1955 Dutch Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1955 was held on June 19, 1955 held at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in Zandvoort and was the fifth race of the Formula 1 season 1955.
- 3.1 Start -up
- 3.2 race
- 4.1 Drivers' Championship
Reports
Background
The Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1955 took place a week after the disaster at Le Mans. As a consequence of the accident several planned race of the 1955 season were canceled, including the Grand Prix of Switzerland in Bremgarten. Circuit races are illegal in Switzerland for this event, which was held no other race more in Bremgarten. Former Formula 1 driver Pierre Levegh died in this accident.
The Grand Prix of the Netherlands took place after a one-year break for the third time, the winner of the previous two races, Alberto Ascari died a few weeks earlier at sports car test drives.
While Mercedes with the unchanged driver line of the last race went to the start, was changed at Ferrari a large part of the team. Giuseppe Farina, Harry Schell and Paul Frère took no longer for the Scuderia, but Eugenio Castellotti came into the team, as Lancia had completely withdrawn from Formula 1, and Mike Hawthorn returned to Ferrari.
Maserati had, like Ferrari, three cars in use, for the regular driver Jean Behra, Roberto Mieres and Luigi Musso. Gordini also began three cars and was after a Grand Prix break back again with Robert Manzon, Hernando da Silva Ramos and Jacques Pollet. There were reported in private car for the race four riders.
Da Silva Ramos drove the first Formula 1 race of his career, Johnny Claes in the private Maserati his last.
Training
The training was dominated by Mercedes, who placed their car on the first three grid positions. The World Championship leader Juan Manuel Fangio won the pole position ahead of his team mate Stirling Moss and Karl Kling with a 1:40,0. They were followed closely spaced to each other, the driver of Maserati and Ferrari. Musso secured fourth position behind the Mercedes, Hawthorn came in his Ferrari comeback to start fifth. Behind the Maserati of Behra and Mieres. Trintignant started again later, at No. 8 Castellotti, the pole-sitter from the previous race at Spa went from ninth position in the race. Gordini was not an eleventh place start out, the best driver with Manzon in a private car Peter Walker was in 10th place
Race
At the start of Fangio kept the lead, while Musso Kling and Moss overhauled. Musso held the distance to Fangio low and put him under pressure, but a round was later overtaken by Moss. Behind the Kling and Behra dueled for position four.
Walker retired in his private Maserati after just two rounds, Kling turned in round 21 of the track. Just two laps later, Horace Gould turned in the private Maserati also and had to abandon the race. Then lay Mieres at position five and grabbed at Behra. After he overtook him, trying Mieres the gap to Musso and the Mercedes to close what he did not succeed, as the head of the field had already built up a large distance.
Musso drove a strong race and a large part of the race just behind the Mercedes, who had to drive at the limit to their positions to defend against him. Later in the race Musso committed a mistake and spun off the track, but the race could continue.
Manzon retired on lap 43 due to a technical defect. This was for Gordini the only failure of the race, the other two cars crossed the finish line in eighth and tenth. Maurice Trintignant had a gearbox failure on lap 64 and also had to abandon the race.
Fangio and Moss curtailed after the spin by Musso their speed and drove the double victory for Mercedes controlled the finish. This was the second Mercedes -two in a row and the team underlining his dominance. After the withdrawal of Lancia in Formula 1 Maserati was only able to keep up with Mercedes, only Musso sat Fangio and Moss in the race under pressure. But through his mistake, he lost no position and finished the race before Mieres on the podium three. Fangio congratulated the Italians after the race for this achievement and for the tough fight.
Castellotti scored in his debut race for Ferrari with fifth place, Mieres got an extra point for the fastest lap. This was the only fastest lap of his career and the only one for Maserati in the Formula 1 season 1955. Behra and Hawthorn missed the points at positions six and seven. Da Silva Ramos drove in his Formula 1 debut at number eight, Claes reached in his last race in eleventh place, with twelve laps behind the winner Fangio.
In the world championship Fangio extended his lead to 14 points ahead of Moss and thus had the opportunity in the next race prematurely to become world champion. Trintignant was again no points and Farina no longer drove for Ferrari, which both lost a place in the drivers' standings. Moss rose to second place and thus became clear that the world championship between the two Mercedes drivers Fangio and Moss was decided.
Message list
Classifications
Line-up
Race
Standings after the race
The first five of the race were 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 points. The driver with the fastest lap of the race also received 1 point. It included only the five best results from seven races.