The 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monsanto on 23 August 1959. It was race 7 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 6 of 8 in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the eighth Portuguese Grand Prix and the second to be included in the World Championship of Drivers. It was the third time the race was held at Monsanto and the first for Formula One. The race was held over 62 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 337 kilometres.
The race was won by British driver Stirling Moss, his eleventh Grand Prix victory, driving a Cooper T51 for privateer race team Rob Walker Racing Team. Moss finished a lap ahead of American racer Masten Gregory driving a similar Cooper T51 for the factory Cooper Car Company team. American Scuderia Ferrari driver Dan Gurney finished third in his Ferrari Dino 246.
Race report
Wins in France and Germany had given Tony Brooks a healthy second place in the championship behind Jack Brabham. Stirling Moss improved on his poor championship position with a dominating drive, lapping the entire field. Phil Hill and Graham Hill crashed into each other on lap 6, whilst Brabham had an enormous somersaulting crash from which he emerged unscathed. Gurney was the only Ferrari in the top eight with Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell rounding off the top five.
With Brabham failing to finish and Brooks finishing a distant five laps down in ninth, Moss closed the gap to just 9½ points behind Brabham and 5½ points behind Brooks in the championship race.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap14 Stirling MossCooper-Climax2:02.921 Jack BrabhamCooper-Climax2:04.9 +2.032 Masten GregoryCooper-Climax2:06.3 +3.445 Maurice TrintignantCooper-Climax2:07.4 +4.557 Jo BonnierBRM2:07.9 +5.0616 Dan GurneyFerrari2:08.0 +5.1715 Phil HillFerrari2:08.1 +5.283 Bruce McLarenCooper-Climax2:08.2 +5.396 Harry SchellBRM2:09.1 +6.21014 Tony BrooksFerrari2:11.0 +8.1118 Ron FlockhartBRM2:11.2 +8.31210 Roy SalvadoriAston Martin2:13.3 +10.4139 Carroll ShelbyAston Martin2:13.6 +10.71418 Mário de Araújo CabralCooper-Maserati2:15.3 +12.41511 Graham HillLotus-Climax2:15.6 +12.71612 Innes IrelandLotus-Climax2:18.5 +15.6Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Stirling Moss Cooper-Climax 62 2:11:55.41 1 9 2 2 Masten Gregory Cooper-Climax 61 + 1 Lap 3 6 3 16 Dan Gurney Ferrari 61 + 1 Lap 6 4 4 5 Maurice Trintignant Cooper-Climax 60 + 2 Laps 4 3 5 6 Harry Schell BRM 59 + 3 Laps 9 2 6 10 Roy Salvadori Aston Martin 59 + 3 Laps 12 7 8 Ron Flockhart BRM 59 + 3 Laps 11 8 9 Carroll Shelby Aston Martin 58 + 4 Laps 13 9 14 Tony Brooks Ferrari 57 + 5 Laps 10 10 18 Mário de Araújo Cabral Cooper-Maserati 56 + 6 Laps 14 3 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 38 Transmission 8 1 Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 23 Collision 2 7 Jo Bonnier BRM 10 Engine 5 15 Phil Hill Ferrari 5 Accident 7 11 Graham Hill Lotus-Climax 5 Accident 15 12 Innes Ireland Lotus-Climax 3 Gearbox 16 Notes – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Jack Brabham 27 2 Tony Brooks 23 3 3 Stirling Moss 17.5 1 4 Phil Hill 13 5 Maurice Trintignant 12Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Cooper-Climax34 (37) 2 Ferrari28 3 BRM18 4 Lotus-Climax3Source:
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards each Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References