The 1959 Formula One season was the 13th 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 1959 World Championship of Drivers and the 1959 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, contested concurrently over a nine-race series
[''World Championship of Drivers'' and ''International Cup for F1 Manufacturers'', 1974 FIA Yearbook, Grey section, pages 118 to 121] which commenced on 10 May and ended on 12 December. The season also included several non-championship Formula One races.
Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name.
Brabham was a R ...
won the World Championship of Drivers
[ in a sport still reeling from the death of several drivers, including reigning champion ]Mike Hawthorn
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...
. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers was awarded to Cooper
Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to:
* Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels
Arts and entertainment
* Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads
* Cooper (video game character), in ...
–Climax
Climax may refer to:
Language arts
* Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work
* Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance
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* Climax community, a biological community th ...
.[
]![BrabhamJack1966B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/BrabhamJack1966B.jpg)
Season summary
Vanwall
Vanwall was a motor racing team and racing car constructor that was active in Formula One during the 1950s. Founded by Tony Vandervell, the Vanwall name was derived by combining the name of the team owner with that of his Thinwall bearings ...
's withdrawal, believed to have been a result of the high mortality rate of the 1958 season, left Ferrari as the only race-winning team in the championship. Similarly, 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 ...
and Mike Hawthorn
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...
's retirement meant that for the very first time, no world champion was on the grid. Cooper
Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to:
* Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels
Arts and entertainment
* Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads
* Cooper (video game character), in ...
's revolutionary mid-engined cars, powered by the compact Coventry-Climax 2.5 litre engine, won five races with Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name.
Brabham was a R ...
, 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 ...
and Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor.
His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...
. BRM
British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...
also landed its maiden victory in the hands of Jo Bonnier
Joakim Bonnier (31 January 1930 – 11 June 1972) was a Swedish sportscar racing and Formula One driver who raced for various teams. He was the first Swede to both enter and win a Formula One Grand Prix.
Early life
Jo Bonnier was born in Stockh ...
. Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
appeared with a car that was outdated and overweight in the face of Cooper's rear mid-engined revolution.
The German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
was held for the second time on the very high speed AVUS
The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern par ...
circuit, where 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 ...
's Jean Behra
Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 – 1 August 1959) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams.
Appearance and personality
Behra was small in stature, stocky, and weighed 178 pounds.''B ...
was killed during an unrelated sports car race at the wheel of a Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
.
Ferrari's Tony Brooks took the fight to the Coopers, and going into the final race, he, Moss, or Brabham could win the title. Moss retired from the race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
, the inaugural United States Grand Prix, giving Brabham the lead. Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap but pushed his car across the line to finish fourth. With Brooks unable to do better than third, Brabham became the first Australian World Champion, while Cooper won the constructors' crown.
Season review
There were three scheduled Grands Prix in 1959 that were cancelled:
*The Argentine Grand Prix, scheduled to be held in January, was cancelled because with heroes such as 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 ...
and José Froilán González
José Froilán González (October 5, 1922 – June 15, 2013) was an Argentine racing driver, particularly notable for scoring Ferrari's first win in a Formula One World Championship race at the 1951 British Grand Prix. He made his Formula One ...
having retired, there was no local interest, and the race was promptly cancelled.
*The Belgian Grand Prix was scheduled to be held in June, but it was cancelled due to a dispute over start money.
*The Moroccan Grand Prix was scheduled to be held in October at Ain-Diab, but it was cancelled for monetary reasons.
The Indianapolis 500 also counted towards the 1959 USAC Championship, and was run for USAC Championship cars, but did not count towards the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1959 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 ...
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 Drivers' Championship standings
Points were awarded on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis to the first five finishers at each Grand Prix, with an additional point going to the driver who set the fastest lap. Only the best five results contributed to the World Championship.
* ''Italics'' indicates the fastest lap (One point awarded – point shared equally between drivers sharing fastest lap)
* Bold indicates pole position
International Cup for F1 Manufacturers standings
Points were awarded on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis to the first five finishers at each round (excluding the Indianapolis 500). However, a manufacturer only received points for its highest-placed car in each round, and only the best five results from the eight races were retained.
*Bold results counted to championship totals.
Non-championship races
Other Formula One races were also held in 1959, which did not count towards the World Championship.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1959 Formula One Season
Formula One seasons