1956 Belgian Grand Prix

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Flag of Belgium  1956 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 8 in the 1956 Formula One season.
Date June 3, 1956
Official name XVIII GROTE PRIJS VAN BELGIE
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Course Permanent racing facility
8.774 mi / 14.120 km
Distance 36 laps, 315.855 mi / 508.320 km
Weather Wet and overcast, later drying
Pole position
Driver Flag of Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari
Time 4:09.8
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom Stirling Moss Maserati
Time 4:14.7
Podium
First Flag of the United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari
Second Flag of Belgium Paul Frere Ferrari
Third Flag of Italy Cesare Perdisa
Flag of the United Kingdom Stirling Moss
Maserati

The 1956 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 3 June 1956 at Spa-Francorchamps.

After the first day of practice on Thursday, Fangio was on pole with a time almost 5 sec faster than second place Moss. These times wouldn’t be touched with wet conditions on Friday and windy conditions on Saturday.

It was raining when the race began and Fangio made a poor start and settled in fifth with Moss well in the lead. But by lap 3 Fangio would be in second having passed Behra, Collins, and then Castellotti. By the fifth lap he was in the lead and had opened up an 8 second lead on Moss by lap 10 with Collins third on a drying track. Collins took second when Moss lost a back wheel on the climb after the Eau Rouge bridge. He was able to safely stop and sprint back to the pits and take over Perdisa’s car. He resumed in sixth but a lap down to the leaders. Collins took the lead for good when Fangio lost his transmission on lap 24. A tight battle for second between Behra and Frere ended when Behra’s engine began to misfire. This allowed Moss to move to third as he had passed Schell earlier. Moss ended the race on a furious pace but the two leaders were too far ahead to make up the gap.

[edit] Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 Flag of the United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari 36 2:40:00.3 3 8
2 6 Flag of Belgium Paul Frere Ferrari 36 +1:51.3 8 6
3 34 Flag of Italy Cesare Perdisa
Flag of the United Kingdom Stirling Moss
Maserati 36 +3:16.6 9 2
3
4 10 Flag of the United States Harry Schell Vanwall 35 +1 Lap 6 3
5 22 Flag of Italy Luigi Villoresi Maserati 34 +2 Laps 11 2
6 20 Flag of Belgium Andre Pilette Ferrari 33 +3 Laps 16
7 32 Flag of France Jean Behra Maserati 33 +3 Laps 4
8 24 Flag of France Louis Rosier Maserati 33 +3 Laps 10
Ret 2 Flag of Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 23 Transmission 1
Ret 12 Flag of France Maurice Trintignant Vanwall 11 Fuel system 7
Ret 30 Flag of the United Kingdom Stirling Moss Maserati 10 Wheel 2
Ret 4 Flag of Italy Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 10 Transmission 5
Ret 28 Flag of Italy Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta 10 Engine 12
Ret 26 Flag of the United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 2 Gearbox 15
Ret 36 Flag of Spain Paco Godia Maserati 0 Accident 13

[edit] Notes


Previous race:
1956 Indianapolis 500
FIA Formula One World Championship
1956 season
Next race:
1956 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1955 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1958 Belgian Grand Prix