Italian GP 1957

Italian GP, 1957

The Monza banking was abandoned for the 1957 race and the track used was very like the Monza of today, although without the chicanes. Ferrari was back in action after boycotting Pescara and so it was a three-way fight between the Lancia-Ferraris, the Maseratis and the Vanwalls. The British cars were strong with pole position going to Stuart Lewis-Evans with Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks alongside him. Juan-Manuel Fangio put his Maserati on the outside of the 4-3-4 grid while his team mates Jean Behra and Harry Schell shared row two with Peter Collins's Lancia-Ferrari. There were three more of the cars on row three with Wolfgang von Trips, Luigi Musso and Mike Hawthorn alongside the Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati of Masten Gregory.

Although the Vanwalls went away from the grid at the front Behra moved up to second on the first lap. Fangio attached himself to the train of cars ahead of him and the five began to pull away from the rest of the field while indulging in a traditional Monza slipstreaming battle which saw the lead constantly changing between Moss and Behra. On lap seven Fangio took the lead but he was soon toppled in favor of Moss, Brooks and then Lewis-Evans. On lap 20 Brooks dropped out of the fight with a sticking throttle. Then Lewis-Evans ran into trouble and pitted. This left Moss in the lead with Fangio and Behra behind him, although Behra would pit soon afterwards for new tires. This moved Schell into third place but he disappeared with an oil leak which meant that third was passed on to Collins. At two-thirds distance Collins ran into engine trouble and pitted. This promoted Hawthorn to third but a split fuel pipe dropped him to sixth in the closing laps, leaving third place to Von Trips.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
18 Stirling Moss Vanwall VW (57) 87 2h35m03.900s  
Juan-Manuel Fangio Maserati 250F 87 2h35m45.100s  
36 Wolfgang von Trips Lancia Ferrari 801 85  
26 Masten Gregory Maserati 250F 84  11 
5= Giorgio Scarlatti Maserati 250F   12 
5= Harry Schell Maserati 250F 84   
34 Mike Hawthorn Lancia Ferrari 801 83  10 
22 Tony Brooks Vanwall VW (57) 82  
32 Luigi Musso Lancia Ferrari 801 82  
10 Francisco Godia-Sales Maserati 250F 81  15 
10 14 Horace Gould Maserati 250F 78  18 
11= 28 Andre Simon Maserati 250F   16 
11= 28 Ottorino Volonterio Maserati 250F 72   
30 Peter Collins Lancia Ferrari 801 62 Engine 
Jean Behra Maserati 250F 50 Overheating 
20 Stuart Lewis-Evans Vanwall VW (57) 49 Mechanical 
16 Bruce Halford Maserati 250F 47 Engine 14 
Harry Schell Maserati 250F 34 Mechanical 
24 Jo Bonnier Maserati 250F 31 Overheating 13 
12 Luigi Piotti Maserati 250F Engine 17