1959 Season

The 1959 season is the 10th World Championship of Drivers. Nine rounds are scheduled between 10 May and 12 December.

No reigning champion

For the first time, there is no world champion on the starting grids. Five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio retired after the 1958 season. The 1958 champion Mike Hawthorn retired from racing and was subsequently killed in a road accident in January, before the season begins.

Driver changes

Stirling Moss leaves Vanwall to drive a private Cooper for the Rob Walker Racing Team.

Scuderia Ferrari fields an entirely new driver line-up. Tony Brooks joins from Vanwall, Jean Behra from BRM, and Cliff Allison from Lotus. Wolfgang von Trips moves to the Porsche works team, and Olivier Gendebien leaves to focus on sports car and endurance racing.

Cooper Car Company signs American Masten Gregory to replace Roy Salvadori, who joins the new Aston Martin works team alongside Carroll Shelby. Lotus replaces Allison with American Pete Lovely.

Team changes

Vanwall effectively withdraws after team owner Tony Vandervell’s health declined; the team will not run as a full works effort.

Aston Martin makes their Formula One debut this season with Salvadori and Shelby.

The Porsche works team makes their first proper Formula One entry at Monaco, running 1500cc cars despite the 2500cc capacity limit. Their appearance is limited to the Monaco Grand Prix this year.

Calendar

Nine rounds are scheduled, opening at Monaco on 10 May and closing with the first-ever United States Grand Prix at Sebring International Raceway on 12 December. The Argentine Grand Prix, originally scheduled for January, was cancelled after Fangio and Gonzalez retired from racing and local interest faded. The Belgian and Moroccan Grands Prix were also cancelled — Belgium over a dispute about start money, Morocco for financial reasons.

Three venues change: the British Grand Prix moves from Silverstone to Aintree under the circuits’ established rotation; the German Grand Prix moves from the Nürburgring to the high-speed AVUS circuit in West Berlin; the Portuguese Grand Prix moves from Circuito da Boavista to Monsanto Park Circuit.

The Indianapolis 500 counts toward the championship for the penultimate time.

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top five finishers (8-6-4-3-2), with one additional point for setting the fastest lap regardless of finishing position. Only each driver’s best five results count toward the championship. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers counts only the highest-finishing car per constructor per race; Indianapolis 500 results do not count toward the cup.