1956 Formula One season

The 1956 Formula One season featured the seventh FIA World Championship of Drivers as well as numerous non-championship races for Formula One cars. The championship series commenced on January 22, 1956 and ended on September 2 after eight races. Juan Manuel Fangio won his third consecutive title, the fourth of his career. Until the season this was the last season during which no British constructor won any race.

Season summary
Fangio joined Ferrari after Mercedes-Benz, with whom he had won the 1954 title, withdrew from the sport. Ferrari acquired the folded Lancia team's D50 cars and put together a strong team containing Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso and Peter Collins. Fangio won the opening race after commandeering Musso's car after his own car had broken down. Collins and Fangio's team-mate at Mercedes, Stirling Moss – now driving for Maserati provided the biggest challenge to his title defence, each winning two races. In an open season the British Connaughts, Vanwalls and BRMs also showed some signs of promise.

Going into the final race of the season, Fangio had an eight-point lead over Collins and the consistent Jean Behra, driving for Maserati. The only way he could lose the title would be to score no points with Collins winning and setting fastest lap. (Because a driver could only count their best 5 scores, Behra could not win the title). Fangio retired, and with Musso unwilling to share his car with Fangio, Collins had a great chance of winning his first title. Collins, in a remarkable act of sportsmanship, instead chose to hand his car over to Fangio to allow the Argentine to finish second in the race and win his third title in a row.

Points were given to top 5 finishers (8, 6, 4, 3, 2). 1 point was given for fastest lap. Only the best five scores counted towards the world championship. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps.

Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1956 FIA World Championship.

1956 Drivers Championship final standings
Championship points were awarded at each round on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis to the first five finishers with an additional point awarded to the driver setting the fastest lap of the race. Only the best five round results were counted.


 * Italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – point shared equally between drivers sharing fastest lap)
 * Bold indicates pole position
 * † Position shared between more drivers of the same car
 * Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

Non-Championship race results
Other Formula One races also held in 1956, which did not count towards the World Championship.