1956 Argentine Grand Prix

The 1956 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 January 1956 at Buenos Aires. It was race 1 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers. With the withdrawal of Mercedes from Formula One, Fangio and Moss would begin the season with new teams. Fangio would join Ferrari while Moss would lead the Maserati team. The grid in Argentina was composed entirely of Italian cars. Ferrari and Maserati showed up with five cars each. The other three cars were also Maseratis: two private entries and Hawthorn for the B.R.M. team.

Ferrari dominated practice and occupied the first three grid positions, with Fangio's pole time 2.2 sec faster than second. Maserati dominated the early race with Menditeguy and Moss leading the field. Fangio was a non-factor with a faulty fuel pump. He took over Musso's car after 30 laps and re-entered without losing Musso's fifth place in the race. Meanwhile, Musso took over Fangio's ailing car but did not manage to finish in it even a single lap. Fangio quickly passed Behra but lost his position after spinning. On laps 40–43, disaster struck the leaders. While third, Castellotti's gearbox broke, Menditeguy left the lead with a broken driveshaft, and new leader Moss's engine began to smoke. Fangio, who had overtaken Behra, passed the ailing Moss on lap 67, and finished unchallenged after Behra spun late in the race. The race was not without controversy when the Maserati team manager lodged a protest that Fangio was push-started after the earlier spin. The protest was ultimately rejected by both the stewards and the FIA.

Entries

Team	No	Driver	Car	Engine	Tyre
Template:Flagicon Officine Alfieri Maserati	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati 250F	Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6	P
	4	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra
	6	Template:Flagicon Carlos Menditeguy
	8	Template:Flagicon Luigi Piotti
	10	Template:Flagicon Chico Landi Template:Flagicon Gerino Gerini
	12	Template:Flagicon José Froilán González
Template:Flagicon Owen Racing Organisation	14	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn
Template:Flagicon Alberto Uría	16	Template:Flagicon Alberto Uría	Maserati A6GCM
		Template:Flagicon Óscar González
Template:Flagicon Scuderia Ferrari	30	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Lancia D50	Ferrari DS50 2.5 V8	E
	32	Template:Flagicon Eugenio Castellotti
	34	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso
	36	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4	P
	38	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien
Source:

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	30	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	1:42.5	—
2	32	Template:Flagicon Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	1:44.7	+2.2
3	34	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	Ferrari	1:44.7	+2.2
4	4	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	1:45.1	+2.6
5	12	Template:Flagicon José Froilán González	Maserati	1:45.2	+2.7
6	6	Template:Flagicon Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	1:45.6	+3.1
7	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati	1:45.9	+3.4
8	14	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	1:47.4	+4.9
9	36	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	Ferrari	1:47.7	+5.2
10	38	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	1:50.4	+7.9
11	10	Template:Flagicon Chico Landi Template:Flagicon Gerino Gerini	Maserati	1:52.1	+9.6
12	8	Template:Flagicon Luigi Piotti	Maserati	1:57.9	+15.4
13	16	Template:Flagicon Alberto Uría	Maserati
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	34	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	98	3:00:03.7	3	4 51
2	4	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	98	+24.4	4	6
3	14	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	96	+2 laps	8	4
4	10	Template:Flagicon Chico Landi Template:Flagicon Gerino Gerini	Maserati	92	+6 laps	11	1.5 1.5
5	38	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	91	+7 laps	10	2
6	16	Template:Flagicon Alberto Uría Template:Flagicon Óscar González	Maserati	88	+10 laps	13
Ret	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati	81	Engine	7
Ret	36	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	Ferrari	58	Accident	9
Ret	8	Template:Flagicon Luigi Piotti	Maserati	57	Accident	12
Ret	6	Template:Flagicon Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	42	Halfshaft	6
Ret	32	Template:Flagicon Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	40	Gearbox	2
Ret	12	Template:Flagicon José Froilán González	Maserati	24	Engine	5
Ret	30	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	Ferrari	22	Fuel pump	1
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives

• Car #34: Luigi Musso (30 laps) and Juan Manuel Fangio (68 laps). They shared the 8 points for first place.
• Car #10: Chico Landi (46 laps) and Gerino Gerini (46 laps). They shared the 3 points for fourth place.
• Car #16: Alberto Uría (44 laps) and Oscar Gonzalez (44 laps).
• Car #30: Juan Manuel Fangio (22 laps) and Luigi Musso (0 laps).

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	6
2	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	5
3	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	4
4	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	4
5	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien	2
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.