Date 22 January 1956 | Course length 3.912 km (2.431 mi) | |
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Official name IV Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina Location Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Course Permanent racing facility Distance 98 laps, 383.376 km (238.219 mi) | ||
The 1956 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 January 1956 at Buenos Aires. It was the first round of the 1956 World Drivers' Championship.
With the withdrawal of Mercedes from Formula One, Fangio and Moss would begin the season with new teams. Fangio would join Ferrari while Moss would lead the Maserati team. The grid at Argentina was completely composed of Italian cars. Ferrari and Maserati showed up with five cars each. The other three cars were Maseratis: two private entries and Hawthorn for the B.R.M. team.
Ferrari dominated practice and occupied the first three grid positions with Fangio’s pole time 2.2 sec faster than second. However, Maserati dominated the early race with Menditeguy and Moss leading the field. Fangio was a non factor with a faulty fuel pump. He took over Musso’s car on lap 29 and re-entered in fifth place. Fangio quickly passed Behra but lost his position after spinning. From laps 40-43 disaster struck the leaders. While third Castellotti’s gearbox broke, Menditguy left the lead with a broken driveshaft, and new leader Moss’ engine began to smoke. Fangio, who had overtaken Behra, passed the ailing Moss on lap 66 and finished unchallenged after Behra spun late. The race was not without controversy when the Maserati team manager lodged a protest that Fangio was push-started after the earlier spin. However, the protest was rejected by both the stewards and the F.I.A.