1958 Argentine Grand Prix

Entrants

This is the season opener and the first race to run under the new commercial petrol regulations. The re-tuning required for British teams’ engines is not complete in time for the long trip to Buenos Aires, and Vanwall and BRM are absent. The result is the smallest entry in World Championship history: just ten cars. Scuderia Ferrari enters three cars, six private Maseratis are entered by various teams, and Stirling Moss is released by Vanwall to drive the Rob Walker Racing Team’s Cooper T43-Climax — a car already being superseded by the new T45 at the factory Cooper team.

With Vanwall absent, defending champion Juan Manuel Fangio qualifies on pole in the Scuderia Sud Americana Maserati 250F, his 29th pole position, setting a new record. Ferrari’s Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins share the front row.

Weather

The race is held in very hot conditions and is shortened from the planned 400 kilometres to 313 — mirroring the arrangement made at the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix. The 80-lap race runs on the #2 four-kilometre variation of the Autodromo Municipal.

Practice

Jean Behra (Maserati) led early in practice before Fangio took over. With the stifling heat a factor, the Walker team considers whether to run the race without a tyre stop. The Cooper’s four-stud wheels would take almost two laps to change all four tyres — far slower than the Ferrari and Maserati Centerlock hubs. To disguise the strategy, Moss and the team spend practice complaining loudly about their tyre situation.