1959 Formula One season

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1959 FIA World Championship.

Note: The above list does not reflect competitors in the 1959 Indianapolis 500.

Team and driver changes

• Vanwall owner Tony Vandervell's health declined, which meant was their last full season. The team would enter a handful of races in the following years, of which just one in 1959. Ex-driver Stirling Moss moved to Rob Walker Racing Team, racing a private Cooper.
• Scuderia Ferrari started the season with a fresh line-up: 1958 champion Mike Hawthorn had retired from racing, Wolfgang von Trips moved to the new Porsche works team, and Olivier Gendebien went to focus on sports car and endurance racing. Joining the team were Jean Behra from BRM, Tony Brooks from Vanwall, and Cliff Allison from Lotus.
• After trying out their mid-engine 1500cc Porsche 550A and Porsche 718 sports cars with closed bodywork in a couple of proper Formula Two races and in the 1957 German Grand Prix that combined F1 and F2, the Porsche works team entered their cars in a proper F1 race despite having no 2500cc engine, just he 1500cc Porsche 547 engine "Fuhrmann" four cylinder. This year, it would only be the Monaco Grand Prix, and in 1960, just the Italian Grand Prix. After that, however, with 1500cc F2 becoming the F1 capacity limit in 1961, they would go for two full-time seasons.
• Lotus replaced Cliff Allison with Pete Lovely.
• Cooper signed Masten Gregory to replace Roy Salvadori, who found a part-time seat at the new Aston Martin works team. He was joined by Carroll Shelby, who had made his debut in 1958 as Gregory's teammate at several private Maserati teams.

Mid-season changes

• After two disappointing results, most notable his failure to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix, Lotus driver Pete Lovely was sacked and replaced by successful sports car driver Innes Ireland. (After one more attempt in , Lovely would wait until to make his return with money from his Volkswagen dealership.) Ireland was replaced by Alan Stacey in the British Grand Prix due to illness.
• After two races, Stirling Moss moved from Rob Walker Racing Team to BRP. After another two races, he moved back.
• Jean Behra was sacked by Scuderia Ferrari after the French Grand Prix as a result of punching team manager Romolo Tavoni and another patron at a restaurant when a discussion got heated. Behra would race for the works Porsche, in which he had also taken up a managing role. However, he crashed his Porsche 718 RSK in the sports car race that supported the German Grand Prix at Berlin AVUS. His car went over the top of the banked corner and Behra incurred a skull fracture when he struck a flagpole with his head. Porsche withdrew the team for the remainder of the season.
• During the German Grand Prix, BRP driver Hans Herrmann lost his brakes and had a spectacular crash. He was thrown out and slid along the track while his car somersaulted multiple times. BRP withdrew the team for the remainder of the season.
• Hermann's teammate Ivor Bueb died when he crashed during a Formula Two race at the Charade Circuit.
• Cooper driver Masten Gregory missed the last two races because of an accident in another championship. He jumped out of his Jaguar before the impact, but sustained a broken leg and shoulder in his fall. Maserati driver Giorgio Scarlatti substituted for him in the Italian Grand Prix.

Calendar

Calendar changes

• The United States Grand Prix was organised for the first time: Sebring International Raceway hosted the season finale on 12 December.
• The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Aintree, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.
• The German Grand Prix was moved from the Nürburgring to AVUS.
• The Portuguese Grand Prix was moved from Circuito da Boavista to Monsanto Park Circuit.
• The Argentine Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 25 January but was cancelled after local heroes Juan Manuel Fangio and Jose Froilan Gonzalez had retired and local interest faded.
• The Belgian Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 14 June, but it was cancelled due to a dispute over start money.
• The Moroccan Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 1 October but it was cancelled because of monetary reasons.

Championship report

Rounds 1 to 4

With the Argentine Grand Prix gone, the season began at the latest point in the year since , with the Monaco Grand Prix on 10 May 1959. Jean Behra for Ferrari, Jack Brabham for Cooper and Stirling Moss, driving a Cooper for Rob Walker, were fighting for pole position. It was Moss who set the fastest time in the end, with Behra and Brabham within half a second in second and third. On race day, Behra had the best start and went round the outside of Moss through the first hairpin. The lone works Porsche, driven by Wolfgang von Trips, spun on some oil on the second lap and was collected by three other drivers. The leading trio were nose-to-tail until, on lap 22, Behra's Ferrari developed an oil leak and retired. At half distance, only eight cars were left running, with Moss at a sizeable lead over Brabham and Tony Brooks, third in the championship last year. On lap 81, however, Moss sensed a vibration and visited the pits. Nothing was visibly wrong, so he rejoined in the lead, but later that lap, his transmission failed and his race was over. This left Brabham (Cooper) to claim his first career podium and win, 20 seconds ahead of Brooks (Ferrari) and two laps ahead of veteran racer and last year's Monaco winner Maurice Trintignant (Cooper).

The Indianapolis 500 saw Rodger Ward take his first of two career victories. There was no overlap between the Indy 500 and F1 drivers. It would be the penultimate year in which the race counted towards the F1 championship.

For the Dutch Grand Prix, Jo Bonnier, driving for the BRM works team, clinched his first career pole, ahead of Brabham, who achieved the same lap time but at a later moment, and Moss, two tenths behind. Bonnier held the lead at the start, but lost it on the second lap to seventh-starting Masten Gregory. On lap 12, Gregory's Cooper started jumping out of gear, so Bonnier went by. Brabham inherited second place and then challenged the Swede for the lead, but then had to manage similar problems to his teammate. Aston Martin were making their debut this race, but both cars soon retired with engine failure. Meanwhile, Moss was up to third place and the fastest man on track. He passed Brabham on lap 49 by out-braking him into Tarzan corner and then grabbed the lead on lap 60 when Bonnier was held up by a backmarker. A mere three laps later, however, the Cooper's transmission failed, causing Moss to retire from the lead for the second time in a row. Bonnier scored his first and only career win, ahead of Brabham and Gregory.

The French Grand Prix received the honorary title of European Grand Prix and was contested on the public highways around Reims. The Ferrari team entered five cars and their high-speed advantage put three of them on the first two rows of the grid. Pole position was for Brooks, ahead of championship leader Brabham and Ferrari teammate Phil Hill. Fifth-starting Moss, who had moved to the BRP team, passed three cars into the first corner, but was overtaken himself by seventh-starting Gregory. On lap 6, Trintignant, in the surprisingly quick Cooper, was the next driver to grab second place. Gregory retired when he was overcome by the summer heat, which reached 44 C in the sun. His team then saw that the American's face was cut by the bitumen and stones that were becoming dislodged. Ron Flockhart took a stone to the eye but raced on to take sixth place. Graham Hill retired when one of those rocks went through his radiator. While Trintignant stopped to cool off, Bonnier's engine had seized, but the Swede pushed his car a full kilometer back to the pits. At the front, Brooks was leading Hill and Brabham and that became the order at the finish. Moss got up to second briefly but then retired when his clutch failed. He asked for a push start from bystanders, knowing that it would get him disqualified, but longing for the shade of the garages.

In the Drivers' Championship, Jack Brabham (Cooper) was leading with 19 points, ahead of Tony Brooks (Ferrari) with 14 and Phil Hill (Ferrari) with 9. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Cooper was leading with 18 points, ahead of Ferrari with 16 and BRM with 8.

Rounds 5 to 8

The Ferrari team did not compete in the British Grand Prix over labour disputes back in Italy. Tony Brooks borrowed a Vanwall from his old team boss to, at least theoretically, be able to challenge Jack Brabham for the lead in the championship. Brabham took pole position in his Cooper, ahead of Roy Salvadori in the Aston Martin, who set the same time but at a later moment, and Harry Schell in the BRM. Salvadori went down to ninth at the start and Brooks, from his seventeenth starting place, fell even further. Brabham held the lead ahead of Schell and Bonnier. After ten laps, Stirling Moss had gotten up to second place and on lap 25, Bruce McLaren went up to third, and so stayed the order until the finish. McLaren had managed to get side-by-side with Moss and finished two tenths of a second behind.

Instead of the traditional Nürburgring, the German Grand Prix was held at the AVUS circuit, which consisted of two Autobahn straights of 3.5 km, linked together by a hairpin at one end and a 43 degre banked turn at the other. With fears about tyre safety, the Grand Prix was separated into two heats of one hour, adding the drivers' times together, and streamlining was forbidden by stipulating that all cars had to have the front wheels exposed at all times. In the supporting sports car race, it was the rain that caused peril: three of the leading Porsches crashed out, of which Jean Behra came off worst. His car flew over the banking, his head struck a flagpole and the Frenchman was killed. In a gloomy atmosphere, Brooks took pole position for the Grand Prix, ahead of Moss and Gurney. Fifth-starting Gregory was up to second after the first hairpin and Moss retired soon after with a failing transmission. Championship leader Brabham retired with the same issue. The remaining Coopers and Ferraris seemed equally strong and the lead switch hands multiple times, until the Climax engine broke and Gregory coasted to a standstill. Ferrari was 1-2-3 at the end of the first heat. After a short break to change tyres and mend some damage, nine cars were left to start the second heat. BRP driver Hans Herrmann lost his brakes and had a spectacular crash. He was thrown out and slid along the track while his car somersaulted multiple times. The red cars from Italy showed their dominance, taking an easy victory and completing a victory lap three-abreast. After adding up the heats, Brooks was given the victory, three seconds ahead of Gurney and a minute ahead of Hill.

The Portuguese Grand Prix was run on the much appraised Monsanto road course, and the twisty nature of the track gave the advantage to the lightweight Coopers: Moss qualified on pole, ahead of the two works drivers, Brabham and Gregory, and then came teammate Trintignant. Gurney was the first Ferrari in sixth. Eight-starting McLaren, the third works Cooper driver, joined the leading pack after the first lap. On lap 5, Phil Hill collided with Graham Hill and both retired on the spot. Moss was the fastest man on track, as he had been so many times, and this time, his car held on for him to take the win, a lap ahead of Gregory. Gurney had managed to get by Trintignant to take third. Brabham had crashed heavily on lap 24, but walked away unhurt, and McLaren retired with transmission failure.

Even at Monza, the track synonymous with speed, the Cooper team was giving home favourite Ferrari a run for their money. Moss took pole, ahead of Brooks and Brabham. Brooks had a bad start and a piston broke, causing him to retire immediately. Moss let fifth-starting Hill by into the lead, to follow the Ferrari and conserve his tyres. Gurney completed the leading trio and positions changed every lap. Moss's plan worked, as Hill and Gurney had to change tyres on lap 33 and 34, so the only remaining fear was for his Cooper to let him down. But it held on, Moss even lapped the Ferrari of Cliff Allison, and took the win, ahead of Hill and Brabham.

With one round to go, the Drivers' Championship had seen Jack Brabham (Cooper) in the lead since the beginning. The Australian had gathered 31 points. But Stirling Moss (Cooper) and Tony Brooks had scored two wins, just like Brabham, and were following on 25.5 and 23 points, respectively. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Cooper was leading with 38 points, ahead of Ferrari with 32 and BRM with 18.

Round 9

The first United States Grand Prix was held at Sebring International Raceway, combining two runways of the regional airport and a series of technical corners. For the first time since , three drivers were in contention for the title going into the final race. Jack Brabham would be the champion if he won the race. If he would not win, he would at least have to finish ahead of Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. Meanwhile, Moss had to finish at least second with Brabham behind him. Brooks, because of his eight-point deficit, would simply have to win, while hoping for his rivals' misfortune. Moss took pole position, ahead of Brabham and Harry Schell, making it three Coopers on the front row. Brooks had to pit after the first lap, because his teammate Von Trips had rear-ended him, giving him no more realistic chances for the title. In five laps, Moss achieved a lead of ten seconds over Brabham, before his gearbox packed up and he coasted to a halt. After four years of finishing in second place, he would be denied the championship once again. Brabham and teammate McLaren ran to the finish as a solid duo, although Moss's teammate Trintignant was putting some real pressure on. A mere mile from the finish, drama ensued as Brabham ran out of fuel and McLaren went by to take the win, half a second ahead of Trintignant. With Moss out and Brooks not winning (he would finish third), the championship was sealed, but Brabham wanted to finish strong and started pushing his car towards the line. Five minutes after his teammate, he crossed the line to the cheers of the crowd. He was classified as fourth, as the three remaining runners were still multiple laps behind.

Jack Brabham, driving for Cooper, won his first Drivers' Championship with 31 points, ahead of Tony Brooks (Ferrari) with 27 and Stirling Moss (Cooper) with 25.5. Cooper won their first Manufacturers' Championship with 40 points, ahead of Ferrari with 32 and BRM with 18.

Results and standings

Grands Prix

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top five classified finishers, with an additional point awarded for setting the fastest lap, regardless of finishing position or even classification. Only the best five results counted towards the championship. No points were awarded for shared drives. If more than one driver set the same fastest lap time, the fastest lap point would be divided equally between the drivers.

The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race, although fastest lap points were not counted. Indy 500 results did not count towards the cup. Additionally, like the Drivers' Championship, only the best five results counted towards the cup.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points, from the best five results; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

World Drivers' Championship standings