1958 Moroccan Grand Prix

Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report The 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix, formally the VII Grand Prix International Automobile du Maroc, was a Formula One motor race held at Ain-Diab Circuit, Casablanca on 19 October 1958, after a six-week break following the Italian Grand Prix. It was race 11 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers and race 10 of 10 in the 1958 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It is the only time Morocco has hosted a World Championship Grand Prix.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) started from pole position, but Stirling Moss won the race driving for Vanwall. Hawthorn finished second which secured him the World Drivers' Championship. Phil Hill was third, also for Ferrari. Vanwall made sure of the World Constructors' Championship and both this and Hawthorn's drivers' title were firsts for British teams or drivers.

The race saw an accident involving Stuart Lewis-Evans, who died six days later from the burns he sustained.

Report

Background

Both Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss came into the race with a chance of becoming World Drivers' Champion. Moss, on 32 points, needed to win the race and set fastest lap, with Hawthorn (40 pts) finishing no higher than third or to win without fastest lap with Hawthorn again finishing third or lower but also without fastest lap.

Practice and qualifying

There was an entry of 25 cars, of which 19 were to Formula One (F1) specification. Ferrari and Vanwall entered three cars each, BRM four and Lotus and Cooper two each. There were a further five non-works F1 entries. Six Formula Two Coopers brought the total entry to 25.<ref name="Maroc58">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Friday practice, Jean Behra (BRM) set fastest time at 2:25.2. Tony Brooks (Vanwall) and Hawthorn (Ferrari) were second and third, four and five tenths behind respectively. Moss did not better 2:26, despite a late attempt, having been hampered by other cars during some of his fast lap attempts.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

On the Saturday, Hawthorn set fastest time with 2:23.1 which was one-tenth ahead of Moss who was content with his position in the middle of the front row on the three-then-two grid. Stuart Lewis-Evans was on his outside, a further half-a-second behind. The second row was made up of Phil Hill (Ferrari) and Behra.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

Race

Moss and Lewis-Evans led away, with Phil Hill also making a good start from the second row. At the end of the first lap, Moss led from Hill and Hawthorn was third followed by Jo Bonnier, Brooks, Lewis-Evans and Behra.<ref name="Maroc58"/> On lap three, Hill tried to out-brake Moss, but failed, and left the track without damaging the car, allowing Hawthorn and Bonnier to pass. Moss, now unhampered, began to draw away from Hawthorn who was being caught by Hill who had passed Bonnier after recovering from the earlier incident. By lap eight, Hill had passed Hawthorn but had little hope of catching Moss, who was already lapping the Formula Two cars at the rear of the field. Moss's teammate, Brooks, chased down Bonnier for fourth place and subsequently passed Hawthorn for third on lap 17.<ref name="Maroc58"/> On lap 18 Moss was involved in a minor collision with the Maserati of Wolfgang Seidel which forced the latter to retire and Moss to be wary of engine temperature thereafter.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

At 25 laps, Moss led Hill by 20s with Brooks a further 42s behind. Hawthorn was fourth followed by Bonnier and Olivier Gendebien with Lewis-Evans, Behra, Masten Gregory and Harry Schell completing the first ten runners.<ref name="Maroc58"/> Hawthorn re-passed Brooks shortly afterwards and on lap 30 Brooks's engine blew and he retired. This left Hawthorn in third place, but some distance behind Hill, who was 27s behind Moss and steadily losing ground on the leader.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

At this point, Gendebien, Tom Bridger and François Picard all retired through accidents, with only the latter sustaining more than minor injuries. Hill had little hope of catching Moss and the Ferrari team signalled to him to allow Hawthorn to catch up and take the second position needed to claim the Drivers' Championship.<ref name="Maroc58"/> Hill's lead over Hawthorn was such that it took till lap 39 for the change to occur.<ref name="Maroc58"/> Shortly afterwards, Moss lapped Schell, who then attempted to stay close to the Vanwall hampering Moss's progress. On lap 41, Lewis-Evans's engine broke in a corner, sending him off the road where the car caught fire. The driver was able to extricate himself but was badly burned.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

At 48 laps, Moss slowed to allow Schell to move back ahead and thus avoid the possibility of further interference with his own race. Such was the lead that Moss had at this stage that he was still able to finish nearly 1.5 minutes ahead of the Ferraris of Hawthorn and Hill. Moss had also set fastest lap, but Hawthorn's second place was enough to secure him the World Drivers' Championship.<ref name="Maroc58"/>

Post race

Lewis-Evans was airlifted back to Britain by Vanwall team owner Tony Vandervell<ref name="ESPN">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but died as a result of his burns six days later.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Vandervell, already in failing health himself, ended his involvement with the Vanwall team partly as a result of the accident.<ref name="ESPN"/> Lewis-Evans was also a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, who was at the race. Following his death Ecclestone sold his Connaught team and cars<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and ceased involvement with the sport till 1965.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It was also the last race for Hawthorn who retired as a driver shortly after the season ended. He was killed in a road accident in Surrey on 22 January 1959.<ref name="ESPN"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Picard ultimately recovered from his injuries after six months of incapacity, but did not race again.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Classification

• A yellow background denotes a Formula Two entry:

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	6	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2:23.1	—
2	8	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Vanwall	2:23.2	+0.1
3	12	Template:Flagicon Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	2:23.7	+0.6
4	14	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	BRM	2:23.8	+0.7
5	4	Template:Flagicon Phil Hill	Ferrari	2:24.1	+1.0
6	2	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	2:24.3	+1.2
7	10	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	Vanwall	2:24.4	+1.3
8	18	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	BRM	2:24.9	+1.8
9	38	Template:Flagicon Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	2:26.0	+2.9
10	16	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	BRM	2:26.4	+3.3
11	32	Template:Flagicon Jack Fairman	Cooper-Climax	2:27.0	+3.9
12	36	Template:Flagicon Graham Hill	Lotus-Climax	2:27.1	+4.0
13	22	Template:Flagicon Masten Gregory	Maserati	2:27.6	+4.5
14	30	Template:Flagicon Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	2:28.6	+5.5
15	20	Template:Flagicon Ron Flockhart	BRM	2:29.8	+6.7
16	34	Template:Flagicon Cliff Allison	Lotus-Climax	2:33.7	+10.6
17	28	Template:Flagicon Gerino Gerini	Maserati	2:35.1	+12.0
18	24	Template:Flagicon Hans Herrmann	Maserati	2:35.1	+12.0
19	50	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	2:36.6	+13.5
20	26	Template:Flagicon Wolfgang Seidel	Maserati	2:38.2	+15.1
21	52	Template:Flagicon Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	2:41.7	+18.6
22	56	Template:Flagicon Tom Bridger	Cooper-Climax	2:42.5	+19.4
23	58	Template:Flagicon Robert La Caze	Cooper-Climax	2:43.1	+20.0
24	54	Template:Flagicon François Picard	Cooper-Climax	2:46.4	+23.3
25	60	Template:Flagicon André Guelfi	Cooper-Climax	2:47.8	+24.7
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Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	Vanwall	53	2:09:15.1	2	1|[1]}}
2	6	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	53	+1:24.7	1	6
3	4	Template:Flagicon Phil Hill	Ferrari	53	+1:25.5	5	4
4	18	Template:Flagicon Jo Bonnier	BRM	53	+1:46.7	8	3
5	16	Template:Flagicon Harry Schell	BRM	53	+2:33.7	10	2
6	22	Template:Flagicon Masten Gregory	Maserati	52	+1 lap	13
7	30	Template:Flagicon Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	51	+2 laps	14
8	32	Template:Flagicon Jack Fairman	Cooper-Climax	50	+3 laps	11
9	24	Template:Flagicon Hans Herrmann	Maserati	50	+3 laps	18
10	34	Template:Flagicon Cliff Allison	Lotus-Climax	49	+4 laps	16
11	50	Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	49	+4 laps	19
12	28	Template:Flagicon Gerino Gerini	Maserati	48	+5 laps	17
13	52	Template:Flagicon Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	48	+5 laps	21
14	58	Template:Flagicon Robert La Caze	Cooper-Climax	48	+5 laps	23
15	60	Template:Flagicon André Guelfi	Cooper-Climax	48	+5 laps	25
16	36	Template:Flagicon Graham Hill	Lotus-Climax	45	+8 laps	12
Ret	12	Template:Flagicon Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	41	Fatal accident	3
Ret	54	Template:Flagicon François Picard	Cooper-Climax	2|[2]}}	Accident	24
Ret	56	Template:Flagicon Tom Bridger	Cooper-Climax	3|[3]}}	Accident	22
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	Vanwall	29	Engine	7
Ret	2	Template:Flagicon Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari	29	Accident	6
Ret	14	Template:Flagicon Jean Behra	BRM	26	Engine	4
Ret	26	Template:Flagicon Wolfgang Seidel	Maserati	15	Accident	20
Ret	20	Template:Flagicon Ron Flockhart	BRM	15	Camshaft	15
Ret	38	Template:Flagicon Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	9	Engine	9
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Notes

• ^1{{#if:| }} – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

• ^2{{#if:| }} – MotorSport magazine lists Picard with 28 laps, and indirectly supports this lower lap count with the article's narrative<ref name="Maroc58"/>

• ^3{{#if:| }} – MotorSport magazine lists Bridger with 26 laps, and indirectly supports this lower lap count with the article's narrative<ref name="Maroc58"/>

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	1	Template:Flagicon Mike Hawthorn	42 (49)
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	2	Template:Flagicon Stirling Moss	41
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	3	Template:Flagicon Tony Brooks	24
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	4	Template:Flagicon Roy Salvadori	15
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	5	Template:Flagicon Peter Collins	14
Source: <ref name="Championship">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation				CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	1	Template:Flagicon Vanwall	48 (57)
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	2	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	40 (57)
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	3	Template:Flagicon Cooper-Climax	31
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	4	Template:Flagicon BRM	18
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	5	Template:Flagicon Maserati	6
Source: <ref name="Championship"/>

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References

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