1956 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1956 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 June 1956 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 4 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers.

After the first day of practice on Thursday, Fangio was on pole with a time almost 5 sec faster than second place Moss. These times would not be touched with wet conditions on Friday and windy conditions on Saturday.

It was raining when the race began and Fangio made a poor start and settled in fifth with Moss well in the lead. But by lap 3 Fangio would be in second having passed Behra, Collins, and then Castellotti. By the fifth lap he was in the lead and had opened up an 8-second lead on Moss by lap 10 with Collins third on a drying track. Collins took second when Moss lost a back wheel on the climb after the Eau Rouge bridge. He was able to safely stop and sprint back to the pits and take over Perdisa's car. He resumed in sixth but a lap down to the leaders. Collins took the lead for good when Fangio lost his transmission on lap 24. A tight battle for second between Behra and Frere ended when Behra's engine began to misfire. This allowed Moss to move to third as he had passed Schell earlier. Moss ended the race on a furious pace but the two leaders were too far ahead to make up the gap.

This was the first Formula One podium for a Belgian driver.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	2	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	4:09.8	—
2	30	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati	4:14.7	+4.9
3	8	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	Ferrari	4:15.3	+5.5
4	32	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	4:16.7	+6.9
5	4	Template:Flagicon Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	4:16.7	+6.9
6	10	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	Vanwall	4:19.0	+9.2
7	12	Template:Flagicon Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	4:22.8	+13.0
8	6	Template:Flagicon Paul Frère	Ferrari	4:23.8	+14.0
9	34	Template:Flagicon Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	4:35.7	+25.9
10	24	Template:Flagicon Louis Rosier	Maserati	4:35.9	+26.1
11	22	Template:Flagicon Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	4:37.7	+27.9
12	28	Template:Flagicon Piero Scotti	Connaught-Alta	4:41.9	+32.1
13	38	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	4:48.9	+39.1
14	36	Template:Flagicon Paco Godia	Maserati	4:49.8	+40.0
15	26	Template:Flagicon Horace Gould	Maserati	4:50.4	+40.6
16	20	Template:Flagicon André Pilette	Ferrari	4:51.9	+42.1
Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	Ferrari	36	2:40:00.3	3	8
2	6	Template:Flagicon Paul Frère	Ferrari	36	+1:51.3	8	6
3	34	Template:Flagicon Cesare Perdisa Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati	36	+3:16.6	9	2 3Template:Ref
4	10	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	Vanwall	35	+1 Lap	6	3
5	22	Template:Flagicon Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	34	+2 Laps	11	2
6	20	Template:Flagicon André Pilette	Ferrari	33	+3 Laps	15
7	32	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	33	+3 Laps	4
8	24	Template:Flagicon Louis Rosier	Maserati	33	+3 Laps	10
Ret	2	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Ferrari	23	Transmission	1
Ret	12	Template:Flagicon Maurice Trintignant	Vanwall	11	Fuel system	7
Ret	30	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Maserati	10	Wheel	2
Ret	4	Template:Flagicon Eugenio Castellotti	Ferrari	10	Transmission	5
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon Piero Scotti	Connaught-Alta	10	Engine	12
Ret	26	Template:Flagicon Horace Gould	Maserati	2	Gearbox	14
Ret	36	Template:Flagicon Paco Godia	Maserati	0	Accident	13
DNS	38	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Maserati	0
Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Notes

• Template:Note – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drive

• Car #34: Perdisa (13 laps) and Moss (23 laps).

Notes

• For the first time in 21 races, Fangio ended the race pointless. Since the 1953 Belgian Grand Prix, Fangio had ended his Formula One World Championship races with at least one point.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
File:1uparrow green.svg 8	1	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	11
File:1uparrow green.svg 1	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	11
File:1downarrow red.svg 2	3	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	10
File:1downarrow red.svg 2	4	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	9
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	5	Template:Flagicon Pat Flaherty	8
Source: <ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref>

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References

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