1957 Pescara Grand Prix

The Grand Prix was contested by 16 drivers and three official constructors, with Luigi Musso entered unofficially due to Ferrari pulling out with safety concerns. The constructors were Maserati, Vanwall and Cooper-Climax.[1]^:137 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.[2] Fangio had won four races and had clinched the title at the 6th round, the German Grand Prix.[3]^:59 Both Musso and Hawthorne 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.[4]

The Grand Prix was the first and only World Championship race to take place at Pescara. No subsequent Grand Prix took place, probably due to the growing level of safety in Formula One and the lack of modern safety features at the circuit.[1]^:4 The circuit hosted its last event in 1961, after which it was closed due to safety concerns.[5] The track was 15.99 mi (25.73 km) long, the longest circuit to ever host a Formula One World Championship round.[1]^:8

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.[1]^:8 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.[1]^:3

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.[1]^:100 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.[1]^:103 At the end of the sessions, Fangio set the quickest lap time of a 9:44.6 which gave him pole position.[9] He set an average lap speed of 103.95 mph (167.29 km/h), which unofficially beat the previous lap record of 89.2 mph (143.6 km/h) because it was set during qualifying.[10] Moss was second with a 9:54.7 and Musso was third with a 10:00.0.[9]

Qualifying classification

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

Two hours before the race start, Fangio complained of pains in his right shoulder. However, he still competed in the race.[11]

The race took place in the afternoon from 09:30 local time in dry and very hot weather.[1]^:1[3]^:60 Musso had a good start from the outside of the front row, going into the lead early on. Fangio and Moss continued side by side into the first corner with Behra close behind after having made a good start from the second row.[1]^:109

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	Stirling Moss	Vanwall	18	2:59:22.7	2	91
2	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	18	+3:13.9	1	6
3	6	Harry Schell	Maserati	18	+6:46.8	5	4
4	14	Masten Gregory	Maserati	18	+8:16.5	7	3
5	30	Stuart Lewis-Evans	Vanwall	17	+1 lap	8	2
6	8	Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati	17	+1 lap	10
7	24	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	15	+3 laps	16
Ret	34	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	9	Oil leak	3
Ret	10	Paco Godia	Maserati	9	Engine	12
Ret	20	Bruce Halford	Maserati	9	Transmission	14
Ret	16	Jo Bonnier	Maserati	7	Overheating	9
Ret	4	Jean Behra	Maserati	3	Oil leak	4
Ret	22	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Climax	3	Accident	15
Ret	28	Tony Brooks	Vanwall	1	Engine	6
Ret	18	Horace Gould	Maserati	0	Accident	11
Ret	12	Luigi Piotti	Maserati	0	Engine	13
Source:[12]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap[7]

• This was a race where some drivers qualified 20 seconds ahead of others. The biggest difference was pole sitter Juan Manuel Fangio's time of 9:44.6 compared to Jack Brabham's time of 11:35.2, almost 2 minutes off Fangio's time. This was because many of the drivers on the grid had never driven at Pescara before. Also, Brabham's Cooper was a Formula 2 car with a 1.5-litre engine and Pescara was a "power" circuit.

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	40
4	2	Stirling Moss	17
1	3	Luigi Musso	16
1	4	Mike Hawthorn	13
1	5	Tony Brooks	10
Source:[13]

• Note: only the top five positions are included.