1955 Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Maurice Trintignant took an unexpected victory in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix after Mercedes‘ challenge collapsed and Alberto Ascari plunged into the harbour. Trintignant’s measured drive brought Ferrari home first ahead of Castellotti’s Lancia and the Maserati shared by Behra and Perdisa.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Pole time	1:41.100
Fastest lap	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Fastest-lap time	1:42.400 on lap 27
First	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari
Second	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia
Third	Jean Behra / Cesare Perdisa	Maserati

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
19 May 1955	Thursday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
20 May 1955	Friday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
21 May 1955	Saturday final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
22 May 1955	Race	Start time unconfirmed

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

Juan Manuel Fangio arrived at round 2 leading the 1955 F1 World Championship on 9 points, with Nino Farina on 3 1/3.

Race entries

Mercedes built short-wheelbase cars for Fangio and Moss, while Lancia brought a strong team including local veteran Chiron. Ferrari mixed newer cars with the older 625, and Hawthorn represented Vanwall. Herrmann’s practice accident forced Mercedes to bring in André Simon, while Perdisa made his championship debut for Maserati.

Thursday timed practice

The opening session moved to the afternoon, and a special rule made it decisive for the front row. Fangio, Ascari and Moss claimed those places as the leading teams compared cars and settings. Hawthorn’s Vanwall had not arrived, and Gordini was also absent. Herrmann crashed heavily, suffering injuries that ended his participation and required Mercedes to arrange a replacement.

Friday timed practice

Hawthorn and the Gordinis joined the early-morning running. Ferrari continued assessing its cars, with Farina preferring the older 625 and Taruffi and Frère trying the remaining entry. Moss found Fangio’s short Mercedes quicker than his own, giving the engineers valuable evidence about weight distribution. Simon began learning the spare Mercedes after being called up for Herrmann.

Saturday final qualifying

Oil from Macklin’s Maserati delayed the session by forty minutes. Once the track cleared, Ascari matched Fangio’s 1:41.1 benchmark and Castellotti also impressed. The front row had already been fixed by Thursday’s rule, however. Macklin and Whiteaway ultimately failed to qualify for the twenty-car field.

Qualifying Classification

Only Thursday’s times determined the front row, an event-specific exception to the usual best-time approach. Later sessions settled the remaining places and allowed further preparation. The classification preserves the official grid rather than treating the weekend as modern knockout qualifying.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Best Time
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	1:41.100
2	26	Alberto Ascari	Lancia	1:41.1
3	6	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	1:41.2
4	30	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia	1:42.0
5	34	Jean Behra	Maserati	1:42.6
6	36	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	1:43.7
7	28	Luigi Villoresi	Lancia	1:43.7
8	38	Luigi Musso	Maserati	1:44.3
9	44	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	1:44.4
10	4	André Simon	Mercedes	1:45.5
11	40	Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	1:45.6
12	18	Mike Hawthorn	Vanwall	1:45.6
13	8	Robert Manzon	Gordini	1:46.0
14	42	Nino Farina	Ferrari	1:46.0
15	48	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	1:46.0
16	12	Élie Bayol	Gordini	1:46.5
17	14	Louis Rosier	Maserati	1:46.7
18	46	Harry Schell	Ferrari	1:46.8
19	32	Louis Chiron	Lancia	1:47.3
20	10	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	1:49.4
DNQ	22	Lance Macklin	Maserati	1:49.4
DNQ	24	Ted Whiteaway	HWM	1:57.2

What happened in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix?

Fangio and Moss established a Mercedes one-two, with Ascari and Castellotti following. Fangio retired around half-distance with transmission trouble, leaving Moss apparently secure. That advantage disappeared when the second Mercedes suffered engine trouble late in the race.

Ascari then crashed through the chicane barriers into the harbour. He escaped and swam to safety, but the incident removed Lancia‘s leading contender just as Mercedes had fallen away. Trintignant inherited the lead in the older Ferrari and completed the remaining laps without a mistake.

Castellotti finished second, with Behra and Perdisa sharing third. Farina took fourth and Mieres fifth. Fangio retained the fastest-lap point despite retirement. Ascari’s escape was followed by tragedy when he died in a separate testing accident four days later; Monaco proved to be his final Grand Prix.

After the race, Maurice Trintignant headed the drivers’ standings with 11 1/3 points, followed by Juan Manuel Fangio on 10.

1955 Monaco Grand Prix race results

The 1955 Monaco Grand Prix was held on 22 May 1955.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	44	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	100	2:58:09.8	8
2	30	Eugenio Castellotti	Lancia	100	+ 20.2	6
3	34	Jean Behra / Cesare Perdisa	Maserati	99	+ 1 lap	2 / 2
4	42	Nino Farina	Ferrari	99	+ 1 lap	3
5	28	Luigi Villoresi	Lancia	99	+ 1 lap	2
6	32	Louis Chiron	Lancia	95	+ 5 laps	0
7	10	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	91	+ 9 laps	0
8	48	Piero Taruffi / Paul Frère	Ferrari	86	+ 14 laps	0
9	6	Stirling Moss	Mercedes	81	+ 19 laps	0
Ret	40	Cesare Perdisa / Jean Behra	Maserati	86	Spun off	0
Ret	26	Alberto Ascari	Lancia	80	Accident	0
Ret	46	Harry Schell	Ferrari	68	Engine	0
Ret	36	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	64	Transmission	0
Ret	12	Élie Bayol	Gordini	63	Transmission	0
Ret	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	49	Transmission	1
Ret	8	Robert Manzon	Gordini	38	Gearbox	0
Ret	4	André Simon	Mercedes	24	Engine	0
Ret	18	Mike Hawthorn	Vanwall	22	Throttle	0
Ret	14	Louis Rosier	Maserati	8	Fuel leak	0
Ret	38	Luigi Musso	Maserati	7	Transmission	0
DNQ	22	Lance Macklin	Maserati			0
DNQ	24	Ted Whiteaway	HWM			0
DNQ	4	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes		Driver injured	0

1 point for fastest lap

1955 Monaco Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	27	1:42.400

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. One championship point was awarded for fastest lap, divided equally when shared.

1955 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix.

1955 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Maurice Trintignant	French	Ferrari	11 1/3
2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Argentine	Mercedes	10
3	Nino Farina	Italian	Ferrari	6 1/3
4	Eugenio Castellotti	Italian	Lancia	6
5	José Froilán González	Argentine	Ferrari	2
6	Jean Behra	French	Maserati	2
7	Cesare Perdisa	Italian	Maserati	2
8	Luigi Villoresi	Italian	Lancia	2
9	Roberto Mieres	Argentine	Maserati	2
10	Umberto Maglioli	Italian	Ferrari	1 1/3
11	Stirling Moss	British	Mercedes	1
12	Karl Kling	German	Mercedes	1
13	Hans Herrmann	German	Mercedes	1
—	Harry Schell	American	Maserati / Ferrari	0
—	Louis Chiron	Monegasque	Lancia	0
—	Luigi Musso	Italian	Maserati	0
—	Sergio Mantovani	Italian	Maserati	0
—	Jacques Pollet	French	Gordini	0
—	Paul Frère	Belgian	Ferrari	0
—	Piero Taruffi	Italian	Ferrari	0
—	Clemar Bucci	Argentine	Maserati	0
—	Carlos Menditeguy	Argentine	Maserati	0
—	Jesús Iglesias	Argentine	Gordini	0
—	Alberto Ascari	Italian	Lancia	0
—	Élie Bayol	French	Gordini	0
—	Alberto Uria	Uruguayan	Maserati	0
—	Robert Manzon	French	Gordini	0
—	André Simon	French	Mercedes	0
—	Mike Hawthorn	British	Vanwall	0
—	Louis Rosier	French	Maserati	0
—	Pablo Birger	Argentine	Gordini	0

There was no constructors’ championship in this season; the manufacturers’ competition began in 1958.

Drivers counted their best 5 results. The first five places earned 8–6–4–3–2 points, with one further point for fastest lap, shared equally when necessary. Points from shared drives were divided between the eligible drivers; individual allocations are shown in driver order.

1955 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1955 Argentine Grand Prix	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires	16 January
2	1955 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	22 May
3	1955 Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana	30 May
4	1955 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	5 June
5	1955 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	19 June
6	1955 British Grand Prix	Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool	16 July
7	1955 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	11 September