1959 Portuguese Grand Prix

  1959 Portuguese Grand Prix

Race details
Date	23 August 1959
Official name	VIII Portuguese Grand Prix
Location	Circuito de Monsanto Lisbon, Portugal
Course	Public road
Course length	5.440 km (3.380 mi)
Distance	62 laps, 337.28 km (209.56 mi)
Weather	Hot and clear.
Pole position
Driver	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax
Time	2:02.89
Fastest lap
Driver	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax
Time	2:05.07
Podium
First	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax
Second	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax
Third	Dan Gurney	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monsanto on 23 August 1959. It was race 7 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 6 of 8 in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the eighth Portuguese Grand Prix and the second to be held for the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. It was the third time the race was held at Monsanto and the first for Formula One. The race was held over 62 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 337 kilometres.

The race was won by British driver Stirling Moss, his eleventh Grand Prix victory, driving a Cooper T51 for privateer race team Rob Walker Racing Team. Moss finished a lap ahead of American racer Masten Gregory driving a similar Cooper T51 for the factory Cooper Car Company team. American Scuderia Ferrari driver Dan Gurney finished third in his Ferrari Dino 246.

Race report

Wins in France and Germany had given Tony Brooks a healthy second place in the championship behind Jack Brabham. Stirling Moss improved on his poor championship position with a dominating drive, lapping the entire field except for second-placed Masten Gregory and third-placed Dan Gurney. Phil Hill and Graham Hill crashed into each other on lap 6, whilst Brabham had an enormous somersaulting crash from which he emerged unscathed. Gurney was the only Ferrari in the top eight with Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell rounding off the top five.

With Brabham failing to finish and Brooks finishing a distant five laps down in ninth and Moss closed the gap to just 9½ points behind Brabham and 5½ points behind Brooks in the championship race.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	62	2:11:55.41	1	9
2	2	Masten Gregory	Cooper-Climax	61	+ 1 Lap	3	6
3	16	Dan Gurney	Ferrari	61	+ 1 Lap	6	4
4	5	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	60	+ 2 Laps	4	3
5	6	Harry Schell	BRM	59	+ 3 Laps	9	2
6	10	Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin	59	+ 3 Laps	12
7	8	Ron Flockhart	BRM	59	+ 3 Laps	11
8	9	Carroll Shelby	Aston Martin	58	+ 4 Laps	13
9	14	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	57	+ 5 Laps	10
10	18	Mário de Araújo Cabral	Cooper-Maserati	56	+ 6 Laps	14
Ret	3	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	38	Transmission	8
Ret	1	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	23	Collision	2
Ret	7	Jo Bonnier	BRM	10	Engine	5
Ret	15	Phil Hill	Ferrari	5	Accident	7
Ret	11	Graham Hill	Lotus-Climax	5	Accident	15
Ret	12	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	3	Gearbox	16
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jack Brabham 27 2 Tony Brooks 23 3 3 Stirling Moss 17.5 1 4 Phil Hill 13 5 Maurice Trintignant 12

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Cooper-Climax 34 (37) 2 Ferrari 28 3 BRM 18 4 Lotus-Climax 3

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards each Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References