1958 Monaco Grand Prix

Race report

Vanwall and BRM returned after their Argentine absence and so Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Harry Schell all went back to their regular drives. In Moss's place at the Rob Walker Racing Team with the new 2000 cc engined Cooper T45 was French driver Maurice Trintignant. The race winning Cooper T43 could not even qualify for the small 16-car Monaco grid, Ron Flockhart was first reserve for the race.

Missing from the field was the previous year's winner and reigning World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio who did not have a full-season drive, but in January had set pole and fastest lap in his home GP, driving a private Maserati, before he won teh Formula Libre 1958 Buenos Aires Grand Prix and subsequently was kidnapped in Cuba. Fangio remained in America, preparing for an ultimately disappointing Indianapolis 500 campaign with two cars.

Future Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone entered two Connaught B-Types to be driven by Bruce Kessler and Paul Emery. Neither could qualify complaining of handling problems so Bernie Ecclestone tested one of the cars to see if he could help identify the cause, but he couldn't. This has given rise to the widely circulated story that he attempted unsuccessfully to qualify. Also failing to make the grid were Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first female driver to enter a World Championship Grand Prix, and 58-year-old Louis Chiron in his final appearance at a Grand Prix. The Monaco local had won the Grand Prix 27 years earlier but Chiron and his Maserati 250F did not make it past qualifying.

Tony Brooks took pole position in his Vanwall VW 5 but Behra won the start. He led until his brakes failed in his BRM P25, and Mike Hawthorn swept by in the Ferrari 246 F1. Moss (Vanwall VW 5) had been duelling with him throughout the race until he retired on lap 38, and Hawthorn followed suit on lap 47 with a broken fuel pump. Graham Hill, a future winner, briefly led the race and retired his Lotus 12-Climax from fourth place in his first race on lap 69. Vanwall pair Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans retired, too, leaving Trintignant to lead home the Ferraris by some 20 seconds giving Rob Walker his second race win of the year. Behind the Ferraris of Luigi Musso and Peter Collins was Jack Brabham in the factory Cooper T45, although three laps down and still looking a long way from becoming the next years champion. Schell in his BRM P25 was a further six laps behind Brabham picking up the final points after Wolfgang von Trips had an engine failure in the closing stages in his Ferrari 246 F1. The only other car still circulating was the second Lotus 12 of Cliff Allison, 13 laps behind Trintignant.

Trintignant's win disproved the belief that rear-engined Cooper victory achieved by Stirling Moss in Argentina was only a one-off freak circumstance win, and the smaller British cars would be treated more seriously, although ultimately a Cooper would not win another WC race until 1959. Another British newcomer, Vanwall, with a full size engine mounted in the front, would dominate the remainder of the season, with BRM and Lotus being future winners, too. The Rob Walker Racing Teams pair of early 1958 victories would remain the best ever performance by a privateer team until the rise of Tyrrell Racing in the late 1960s.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

;Notes

• – 1 point for fastest lap

Additional information

This was the debut World Championship race for Cliff Allison, future double world champion and five time Monaco winner Graham Hill, Ken Kavanagh, Bruce Kessler, Maria Teresa de Filippis, André Testut, Giulio Cabianca, Bernie Ecclestone, and Luigi Taramazzo. It also marked the debut race for Team Lotus in Formula One.

Luigi Musso scored his final podium and points this race, while Maurice Trintignant claimed his final victory.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

Name_of_race = Monaco Grand Prix | Year_of_race = 1958 | Previous_race_in_season = 1958 Argentine Grand Prix | Next_race_in_season = 1958 Dutch Grand Prix | Previous_year's_race = 1957 Monaco Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1959 Monaco Grand Prix}}

References

1. (26 September 2019). "1958 Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying". [[Motorsport.com.
2. "1958 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com.
3. "1958 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com.
4. "Monaco 1958 - Championship • STATS F1".