1957 Pescara Grand Prix

The 1957 Pescara Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 18 August 1957, at the Pescara Circuit near Pescara in Italy. The race was the 7th round of the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The Template:Convert circuit is the longest to ever hold a world championship race in Formula One. The race was the first and only Formula One World Championship race to take place at the track. It was also the first of two consecutive Italian races, which meant that it was the first time that the same country had held two Formula One World Championship races in the same season.

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by 16 drivers and three official constructors, with Luigi Musso entered unofficially due to Ferrari withdrawing with safety concerns. The constructors were Maserati, Vanwall and Cooper-Climax.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp Juan Manuel Fangio led the championship with 34 points, ahead of Luigi Musso on 16 points and Mike Hawthorn on 13 points. Tony Brooks was in 4th with 10 points, and Sam Hanks, Stirling Moss and Peter Collins were all 5th with 8 points.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fangio had won four races and had clinched the title at the 6th round, the German Grand Prix.<ref name="Smith"/>Template:Rp Both Musso and Hawthorn finished in the top three for two races. Maserati had a strong start to the season, outshining Ferrari in both the race and qualifying on multiple occasions. Fangio had a strong start to the season, winning the first two rounds. Moss, however, had a poor start to the season. He struggled with reliability issues such as a broken throttle linkage at Argentina and became ill just before the French Grand Prix.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Grand Prix was the first and only World Championship race to take place at Pescara. The circuit hosted its last event in 1961, after which it was closed due to safety concerns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The track was Template:Convert long,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the longest circuit to ever host a Formula One World Championship round.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp

The event took place at short notice due to the sudden cancellation of the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix over disputes regarding fees. The organisers had offered the constructors reduced appearance fees, which they rejected.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp Due to the large size of the circuit, no attempt was made to require an entry ticket. Many spectators watched the race from houses around the track. Around 200,000 spectators were estimated to have been in attendance.<ref name="Williams">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Safety concerns

Pending the investigation for the deaths of 13 people at Mille Miglia earlier that year, Enzo Ferrari stated that Ferrari would not compete in the race. However, he did enter a single Ferrari 801 after he received insistent requests from Luigi Musso, though he stated that this did not constitute an official Ferrari entry into the race.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Despite a ban on all motor races on public roads following the disaster, the race was given special permission by the Italian Government to go ahead.<ref name="GuardianRaceReport">Template:Cite news</ref> The track was modified to conform with new safety regulations introduced after the accident.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A chicane was added at the end of the seafront straight.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp

Practice and qualifying

Start of the Pescara Grand Prix

There were no official Practice sessions. However, due to the circuit being a road course, many drivers drove observation laps in road cars two days before the race.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp Qualifying consisted of two sessions which were held on the Saturday before the Sunday race-from 07:00 to 09:30 and 16:30 to 18:30 local time. Between the two sessions, the straw bales were removed and the road was opened up again to the public.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp At the end of the sessions, Fangio set the quickest lap time of a 9:44.6 which gave him pole position.<ref name="Qualifying"/> He set an average lap speed of Template:Convert, which unofficially beat the previous lap record of Template:Convert because it was set during qualifying.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Moss was second with a 9:54.7 and Musso was third with a 10:00.0.<ref name="Qualifying"/>

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	2	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	9:44.6	—
2	26	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Vanwall	9:54.7	+10.1
3	34	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	Ferrari	10:00.0	+15.4
4	4	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	10:03.1	+18.5
5	6	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	Maserati	10:04.6	+20.0
6	28	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	Vanwall	10:08.8	+24.2
7	14	Template:Flagicon Masten Gregory	Maserati	10:26.1	+41.5
8	30	Template:Flagicon Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	10:29.6	+45.0
9	16	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	Maserati	10:36.2	+51.6
10	8	Template:Flagicon Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati	10:36.6	+52.0
11	18	Template:Flagicon Horace Gould	Maserati	10:49.6	+1:05.0
12	10	Template:Flagicon Paco Godia	Maserati	11:09.8	+1:25.2
13	12	Template:Flagicon Luigi Piotti	Maserati	11:10.6	+1:26.0
14	20	Template:Flagicon Bruce Halford	Maserati	11:16.3	+1:31.7
15	22	Template:Flagicon Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	11:24.2	+1:39.6
16	24	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	11:35.2	+1:50.6
Source:<ref name="Qualifying">Template:Cite web</ref>

Race

Winner Stirling Moss' Vanwall VW5 on the chicane prior the grandstands

Two hours before the race start, Fangio complained of pains in his right shoulder. However, he still competed in the race.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The race took place from 09:30 local time in dry and very hot weather.<ref name="Williams"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Smith">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

A unique incident occurred when Jack Brabham's F2 Cooper was running short of fuel far from the pits and he pulled into a roadside petrol station and topped up.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	26	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Vanwall	18	2:59:22.7	2	9Template:Ref
2	2	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	18	+3:13.9	1	6
3	6	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	Maserati	18	+6:46.8	5	4
4	14	Template:Flagicon Masten Gregory	Maserati	18	+8:16.5	7	3
5	30	Template:Flagicon Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	17	+1 lap	8	2
6	8	Template:Flagicon Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati	17	+1 lap	10
7	24	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	15	+3 laps	16
Ret	34	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	Ferrari	9	Oil leak	3
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon Paco Godia	Maserati	9	Engine	12
Ret	20	Template:Flagicon Bruce Halford	Maserati	9	Transmission	14
Ret	16	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	Maserati	7	Overheating	9
Ret	4	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	Maserati	3	Oil leak	4
Ret	22	Template:Flagicon Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	3	Accident	15
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	Vanwall	1	Engine	6
Ret	18	Template:Flagicon Horace Gould	Maserati	0	Accident	11
Ret	12	Template:Flagicon Luigi Piotti	Maserati	0	Engine	13
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<ref name="GuardianRaceReport"/>

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Template:Flagicon Juan Manuel Fangio	40
4	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	17
1	3	Template:Flagicon Luigi Musso	16
1	4	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	13
1	5	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	10
Source:<ref name="Championship">Template:Cite web</ref>

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References

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