1958 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

  1958 Monaco Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 11 in the 1958 Formula One season
Date	18 May 1958
Official name	XVI Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco
Course	Street Circuit
Course length	3.145 km (1.954 mi)
Distance	100 laps, 314.5 km (195.4 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Tony Brooks	Vanwall
Time	1:39.8
Fastest lap
Driver	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Time	1:40.6
Podium
First	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax
Second	Luigi Musso	Ferrari
Third	Peter Collins	Ferrari
Lap leaders

Lotus 12, chassis no 353, (pictured above in 2010) was driven by Graham Hill in his Grand Prix debut at Monaco in 1958

The 1958 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 May 1958 at Monaco. It was the second round of the 1958 Formula One season. The race was the 16th Monaco Grand Prix and was held over 100 laps of the three kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 314 kilometres.

The race was won by French driver Maurice Trintignant in the second and final Grand Prix victory of his long career. The win was the second consecutive victory for the privateer Rob Walker Racing Team. Trintignant took the teams newly acquired Cooper T45 to a twenty-second victory over Italian driver Luigi Musso driving a Ferrari Dino 246 with Musso's British teammate Peter Collins (Ferrari Dino 246) was third.

Trintignant's win put doubt in the superiority of front-engined cars. Musso's second place put him into a four-point championship lead over Moss and Trintignant.

Race report

Vanwall and BRM returned after their Argentine absence and so Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Harry Schell all went back to their regular drives. In Moss' place at the Rob Walker Racing Team with the new 2000 cc engined Cooper T45 was French driver Maurice Trintignant. The race winning Cooper T43 could not even qualify for the small 16-car Monaco grid, Ron Flockhart was first reserve for the race.

Missing from the field was the previous year's winner and reigning World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio who surprisingly did not have a full-season drive. Fangio himself was in America, preparing for an ultimately disappointing Indianapolis 500 campaign with the Dayton-Walther team. Future Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone entered a Connaught B-Type in his first appearance but he failed to qualify, as did two substitute drivers. Also failing to make the grid was 58-year-old Louis Chiron in his final appearance at a Grand Prix. The Monaco local had won the Grand Prix 27 years earlier but Chiron and his Maserati 250F did not make it past qualifying.

Tony Brooks took pole position in his Vanwall VW 5 but Behra won the start. He led until his brakes failed in his BRM P25, and Mike Hawthorn swept by in the Ferrari Dino 246. Moss (Vanwall VW 5) had been duelling with him throughout the race until he retired on lap 38, and Hawthorn followed suit on lap 47 with a broken fuel pump. Graham Hill (Lotus 12) retired from fourth place in his first race on lap 69, after briefly leading. Vanwall pair Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans retired, leaving Trintignant to lead home the Ferraris by some 20 seconds giving Rob Walker his second race win of the year. Behind the Ferraris of Luigi Musso and Peter Collins was Jack Brabham in the factory Cooper T45, although three laps down and still looking a long way from becoming the next years champion. Schell in his BRM P25 was a further six laps behind Brabham picking up the final points after Wolfgang von Trips had an engine failure in the closing stages in his Ferrari Dino 246. The only other car still circulating was the second Lotus 12 of Cliff Allison, 13 laps behind Trintignant.

Trintignant's win put to the sword the belief that rear-engined Cooper victory achieved by Stirling Moss in Argentina was a one-off freak circumstance win and the smaller British cars would be treated more seriously, although ultimately a Cooper would not win again until 1959. The Rob Walker Racing Teams pair of early 1958 victories would remain the best ever performance by a privateer team until the rise of Tyrrell Racing in the late 1960s.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	100	2:52:27.9	5	8
2	34	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	100	+20.2 secs	10	6
3	36	Peter Collins	Ferrari	100	+38.8 secs	9	4
4	16	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	97	+3 Laps	3	3
5	8	Harry Schell	BRM	91	+9 Laps	12	2
6	24	Cliff Allison	Lotus-Climax	87	+13 Laps	13
Ret	40	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	91	Engine	11
Ret	58	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	71	Accident	16
Ret	26	Graham Hill	Lotus-Climax	69	Halfshaft	15
Ret	18	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	56	Gearbox	4
Ret	38	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	47	Fuel pump	6	1
Ret	28	Stirling Moss	Vanwall	38	Engine	8
Ret	6	Jean Behra	BRM	29	Brakes	2
Ret	46	Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati	28	Engine	14
Ret	30	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	22	Engine	1
Ret	32	Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	11	Overheating	7
DNQ	22	Ron Flockhart	Cooper-Climax
DNQ	50	Ken Kavanagh	Maserati
DNQ	48	Gerino Gerini	Maserati
DNQ	12	Bruce Kessler	Connaught-Alta
DNQ	14	Paul Emery	Connaught-Alta
DNQ	44	Maria Teresa de Filippis	Maserati
DNQ	56	André Testut	Maserati
DNQ	52	Giulio Cabianca	Osca
DNQ	54	Luigi Piotti	Osca
DNQ	42	Horace Gould	Maserati
DNQ	10	Ron Flockhart	BRM
DNQ	12	Bernie Ecclestone	Connaught-Alta
DNQ	50	Luigi Taramazzo	Maserati
DNQ	56	Louis Chiron	Maserati
DNQ	4	Paco Godia	Maserati
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Luigi Musso 12 1 2 Stirling Moss 8 8 3 Maurice Trintignant 8 1 4 Mike Hawthorn 5 5 5 Peter Collins 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Cooper-Climax 16 2 Ferrari 12 3 Maserati 3 4 BRM 2

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References