1958 Portuguese Grand Prix
The eighth round of the 1958 World Championship took place on August 24 in Portugal on the Porto street circuit, becoming the first Formula-1 Grand Prix in history to be held in this westernmost country in Europe.
Considering that the track ran right through the streets of the city of the same name, it was full of all the typical dangers for this type of circuit, such as kerbstones, cobbles, drains, trees, lampposts, pillar-boxes and even tram tracks crossing it, which presented a serious test for both the drivers and their cars.
At the same time, compared to other tracks, the circuit in Porto was quite long, amounting to exactly 7.5 km, so the drivers had to complete only 50 laps.
With three rounds remaining, the fight for the 1958 championship title entered the decisive stage, with the two main contenders, Mike Hawthorn from Scuderia Ferrari and Stirling Moss from Vanwall, separated by just six points. Given the stakes, both rival teams had done their utmost to approach this stage as prepared as possible, and with three weeks to assemble a couple more engines, Vanwall's team had managed to secure cars for all of their drivers, who were Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans again.
At the same time, in order to improve the reliability of the engines, which have repeatedly let down one or another Vanwall driver this season, their cars were equipped with additional cooling radiators before this Grand Prix, which were installed directly above the main ones and were cooled by additional air intakes cut into the upper nose of the British cars.
Meanwhile, after the tragic death of Peter Collins in the German Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari was represented this time by only two drivers, and Mike Hawthorn's teammate on the track in Porto was Wolfgang von Trips, who now seems to have finally secured his place in the main lineup of the Maranello team.
At the same time, if team leader Hawthorn received a regular Ferrari 246 Dino at his disposal, the German this time got an experimental model of 246s, in which the rear suspension was sprung with coil springs, and the oil tank was located on the side of the driver.
As for the British teams BRM, Cooper and Lotus, there were absolutely no changes in their line-ups, and they were represented, as before, by Jean Behra with Harry Schell, Jack Brabham with Roy Salvadori and Graham Hill with Cliff Allison respectively.
At the same time, in the Cooper and Lotus teams, the teammates' cars differed in engine displacement, and if Brabham and Hill were lucky enough to get bolids with 2.2-liter power units at their disposal this time, then Salvadori and Allison had to settle with less powerful 2-liter engines.
As for Alfred Owen's team, both cars from Bourne were identical to each other, however, compared to the previous round, their front and rear suspensions underwent some improvements, which allowed them to slightly increase the rigidity of the BRM chassis.
It is also worth mentioning that in addition to John Cooper's team, another last year's Cooper T53 was entered by Rob Walker's team, which, as before, was driven by Maurice Trintignant.
As for the rest of the places among the participants, they, as usual, went to drivers in Maserati 250F cars, among whom were Maria-Teresa de Filippis from the private team Scuderia Centro Sud, as well as two private drivers Jo Bonnier and Carroll Shelby, with the latter drove the very same superlight car of the latest modification, at the wheel of which Juan Manuel Fangio spent his last Grand Prix of his career.
Qualification
Given that the Porto track was unfamiliar to most of the participants, the Grand Prix organisers gave the drivers extra time before the official practice sessions to get to know it, but even this did not help to avoid several rather serious incidents, which, fortunately, this time there were no casualties. On the very first day of practice, Cliff Allison smashed his Lotus to smithereens, flying off the main Boavista straight straight into nearby houses, while a little later the Englishman's fate was repeated by the only female driver, de Filippis, who, as a result of a spin, crashed into a lamp post. At the same time, even though both bolids were damaged beyond repair after these accidents, both losers still managed to continue qualifying the following day in other cars: Allison was rescued by the Scuderia Centro Sud team, which provided him with a spare Maserati 250F, originally intended for Troy Rattmann, while de Filippis was lent his car by Gerino Gerini, for whom there was no place in the field.
However, the misadventures of Allison and de Filippis were of little interest to the local fans, who dreamed of seeing the "big guys" at work, and their hopes were fully rewarded by an interesting battle for pole position, which unfolded between the Vanwall drivers on one side and Mike Hawthorn on the other. Nonetheless, the winner of this battle was still Moss, who, having shown a result of 2'34.21, managed to beat Mike by a paltry 0.05 seconds, while the third result was shown quite unexpectedly by Lewis-Evans, who, having barely entering the track in Porto, immediately felt like a fish in water.
As for the third Vanwall driver Brooks, this time he was noticeably behind his teammates and, having already lost 1.7 seconds to Moss, Tony eventually achieved only 5th place on the starting grid, while Jean Behra in the BRM, on the contrary, surprised everyone with his speed, managing to compete with the Ferrari and Vanwall drivers and recording an excellent 4th result, less than 0.8 seconds behind the best time in practice.
Meanwhile, the second Scuderia driver von Trips, as usual, could not even come close to the result of Hawthorn, and, having lost almost 3 seconds to his teammate, the German eventually took the 6th position on the starting grid, sharing a place in the third row with the second BRM driver Schell as well as Brabham, who this time turned out to be the fastest Cooper driver. And if Jack's result was quite predictable, considering that it was he who got a car with a more powerful 2.2-liter engine, then the result of Trintignant, who without any visible effort was able to get into the top ten fastest, losing only half a second to the Australian, surprised many and only once again confirmed the well-deserved reputation of the Frenchman as a recognized master of street circuits.
As for the second Cooper driver Salvadori, he looked rather pale here and, having shown only the 11th result, Roy lost the place in the top ten to the American Shelby, who in his super-lightweight car turned out to be the fastest of the Maserati drivers.
Race
After fine weather on Friday and Saturday, Sunday morning met the drivers with a light rain which immediately soaked the entire track, however, by lunchtime the weather had cleared up and the race start, which was scheduled for 4pm, still took place in relatively dry conditions.
Start. At the wave of the national flag, the cars take off, and it is Moss who starts the best, immediately taking the lead in the race!
After passing the first set of corners, it is Hawthorn and Behra who lead the chase after the leading Vanwall, however, already at the entering to the main straight, the Frenchman makes a mistake that costs him three lost positions at once!
At the same time, the greatest benefit from the Frenchman's mistake is derived by von Trips, who, taking advantage of the created turmoil, passes not only the Frenchman on the straight, but also Lewis-Evans and Schell, and thus the German finishes the first lap already in 3rd!
Position after lap 1: Moss, Hawthorn, von Trips, Schell, Lewis-Evans, Behra, Brabham, Brooks, Shelby, Trintignant.
Lap 2: Having finished the first lap on Moss' tail, Hawthorn attacks and passes his main rival on the next straight to become the new race leader!
Meanwhile, behind the two leaders, Schell stages a real battle with von Trips and ends up leaving the German behind, while Bonnier also makes up one position, overtaking Salvadori.
Lap 3: Von Trips doesn't give up and, after counter-attacking Schell, the German takes the lead again, reclaiming 3rd position!
Meanwhile, Shelby is also very active from the very first laps of the race, and having overtaken Brooks, he immediately attacks Brabham, which the Vanwall driver immediately takes advantage of, also leaving the Australian behind!
Lap 4: Behra, who had started the race rather tentatively, finally gets into action and the Frenchman manages to make up one position, leaving Lewis-Evans behind.
Meanwhile, Brabham loses another position to Trintignant, while at the back of the field, Hill and Salvadori engage in a real battle, as a result of which the Lotus driver gets ahead.
Lap 5: Behra doesn't stop there, and after passing his teammate Schell, the Frenchman is already 4th!
Meanwhile, the battle between Hill and Salvadori continues, and now the Cooper driver is in the lead!
Lap 6: After letting his teammate pass, Schell immediately finds himself under attack from Lewis-Evans, who also manages to leave the American behind!
Meanwhile, Brooks, who has not yet managed to adapt to this track, cannot hold back the attacks of the pressing Trintignant, and he gives up his position to the Frenchman, thus dropping to 9th!
Besides, on the same lap, Salvadori manages to pull away a little from Hill, and Roy immediately makes up another position, overtaking Bonnier!
Lap 7: With the track completely dry, Moss is feeling much more confident and he completely reduces the gap to Hawthorn, hanging on his rival's tail!
Meanwhile, already on lap 7, the first retirement takes place: the engine fails on the Maserati of de Filippis, who has been occupying the penultimate place.
Lap 8: After hanging on Hawthorn's tail for a whole lap, Moss finally attacks his rival at the beginning of the main straight and leaves the Ferrari behind, thus taking the lead of the race again!
Besides, on the same lap, Behra manages to win back another position at the expense of von Trips, which brings the Frenchman already 3rd position, while Shelby, who shows a very impressive drive, overtakes his compatriot Schell, thus taking 6th!
Meanwhile, unlike Behra and Shelby, things are going very badly for Brooks and Bonnier, and they each lose another position each, to Brabham and Hill respectively.
Lap 10: Frustrated with his car's performance, Bonnier, who is in penultimate place, pulls into the pits, giving up the further fight!
Position after 10 laps: Moss, Hawthorn, Behra, von Trips, Lewis-Evans, Shelby, Schell, Trintignant, Brabham, Brooks.
After taking the lead, Moss shows just an incredible pace, and within a couple of laps he manages to break away from Hawthorn already by 6 seconds!
Lap 11: After three laps behind Brabham, Brooks finally pulls himself together and retakes the lead over the Australian, moving back up to 9th.
Lap 13: The bonnet on von Trips' Ferrari starts to lift and the German makes a pit stop to fix it again. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of the mechanics, the German manages to get back to the track without losing a single position, but Lewis-Evans is closing in on him, who is now only a couple of seconds behind the Ferrari driver! Meanwhile, after a great start to the race, Schell continues to lose positions one after another, and, having given in to attacks from Trintignant, the American drops already to 8th!
Lap 15: Having managed to completely reduce his gap to von Trips in a couple of laps, Lewis-Evans attacks the German and passes him, thus taking 4th!
Lap 16: A bitter battle for 11th between Hill and Salvadori is eventually settled in favour of the Lotus driver, while Allison becomes another retiree, whose Maserati also suffers an engine failure.
Lap 17: Brooks manages to gain another position, this time by overtaking Schell, and the Vanwall driver is now 8th!
Lap 20: Brooks is feeling more and more confident and, unable to contain Tony's pressure, Trintignant gives up him another position!
Position after 20 laps: Moss, Hawthorn, Behra, Lewis-Evans, von Trips, Shelby, Brooks, Trintignant, Schell, Brabham.
Moss continues to lead the race comfortably, while due to severe brakes wear, Hawthorn can no longer maintain the same pace, and falling further and further behind, Mike is already 38 seconds behind his rival by lap 20!
Lap 24: Having caught up with von Trips, Shelby makes several unsuccessful attacks, but, having revved his engine up to 8,000 rpm on the main straight, he still manages to pass the German, thus already getting in the points!
Lap 25: Moss continues to fly around the track and increases his lead over Hawthorn already to a minute!
Lap 26: Entering the final corner too quickly, Hill fails to keep his car on the finish straight and, skidding, his Lotus flies off the track straight into the hay bales!
Trying to fix the situation, Graham immediately jumps out of the cockpit and pushes his car back onto the track, but it's all useless: the front suspension is already broken.
Lap 27: After hanging on Shelby's tail for a few laps, von Trips counterattacks the American and takes the lead again, thus regaining 5th!
Lap 28: The shock absorbers no longer work on Trintignant's Cooper and, having lost pace, the Frenchman immediately lets Schell and Brabham through!
Lap 29: Taking advantage of the delay caused by Trintignant's overtaking, Brabham closes in on Schell's BRM and passes his rival, taking 8th!
Lap 30: Shelby slows down a bit to remove an oily visor, which is immediately used by Brooks, who quickly catches up with him and passes the American literally as if he were standing still!
Position after 30 laps: Moss, Hawthorn, Behra, Lewis-Evans, von Trips, Brooks, Shelby, Brabham, Schell, Trintignant.
Lap 31: Moss is simply unstoppable today, and Stirling drives this lap with an absolutely record time of 2'32.58, thus beating even his own qualifying result!
Lap 33: Brooks manages to win back another position, overtaking von Trips, and thus Tony is already in the points!
Meanwhile, sensing that his Cooper is already at the limit, Brabham slows down a little, and this is immediately taken advantage of by Schell, who repasses the Australian again!
Lap 34: Moss laps Lewis-Evans, who immediately settles into his team-mate's aerodynamic shadow, thus hoping to close the gap to his rivals!
Lap 35: Due to the deteriorating condition of the front brakes, Hawthorn almost flies off the track, and deciding not to take any more risks, Mike pulls into the pits for repairs! At the same time, despite Scuderia mechanics' best efforts, adjusting the brakes on the Ferrari takes quite a long time, and as a result, Mike gets back to the track only 3rd, about 20 seconds behind Behra!
Lap 36: Not willing to accept the loss of position, Mike attacks at the limit all this lap and sets a new record, beating Moss' time by 0.2 seconds!
Lap 38: Keen to put in some decent result in this Grand Prix, Brooks does his best to close the gap to 4th placed Lewis-Evans, however, at the end of the main straight, Tony still overdoes it, which eventually leads him to a spin, stalled engine and retirement!
Position after 40 laps: Moss, Behra, Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans, von Trips, Shelby, Schell, Brabham, Trintignant, Salvadori.
Lap 42: The engine on Behra's BRM suddenly starts to lose power, allowing Hawthorn to easily catch the Frenchman and reclaim 2nd place without any fight!
Lap 44: Salvadori hits a kerb and does some serious damage to his Cooper's suspension, but with only five laps left in the Grand Prix, Roy still stays on track, determined to get to the finish line at any cost!
Lap 46: Still driving on just three cylinders, Behra loses all his advantage over Lewis-Evans, who is still showing great pace in the aerodynamic shadow of Moss' car, and having let both Vanwalls through, the Frenchman drops to 4th position, thus losing his last hope of reaching the podium!
Lap 48: Just a couple of laps short of the finish, Shelby flies off the track with his front brakes locked up, ending this great race on the side of the road!
Lap 49: The front brakes on Hawthorn's Ferrari are working at the limit again, and his lead over the Vanwall pair is reduced to just 4 seconds!
Last lap: After passing the first couple of corners, Moss catches up with Hawthorn at the end of the main straight and, taking advantage of his early braking, he still overtakes his main rival by a lap! However, seeing the disappointment on Mike's face (who was actually sure that it was Lewis-Evans who had taken 2nd position from him), Stirling still decides to spare him the humiliation of being lapped, and already on the next straight he waves his hand at the Ferrari leader, inviting him to overtake him back! Inspired, Hawthorn accepts his rival's noble gesture, and having safely passed the twisty part of the track, he still manages to cross the finish line ahead of both Vanwalls, while Moss himself, to the thunder of applause from the local spectators, takes a truly brilliant victory today!
However, being the only driver less than a lap behind the leader, Hawthorn is forced to drive for another lap, and at the same corner where Moss had passed him earlier, Mike makes another mistake, which this time costs him a spin and a stalled engine! Climbing out of the cockpit and cursing himself, Mike desperately starts pushing his Ferrari, hoping to revive his engine, while at the same time two Vanwalls slowly appear on the scene, making their lap of honor! At the same time, seeing Mike's predicament, Moss decides to help his main rival and stops nearby with his engine running, while Lewis-Evans continues on and completes the lap of honor alone, thereby leaving everyone present at the finish line in complete bewilderment!
Meanwhile, Mike's striving is not in vain, and having managed to push his Ferrari onto the bypass road, he still manages to start his engine, while Moss, who was watching the efforts of his compatriot, was also not sitting idly by, driving away the marshals, who, in their desire to help Mike, seem to have completely forgotten that this threatened him with disqualification. However, having made sure that Hawthorn managed to safely jump back into the cockpit, engage first gear and start moving (even if he had to drive a good hundred meters on the footpath in the opposite direction), Stirling with an easy heart brings this incredible lap of honor to the end and finally receives well-deserved congratulations from his team!
However, the final results of the race were not announced until 11pm, as, having received a full report from their commissaires, the organisers of the Grand Prix had serious questions about Hawthorn's actions on his final lap, and the Englishman was saved from disqualification for driving along the track in the wrong direction only by... his main rival! Deciding to be a knight to the end, Moss testified in favour of his compatriot, insisting that Mike's Ferrari posed no danger to anyone due to the absence of other cars on the road (even though the footpath on which Hawthorn drove, by and large, should not have been considered part of the track at all), and thus, having weighed up the pros and cons, the organisers left the results of the Grand Prix unchanged: Moss is first, Hawthorn is second, Lewis-Evans is third.
Driver standings
Constructor standings
Alternative GP results
