The 1955 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Buenos Aires on 16 January 1955. It was race one of seven in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers and the third running of the Argentine Grand Prix. It was also the first of three international races within two weeks, with the 1955 1000 km Buenos Aires opening the sports cars WC season, and the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix Formula Libre race at the end of January seeing another win for Fangio and Mercedes, this time powered by the enlarged 3.0 sports car version of the F1 engine.

The high temperatures of the Argentinian summer proved to be very taxing for both drivers and cars. The race in very hot weather was won from third on the grid by Juan Manuel Fangio for Mercedes. While others had to take breaks and shared cars, 43 year old local Fangio continued for all of the 96 laps on his own, and set fastest lap, even though suffering burns to his leg.

Ferrari had brought four drivers and three cars of which two finished on the podium after one engine failed. In two three-way shared drives with José Froilán González (who had put No. 12 car on pole) and Umberto Maglioli (who was entered on the No. 10 car), Ferrari drivers Nino Farina (qualified No. 10 on 5) and Maurice Trintignant (No. 14 car DNF) finished both second and third respectively. For 1955, defending champion Mercedes had picked up Stirling Moss to expand its effort to four drivers and four cars. They qualified rather low, third to tenth. After the cars of Moss and Kling were out, these two drivers shared the No. 8 car of Hans Herrmann, finishing fourth. Fangio and Roberto Mieres, the best of the Maserati drivers, were the only two drivers able to complete the race without handing their car to another driver, either due to exhaustion, or due to team orders after a car or driver had run into problems. Only two other Maserati did finish. Five cars were out after only two laps. Only seven of twenty-one cars finished, and only two covered the complete distance. Neither of the three Lancia or Gordini made it to mid-race.

According to former Ferrari and Maserati chief mechanic Giulio Borsari, Fangio acclimatized himself by moving to Argentina one month prior to the race and reducing his water consumption to one liter a day to cope with the extreme heat.Giulio Borsari and Cesare De Agostini, La Ferrari in tuta, Il Borgo, Bologna, 1980. Fangio also suffered severe burns to his leg which, for the entire duration of the 3 hour race, was rubbing against the chassis frame which was being heated by the exhaust. It left a permanent scar on his leg later in life. Apart from winning the Formula Libre race 2 weeks later, run in 2 heats of 30 laps, it took Fangio 3 months to recover. He finished second in the 1955 Mille Miglia. The next F1 race was in late May, in Monaco.

Entries +TeamNoDriverCarEngineTyre Daimler Benz AG2 Juan Manuel FangioMercedes-Benz W196Mercedes M196 2.5 L84 Karl Kling6 Stirling Moss8 Hans Herrmann Scuderia Ferrari10 Giuseppe FarinaFerrari 625 F1Ferrari 555 2.5 L412 José Froilán González14 Maurice Trintignant Officine Alfieri Maserati16 Jean BehraMaserati 250FMaserati 250F1 2.5 L618 Roberto Mieres20 Sergio Mantovani22 Luigi Musso24 Carlos Menditeguy26 Clemar Bucci28 Harry Schell Alberto Uría30 Alberto UríaMaserati A6GCM Scuderia Lancia32 Alberto AscariLancia D50Lancia DS50 2.5 V834 Luigi Villoresi36 Eugenio Castellotti Equipe Gordini38 Élie BayolGordini T16Gordini 23 2.5 L640 Pablo Birger42 Jesús Iglesias

Classification

Qualifying +PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap112 José Froilán GonzálezFerrari1:43.1232 Alberto AscariLancia1:43.6+0.532 Juan Manuel FangioMercedes1:43.7+0.6416 Jean BehraMaserati1:43.8 +0.7510 Giuseppe FarinaFerrari1:43.9 +0.864 Karl KlingMercedes1:44.1 +1.0728 Harry SchellMaserati1:44.3 +1.286 Stirling MossMercedes1:44.6 +1.5940 Pablo BirgerGordini1:44.8 +1.7108 Hans HerrmannMercedes1:44.9 +1.81134 Luigi VilloresiLancia1:45.2 +2.11236 Eugenio CastellottiLancia1:45.3 +2.21324 Carlos MenditeguyMaserati1:45.4 +2.31414 Maurice TrintignantFerrari1:45.8 +2.71538 Élie BayolGordini1:46.1 +3.01618 Roberto MieresMaserati1:46.2 +3.11742 Jesús IglesiasGordini1:46.3 +3.21822 Luigi MussoMaserati1:46.4 +3.31920 Sergio MantovaniMaserati1:46.4 +3.32026 Clemar BucciMaserati1:47.6 +4.52130 Alberto UríaMaserati1:52.3 +9.2Source:

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 96 3:00:38.6 3 9 2 12 José Froilán González Nino Farina Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 96 +1:29.6 1 222 3 10 Nino Farina Maurice Trintignant Umberto Maglioli Ferrari 94 +2 laps 5 1 1 1 4 8 Hans Herrmann Karl Kling Stirling Moss Mercedes 94 +2 laps 10 111 5 18 Roberto Mieres Maserati 91 +5 laps 16 2 6 28 Harry Schell Jean Behra Maserati 88 +8 laps 7 7 22 Luigi Musso Sergio Mantovani Harry Schell Maserati 83 +13 laps 18 20 Sergio Mantovani Jean Behra Luigi Musso Maserati 54 Engine 19 26 Clemar Bucci Harry Schell Carlos Menditeguy Maserati 54 Fuel pressure 20 42 Jesús Iglesias Gordini 38 Transmission 17 14 Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 36 Engine 14 36 Eugenio Castellotti Luigi Villoresi Lancia 35 Accident 12 6 Stirling Moss Mercedes 29 Fuel system 8 30 Alberto Uría Maserati 22 Out of fuel 21 32 Alberto Ascari Lancia 21 Accident 2 38 Élie Bayol Gordini 7 Transmission 15 16 Jean Behra Maserati 2 Accident 4 4 Karl Kling Mercedes 2 Accident 6 34 Luigi Villoresi Lancia 2 Fuel leak 11 40 Pablo Birger Gordini 1 Accident 9 24 Carlos Menditeguy Maserati 1 Accident 13 Notes – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives Car #12: José Froilán González (60 laps), Nino Farina (20 laps), and Maurice Trintignant (16 laps). They shared the 6 points for second place, thus 2 points each. Car #10: Nino Farina (50 laps), Umberto Maglioli (22 laps), and Maurice Trintignant (22 laps). They shared the 4 points for third place, 1 1⁄3 points each, thus Farina and Trintignant both had 3 1⁄3 in total. Car #8: Hans Herrmann (30 laps), Stirling Moss (34 laps), Karl Kling (30 laps) shared the 3 points for fourth place, one point each. Car #28: Harry Schell (50 laps), and Jean Behra (38 laps). Car #22: Luigi Musso (50 laps), Sergio Mantovani (20 laps), and Harry Schell (13 laps). Car #20: Sergio Mantovani (30 laps), Jean Behra (14 laps), and Luigi Musso (10 laps). Car #26: Clemar Bucci (30 laps), Harry Schell (14 laps), and Carlos Menditeguy (10 laps). Car #36: Eugenio Castellotti (20 laps) and Luigi Villoresi (15 laps).

Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Juan Manuel Fangio 9 2= Maurice Trintignant 3 2= Nino Farina 3 4 José Froilán González 2 5 Roberto Mieres 2Source:

References