1957 Pescara Grand Prix

Championship standings

Fangio clinched his fifth World Championship title at the German Grand Prix, becoming the sport’s most decorated champion — a record that would stand until Michael Schumacher in 2003. He leads the standings with 34 points, ahead of Luigi Musso on 16 and Mike Hawthorn on 13. Tony Brooks sits fourth with 10 points, with Sam Hanks, Stirling Moss, and Peter Collins all level on 8.

Previous race

At the Nürburgring, Fangio took a slow pit stop that lasted over a minute — originally intended to take 30 seconds — and rejoined in third place, nearly 48 seconds behind the leading Lancia-Ferraris of Collins and Hawthorn. He broke the lap record nine times over the following ten laps and passed first Collins and then Hawthorn on the penultimate lap to win. Fangio afterwards said, “I have never driven that quickly before in my life and I don’t think I will ever be able to do it again.” The race was also Fangio’s 24th and final victory in Formula One.

Entrants

Ferrari have withdrawn from this race citing safety concerns following the Mille Miglia disaster earlier in the year, in which de Portago’s accident killed eleven people including his co-driver and nine spectators. Ferrari has also objected to the Italian government’s moves to ban road racing as a consequence. Luigi Musso persuaded Ferrari to lend him a car, and he enters as an unofficial privateer — this does not constitute an official Ferrari entry.

The constructors officially entered are Maserati, Vanwall, and Cooper-Climax. Around 200,000 spectators are estimated to be attending, many watching from houses along the circuit with no entry ticket required.

Circuit

This is the first World Championship race to be held at Pescara. The 25.579 km (15.894 mi) public road circuit is the longest ever used for a Formula One championship race — longer even than the Nürburgring. The track has been modified after the Mille Miglia: a chicane has been added at the end of the seafront straight to comply with new safety regulations.

Practice

There are no official practice sessions. Drivers completed observation laps in road cars two days before the race. Qualifying was held in two sessions on Saturday — 07:00 to 09:30 and 16:30 to 18:30 local time. Between the sessions, the straw bales were removed and the road reopened to the public. Fangio set the quickest time of 9:44.6 to take pole position, an average speed of 103.95 mph (167.29 km/h) that unofficially beat the previous lap record of 89.2 mph. Moss was second at 9:54.7 and Musso third at 10:00.0.

Weather

The race takes place in dry and very hot weather.