1958 Monaco Grand Prix

Previous race

In Argentina, Stirling Moss won for the Rob Walker Racing Team in a Cooper T43-Climax, holding on without a tyre stop as the canvas showed on both rear tyres. It was the first World Championship win for a rear-engined car, the first win for a privateer team, and the first win for a car powered by another manufacturer’s engine. Luigi Musso (Ferrari) finished second, Hawthorn third.

Between-race developments

Fangio, who set pole and fastest lap in Argentina, subsequently won the Formula Libre Buenos Aires Grand Prix and was then kidnapped in Cuba. He has remained in America to prepare for an Indianapolis 500 campaign and will not race at Monaco.

Championship standings

After the Argentine result, Musso holds a four-point championship lead over race winners Moss and Trintignant.

Entrants

Vanwall and BRM return after their Argentine absence. Moss goes back to his Vanwall seat; his place at Rob Walker Racing is taken by Maurice Trintignant, who takes the wheel of the team’s new Cooper T45. The race-winning T43 cannot qualify for Monaco’s 16-car grid.

Team Lotus make their World Championship debut. Graham Hill lines up in the Lotus 12-Climax for his first Formula One start — a future five-time Monaco winner. Cliff Allison is in the second Lotus.

Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first female driver to enter a World Championship Grand Prix, takes the start in a privateer Maserati 250F. Bernie Ecclestone enters two Connaught B-Types for Bruce Kessler and Paul Emery. Monaco local Louis Chiron, 58 years old, makes his final Grand Prix appearance in a Maserati 250F; he won this race 27 years ago.

Practice

With 30 drivers competing for 16 places, the grid is tightly fought. Tony Brooks takes pole for Vanwall. Jean Behra (BRM) wins the start and leads until his brakes fail. Hawthorn sweeps through in the Ferrari and duels with Moss (Vanwall) in the mid-race phase before both retire.