1959 United States Grand Prix

The 1959 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on December 12, 1959 at Sebring International Raceway.

Summary

Russian-born Alec Ulmann's dream of an American Grand Prix was realized in December, 1959 when 19 entries, including six American drivers, arrived in Florida for the final World Championship event of the season. Originally scheduled as the year's opening round, the now season-concluding Sebring race saw the Championship down to Cooper versus Ferrari. Australian Jack Brabham led for Cooper with 31 points to 25.5 for Stirling Moss, also in a Cooper, and 23 for Ferrari driver Tony Brooks.

The field featured works Coopers for Brabham and 22-year-old Bruce McLaren of New Zealand; blue Rob Walker-entered Coopers for Moss and Frenchman Maurice Trintignant; four Ferraris—three in Italian red for Englishmen Brooks and Cliff Allison, and German Wolfgang von Trips; one in American white and blue for Phil Hill; front-engined Lotuses for Innes Ireland and Alan Stacey; and, incomprehensibly for the European road-racing elite, the number 1 Kurtis-Offy Midget of USAC National Champion Rodger Ward, the only American-built and American-driven entry.

Ward's car had an underpowered engine (1.7 liters to 2.5 for the F1 cars), separate gear-change levers for the two-speed gearbox and two-speed rear end, and an outboard handbrake! Ward explained how his participation in the race came about by saying, "Ullman called me up and invited me to race in the Grand Prix. He offered me some money, and I was in the habit of accepting money, so I told him I'd bring the midget."

Qualifying ended with Moss, Brabham and Brooks on the front row, but, overnight, American Harry Schell was given third position, next to Moss and Brabham. The 3:05.2 lap that got Schell on the front row apparently had come at the tail end of the session, and had gone unnoticed by almost everyone; his best time previously had been 3:11.2, good enough for 11th.

Moss led the race from the start and built a gap of ten seconds over Brabham, but after only five laps he retired with a broken gearbox. Already out of the running for the title was Brooks, who had been bumped off the front row by Schell's qualifying ruse. Brooks was rammed from behind by teammate von Trips in the first turn, and pitted to examine the damage. The stop cost him two minutes, and proved to be unnecessary. Though he rejoined to drive a sensational race and finish third, he never had a realistic shot at Brabham.

Brabham took the lead from Moss while his teammate McLaren followed in second for most of the race. Midway through, with half the field out due to mechanical problems, Brabham slowed to allow McLaren to close up to him, and Trintignant's Rob Walker Cooper began taking huge bites off their lead, as his pit crew kept him informed of his position.

As the last lap began, Trintignant was only four seconds behind the two leaders. On the long airport straight, two turns from the finish, Brabham's car began to sputter, and it rolled to a halt 400 yards from the line on the uphill front straight, out of gas. He had refused to follow Team Manager Cooper's exhortations to start the race on full tanks, hoping instead to find more speed from a lighter car. McLaren, surprised to see Brabham slowing, lifted his foot and slowed as well. Brabham waved him on frantically, and McLaren resumed speed just soon enough to hold his lead through the last turn and cross the line less than a second ahead of Trintignant, who had set the race's fastest lap only three laps from the end.

Brabham was also passed by Brooks for third place, but the final three cars still running were several laps behind. The rules required that he finish without assistance, so he got out and pushed his car up the hill to finish fourth and earn his first World Driver's Championship, the first for an Australian driver. Cooper also claimed its first Constructor's Championship, the first for a rear-engined car. Brooks' third place gave Ferrari second place in the Constructor's Championship; Innes Ireland was fifth, three laps down in his Lotus, and Wolfgang von Trips ended up sixth after his Ferrari's engine gave way with four laps to go. With his victory, McLaren became the youngest ever Grand Prix winner at age 22 years, 104 days. In addition to his prize money, he also won several acres of land adjoining Sebring Lake!

Despite the exciting finish of the race and the Championship, however, the United States Grand Prix at Sebring was a financial disaster. The crowd was half the size of that year's 12 Hours of Sebring sports car race, and after distributing the $15,000 purse, including a huge $6,000 winner's share, Alec Ulmann just about broke even. The next year, he would try again, on the opposite coast, in Riverside, California.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	9	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	42	2:12:35.7	10	8
2	6	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	42	+ 0.6	5	7
3	2	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	42	+ 3:00.9	4	4
4	8	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	42	+ 4:57.3	2	3
5	10	Innes Ireland	Lotus-Climax	39	+ 3 Laps	9	2
6	4	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari	38	Engine	6
7	17	Harry Blanchard	Porsche	38	+ 4 Laps	16
Ret	3	Cliff Allison	Ferrari	23	Transmission	11
Ret	12	Roy Salvadori	Cooper-Maserati	23	Transmission	11
Ret	1	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	20	Clutch	19
Ret	14	Alessandro de Tomaso	Cooper-Osca	13	Brakes	14
Ret	5	Phil Hill	Ferrari	8	Clutch	8
Ret	15	Fritz d'Orey	Tec-Mec-Maserati	6	Oil Leak	17
Ret	7	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Climax	5	Transmission	1
Ret	19	Harry Schell	Cooper-Climax	5	Clutch	3
Ret	16	George Constantine	Cooper-Borgward	5	Overheating	15
Ret	11	Alan Stacey	Lotus-Climax	2	Clutch	12
Ret	18	Bob Said	Connaught-Alta	0	Accident	13
DNS	22	Phil Cade	Maserati			18

Notes

• Fernando Alonso succeeded Bruce McLaren as the youngest driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix when he won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix at the age of 22 years 26 days. He would hold this record until Sebastian Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at age 21 years, 73 days.

• For the first time in nine years, three drivers had the chance to win the championship in the last race.
  • Brabham (31 points) needed either
    • First or second, with Moss behind him
    • Third with fastest lap and Moss second
    • Brooks second or lower and Moss third or lower
  • Moss (25.5 points) needed either
    • First
    • Second with Brabham behind him, and Brooks first without fastest lap or lower
    • Second with fastest lap, with Brabham behind him
  • Brooks (23 points) needed either
    • First with fastest lap and Brabham third or lower
    • First, with Moss second without fastest lap or lower and Brabham third or lower

• Trintignant was the last man to receive a Championship point for recording the race's fastest lap, as the next year the rule was changed.

• This was the last race until the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix that there was no previous World Champion competing.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jack Brabham 31 (34) 2 Tony Brooks 27 3 Stirling Moss 25.5 4 Phil Hill 20 5 Maurice Trintignant 19

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Cooper-Climax 40 (53) 2 Ferrari 32 (40) 3 BRM 18 4 Lotus-Climax 5

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results counted towards each Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

• Cooper, John (1977). The Grand Prix Carpetbaggers: The Autobiography of John Cooper. Doubleday. 

• Nye, Doug (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. 

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