1955 British Grand Prix
The 1955 British Grand Prix was the fourth race of the 1955 Formula One World Championship and was held in Silverstone on July 17th 1955. Desmond Titterington dominated the weekend in his Irish Racing Cars Lancia, but ultimately lost the win on the final lap to B.C.M.A. driver Peter Collins, who scored his and his team's first win. Collins' teammate Tony Brooks finished third.
Contents
Background
As sad as the circumstances may be, the show must go on, no matter how much shorter it gets. The racing world is down on its knees following the death of Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the World Championship calendar has been reduced to two thirds of its length. The Dutch, German, Portuguese and Moroccan Grands Prix have been successively canceled, leaving only four races before the end of the season. Switzerland have made their temporary ban on motorsport (following the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix) permanent, ruling out the return of the race to the calendar.
Nonetheless, four races have decided to be held anyway, guaranteeing the end of a proper World Championship with seven rounds. 48 drivers have made the trip to Silverstone, skipping the stop in Zandvoort.
- Following one bad performance too many, Trod van Hoff has fired Helmut Niedermayr and hired Edgar Barth, who'd turned down the drive earlier. Obviously, seeing that no one else was interested, he lowered his standards this time.
- Maria Teresa de Filippis has recovered from her injury in Reims and jumps back into the O.S.C.A. after Volonterio dependably drove the car in Spa.
- Following the Le Mans disaster and subsequent cancellation of most races, Bernie Ecclestone has canceled his entries for the rest of the season bar the Soviet Grand Prix. He has not yet announced when he plans to return to the paddock.
- Despite his brilliant qualifying performance in Spa, Roger Loyer is benched for this race, leaving de Portago as the only Loyer driver this time around. He is scheduled to return in Estonia.
- Geoff Richardson, as scheduled, entered his second car for the British Grand Prix, to be driven by Robin Montgomerie-Charrington.
- Like in Reims, IRA have brought the second Lancia along on loan from the constructor, this time driven by Joe Kelly.
- With Lex Davison on a race-by-race contract for Australasia, their entry was never certain to begin with, but it seems that Davison hasn't been confirmed for Silverstone, and as a result, the team will miss this race.
- Reatherson bring back the second car for Wharton, hoping for Macklin not to destroy yet another chassis.
- Following a double-DNPQ in Monaco, BRUNEL have returned to the paddock in Silverstone with the same duo of Anne Hall and Pat Moss.
- Balkan Leader have dug into their pockets and cobbled together their engine once more, allowing Stan Jones to compete.
- Ambrosiana, deep in debt at this point, have fixed both chassis, allowing Uria and Musso to both compete after Musso missed Belgium.
- Following the embarrassing DNPQ from Wolfgang von Trips in Belgium, Phoenix Racing Organisation did not appear in Silverstone. Could this be the end of the team?
- Finally, a new outfit have made their entry into the sport. Scuderia Adriatica, based in Bari, have bought an Ambrosiana-Ferrari package from Renzo and brought it to Silverstone to be driven by 20-year-old Lucien Bianchi, with the blessing of Jacques Swaters. Questions are still being asked about the Belgo-Italian's level of skill, after being far, far off the pace in his first appearance in his home race last year, but perhaps this is a good occasion to prove doubters wrong.
Of course, there will be a prequalifying session. With 24 drivers making the grid and 48 entries, 24 drivers will go through the session, with only the top eight making the main session.
Race weekend
Prequalifying
No real surprises here. With the B.C.M.A.s involved, they were always going to prequalify. Perdisa and the Voecklers also prequalify, as do Musso and Marzotto. Perhaps the more surprising failures would be Uria, in the Ambrosiana, Kelly for IRA, Wharton for Reatherson and Poore in the Vanwall, but looking at the calibre of the drivers and teams who did make the cut, their elimination is more understandable. It's worth noting that the quickest non-B.C.M.A. car, that of Musso, was over four seconds slower than Collins, who topped the session. Hall, in last place, was over nine whole seconds off the pace, highlighting the difference in performance around the field.
At the back, Lucien Bianchi takes the new Adriatica team out of last place by almost two seconds, not a bad performance at all considering what was expected of the youngster.
Qualifying
Desmond Titterington scores his second pole position of the year, only very barely beating Tony Brooks to it. Tony Gaze proves that Alfa were right to give him a new AR161, lining up on the front row as well. Some big surprises are Lance Macklin fighting his way to the grid with the outdated Bentley Speed 3, while de Filippis and Hampshire fail to make the cut. Vanwall will be disappointed at getting no cars onto the grid in their home race.
Race
Titterington got the best start among the leaders and led the first lap from Brooks, Collins, Gaze and Farina. However, Brooks was hungry for his first victory, and slipstreamed his way into the lead on lap 2, while Bira rose to third place, ahead of Collins, Farina and Ramos. Ramos was also making his way through the field and took fourth place on lap 3 while Titterington passed Brooks for the lead again. Renzo's fortunes were incredibly on lap 4, as Ramos pulled off fantastic moves to take second place. However, further back, Dries van der Lof, then in 20th position, completely missed his braking spot into Becketts and collected Cesare Perdisa at high speed, sending both hard into the earth bank. Van der Lof was unhurt, but Perdisa was in pain and taken to Northampton hospital for checks. Lance Macklin pulled out with an oil leak at the same time.
On lap 6, it was Swaters who failed to check his mirrors and took himself out of the race on Stan Jones' car. The Australian continued undamaged, but Swaters injured his wrist and was also taken to Northampton hospital for checks. At the front, everyone was tripping over themselves for second place, playing straight into Titterington's hands. On lap 9, Farina was knocked out in an ostensibly 50-50 collision with Peter Collins, who was able to carry on in fifth place. Ramos spent a while in second place, but slowly slipped back behind Bira and Collins. Maurice Trintignant retired from the top ten with suspension failure, followed on lap 24 by Bib Stillwell with an engine failure.
Bira spent a few laps holding up Ramos and Collins before the Brit made his way through on lap 30. At this point, Titterington had pulled out a healthy lead. Tony Gaze thought it was the best time to end an uninspired race, spinning out of ninth place at Woodcote. On lap 35, Bira caved in and let Ramos through, as well as Moss, who'd easily caught them. Rubirosa and Manzon retired in quick succession with a failed clutch and gearbox respectively. Up front, Ramos fell behind Bira and later Tony Brooks, ending up fifth. Brooks passed Bira on the following lap to make up a B.C.M.A. 2-3.
The fight over third place raged for many lap until lap 64, when Bira pulled into the JAMR pits with a driveshaft failure, ending his race. At the front, though, things were heating up. Collins and Brooks were slowly catching Titterington, and with two laps left, they were within striking distance. Brooks decided not to attack Collins and let his teammate fight for the win. Collins himself caught Titterington on the final lap, and after an unsuccessful attempt at Stowe, pushed the Ulsterman onto the grass at Club. Titterington lost a lot of time, but kept his second place as Brooks was much further behind. Peter Collins was free to go forward to his and his team's first Grand Prix victory. Stirling Moss was running in sixth place when he retired with a gearbox failure. He was classified ninth.
Classification
Entry list
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Prequalifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 |  Peter Collins
|
B.C.M.A. | 1:42.56 | - |
| 2 | 52 | Tony Brooks
|
B.C.M.A. | 1:42.89 | + 0.33 |
| 3 | 54 |  Umberto Maglioli
|
B.C.M.A. | 1:44.75 | + 2.19 |
| 4 | 90 | Luigi Musso
|
Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo | 1:46.91 | + 4.35 |
| 5 | 16 |  Toulo de Graffenried
|
Alfa Romeo-Jaguar | 1:47.05 | + 4.49 |
| 6 | 14 | Cesare Perdisa
|
Alfa Romeo | 1:47.10 | + 4.54 |
| 7 | 72 | Giannino Marzotto
|
O.S.C.A. | 1:47.59 | + 5.03 |
| 8 | 18 |  André Simon
|
Alfa Romeo-Jaguar | 1:47.90 | + 5.34 |
| 9 | 44 | André Guelfi
|
Lancia | 1:48.08 | + 5.52 |
| 10 | 92 |  Alberto Uria
|
Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo | 1:48.23 | + 5.67 |
| 11 | 70 | Dennis Poore
|
Vanwall | 1:48.51 | + 5.95 |
| 12 | 60 | Ken Wharton
|
Ferrari | 1:48.53 | + 5.97 |
| 13 | 22 | Eugenio Castellotti
|
Porsche | 1:48.68 | + 6.12 |
| 14 | 48 |  Joe Kelly
|
Lancia | 1:48.88 | + 6.32 |
| 15 | 20 |  Alfonso de Portago
|
Loyer-Porsche | 1:48.96 | + 6.40 |
| 16 | 8 | Roy Salvadori
|
Bentley | 1:49.02 | + 6.46 |
| 17 | 32 |  Roberto Mières
|
Cooper-FIAT | 1:49.16 | + 6.60 |
| 18 | 74 | Pat Moss
|
O.S.C.A.-Porsche | 1:49.43 | + 6.87 |
| 19 | 24 | Jean Behra
|
Porsche | 1:49.61 | + 7.05 |
| 20 | 96 |  Karl Kling
|
Aston Martin-Jaguar | 1:49.70 | + 7.14 |
| 21 | 94 |  Lucien Bianchi
|
Ambrosiana-Ferrari | 1:49.92 | + 7.36 |
| 22 | 88 | Kenneth McAlpine
|
Bentley | 1:50.04 | + 7.48 |
| 23 | 2 | Edgar Barth
|
Von Hoff-O.S.C.A. | 1:50.84 | + 8.28 |
| 24 | 76 | Anne Hall
|
Bentley | 1:51.76 | + 9.20 |
Qualifying
Race
Notes
Drivers
- First victory for Peter Collins.
- First fastest lap for Desmond Titterington.
- Final entry and start for Jacques Swaters and Lance Macklin.
- Final entry for Joe Kelly and Nello Pagani.
Constructors
Entrants
- First victory for British Commonwealth Motorsport Association.
- First fastest lap for Irish Racing Cars.
- Final points for Officine Renzo.
- First entry for Scuderia Adriatica.
Lap leaders
- Desmond Titterington: 73 laps (1, 3-74)
- Tony Brooks: 1 lap (2)
- Peter Collins: 1 lap (75)
Records broken
Drivers
- Most career starts: B. Bira (44)
- Most career entries: Maurice Trintignant (45)
Constructors
- Most races started: Alfa Romeo (47)
- Most races entered: Ferrari and Alfa Romeo (47)
Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alberto Ascari
|
13 |
| 2 | Desmond Titterington
|
10 |
| 3 | Tony Brooks
|
10 |
| 4 | Consalvo Sanesi
|
10 |
| 5 |  Jack Brabham
|
9 |
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfa Romeo
|
16 |
| 2 | B.C.M.A.
|
15 |
| 3 |  Phoenix-O.S.C.A.
|
13 |
| 4 | Gordini
|
12 |
| 5 | Lancia
|
10 |
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | British Commonwealth Motorsport Association
|
15 |
| 2 | Phoenix Racing Organisation
|
13 |
| 3 | / Alexander Racing Team-Gordini
|
12 |
| 4 | Irish Racing Cars
|
10 |
| 5 | Alfa Romeo SpA
|
9 |
- Only the top five positions are listed.
| Previous race: 1955 Belgian Grand Prix |
Alternate Formula 1 World Championship 1955 Season |
Next race: 1955 Scottish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1954 British Grand Prix |
British Grand Prix | Next race: 1956 British Grand Prix |
