F1 Retrospective: 1957 Monaco Grand Prix
Moss' Brake Failure at the Tunnel Exit Also Collects Fellow Britons Peter Collins and Michael Hawthorn.
1957 RACE 2
Principality of Monaco
19 May, Fifteenth Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco
P1 Grid: J.M. Fangio, ARG, Maserati 250F 2.5 liter inline six. Pirelli (twenty-fifth, career).
S. Moss (Vanwall) wins the start.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 4 with a pass after a massive shunt at the Tunnel Chicane exit. Fangio drives on to victory.
1957 Monaco unfurls high drama during its early circuits when race leader Stirling Moss (Vanwall) suffers brake failure upon the Tunnel exit on Lap 4. Moss misses the chicane before slamming hard into the harbour barrier, and then in remarkably heady fashion, scrambles from his wrecked vehicle just moments before fellow Briton Peter Collins (Ferrari) exits the tunnel and hurls headlong into the wreckage. Juan Manuel Fangio next enters the chicane and avoids the shunt with deft steering, yet Britons Tony Brooks (Vanwall) and Michael Hawthorn (Ferrari) come together upon encoutering the carnage. Brooks escapes with serious damage, yet Hawthorn skids across the track surface and joins the other two cars in the debris pile. Fangio’s adroit driving earns him the race victory, yet the surprise proves out as rookie privateer Masten Gregory, who drives his Maserati to a P3 finish in his maiden run, the first American in F1 history to stand on the podium.
1. Fangio, Maserati (twenty-second, career).
2. C.A.S. Brooks, GBR, Vanwall, -25.2 sec (maiden podiium).
3. M. Gregory, USA, Maserati (maiden podium).
Constructor Officine Alfieri Maseratii (seventh).
Engine Victor: Maserati (seventh).
Championship
Fangio-ARG 17, J. Behra-FRA 6, Brooks-GBR 6.
Officine Alfieri Maserati 28, Scuderia Centro Sud 7, Vandervell Products, Ltd 6.
