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By the time of the 1957 Formula One World Championship season Ferrari was certainly struggling. While the Maserati 250F was, by then, actually older than the Lancia D50, the Lancia design seemed to struggle comparatively and had suffered every since the passing of Alberto Ascari. Still, the foundations of the car were strong. Ferrari just needed to make the right improvements and things likely would turn around.
The D50 project from Lancia would be delayed and delayed throughout the 1954 season. And there was good reason for this. From nose to tail, the D50 was brand-new and employed such innovative features that made it impossible just to throw the car together.
A couple of Lancia's key components would join the team prior to the 1954 season. One of the major elements would be Vittorio Jano. Jano had been involved in projects with Alfa Romeo and had enjoyed a lot of success while with the automotive company. Gianni Lancia would rely on Jano to produce the same kind of success with his company's new racing program.
So very much of the D50 would be ground-breaking, but Jano wouldn't build a car within the regulations. Instead, he would focus on building a car around some design and performance criteria that would help to ensure the company's success.
One of the most important aspects of the new car's design would be centered around handling and balance. And around this function the car would be designed. One of the most important advances Jano's new design offered that helped with the handling and the balance of the car had to do with the design of the engine itself. Cars like the Maserati 250F continued to use longitudinal engines. The mindset was a bit more of keeping with what had always been but just improving upon it to ensure competitiveness. Jano would go an entirely different direction. His team would set about designing an engine making it fit to the parameters Jano wanted for the design of the D50. Therefore, the D50 would be the first Formula One car to debut a 'V' designed engine. The design helped with the stability of the car but its overall shape would also enable it to be mounted directly to the tubular chassis making it a load bearing structure.
Of course, the engine would be very important to a car's performance in more than one way. However, during the 1950s, perhaps nothing affected a car's handling more than the design and the location of the fuel and oil tanks. Therefore, Jano would set about designing a car that maintained a much more neutral balance. This would lead to Lancia employing a very interesting feature with the new car design. Instead of fuel and oil tanks positioned behind the driver that change the balance of the car as the fuel and oil reduced over the course of the race, large tanks would be positioned between the wheels. This design would not only keep the weight low and between the axles, but it would also provide better airflow around the side of the car as it helped to reduce the turbulence around the wheels.
All of the innovative features on the D50 caused the debut of the car to continually face delays. Then, finally, at the Spanish Grand Prix, the last round of the World Championship in 1954, Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi would be behind the wheels of the new car. The innovative D50 would prove itself right from the start when it managed to take the pole in the hands of Alberto Ascari.
In 1955, in the hands of Ascari, the D50 would go on to score a couple of victories in non-championship races. It would perform well in Formula One events but would not be able to overcome the might of the Mercedes W196. And then, when Ascari perished in a testing accident, it seemed no one else could extract the most out of the car. It would continue to perform well but would end the '55 season still without a World Championship victory.
Juan Manuel Fangio would share a D50 with Luigi Musso in the '56 Argentine Grand Prix and would earn the D50 its first World Championship victory. The D50 would then go on to score four more victories over the course of the season. Three of those four victories would be one-two finishes. But by that time Lancia had sold its interest in the program to Ferrari and it was the now Maranello-based team that took the Lancia to the head of the line.
By 1957, evolutions of the Maserati 250F caused the D50 to clip from its place at the head of the line. It was still very capable but the 250F had better straight-line speed. On top of the Maserati threat, Vanwall was coming on strong with its own sleek chassis. And after the Argentine Grand Prix in the middle part of January in 1957, it was clear the D50 had to be either replaced or evolved in order to remain competitive.
Just one season prior the D50 had proven itself to be the car to have in the World Championship. Therefore, in many respects the car only needed to be evolved, or at least it seemed that way.
The D50 remained the only car that included fuel and oil tanks separate from the car and there was an understandable reason for this. The weight of the fuel and oil further out toward the sides of the car would cause a more pronounced rolling action to the car despite its stability. The route that Maserati and Vanwall went was to make a wider tubular structure to help with stability while the tanks remained behind the driver. The wider, lower, center of gravity enabled the car to be slid through the corners comfortably. But of course the drivers still had to deal with the fact of the changing dynamics of the car as the fuel, and the oil, was burned off throughout the race.
The D50 had moved Formula One forward but other manufacturers had taken the idea and incorporated it all into one design. This allowed for sleek body designs that didn't have to worry about attachment points on the side of a car. Besides that, the new spaceframe chassis construction was enabling much more to be incorporated within the car instead of being placed around it. This philosophy would enable very important aspects to be contained 'within' the car helping with handling. And this would be the approach taken in the evolution of the D50 to what would become known as the 801.
The overall design philosophy of the new 801 would diverge from the D50, and therefore, would be quite different from nose to tail, but would still utilize some features introduced by the D50.
Aerodynamics was becoming as important a function of stability and handling as the weight distribution of the car itself. The cars were becoming lower, wider and sleeker and the 801 that would be designed during the early part of the '57 season would be no different. The nose of the car would sport a wider, lower-profiled nose than that used on the D50. The low-profiled inlet scoop would feed all-important cooler ram air to the oil cooler and engine radiator. But its narrow width at the tip of the nose would quickly widen as the line of the bodywork travelled aft. Though the bodywork would widen rather quickly, the height of the top line of the aluminum bodywork would only gently rise and then would quickly flatten out keeping the overall height of the car rather low.
The front suspension would be only slightly evolved from that which was used on its predecessor. The 801 would use the same double wishbone arrangement with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. However, where the D50 used Houdaille hydraulic dampers, the 801 would use telescopic dampers.
The engine used in the 801 would be essential the same as the 90 degree V8 used in the D50. However, the engine size of the 801 would be only just slightly smaller and would produce about 10 less horsepower at 275 bhp at 8400 rpm. This would seen as acceptable with the new design of the car featuring a much more sleek body styling than that used on its predecessor. By the later part of the '57 season the top of the elegant nose bodywork would be interrupted by the presence of a flat, wide ram air scoop directing air back to the air inlets and the 2 Solex carburetors in an effort to increase the car's horsepower.
An overhead view of the 801 would show clearly the wedge shape employed in the car's design and that was very common with the Vanwall at the time. This wedge shape of the tubular chassis was intentional as two tanks would be incorporated into the sides of the car's design. This would enable the weight of the fluids to be kept within the axles, but also, more toward the center of the car, which would only improve the car's handling and stability through corners as it would help to reduce undesirable roll within the chassis.
One holdover from the D50 would be exhaust stack arrangement. With the twin tanks on either side of the car it was a relatively simple matter of routing the exhaust pipes back and have the hot exhaust gases exit out the side as if leaving the car's actual bodywork. However, with the large twin tanks to either side of the car's actual chassis gone the double-stacked exhaust pipes would protrude, in an unattractive fashion, out the lower side of the car and would bend just prior to the rear wheels, just as had been the case on the D50.
Once the driver slid into the seat, he would find the cockpit rather spacious and comfortable with plenty of elbow room. However, the heavily-sculpted tubular chassis and bodywork would curve back in upon itself toward the driver's head. This made things tight around the driver's shoulders. With the large raked windscreen immediately in front of the driver's face, the cockpit could actually start to feel a little tight, but the driver's view was good from that position.
As with just about every other car of that age, the cockpit would be sparse with only the really essential instruments occupying the instrument panel. Besides the steering wheel, about the only other thing the driver could control from within the cockpit that affect performance was the 5 speed manual gearbox.
Designed to conform to the profile of the driver's shape while in the driver's seat, the sculpted rear bodywork would house one of the three tanks found on the car. The bodywork just aft of the cockpit would then blend together to form a rather large bulbous rear end.
The rear suspension, like the front, would bear similarity with its predecessor. However, there would be slight revisions including 2 longitudinal struts to help provide better rear stability and handling.
Although by the time Ferrari evolved the D50 into the 801 disc brakes were growing in popularity, Ferrari would stick with known and trusted technology and would employ old-fashioned drum brakes to the 801. These drums were growing in size in order to provide the necessary stopping power. This was also increasing heat and premature failure as a result. Therefore, in order to maintain lower brake temperatures the drums would be machined with large grooves in order to provide more airflow between them thereby cooling the drums.
The 801 would have a couple of knocks against it that were certain to hurt its chances against the Vanwalls and the Maseratis. While the car would incorporate everything within its own bodywork giving it a much more sleek design, the car would use an engine producing about 10 less horsepower. But on top of that, the 801 would be heavier than its predecessor. This was not a good combination for the evolved design.
The 801 would make its debut on the streets of Monaco on the 19th of May and would look rather good on the starting grid. However, problems in the race would leave just one of cars making it to the end. Wolfgang von Trips had been on course for a podium but later engine problems would bring that hope to an end.
The car would look much better by the French Grand Prix at Rouen-les-Essarts. By the end of that race Luigi Musso would finish 2nd while Peter Collins would end up 3rd. It seemed the 801 was improving and proving to be a strong competitor. This great result would be followed up with two more two-three finishes at the next two round of the Formula One World Championship.
However, by the final round of the World Championship for 1957, the Italian Grand Prix, the car was clearly underpowered and lacking straight-line speed compared to its competition. The best starting Ferrari 801 in the field would belong to Peter Collins. He would start 7th on the grid.
Since its debut at Monaco, the 801, which was clearly not on par with the Vanwalls and Maseratis in terms of outright performance, still managed to score a podium result in every single race. And when von Trips ended the Italian Grand Prix in 3rd place, the streak remained intact.
The 801 would be nothing more than a stop-gap measure as it would be replaced the following year with the 246 F1 Dino, but it would still be a rather successful measure nonetheless. Of course, to Ferrari's standards it would never be listed amongst one of its best and most influential designs. Still, it would provide Collins, Hawthorn and Musso some very important World Championship points and it would even provide von Trips his first podium finish in Formula One.
'History: Singleseaters: 801 F1', (http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/History/Singleseaters/Pages/801F1.aspx?decade=1950). Scuderia Ferrari. http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/History/Singleseaters/Pages/801F1.aspx?decade=1950. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Lancia D50', (http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/lancia.htm). Dennis David and Family. http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/lancia.htm. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'1957 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html). 1957 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Grands Prix: 1957', (http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/). ManipeF1. http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Ferrari Lancia D50', (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/123/Ferrari-Lancia-D50.html). Ultimatecarpage.com: Powered by Knowledge, Driven by Passion. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/123/Ferrari-Lancia-D50.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Ferrari 801', (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1058/Ferrari-801.html). Ultimatecarpage.com: Powered by Knowledge, Driven by Passion. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1058/Ferrari-801.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.By Jeremy McMullen
The D50 project from Lancia would be delayed and delayed throughout the 1954 season. And there was good reason for this. From nose to tail, the D50 was brand-new and employed such innovative features that made it impossible just to throw the car together.
A couple of Lancia's key components would join the team prior to the 1954 season. One of the major elements would be Vittorio Jano. Jano had been involved in projects with Alfa Romeo and had enjoyed a lot of success while with the automotive company. Gianni Lancia would rely on Jano to produce the same kind of success with his company's new racing program.
So very much of the D50 would be ground-breaking, but Jano wouldn't build a car within the regulations. Instead, he would focus on building a car around some design and performance criteria that would help to ensure the company's success.
One of the most important aspects of the new car's design would be centered around handling and balance. And around this function the car would be designed. One of the most important advances Jano's new design offered that helped with the handling and the balance of the car had to do with the design of the engine itself. Cars like the Maserati 250F continued to use longitudinal engines. The mindset was a bit more of keeping with what had always been but just improving upon it to ensure competitiveness. Jano would go an entirely different direction. His team would set about designing an engine making it fit to the parameters Jano wanted for the design of the D50. Therefore, the D50 would be the first Formula One car to debut a 'V' designed engine. The design helped with the stability of the car but its overall shape would also enable it to be mounted directly to the tubular chassis making it a load bearing structure.
Of course, the engine would be very important to a car's performance in more than one way. However, during the 1950s, perhaps nothing affected a car's handling more than the design and the location of the fuel and oil tanks. Therefore, Jano would set about designing a car that maintained a much more neutral balance. This would lead to Lancia employing a very interesting feature with the new car design. Instead of fuel and oil tanks positioned behind the driver that change the balance of the car as the fuel and oil reduced over the course of the race, large tanks would be positioned between the wheels. This design would not only keep the weight low and between the axles, but it would also provide better airflow around the side of the car as it helped to reduce the turbulence around the wheels.
All of the innovative features on the D50 caused the debut of the car to continually face delays. Then, finally, at the Spanish Grand Prix, the last round of the World Championship in 1954, Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi would be behind the wheels of the new car. The innovative D50 would prove itself right from the start when it managed to take the pole in the hands of Alberto Ascari.
In 1955, in the hands of Ascari, the D50 would go on to score a couple of victories in non-championship races. It would perform well in Formula One events but would not be able to overcome the might of the Mercedes W196. And then, when Ascari perished in a testing accident, it seemed no one else could extract the most out of the car. It would continue to perform well but would end the '55 season still without a World Championship victory.
Juan Manuel Fangio would share a D50 with Luigi Musso in the '56 Argentine Grand Prix and would earn the D50 its first World Championship victory. The D50 would then go on to score four more victories over the course of the season. Three of those four victories would be one-two finishes. But by that time Lancia had sold its interest in the program to Ferrari and it was the now Maranello-based team that took the Lancia to the head of the line.
By 1957, evolutions of the Maserati 250F caused the D50 to clip from its place at the head of the line. It was still very capable but the 250F had better straight-line speed. On top of the Maserati threat, Vanwall was coming on strong with its own sleek chassis. And after the Argentine Grand Prix in the middle part of January in 1957, it was clear the D50 had to be either replaced or evolved in order to remain competitive.
Just one season prior the D50 had proven itself to be the car to have in the World Championship. Therefore, in many respects the car only needed to be evolved, or at least it seemed that way.
The D50 remained the only car that included fuel and oil tanks separate from the car and there was an understandable reason for this. The weight of the fuel and oil further out toward the sides of the car would cause a more pronounced rolling action to the car despite its stability. The route that Maserati and Vanwall went was to make a wider tubular structure to help with stability while the tanks remained behind the driver. The wider, lower, center of gravity enabled the car to be slid through the corners comfortably. But of course the drivers still had to deal with the fact of the changing dynamics of the car as the fuel, and the oil, was burned off throughout the race.
The D50 had moved Formula One forward but other manufacturers had taken the idea and incorporated it all into one design. This allowed for sleek body designs that didn't have to worry about attachment points on the side of a car. Besides that, the new spaceframe chassis construction was enabling much more to be incorporated within the car instead of being placed around it. This philosophy would enable very important aspects to be contained 'within' the car helping with handling. And this would be the approach taken in the evolution of the D50 to what would become known as the 801.
The overall design philosophy of the new 801 would diverge from the D50, and therefore, would be quite different from nose to tail, but would still utilize some features introduced by the D50.
Aerodynamics was becoming as important a function of stability and handling as the weight distribution of the car itself. The cars were becoming lower, wider and sleeker and the 801 that would be designed during the early part of the '57 season would be no different. The nose of the car would sport a wider, lower-profiled nose than that used on the D50. The low-profiled inlet scoop would feed all-important cooler ram air to the oil cooler and engine radiator. But its narrow width at the tip of the nose would quickly widen as the line of the bodywork travelled aft. Though the bodywork would widen rather quickly, the height of the top line of the aluminum bodywork would only gently rise and then would quickly flatten out keeping the overall height of the car rather low.
The front suspension would be only slightly evolved from that which was used on its predecessor. The 801 would use the same double wishbone arrangement with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. However, where the D50 used Houdaille hydraulic dampers, the 801 would use telescopic dampers.
The engine used in the 801 would be essential the same as the 90 degree V8 used in the D50. However, the engine size of the 801 would be only just slightly smaller and would produce about 10 less horsepower at 275 bhp at 8400 rpm. This would seen as acceptable with the new design of the car featuring a much more sleek body styling than that used on its predecessor. By the later part of the '57 season the top of the elegant nose bodywork would be interrupted by the presence of a flat, wide ram air scoop directing air back to the air inlets and the 2 Solex carburetors in an effort to increase the car's horsepower.
An overhead view of the 801 would show clearly the wedge shape employed in the car's design and that was very common with the Vanwall at the time. This wedge shape of the tubular chassis was intentional as two tanks would be incorporated into the sides of the car's design. This would enable the weight of the fluids to be kept within the axles, but also, more toward the center of the car, which would only improve the car's handling and stability through corners as it would help to reduce undesirable roll within the chassis.
One holdover from the D50 would be exhaust stack arrangement. With the twin tanks on either side of the car it was a relatively simple matter of routing the exhaust pipes back and have the hot exhaust gases exit out the side as if leaving the car's actual bodywork. However, with the large twin tanks to either side of the car's actual chassis gone the double-stacked exhaust pipes would protrude, in an unattractive fashion, out the lower side of the car and would bend just prior to the rear wheels, just as had been the case on the D50.
Once the driver slid into the seat, he would find the cockpit rather spacious and comfortable with plenty of elbow room. However, the heavily-sculpted tubular chassis and bodywork would curve back in upon itself toward the driver's head. This made things tight around the driver's shoulders. With the large raked windscreen immediately in front of the driver's face, the cockpit could actually start to feel a little tight, but the driver's view was good from that position.
As with just about every other car of that age, the cockpit would be sparse with only the really essential instruments occupying the instrument panel. Besides the steering wheel, about the only other thing the driver could control from within the cockpit that affect performance was the 5 speed manual gearbox.
Designed to conform to the profile of the driver's shape while in the driver's seat, the sculpted rear bodywork would house one of the three tanks found on the car. The bodywork just aft of the cockpit would then blend together to form a rather large bulbous rear end.
The rear suspension, like the front, would bear similarity with its predecessor. However, there would be slight revisions including 2 longitudinal struts to help provide better rear stability and handling.
Although by the time Ferrari evolved the D50 into the 801 disc brakes were growing in popularity, Ferrari would stick with known and trusted technology and would employ old-fashioned drum brakes to the 801. These drums were growing in size in order to provide the necessary stopping power. This was also increasing heat and premature failure as a result. Therefore, in order to maintain lower brake temperatures the drums would be machined with large grooves in order to provide more airflow between them thereby cooling the drums.
The 801 would have a couple of knocks against it that were certain to hurt its chances against the Vanwalls and the Maseratis. While the car would incorporate everything within its own bodywork giving it a much more sleek design, the car would use an engine producing about 10 less horsepower. But on top of that, the 801 would be heavier than its predecessor. This was not a good combination for the evolved design.
The 801 would make its debut on the streets of Monaco on the 19th of May and would look rather good on the starting grid. However, problems in the race would leave just one of cars making it to the end. Wolfgang von Trips had been on course for a podium but later engine problems would bring that hope to an end.
The car would look much better by the French Grand Prix at Rouen-les-Essarts. By the end of that race Luigi Musso would finish 2nd while Peter Collins would end up 3rd. It seemed the 801 was improving and proving to be a strong competitor. This great result would be followed up with two more two-three finishes at the next two round of the Formula One World Championship.
However, by the final round of the World Championship for 1957, the Italian Grand Prix, the car was clearly underpowered and lacking straight-line speed compared to its competition. The best starting Ferrari 801 in the field would belong to Peter Collins. He would start 7th on the grid.
Since its debut at Monaco, the 801, which was clearly not on par with the Vanwalls and Maseratis in terms of outright performance, still managed to score a podium result in every single race. And when von Trips ended the Italian Grand Prix in 3rd place, the streak remained intact.
The 801 would be nothing more than a stop-gap measure as it would be replaced the following year with the 246 F1 Dino, but it would still be a rather successful measure nonetheless. Of course, to Ferrari's standards it would never be listed amongst one of its best and most influential designs. Still, it would provide Collins, Hawthorn and Musso some very important World Championship points and it would even provide von Trips his first podium finish in Formula One.
'History: Singleseaters: 801 F1', (http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/History/Singleseaters/Pages/801F1.aspx?decade=1950). Scuderia Ferrari. http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/History/Singleseaters/Pages/801F1.aspx?decade=1950. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Lancia D50', (http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/lancia.htm). Dennis David and Family. http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/lancia.htm. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'1957 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html). 1957 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Grands Prix: 1957', (http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/). ManipeF1. http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Ferrari Lancia D50', (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/123/Ferrari-Lancia-D50.html). Ultimatecarpage.com: Powered by Knowledge, Driven by Passion. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/123/Ferrari-Lancia-D50.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
'Ferrari 801', (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1058/Ferrari-801.html). Ultimatecarpage.com: Powered by Knowledge, Driven by Passion. http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1058/Ferrari-801.html. Retrieved 2 May 2012.By Jeremy McMullen
1957 Italian Grand Prix: A True Nobleman Stands Amongst Two of F1's Most Noble
The sea of spectators overwhelming the circuit would be a truly awe-inspiring sight to behold. The vast majority of this horde was there to celebrate the car adorned in red finishing in the top three. The car's driver, a true royal, would stand amongst the crowd as if standing amongst adoring and loving subjects. For the first time in his career, Wolfgang von Trips would be able to count himself amongst the elite of Formula One.Wolfgang von Trips had been born into a noble German family in 1929. He would grow up in a large castle on extensive grounds. However, he would also grow up within earshot of the mighty Nurburgring and would be an impressionable young man at the time of the mighty Silver Arrows of Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz.
When von Trips started his racing career at the conclusion of World War II he would start out racing on two wheels but would quickly switch to four. His first major focus would be in sports car racing where he would be immediately successful. In his second major sports car race in the 1.6 category von Trips would score a 2nd place result in the Nurburgring's Eifelrennen. Throughout the rest of the 1954 season he would score one more podium result and a 5th place in the Grand Prix of Berlin.
These results would allow the Count to fulfill an ambition from his youth. In 1955, von Trips would earn a couple of drives with the mighty Mercedes-Benz team in their new Silver Arrows the 300 SLR. And at the Tourist Trophy race in September von Trips would partner with Andre Simon and Karl Kling to finish 3rd overall. Unfortunately, this was also the same year of the Le Mans tragedy. As a result, von Trips' time with German manufacturer would be short-lived.
Prior to earning the drive with Mercedes-Benz, von Trips had been driving for Porsche. After Mercedes withdrew from motorsport, Wolfgang returned to Porsche and would partner with Richard von Frankenberg, another Count, to drive to a 5th place overall finish and 1st in the 1.5 class at the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans. This would set the stage for the German Count rising to the status of Italian nobility.
By the end of the 1956 season, von Trips was driving for Scuderia Ferrari in sportscars and was set to make his debut in front of the Tifosi at the 1956 Italian Grand Prix. Unfortunately, in his first attempt at the Italian Grand Prix von Trips would not endear himself to his loyal subjects and would take the first step toward the doghouse with Enzo.
During practice for the race, von Trips would lose control of his Lancia-Ferrari D50 and would crash heavily. The result of the crash was so catastrophic to the car that it could not be repaired in time for him to qualify, and therefore, start the race. Therefore, von Trips' first Formula One race would see him fail to start.
Von Trips would learn from the disappointing experience and would be poised for a much better '57 season. Heading into the first round of the Formula One World Championship, which was the Argentine Grand Prix, Wolfgang was still a junior member of Ferrari's Formula One team, and therefore, had to deal with issues of shared drives and the like. This would come into play in the first round of the season when von Trips had to share one of the Ferrari's with Italian driver Cesare Perdisa. The situation would be further complicated when Peter Collins retired from the race early on despite having led the race at one point. As a result, Wolfgang would be delayed in taking over the controls of the car in favor of Collins getting back in the race. Unfortunately, the delay in switching drivers would only further strengthen Fangio's control over Collins in the Ferrari. Therefore, Collins would only drive the car for 35 laps before he handed the car to von Trips. In spite of all of the driver changes and the delays associated with them, von Trips would perform well to finish just 2 laps down in 6th place.
Loss of concentration and focus can be absolutely detrimental to a driver, and yet, this would be something von Trips would again have to contend with at the Monaco Grand Prix a few months later.
A pile up on the 4th lap of the Grand Prix of Monaco would find von Trips promoted to the 3rd place spot behind Fangio and Tony Brooks. Unfortunately, the accident would take out two of Ferrari's prime drivers, Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. This would make for a very interesting, and no doubt, frustrating situation for von Trips.
In that day and age of Formula One it was a regular practice to have the leading driver on a team take over the car of a fellow teammate if he retired early due to mechanical issues or accidents. Sure enough, Hawthorn wanted to get back into the race, and von Trips in 3rd place certainly offered Hawthorn his best opportunity and recovering and earning a top result. Therefore, Wolfgang would pull into the pits and would be forced to hand his car over to Hawthorn.
Hawthorn would complete just a few laps before he decided to return to the pits and hand the car back to von Trips. While this was a novel gesture toward his teammate it was also bitterly disappointing as it would cost von Trips his 3rd place.
Von Trips would gain the position back after Carlos Menditeguy spun off the circuit. It seemed very likely Wolfgang was on course for his first podium result in one of the most important races on the World Championship calendar. However, just 10 laps away from the finish the engine would totally seize causing von Trips to plow into one of the barriers. The race was over. The podium had been lost. But would it have been had Hawthorn not taken his car away from him for those 3 laps?
Over the next four rounds of the World Championship on European soil von Trips would not have a ride and would not be present at either of the rounds. This would be due to some rather serious injuries he had suffered during the 1000km Nurburgring race. However, when the team packed up and headed to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the Italian Grand Prix on the 8th of September they would pack four cars and von Trips, who would be fit by then, would have one all to himself.
When the team arrived in Monza and began to unload the team would unload its four cars. One would go to Mike Hawthorn while another would go to Peter Collins. Then there would be one for Luigi Musso and a final one for Wolfgang.
Since the Monaco Grand Prix, the Ferrari team had been using its updated version of what was truly just a D50. Known as the Lancia 801, the car would struggle for pace compared to the Vanwalls and the evolved Maserati 250Fs.
Using the power from his Vanwall, whose founder actually had a close relationship with Enzo Ferrari, Stuart Lewis-Evans would go on to take the pole for the race with a time of 1:42.4 and at an average speed of just over 125 mph. Stirling Moss would end up three-tenths of a second slower in another Vanwall and would start 2nd. Tony Brooks, also driving a Vanwall would make it a clean sweep of the first three starting positions. Had the team a fourth car in its stable it was likely the team would have swept the entire four-wide front row. Instead, Juan Manuel Fangio would take the final starting spot on the front row with a time seven-tenths of a second slower than Lewis-Evans. This would make the front row a sea of British Racing Green with one lonely machine adorned in Italian Racing Red.
Among the Ferrari foursome, von Trips would be the second-fastest around the 3.56 mile circuit. His time of 1:45.5 would place him on the third row of the grid in the 8th place spot overall on the grid.
The day of the race, almost as usual, would be sunny and dry, but it would also be very hot. The whole weekend had proven to be torridly hot, and yet, the cars would begin to be rolled out onto the grid in preparation for the 87 lap, 310 mile, race. Being that the race would take place on home soil, the Ferrari cars had been loaded back up on the transporter and taken back to Modena for some final preparations. The transporter would return the next day in time for the cars to be unloaded and finally tuned in preparation for the race.
The scene as the cars took their places on the grid was simply electric. Noted former drivers as Luigi Villoresi and Maurice Trintignant could be seen around the main straight prior to the start of the race. Tightly packed spectators fought and stretched to peer down toward the grid awaiting the start of the race. The engines began to come up to full-song, and then they would be off!
Moss would fly into the lead while Jean Behra also came up from his second row starting position to be fighting for one of the top spots as well. As the cars approached the Parabolica corner that lead around to the main straight, it was still Moss leading ahead of Behra with the other two Vanwalls following closely behind in 3rd and 4th. Running down through the field, von Trips would be found in 10th place after the first lap of the race, but it was a long way to go and Wolfgang would be looking comfortable, steady and strong.
Moss and Behra would battle for the lead throughout the first few laps of the race, but then, Fangio would get in gear and would end up taking over the lead of the race for a few laps. Wolfgang continued to run well inside the top ten throughout the first-third of the race. He would be in good position as the incredible heat would begin to take its toll on the field.
Luigi Piotti would be the first out of the race. His event would last just 3 laps before the Maserati engine blew. Jo Bonnier would be the next out of the race when his engine overheated after 31 laps. Then it was Harry Schell's turn after 34 laps. One-by-one they began to fall. By the 50th lap of the race Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jean Behra would join the others out of the race. And when Peter Collins retired his Ferrari after 62 laps because of a broken cylinder block, von Trips would find himself comfortably running around the top five and climbing even higher.
Fangio would drop back to follow along behind his old former teammate and friend Stirling Moss. Tony Brooks had long since faded along with Luigi Musso. The incredible pace and the incredible heat had caused a large amount of disarray and overturning within the field. Mike Hawthorn would seemingly survive a lot of the upheaval and would be running in the 3rd position ahead of von Trips. Wolfgang was certainly taking the race easy and would be more than a lap behind heading into the final 15 laps of the race. But still, he was running strongly, and in such heat, it was likely there were still some more surprises to come before the end.
Although he himself was more than a lap behind, von Trips had been running strongly enough in the 801, which obviously lacked the straight-line speed of the Vanwalls, to have a healthy margin in hand over Masten Gregory.
Moss had pulled away from Fangio. Fangio seemed pleased to let his old teammate lead the way and would not press. Of course, he was likely holding position waiting for a rerun of the 1954 Italian Grand Prix when Moss had the lead in hand and the engine failed with less than 10 laps remaining in the race.
A failure would take place, but it would not be Moss. Von Trips had been on course for his first podium result at the Grand Prix of Monaco before Mike Hawthorn threw a wrench into things by not being able to make up his mind whether he wanted to race in von Trips' car or not. Well, at the Italian Grand Prix, von Trips would be rewarded for his sportsmanship.
With only a handful of laps remaining in the race, Hawthorn would be seen peeling off into the pits. The crew would set to work feverishly around his car's engine. A misfire had developed and it would found that it resulted from a split fuel pipe. This delay in the pits would end up dropping Hawthorn out of 3rd place all the way down to 6th by the end. But the problems would result in von Trips being promoted to 3rd place in the running order.
Moss would be unbeatable in the heat. He would prove to be too much even for Fangio as he would languish along well behind the Brit as he set about completing the final lap of the race. After two hours, thirty-five minutes and three seconds, Moss and Vanwall had done it. The first all-British combination had beaten the Italians on their own soil. Forty-one seconds later, Fangio would come across the line to take 2nd place and remain the only one still on the lead lap with Moss.
Von Trips was still running in 3rd place as he set about on his final lap of the race. As he headed off toward the Curva Grande for the final time, Moss was just coming across the line to take the victory. Two laps, and nearly a minute and forty seconds later, von Trips would come through to take 3rd place. It was his first podium in Formula One and would take place in no better setting than in front of the Tifosi.
It would be a great day despite what had been a relatively frustrating weekend for Scuderia Ferrari. And though he would be much maligned and considered unlucky at the famed Italian circuit, there would be no doubt to the fact that on the 8th of September in 1957 von Trips stood amongst some of Formula One's greatest at one of the greatest circuits in the world. He was noble in title, and now, in deed.
Sources:
'Grand Prix Results: Italian GP, 1957', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr064.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr064.html. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
'Grand Prix Results: Monaco GP, 1957', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr058.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr058.html. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
'Grands Prix: 1957: Italy', (http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/italy/). ManipeF1. http://www.manipef1.com/grandprix/1957/italy/. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
'1957 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html). 1957 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1957/f157.html. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5vy7YObXo. '1957 F1 Italian Grand Prix @ Monza (Full Highlights Show)'. Youtube. September 8, 1957. Web. 1 May 2012.By Jeremy McMullen
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1957| Similar Automakers | |
| Aston Martin | Bentley |
| Bugatti | Devon |
| GTA | Koenigsegg |
| Lamborghini | Lotus |
| Maserati | Maybach |
| McLaren | Porsche |
| Rolls-Royce | Spyker |
| Tesla | |
| Similarly Sized Vehicles from 1957 |
| AC Ace Bristol |
| Ambro Triumph Special |
| Devin MG Special |
| Elva Courier |
| Elva MKIIA |
| Fiat 1100 Turismo Veloce |
| Fiat 600 Multipla |
| Maserati 200 SI |
| Maserati 300 S |
| MG MGA |
| Ferrari: 1951-1960 |
| Similar Automakers |
| Other models by Ferrari |
Related Drivers
Eugenio Castellotti
Peter John Collins
Alfonso de Portago
José Froilán González Mike Hawthorn Luigi Musso Cesare Perdisa
Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant
Wolfgang von TripsRelated Teams
Scuderia Ferrari 1957 Formula One Season
| Race | Circuit | Date | Winning Driver | Constructor |
| Argentine Grand Prix | Oscar Gálvez | Jan 1957 | Juan Manuel 'El Chueco' Fangio | Maserati |
 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco | May 1957 | Juan Manuel 'El Chueco' Fangio | Maserati |
 Indianapolis 500 | Indianapolis | May 1957 | Epperly | |
| French Grand Prix | Rouen-Les-Essarts | Jul 1957 | Juan Manuel 'El Chueco' Fangio | Maserati |
| British Grand Prix | Aintree | Jul 1957 | Charles Anthony Standish 'Tony' Brooks | Vanwall |
| German Grand Prix | Nürburgring | Aug 1957 | Juan Manuel 'El Chueco' Fangio | Maserati |
| Pescara Grand Prix | Pescara | Aug 1957 | Sir Stirling Moss | Vanwall |
Italian Grand Prix  | Monza | Sep 1957 | Sir Stirling Moss | Vanwall |
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