1957 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Fangio leads the championship after the season opener, with Behra second and the Ferrari drivers — who struggled badly with clutch failures in Argentina — yet to mount a serious challenge.

Previous race

At Buenos Aires, Maserati dominated from start to finish. Ferrari’s entire lineup suffered clutch problems: Collins and Musso burnt theirs out and were reduced to sharing Cesare Perdisa’s car, while Hawthorn’s slipped throughout. Moss lost ten laps having a broken throttle linkage fixed on the startline and rejoined only to set fastest lap on his way to eighth. Fangio won his fourth consecutive Argentine Grand Prix ahead of Behra in a Maserati 1–2–3–4 result.

Between-race developments

Four months separate Argentina from Monaco, and the paddock has been transformed. Fangio’s erstwhile Maserati teammate Stirling Moss has moved to Vanwall as planned, with Tony Brooks joining him. In Moss’s place, Harry Schell has joined Maserati from the second race on.

The gap between races has also been marked by tragedy. Ferrari driver Eugenio Castellotti was killed on 14 March when he crashed while testing a new chassis at the Modena Autodrome, thrown from the car after hitting a chicane. His teammate Cesare Perdisa retired from racing in reaction to the loss. Two months later, on 12 May, Ferrari lost another driver: Alfonso de Portago crashed in the Mille Miglia when a tyre blew, killing de Portago, his co-driver, and nine spectators. Ferrari have brought back Maurice Trintignant, one of their 1955 drivers, to bolster their lineup.

In the non-championship races held across the spring, Peter Collins won at Syracuse and Naples for Ferrari, Jean Behra took the Pau Grand Prix in a Maserati, and Stuart Lewis-Evans won the Glover Trophy at Goodwood in a Connaught-Alta.

Entrants

Vanwall, absent from Argentina, makes their World Championship entry. The team’s cars were designed with input from Colin Chapman and are financed by Tony Vandervell. With Moss and Brooks now driving for them, Fangio is the undisputed lead driver at Maserati.

This race marks the Formula One World Championship debuts of Masten Gregory, Stuart Lewis-Evans, and Ivor Bueb. Jack Brabham enters with Cooper.