1958 Italian Grand Prix
The ninth round of the 1958 Formula-1 World Championship took place on September 7 in Italy on the famous Monza track. Compared to the previous year, the track had not undergone any changes and was still 5.75 km long, but given the new rules limiting the total length of the race to 400 km, the drivers had to overcome "only" 70 laps this year.
With two rounds remaining, the battle for the 1958 title was becoming increasingly heated, with Stirling Moss having reduced his deficit to Mike Hawthorn to just four points after his convincing victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix. In an attempt to turn the tables again, Scuderia Ferrari mobilised all their reserves and prepared as many as four cars for their home Grand Prix, with Hawthorn, Wolfgang von Trips, Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill at the wheels, the latter getting a Formula-1 bolid at his disposal for the first time.
At the same time, given the problems that Hawthorn had experienced at the previous Grand Prix, the Scuderia's engineers carried out a lot of work on upgrading the brakes, as a result of which three of the four cars were equipped with new drum brakes made of high-strength alloy, while the fourth (which was intended for Mike) was the first to use disc brakes, which were borrowed from the Ferrari 250 GT sports car.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's main rival, the British Vanwall, also approached the Italian stage very thoroughly, and before appearing in Monza, all engines on the British cars were subjected to the most thorough inspection at the team's base in Acton. Besides, in an attempt to improve the Vanwall's already excellent aerodynamic characteristics, one of the cars was experimentally equipped with a plexiglass dome, which completely covered the cockpit and, for safety reasons, was fixed from the inside by the driver himself.
As for the main line-up, it remained unchanged, and Tony Vandervell's team in Italy was represented, as before, by Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans.
Unlike the two leading teams, the BRM cars did not receive any improvements this time compared to the previous round, which, however, cannot be said about the main line-up of the Bourne team.
In an attempt to strengthen his team's position in the championship, Alfred Owen decided to enter three cars this time, and in addition to the main drivers Jean Behra and Harry Schell, a place in one of them was taken by the Swede Jo Bonnier, who was only too happy to change his outdated Maserati 250F for a promising BRM P25.
Meanwhile, the Cooper team was, as usual, represented by Jack Brabham and Roy Salvadori, with the more powerful 2.2-liter car being given this time in order of priority to the latter. In addition, another similar car was entered by Rob Walker's team, behind the wheel of which, as before, was Maurice Trintignant.
As for the Lotus team, after Cliff Allison's accident in Portugal, they were left with only one new Lotus 16, which was equipped with a 2.2-liter engine and was given to Graham Hill, while Cliff himself was forced to settle for the previous year's 2-liter Lotus 12 here.
As usual, the remaining places among the participants were divided between private drivers in Maserati 250F cars, and it was obvious that the best chance among them were with the American Masten Gregory from the Scuderia Temple Buell team, who got at his disposal the same superlight 1958 car, at the wheel of which Juan Manuel Fangio and Carroll Shelby have already shown off this season.
As for Carroll himself, he represented the Scuderia Centro Sud team this time, together with Gerino Gerini, while three other last year's Maseratis were entered by Hans Herrmann and Giulio Cabianca, who borrowed their cars from Jo Bonnier, as well as the only female driver, Maria Teresa de Filippis, who drove her own car.
Qualification
As has become usual this season, the fastest drivers in qualifying were again those from Ferrari and Vanwall, however, to the disappointment of the tifosi, the “scarlets” still failed to overcome their “green” rivals, and pole position was again won by Vanwall leader Moss, who drove around the Monza track with an absolutely phenomenal result of 1’40.5, which exceeded last year’s record by almost 2 seconds! At the same time, Stirling showed this result in a car with an usual configuration, whereas, having tried out an experimental car with a fully closed cockpit on the first day of training, the Englishman (who was immediately dubbed the “Golden Bubble Boy of motor racing”) did not notice any increase in speed at all, and, as a result, for the race he decided to opt for the first one.
Meanwhile, Moss' main rival in qualification was not Hawthorn at all, who had only achieved the 3rd result, but his teammate Brooks, who after an extremely unimpressive performance in Portugal managed to fully rehabilitate himself here and, losing to Stirling by only 0.7 seconds, took 2nd place on the starting grid. In addition, Vanwall's excellent form on the track in Monza was also confirmed by Vandervell's third driver Lewis-Evans, who, having achieved the 4th result, managed to shift the color scheme of the first row of the starting grid to the clear side of green, to the delight of his boss.
As for the Scuderia drivers, by and large, only Hawthorn was able to provide more or less worthy competition to the Vanwalls, while his teammates Gendebien, von Trips and Phil Hill looked noticeably paler and, having shown approximately the same results of 2 seconds behind Moss, they completely occupied the entire second row of the starting field. Meanwhile, behind the scarlet, another trio of BRM drivers were located, with Behra at the head, while their neighbor on the third row was Masten Gregory, who, as expected, became the fastest Maserati driver. As for the rest of the drivers on the Modena cars, they turned out to be clear outsiders here and took places at the very tail of the peloton, while letting ahead all the drivers on the small Lotuses and Coopers, the fastest of whom this time was Graham Hill.
It should also be noted that several drivers encountered serious technical problems during practice, including even Moss, who broke his engine on the first day after missing a gear. And if for the Vanwall leader this was just an ordinary incident, which in no way prevented him from crushing all his rivals the next day, then for Shelby and Allison the consequences were much more serious. Due to a broken driveshaft, the American flew off the track quite dangerously, and although he managed to avoid any injuries, he had to switch to a spare car, which, unfortunately, turned out to be too small for him. As for Allison, after the breakdown of his 2-liter engine, Chapman's team was never able to find an equivalent replacement, and as a result, Cliff had to finish practice with a 1.5-liter engine, which essentially left him with no chance of success either in qualifying or in the race.
Race
Start. At the wave of the national flag, the cars take off, and the three Vanwall drivers manage to immediately leave Hawthorn behind, who starts with wheelspin and immediately falls back to 7th position! However, to the delight of the tifosi, it is not one of the British cars that takes the lead in the first corner, but Hawthorn's teammate Phil Hill, who manages just an incredible start from the second row!
Meanwhile, another Hawthorn's teammate, Gendebien, on the contrary, starts very badly, and, unable to miss his car, Brabham flies right into the back of the Belgian's Ferrari, which breaks the suspension of his Cooper and forces the Australian to immediately retire!
Lap 1. Without putting things off for a long time, Hawthorn already on the first lap goes into action, and having passed one after another two BRMs and Brooks, Mike by the end of the lap is already in 4th! Meanwhile, having missed the breaking point before Lesmo, von Trips' Ferrari crashes into Schell's BRM from behind, and having flown through the air for a good hundred meters, the scarlet car eventually crashes into one of the trees, actually folding in half from the impact! Luckily, Wolfgang himself, having fallen out of the cockpit, was already on the ground by this moment, and as a result, the German emerges from this most dangerous situation with only a leg injury. As for Schell, having received a blow from the Ferrari, his BRM also flies off the track into the nearby bushes, as a result of which the American also leaves the race already on the first lap.
Position after Lap 1: Phil Hill, Moss, Lewis-Evans, Hawthorn, Brooks, Bonnier, Behra, Graham Hill, Gregory, Trintignant.
Lap 2: Having found himself behind his teammate Bonnier after the start, Behra restores the status quo already on the second lap, pushing the Swede to 7th! Meanwhile, on the same lap, the peloton loses another driver: Shelby pulls into the pits due to a wild vibration on his car and, seeing no point in continuing, the American also leaves the race.
Lap 3: Hawthorn wins back another position, this time at the expense of Lewis-Evans, and thus Mike is already in the top three!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, Gerini fails to keep his Maserati at Parabolica and, flying off the track, the Italian becomes yet another retiree in this race!
Lap 4: Having dealt with two Vanwalls, Hawthorn is hanging on the tail of Moss and, after attacking his rival on the back straight, Mike still takes the lead to the wild jubilation of the stands!
Lap 5: It only takes 5 laps for Hawthorn to move from 7th to the front of the field and with no resistance from his teammate Phil Hill, it is Mike who now leads the race!
Meanwhile, the third Scuderia driver Gendebien, after spending several laps in a car with faulty suspension, finally gives up, and, having pulled into the pits, the Belgian becomes the sixth to retire in this race!
Lap 6: Unwilling to let his main rival get away, Moss also attacks Phil Hill and, leaving the American behind, Stirling reclaims 2nd position!
Besides, on the same lap, Graham Hill, who was leading a fairly dense group, gave in to attacks from Gregory, thereby dropping to 9th.
Lap 7: Having overcome Phil Hill, Moss doesn't stop there and immediately attacks Hawthorn, thus taking the lead from his main rival!
As for Hill himself, due to a delamination of the left rear tyre, he unexpectedly has to make an unscheduled pit stop, after which the American loses seven positions at once and gets back to the track only in 10th! Meanwhile, Graham Hill's Lotus begins to have problems with misfiring, and the Englishman loses another position, letting Trintignant through!
Lap 8: The Climax engine on Salvadori's Cooper starts to overheat, forcing Roy to make an unscheduled pit stop as well. After inspecting the engine and realising that it's due to airlocks, the Cooper mechanics clean out the cooling system, which drops the Englishman to last place, actually ending any chance of success for him in this race!
Lap 9: Having lost the lead to Moss by just one lap, Hawthorn counterattacks his rival and takes the lead again!
Lap 10: Moss doesn't give up and, in his turn, counterattacks Mike, leaving the Ferrari behind again!
Position after 10 laps: Moss, Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans, Brooks, Behra, Bonnier, Gregory, Trintignant, Graham Hill, Phil Hill. As in previous years, the race at Monza is a truly unforgettable spectacle for the audience, and after 10 laps the leading group of five cars is still separated by just a few seconds!
Lap 11: Bonnier starts to experience transmission problems, and the Swede gives in to attacks from Gregory, dropping to 7th!
Lap 12: Oil starts leaking from the back of Brooks' Vanwall and, not wanting to push his luck, the following Behra finally decides to overtake and gets ahead of the Englishman!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, Phil Hill finally manages to catch up with his namesake and, given the latter's problems, the American leaves Lotus behind without the slightest delay!
Lap 13: Bonnier continues to lose speed and, unable to give a worthy rebuff to Trintignant, the Swede gives up another position, dropping to 8th!
Lap 14: Deciding not to risk a retirement, Brooks pulls into the pits to find out the cause of the oil leak, and after a quick inspection, the Vanwall mechanics find a crack in the rubber boot of the drive shaft. Realizing that the problem is not too serious, the team immediately gives Tony the go-ahead, however, even after spending less than a minute during his stop, the Englishman still loses four positions and gets back to the track only in 9th! Meanwhile, on the same lap, Hill also comes into the pits, and after changing the spark plugs, Graham drops to the very back of the peloton!
Lap 15: After a few laps behind Moss, Hawthorn pulls himself together again and makes another attack, once again taking the lead from his rival!
At the same time, right behind the two leaders, another Vanwall driver, Lewis-Evans, also gives up his position to Behra, thanks to which the Frenchman rises already to 3rd!
In addition, on this same lap, the transmission on Bonnier's BRM finally jams, and, having stopped his smoking car in the pits, the Swede quickly leaves the cockpit, becoming the next to retire in this race.
Lap 16: Having overtaken Lewis-Evans, an inspired Behra immediately goes on the attack on Moss, and, having succeeded here too, Jean is already 2nd!
Lap 17: Not expecting such agility from the Frenchman, Moss counterattacks Behra a lap later, and, forced to slow down a bit, Jean ends up letting not only Stirling through, but also his teammate Lewis-Evans!
Lap 18: Moss is in trouble! Having barely regained 2nd position, Stirling suddenly loses pace, and once again letting Behra and his teammate Lewis-Evans throygh, the Englishman slowly pulls into the pits!
When the car stands still, the extremely upset Englishman leaves the cockpit, and to all the questions from the Vanwall mechanics, he only shakes his head sadly: it was the gearbox that has let him down this time. Meanwhile, having made sure that Moss no longer poses a threat, they in Scuderia immediately inform Hawthorn about this, who, after the retirement of his main rival, gets an excellent opportunity to become world champion already in this Grand Prix!
Lap 20: Phil Hill is slowly but surely continuing his breakthrough, and having left Trintignant behind, the American is already back in the points!
Position after 20 laps: Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans, Behra, Gregory, Phil Hill, Trintignant, Brooks, Herrmann, Cabianca, Allison. Having taking the lead, Hawthorn picks up the pace, and his gap to Lewis-Evans and Behra, who are chasing him, is now already seven seconds!
Meanwhile, thanks to numerous problems with his rivals, Gregory suddenly finds himself in 4th, and thus the American has a great opportunity to earn his first points of the season today!
Lap 22: The engine on Lewis-Evans' Vanwall starts to show signs of overheating, and after slowing down a bit, the Englishman lets Behra pass into 2nd again!
Lap 23: Misfire problems return for Graham Hill's Lotus, and the Englishman pits again, dropping to last place!
Lap 24: Phil Hill makes up another position, leaving his compatriot Gregory behind, and the American is now 4th!
Lap 25: Another retirement in the race: Trintignant's top gear falls apart with a terrible screeching sound, and the Frenchman, who was taking quite a high 6th, has no choice but to pit!
Lap 26: Trying to catch the top three, Phil Hill squeezes everything out of his Ferrari and sets the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1'42.9!
Lap 29: Behra starts to have problems with the front brakes and, having lost pace, the Frenchman pulls into the pits for repairs!
At the same time, despite all the mechanics efforts, adjusting the brakes takes too much time, as a result of which Jean gets back to the track only in 6th, once again losing a great opportunity to get on the podium!
Lap 31: The engine on Lewis-Evans' Vanwall overheats to a critical point and, fearing an explosion, the Englishman pulls into the pits, also retiring! At the same time, thanks to the problems of Stuart and Jean, it is Phil Hill who is now in 2nd, who after his early pit stop still manages to return to the front of the field, while Gregory is now in 3rd, who shows an incredible confident driving today!
Lap 33: Another retirement in the race: Herrmann's Maserati suffers an engine failure, thus leaving only ten cars left in the race!
Lap 35: With a 38-second lead over his teammate, Hawthorn pulls into the pits for a scheduled tyre change, and it is Phil Hill who is now the race leader again!
Meanwhile, after returning to the track, Mike lets not only his teammate through, but also Gregory, who rushes past the Ferrari that hasn’t had time to pick up speed, and thus Masten now occupies no more, no less, but the 2nd!
Lap 37: Having managed to warm up the new tires in a couple of laps, Hawthorn catches up with Gregory and gets ahead again, thus taking 2nd from the American!
Lap 38: Phil Hill also pulls into the pits for a new set of tires, and after spending at the pit stop for about a minute, the American lets not only Hawthorn and Gregory through, but also Brooks, who, completely unnoticed by the "scarlets", finds himself among the leaders of the Grand Prix again!
Realising that the last remaining Vanwall driver still poses a real threat to Hawthorn's lead, the alarm begins to sound in the Scuderia, and they belatedly show warning signs to their leader, but at this point Mike is clearly not up to it, as he still can't shake the magnificent Gregory off his tail! In the midst of these incredible events, Allison's pit stop remains completely unnoticed, who stops, almost from head to toe in oil, to check if there is any left in the gearbox, and, reassured by the Lotus mechanics, the Englishman rejoins the race, having let de Filippis through to 7th.
Position after 40 laps: Hawthorn, Gregory, Brooks, Phil Hill, Behra, Cabianca, de Filippis, Allison, Salvadori, Graham Hill. After 40 laps, Hawthorn is still in the lead, but with Gregory on his tail and Brooks closing in, Mike's victory in both this Grand Prix and the championship no longer seems so certain!
Lap 43: Jean Behra's hopes of scoring a few points in this race are dashed by a burnt clutch, and the Frenchman also pits for retirement! Meanwhile, Behra's place is now taken by Cabianca, who in his turn gets a great opportunity to score the first points of his career!
Lap 46: The rear tyres on Gregory's Maserati are barely holding the track, and, having given up trying to overtake Hawthorn, the American turns into the pits at the end of the lap! At the same time, having handed over his Maserati to the mechanics, Masten suddenly leaves the cockpit, no longer having any strength to continue the race, and his place is taken, in violation of the rules, by his compatriot Shelby, who gets back to the track in 4th!
Lap 47: Having gotten rid of Gregory, Hawthorn gets a short break, however, having received information that Brooks is only eight seconds behind, Mike continues to attack with all his might!
Lap 52: The clutch on Hawthorn's Ferrari starts to slip, which is immediately used by Brooks, who wins back almost a second per lap from the leading Ferrari!
Meanwhile, on the same lap, the engine in Cabianca's Maserati gives in, and, stopping in the pits, the Italian gives up 5th to his compatriot de Filippis!
Lap 58: Maria Teresa de Filippis is just 12 laps away from becoming the first woman in Formula-1 history to score points in the World Championship, as her Maserati also suffers an engine failure! Meanwhile, after the Italian's retirement, it is Salvadori who now moves up to 5th, having already given up any hope on scoring points after his forced pit stop at the very beginning of the race!
Lap 61: Closing in on Hawthorn by a second per lap, Brooks eventually catches the leading Ferrari with nine laps to go, and with no way to defend himself, Mike gives up the race lead to his compatriot without any fight!
Last lap: After taking the lead, Brooks easily brings the race to a winning finish, and stopping his car, the Englishman immediately falls into the arms of his team, who congratulate him on his third victory this season!
Meanwhile, this success becomes extremely important not only for Tony, but also for Moss, who, thanks to his teammate’s victory, still retains his chances for the championship title until the last stage, as well as for the entire British team, which in this Grand Prix wins the first Constructors’ Cup in the history of Formula-1!
Meanwhile, Hawthorn, who finished second, does not look disappointed at all, since, having received a few more points in his pocket, Mike becomes the main contender for the title before the last stage, while his teammate Phil Hill deserves no less praise today, who managed to fully demonstrate his talent in this Grand Prix and deservedly win his first podium. As for fourth place, although Shelby finishes there, neither he nor Gregory, who gave him his car, get points in this race, while the last one to get a scoring finish today is Salvadori, who, thanks to the two points won, rises to 4th place in the overall standings!
Interesting facts:
- Phil Hill's first podium, points and fastest lap;
- Phil Hill first leading in the Grand Prix.
Driver standings
Constructor standings
Alternative GP results
