The 1956 Formula One season featured the seventh FIA World Championship of Drivers ^[1] as well as numerous non-championship races for Formula One cars. The championship series commenced on January 22, 1956 and ended on September 2 after eight races. Juan Manuel Fangio won his third consecutive title, the fourth of his career.

[edit] Season summary

Fangio joined Ferrari after Mercedes-Benz, with whom he had won the 1954 title, withdrew from the sport. Ferrari acquired the folded Lancia team's D50 cars and put together a strong team containing Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso and Peter Collins. Fangio won the opening race after commandeering Musso's car after his own car had broken down. Collins and Fangio's team-mate at Mercedes, Stirling Moss - now driving for Maserati provided the biggest challenge to his title defence, each winning two races. In an open season the British Connaughts, Vanwalls and BRMs also showed some signs of promise.

Going into the final race of the season, Fangio had an eight-point lead over Collins and the consistent Jean Behra, driving for Maserati. The only way he could lose the title would be to not finish and have either Collins or Behra win, with a fastest lap. Fangio and Behra both retired, and with Musso unwilling to share his car with Fangio, Collins had a great chance of winning his first title. Collins, in a remarkable act of sportsmanship, instead chose to hand his car over to Fangio to allow the Argentine to finish second in the race and win his third title in a row.

Points were given to top 5 finishers (8, 6, 4, 3, 2). 1 point was given for fastest lap. Only the best five scores counted towards the world championship. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps.

[edit] Season review

Round	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver(s)	Constructor	Report
1	Argentine Grand Prix	January 22	Oscar Gálvez	Luigi Musso / Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
2	Monaco Grand Prix	May 13	Monaco	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Report
3	Indianapolis 500	May 30	Indianapolis	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	Report
4	Belgian Grand Prix	June 3	Spa-Francorchamps	Peter Collins	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
5	French Grand Prix	July 1	Reims	Peter Collins	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
6	British Grand Prix	July 14	Silverstone	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
7	German Grand Prix	August 5	Nürburgring	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
8	Italian Grand Prix	September 2	Monza	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Report

[edit] 1956 Drivers Championship final standings

Championship points were awarded at each round on an 8-6-4-3-2 basis to the first five finishers with an additional point awarded to the driver setting the fastest lap of the race. Only the best five round results were counted.

Pos. Driver ARG MON 500 BEL FRA GBR GER ITA Pts. 1 Juan Manuel Fangio 1*† / Ret 2*† / 4† Ret 4* 1 1* 2† / 8† 30 (33) 2 Stirling Moss Ret 1 3*† / Ret 5† / Ret Ret* 2 1* 27 (28) 3 Peter Collins Ret 2† 1 1 2† / Ret Ret† / Ret 2† 25 4 Jean Behra 2 3 7 3 3 3 Ret† / Ret 22 5 Pat Flaherty 1 8 6 Eugenio Castellotti Ret 4† / Ret Ret 2 10† Ret† / Ret 8† / Ret 7.5 7 Sam Hanks 2 6 8 Paul Frère 2 6 9 Paco Godia Ret 7 8 4 4 6 10 Jack Fairman 4 5 5 11 Luigi Musso 1† Ret Ret† Ret 4 12 Mike Hawthorn 3 10† Ret 4 13 Ron Flockhart Ret 3 4 14 Don Freeland 3 4 15 Alfonso de Portago Ret 2† / 10† Ret† Ret 3 16 Cesare Perdisa 7 3† 5† 7 Ret 3 17 Harry Schell Ret 4 10† / Ret Ret Ret Ret 3 18 Johnnie Parsons 4 3 19 Louis Rosier Ret 8 6 Ret 5 2 20 Luigi Villoresi 5 Ret 6 Ret Ret† 2 21 Hernando da Silva Ramos 5 8 Ret Ret 2 22 Horace Gould 8 Ret 5 Ret 2 23 Olivier Gendebien 5 Ret 2 24 Dick Rathmann 5 2 25 Gerino Gerini 4† 10 1.5 26 Chico Landi 4† 1.5 27 Paul Russo Ret* 1 28 André Pilette 6† 6 11 Ret 0 29 Luigi Piotti Ret 6 0 30 Bob Sweikert 6 0 31 Oscar Gonzalez 6† 0 32 Alberto Uria 6† 0 33 Élie Bayol 6† 0 34 Bob Veith 7 0 35 Toulo de Graffenried 7 0 36 Rodger Ward 8 0 37 Robert Manzon Ret 9 9 Ret Ret 0 38 André Simon Ret 9 0 39 Jimmy Reece 9 0 40 Cliff Griffith 10 0 41 Roy Salvadori Ret Ret 11 0 42 Gene Hartley 11 0 43 Bob Gerard 11 0 44 Fred Agabashian 12 0 45 Bob Christie 13 0 46 Al Keller 14 0 47 Eddie Johnson 15 0 48 Billy Garrett 16 0 49 Duke Dinsmore 17 0 50 Pat O'Connor 18 0 51 Jimmy Bryan 19 0 — Ottorino Volonterio NC 0 — Maurice Trintignant Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 — Umberto Maglioli Ret Ret Ret† 0 — Bruce Halford Ret DSQ Ret 0 — José Froilán González Ret Ret 0 — Piero Taruffi Ret Ret 0 — Giorgio Scarlatti DNQ Ret 0 — Carlos Menditeguy Ret 0 — Jim Rathmann Ret 0 — Johnnie Tolan Ret 0 — Tony Bettenhausen Ret 0 — Jimmy Daywalt Ret 0 — Jack Turner Ret 0 — Keith Andrews Ret 0 — Andy Linden Ret 0 — Al Herman Ret 0 — Ray Crawford Ret 0 — Johnny Boyd Ret 0 — Troy Ruttman Ret 0 — Johnny Thomson Ret 0 — Piero Scotti Ret 0 — Desmond Titterington Ret 0 — Tony Brooks Ret 0 — Archie Scott-Brown Ret 0 — Paul Emery Ret 0 — Jack Brabham Ret 0 — Andre Milhoux Ret 0 — Les Leston Ret 0 — Ed Elisian Ret† 0 — Eddie Russo Ret† 0 — Joakim Bonnier Ret† 0 — Colin Chapman DNS 0 Pos. Driver ARG MON 500 BEL FRA GBR GER ITA Pts.

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Light blue Practiced only (PO) Friday test driver (TD) (from 2003 onwards) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

• * Fastest lap (1 point awarded)
• † Position shared between more drivers of the same car
• Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

[edit] Non-Championship race results

Other Formula One races also held in 1956, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
X Gran Premio Ciudad de Buenos Aires	Mendoza	February 5	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
IV Glover Trophy	Goodwood	April 2	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Report
VI Gran Premio di Siracusa	Syracuse	April 15	Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia-Ferrari	Report
XI BARC Aintree 200	Aintree	April 21	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Report
VII BRDC International Trophy	Silverstone	May 5	Stirling Moss	Vanwall	Report
IX Gran Premio di Napoli	Posillipo	May 6	Robert Manzon	Gordini	Report
I Aintree 100	Aintree	June 24	Horace Gould	Maserati	Report
I Vanwall Trophy	Snetterton	July 22	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	Report
IV Grand Prix de Caen	Caen	August 26	Harry Schell	Maserati	Report
II Sussex Trophy	Goodwood	September 8	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	Report
I BRSCC Formula 1 Race	Brands Hatch	October 14	Archie Scott Brown	Connaught-Alta	Report

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• 1956 World Championship race results and images Retrieved from f1-facts.com on 4 October 2008
• 1956 World Championship images Retrieved from The Cahier Archive on 4 October 2008