy wheels.
Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari in the Netherlands was represented by only three main drivers Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and Luigi Musso, who drove the Ferraris 246 Dino, while the Italian was currently the leader of the championship, with two second places on his account.
The remaining three British teams BRM, Cooper and Lotus also kept the same line-ups, represented by Jean Behra with Harry Schell, Jack Brabham with Roy Salvadori and Cliff Allison with Graham Hill respectively. As for the cars themselves, they also have not undergone almost any changes, with the exception of Allison's Lotus 12, which was equipped with a new, more powerful 2.2-liter engine.
As for the private drivers, unlike the previous stage, there were only four of them here, with Jo Bonnier, Giorgio Scarlatti and Horace Gould driving, as usual, their Maseratis 250F, while the fourth participant, who was a local aristocrat, Count Carel Godin de Beaufort, came to the start driving his own 1.5-liter Porsche RSK sports car.
Qualification
Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix took place over two days, Saturday and Sunday, becoming a real demonstration of the strength of the Vanwall drivers, who from the first minutes of practice began to set an incredible pace and eventually easily conquered the entire front row of the starting field. At the same time, the fastest Vandervell's driver here, quite unexpectedly, turned out to be Lewis-Evans, who on the second day of training was the first to think of installing regular spoked wheels in front, which significantly improved the car’s handling and allowed him to improve the track record set three years ago by Fangio himself in Mercedes, for a full 3 seconds!
Meanwhile, Vanwall's main rivals in qualifying were once again the drivers of Alfred Owen, who, as in Monaco, managed to demonstrate very significant progress in their updated BRM P25s, while Schell this time was not very far behind the team leader Behra, taking 7th position against the 4th place of the Frenchman. As for the Scuderia drivers, just like in Argentina, they suffered greatly from the understeer of their cars and ultimately took only 6th, 10th and 12th positions, while, as has become the custom this season, Hawthorn again turned out to be the fastest of the “scarlet” ones.
Meanwhile, Cooper was doing much better than the Maranello team, and Brabham even managed to get ahead of Hawthorn, while Salvadori also managed to get into the top ten, taking 9th position. It is worth noting that this time the 2.2-liter car went to Roy in order of priority, however, this did not stop Jack from secretly changing his number to the Englishman’s car and using it, which ultimately brought him 5th place on the starting grid! As for Trintignant in another Cooper of Rob Walker, he also performed very well and, showing the same result as Salvadori, was 8th.
Meanwhile, qualifying did not turn out very well for the Lotus team. Despite his 2.2-litre car, Allison was still not fast enough to get into the top ten, and took 11th position, losing only 0.1 seconds to Collins. As for Hill, he showed only 13th result in a less powerful car, and a much more exciting event for him was his crash at the very end of qualifying. Trying to improve his own time, Graham overdid it in one of the turns and flew off the track, sending his Lotus backwards into the dunes, where, hitting an obstacle, his car soared into the air about four feet ... and immediately landed back on all four wheels, without receiving any damage!
As for the last places on the starting grid, they expectedly went to private drivers in Maseratis and to de Beafort in his Porsche. At the same time, it should be noted that Gould’s car turned out to be the fastest of the three Maserati, however, this became possible only thanks to the skill of the American Masten Gregory, who “accidentally” found himself in the paddock, and to whom Horace, without a drop of doubt, immediately handed over his right participate in the Grand Prix!
Race
The day of the race turned out to be quite cold and cloudy, and given the start was delayed by half an hour, all the drivers were noticeably chilled in the strong wind from the sea, waiting for the fire brigade to arrive on the track. Meanwhile, after Lewis-Evans' excellent performance in qualifying, Moss also decided to install spoked wheels in the front of his car, whereas there were not enough old-type kits for Brooks, who had to start on a car with alloy wheels.
Start. At the wave of the national flag, the three Vanwalls on the front row take off almost simultaneously, but Moss immediately pulls ahead and enters the first turn as a confident leader of the race!
Meanwhile, Schell also manages a great start, leaving behind not only Behra and Brabham, but also Brooks on the Vanwall, as a result of which the American is in 3rd position at the very beginning of the race!
Position after 1st lap: Moss, Lewis-Evans, Schell, Brooks, Behra, Brabham, Salvadori, Hawthorn, Collins, Trintignant.
Lap 2: Salvadori, driving a 2.2-liter Cooper, shows excellent pace and passes Brabham and Behra one after another, thus rising to 5th!
Meanwhile, Bonnier, who managed to win back several places at the start, clearly cannot keep up with the pace of his faster rivals and succumbs to Musso's attacks, dropping to 13th position.
Lap 3: Due to a small collision in the crowd of the start, Brooks begins to experience serious handling problems, which force him to stop in the pits! After leaving the car, Tony puts it at the disposal of his mechanics, who, after carefully examining the wheels and the back of the car, find nothing suspicious and release the Englishman back onto the track! As a result, having lost a lot of time in the pits without any benefit, Brooks gets back to the race last, now without even the slightest chance of a successful performance!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, Allison manages to get ahead of Trintignant, while Bonnier loses two more positions, letting Gregory and Hill through.
Lap 4: Hawthorn attacks Brabham for 6th and passes him, while his teammate Musso also gains one position by overtaking Trintignant!
Lap 5: Hawthorn continues his breakthrough and now leaves Behra behind, thus already getting into the points!
Lap 6: Brabham continues to lose ground and lets another Ferrari through, this time of Collins!
Besides, things are also not going well for Trintignant, who succumbs to Gregory’s attacks and drops already to 12th!
Lap 7: Moss, confidently leading the race, sets the fastest lap with a time of 1'37.6, thus bringing his lead over Lewis-Evans already to 6 seconds!
Lap 8: Despite the problems with his Vanwall, Brooks still manages to drive much faster than his rivals at the back of the field, and his first prey is de Beafort, who gives up his position to the Englishman without any struggle!
Lap 9: Another lost position for Brabham, this time behind none other than Allison in a Lotus!
Position after 10 laps: Moss, Lewis-Evans, Schell, Salvadori, Hawthorn, Behra, Collins, Allison, Brabham, Musso.
Lap 12: After several laps of pursuit, Schell finally manages to catch up with Lewis-Evans, and the American immediately attacks Vanwall in the hairpin behind the pits, thus taking 2nd position!
Besides, on the same lap, Brooks wins back another position, leaving Scarlatti behind.
Lap 14: Having got ahead of Brabham, Allison does not stop there and passes Collins in a Ferrari, thus already rising to 7th!
Meanwhile, Brooks, seeing Moss rapidly approaching him in his mirrors, pulls into the pits again, preferring to leave the race rather than let his teammate lap him!
Lap 15: After a rather lackluster first part of the race, Behra finally picks up the pace and gains one position ahead of Hawthorn!
Lap 16: The winner of the previous stage, Trintignant, clearly feels out of place in this Grand Prix and gives up two more positions, missing Hill and Bonnier!
Lap 17: Having barely started his next lap, Gregory, who was running a very good race, is forced to pull over due to problems with the fuel pump!
Position after 20 laps: Moss, Schell, Lewis-Evans, Salvadori, Behra, Hawthorn, Allison, Collins, Brabham, Musso.
Moss is still confidently leading the race, already 18 seconds ahead of second-place Schell!
Lap 21: Behra gains another position by overtaking Salvadori, and thus the Frenchman is already 4th!
Lap 22: Coming out of the last turn, Hill's Lotus suddenly stalls, however, Graham does not give up and, jumping out of the cockpit, begins to push his car towards the pits, which are only 300 meters away!
Having sweated quite a bit, the Englishman still copes with his task, and his Lotus is immediately surrounded by mechanics who begin to delve into the engine and find a fault in the ignition contact. Given the severity of the breakdown, repairing this unit takes forever, however, this does not stop Hill too, who, without any embarrassment, returns to the track, already a full nine laps behind the leader!
Lap 24: Musso, who had been staying behind the Collins-Brabham pair for a long time, still finds a loophole in the Australian’s defense and takes the lead!
Lap 27: After hanging on his teammate's tail for a few laps, Musso eventually overtakes him too, thus taking 8th position!
Lap 31: Trintignant still manages to gain one position in this race, but this only happens in a fight with Bonnier for 11th position!
Lap 33: The gearbox in Collins' Ferrari jams, causing the Englishman to spin and retire!
Position after 40 laps: Moss, Schell, Lewis-Evans, Behra, Salvadori, Hawthorn, Allison, Musso, Brabham, Trintignant.
Moss still looks like the undoubted favorite of this race, bringing his lead over Schell to almost half a minute!
Lap 42: After several laps of overheating, the engine in Hill's Lotus completely fails, leaving the Englishman with no choice but to retire.
Lap 46: Lewis-Evans is in trouble! Driving along the starting line, a cloud of smoke suddenly bursts out of his car's exhaust pipe, and the Vanwall's engine immediately begins to lose power! Hoping to the last to preserve his chances for the first podium, Stuart still brings his car to the pits, however, there he will be disappointed: the problem is in a broken valve, it's over.
Lap 53: Due to problems with the rear axle, Scarlatti also stops in the pits, becoming the last one to retire in this race.
Last lap: Having never given up the lead since the very start, Moss scores a truly brilliant victory that puts him back at the top of the standings and becomes Vanwall's first success this season!
Following the Englishman, more than 47 seconds behind, is Schell in BRM, who achieved a career-best result, while Alfred Owen's team success is also supported by Behra's third place, who provides BRM with their first double podium in Formula-1! Meanwhile, thanks to Salvadori's fourth place, the Cooper team also scores points in this race, allowing them to maintain their lead in the Constructors' Championship, while fifth place goes to the Scuderia's best driver, Hawthorn, who still manages to save the Maranello team from shameful finish outside the points!
Interesting facts:
- BRM's first podium.
Driver standings
Constructor standings
Alternative GP results
