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 +TeamNoDriverCarEngineTyre Officine Alfieri Maserati2 Stirling MossMaserati 250FMaserati 250F1 2.5 L64 Jean Behra6 Carlos Menditeguy8 Luigi Piotti10 Chico Landi Gerino Gerini12 José Froilán González Owen Racing Organisation14 Mike Hawthorn Alberto Uría16 Alberto UríaMaserati A6GCM Óscar González Scuderia Ferrari30 Juan Manuel FangioLancia D50Ferrari DS50 2.5 V832 Eugenio Castellotti34 Luigi Musso36 Peter CollinsFerrari 555Ferrari 555 2.5 L438 Olivier Gendebien
Classification Qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap1 30 Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 1:42.5—2 32 Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 1:44.7 +2.23 34 Luigi Musso Ferrari 1:44.7 +2.24 4 Jean Behra Maserati 1:45.1 +2.65 12 José Froilán González Maserati 1:45.2 +2.76 6 Carlos Menditeguy Maserati 1:45.6 +3.17 2 Stirling Moss Maserati 1:45.9 +3.48 14 Mike Hawthorn Maserati 1:47.4 +4.99 36 Peter Collins Ferrari 1:47.7 +5.210 38 Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 1:50.4 +7.911 10 Chico Landi Gerino Gerini Maserati 1:52.1 +9.612 8 Luigi Piotti Maserati 1:57.9 +15.413 16 Alberto Uría Maserati Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 34 Luigi Musso Juan Manuel Fangio Ferrari 98 3:00:03.7 3 45 2 4 Jean Behra Maserati 98 +24.4 4 6 3 14 Mike Hawthorn Maserati 96 +2 laps 8 4 4 10 Chico Landi Gerino Gerini Maserati 92 +6 laps 11 1.51.5 5 38 Olivier Gendebien Ferrari 91 +7 laps 10 2 6 16 Alberto Uría Óscar González Maserati 88 +10 laps 13 2 Stirling Moss Maserati 81 Engine 7 36 Peter Collins Ferrari 58 Accident 9 8 Luigi Piotti Maserati 57 Accident 12 6 Carlos Menditeguy Maserati 42 Halfshaft 6 32 Eugenio Castellotti Ferrari 40 Gearbox 2 12 José Froilán González Maserati 24 Engine 5 30 Juan Manuel Fangio Luigi Musso Ferrari 22 Fuel pump 1 Notes – 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 Jean Behra 6 2 Juan Manuel Fangio 5 3 Luigi Musso 4 4 Mike Hawthorn 4 5 Olivier Gendebien 2Source:
References