The 1955 Formula One season was the ninth season of

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor racing. It featured the 1955 World Championship of Drivers, which commenced on 16 January 1955 and ended on 11 September after seven races.

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...

won his second consecutive World Championship title in a season curtailed by tragedies. The season also included several non-championship Formula One races.

Season summary

Mercedes drivers again dominated the championship, with Fangio taking four races and his new teammate

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

winning the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Ch ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

won at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

after all of the Mercedes cars broke down and Lancia driver

Alberto Ascari Alberto Ascari (; 13 July 1918 – 26 May 1955) was an Italian racing driver and a two time Formula One World Champion. He was a multitalented racer who competed in motorcycle racing before switching to cars. Ascari won consecutive world titles ...

crashed into the harbour. Although Ascari was apparently unscathed, the double World Champion crashed fatally at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

while testing sportscars four days later. The

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

on 11 June, which killed

Pierre Levegh Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin (22 December 1905 – 11 June 1955) was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disa ...

and over 80 spectators, led to the cancellations of the French, German, Spanish, and Swiss Grands Prix. The French round, which was supposed to be held at

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

between the Dutch and British rounds, on 3 July, was first rescheduled to 25 September and subsequently cancelled. Then the German event, scheduled for 31 July at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

, the Swiss round at Bremgarten, planned to take place on 21 August, and the Spanish round on 23 October at

Pedralbes Pedralbes (, Old Catalan for ''white stones'') is a neighborhood in '' Les Corts'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). Before the administrative division of 1984, the neighborhood was part of Sarrià and the former municipality of Sant Vice ...

, followed suit. Pedralbes and Bremgarten were then abandoned and never used again for racing; motor racing was banned altogether in Switzerland, and no circuit race was held in Switzerland until the 2018 Zürich ePrix. These cancellations effectively handed the Drivers' title to Fangio after he finished 2nd to Moss at the

. However, he was not crowned champion until well after the British Grand Prix because the German, Swiss and Spanish rounds were cancelled after the British Grand Prix took place. The 1955 season would be the final for Mercedes Benz as a constructor until the team's revival in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. It would also mark the final win for Mercedes until the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. Aside from Ascari's death this year, Italian Mario Alborghetti died at the non-championship Pau Grand Prix in France driving a Maserati and two drivers were killed in the Indy 500,

Manny Ayulo Manuel Leaonedas Ayulo (October 20, 1921 – May 17, 1955) was an American racecar driver. His efforts, along with those of friend and teammate Jack McGrath, helped establish track roadsters as viable race cars. Ayulo was killed in practic ...

in practice, and previous race winner

Bill Vukovich William John Vukovich Sr. (; December 13, 1918 – May 30, 1955) was an American automobile racing driver of Serbian descent. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, ...

during the race two weeks later.

Season review

: The Indianapolis 500 was

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

-sanctioned and not run to Formula One regulations. It also counted towards the 1955 AAA Championship.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1955

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

World Championship of Drivers standings

Championship points were awarded on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis for the first five places at each race. One point was awarded for the fastest race lap at each race. Only the best five results counted towards the championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. * ''Italics'' indicates the fastest lap (1 point awarded – point shared equally between drivers sharing fastest lap) * Bold indicates pole position * † = Car driven by more than one driver

Non-championship races

Other Formula One races were also held in 1955, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:1955 Formula One Season Formula One seasons