The 1956 F1 season started without the Mercedes team who withdrew from 1955 leaving Fangio and Moss searching for new drives. Fangio joined Ferrari who's cars were modified by Lancias for the '55 season, while Moss searched for a British team but settled for Maserati.
Italian teams were again a dominant with Ferrari partnering Fangio with Luigi Muss, Eugenio Castellotti and Englishman Peter Collins, while in the Maserati camp Moss was supported by Jean Behra and Cesare Perdisa. Fangio would leave Ferrari at the end of the season to join Maserati having doubted the quality of the preparation.
At the opening race in Argentina Fangio suffered from poor luck when his car failed early in the race leading him to pull rank over team mate Musso and use his car. The move worked and Fangio beat Behra to the finish to record the 1956 seasons first win. Moss had briefly held the lead but his engine hit trouble. Whereas Fangio would use the cars of well placed team mates, Moss however would simply struggle.
Moss took victory at Monaco recording his second Grand Prix victory. Fangio had repeated incidents in his Lancia-Ferrari hitting kerbs and barriers forcing him to swap with Collins. The car finished battered at the end of the race but Fangio had held on long enough to score three points. Behra finished third in the Maserati with Castellotti finishing a fine fourth in Fangio's beaten machine.
Peter Collins was on form for the next two Grand Prix winning in both Belgium and France. In Belgium Fangio had a terminal problem with the car and didn't reappear in the race while Moss who also ran in to car trouble took over Perdisa's car to finish third behind Ferrari driver and local favourite Paul Frere. At Reims the Ferrari was the in form car with Fangio and Collins dominating until Fangio was delayed by a slow pit stop. Collins took the victory in a close finish with Castellotti with Behra third and Fangio fourth. Moss who again took over Perdisa's car finished back in fifth place -- the points shared between the two drivers.
The next race was the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone where the works BRM of Mike Hawthorn and Tony Brooks led for the first ten laps before suffering problems. This handed the race lead to Moss until axle problems put him out. Fangio won with Collins second after taking over Alfonso de Portago's Ferrari. The championship standings were Collins on 22 points, followed by Fangio on 21 and Behra on 18.
The German Grand Prix was a Fangio whitewash with Moss following in second ahead of Behra. Collins luck however ran out when his fuel tank ruptured whilst lying second which meant he needed to take over Portago's car. He did so, but later crashed out leaving him 8 points behind Fangio.
In order to win the 1956 championship both Collins and Behra needed to win and record the fastest lap in the Italian Grand Prix. During the race Fangio was forced out with Steering trouble and then came one of the sports most magnanimous gestures -- Collins, who was lying second with an excellent chance of winning the championship pulled in to the pits and offered Fangio his race car. Fangio accepted the offer and chased the leaders Moss and Musso hard and eventually passing Musso.
Moss won which gave him second in the championship for the second year but the shared second place gave Fangio his fourth drivers championship, a championship title he never forgot to acknowledge as owing a lot to the magnanimity of Peter Collins.
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1956 Formula 1 Season Review Part 3by UltimateOctane947 views
Excellent. Can you get other seasons? Looking for most pre-68.
scottdelong1 3 months ago
great! thnx for upload!
maxsamplax 4 months ago