The 1957 Formula One season was the 11th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1957 World Championship of Drivers, which commenced on 13 January 1957 and ended on 8 September after eight races. Juan Manuel Fangio won his fourth consecutive title, his fifth in total, in his final championship. A feat that would not be beaten until Michael Schumacher in 2003. The season also included numerous non-championship races for Formula One cars.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The list does not include those who only contested the Indianapolis 500.
Pink background denotes F2 entrants to the German Grand Prix
Calendar
Calendar changes
The French Grand Prix was moved from Reims-Gueux to Rouen-Les-Essarts for a year.
The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone Circuit to Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.
The Belgian Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on June 2 but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
The Dutch Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on June 16 but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
The Spanish Grand Prix was supposed to have been held on October 20 but was cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
The Pescara Grand Prix was added as a replacement race as the Belgian Grand Prix, Dutch Grand Prix and Spanish Grand Prix were cancelled due to the Suez Crisis.
Season summary
Fangio chose to switch teams again, joining Maserati before the start of the season. The decision to switch proved to be a masterstroke, with Ferrari's line-up of Peter Collins, Eugenio Castellotti and the returning Mike Hawthorn failing to win a race. Castellotti and Alfonso de Portago were killed during the season (neither in Formula One crashes), making this a truly disastrous year for Ferrari.
The man Fangio replaced at Maserati, Stirling Moss, moved to Vanwall, a team beginning to fulfill their promise. Between them, Fangio and Moss won every championship race of the season except the Indianapolis 500, with Fangio taking four victories to Moss' three. Fangio's drive at the Nürburgring, where he overtook Collins and Hawthorn on the penultimate lap after a pit stop had put him nearly a minute behind, is regarded as a particularly notable one.
At the end of the year, it was announced Fangio would not return for another season. Maserati also pulled out, citing financial reasons. This was also the final year in which points were awarded for shared drives.
Race 1: Argentina
The first race of the season was in January at the Buenos Aires Autodrome in Argentina's capital city. Briton Moss took pole ahead of Fangio, Behra, and Ferrari drivers Castellotti, Collins, Musso, and Hawthorn. At the start of the race, Behra took the lead from Fangio and Castellotti. Moss was taken by surprise, and a juddering start damaged the throttle mechanism, and he pitted at the end of the first lap. While Moss sat in the pits, Castellotti led but was then overtaken by Behra. Soon afterwards, Collins worked his way to the front, but within a few laps, he was in trouble with his clutch and had to pit. This left Behra in the lead again, but Fangio soon passed him. Castelotti had lost his third position after a spin, so now Hawthorn was leading the charge, although both he and Musso would retire after a while with clutch problems. Castellotti remained the only challenge to the Maseratis at the front, but his race ended when a wheel fell off with 24 laps to go. Menditeguy and Schell were promoted to third and fourth when Castellotti went out, so Maserati started the season by romping home with a 1-2-3-4 result, with Fangio winning his 4th Argentine Grand Prix in a row ahead of Behra.
Argentina '57 would be Castellotti's last Grand Prix. He was killed testing a Ferrari at the Modena Aerodrome in March. A non-championship race was held in Syracuse on the southern Italian island of Sicily; Peter Collins won this race for Ferrari. The Pau Grand Prix, held on the city streets of the southwestern French town of Pau, was won by home favourite Behra in a Maserati, while on the same day, the Glover Trophy at the Goodwood circuit in southern England was won by Briton Stuart Lewis-Evans in a Connaught-Alta. Six days after these two events, Collins won the Naples Grand Prix. Another works Ferrari driver, Spaniard Alfonso de Portago, was killed in May while contesting the Mille Miglia sportscar race in Italy for Ferrari.