Belgian GP 1956

Belgian GP, 1956

Three weeks after the Monaco GP the Grand Prix teams gathered in Spa. There was no sign of BRM and so it was a straight battle between the Lancia-Ferraris of Juan-Manuel Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Peter Collins and, for the occasion, local drivers Paul Frere and Andre Pilette and the Maseratis of Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Cesare Perdisa. Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell battled on with the Vanwalls but there were no Gordinis.

Fangio was fastest in qualifying by an impressive five seconds with Moss and Collins alongside him on the front row. Behind them were Behra and Castellotti while Schell, Trintignant and Frere completed row three.

With such a big advantage was expected to dominate but he made a poor start in rainy conditions, leaving Moss to lead Castellotti, Collins and Behra. Fangio worked his way to second place by lap three and was ahead of Moss two laps later. The track began to dry and Fangio began to extend the lead. Soon afterwards Moss lost a wheel on the run up the hill after Eau Rouge corner. Fortunately the car did not hit anything and Moss was able to hurry back to the pits and take over Perdisa's car. Castellotti disappeared not long afterwards with a mechanical problem and so Moss found himself in sixth place. Fangio and Collins remained untroubled at the front with the gap between them being around half a minute. At two-thirds distance, however, Fangio's transmission broke. At the same time Behra's engine lost its edge and he dropped back quickly leaving Frere in second place, while Moss (in Perdisa's car) was now third, having passed Schell's Vanwall. The gap was too great to be closed and so Collins won his first Grand Prix with Frere a creditable second and Moss third.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 8 Peter Collins Lancia Ferrari D50 36 2h40m00.300s  3 
2 6 Paul Frere Lancia Ferrari D50 36 2h41m51.600s  8 
3= 34 Cesare Perdisa Maserati 250F   9 
3= 34 Stirling Moss Maserati 250F 36 2h43m16.900s   
4 10 Harry Schell Vanwall VW (55) 35  6 
5 22 Luigi Villoresi Maserati 250F 34  11 
6 20 Andre Pilette Lancia Ferrari D50 33  15 
7 32 Jean Behra Maserati 250F 33  4 
8 24 Louis Rosier Maserati 250F 33  10 
r 2 Juan-Manuel Fangio Lancia Ferrari D50 23 Transmission 1 
r 12 Maurice Trintignant Vanwall VW (55) 11 Engine 7 
r 28 Piero Scotti Connaught-Alta B 10 Engine 12 
r 30 Stirling Moss Maserati 250F 10 Wheel Lost 2 
r 4 Eugenio Castellotti Lancia Ferrari D50 10 Transmission 5 
r 26 Horace Gould Maserati 250F 2 Gearbox 14 
r 36 Francisco Godia-Sales Maserati 250F 0 Accident 13 
ns 38 Mike Hawthorn Maserati 250F  Withdrew 16