1958 Argentine Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Stirling Moss and Rob Walker’s tiny Cooper upset the established order at the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix. By completing the race without changing tyres, Moss beat Ferrari and Maserati to give a rear-engined car its first World Championship Grand Prix victory.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Pole time	1:42.000
Fastest lap	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Fastest-lap time	1:41.800 on lap 30
First	Stirling Moss	Cooper
Second	Luigi Musso	Ferrari
Third	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
Before the race; individual session dates unconfirmed	Practice and qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
19 January 1958	Race	Start time unconfirmed

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

Championship background

The 1958 F1 World Championship began with a fresh points table and the first opportunity to measure the teams in race conditions. Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez hosted the opening contest, where qualifying pace, tyre management and reliability would all shape the result.

Race entries

Just ten cars contested the opener. Vanwall and BRM stayed away while adapting to the new petrol regulations, allowing Moss to accept a drive in Walker’s Cooper-Climax. Ferrari entered Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and Luigi Musso, while reigning champion Juan Manuel Fangio drove a privately entered Maserati alongside Carlos Menditeguy.

Practice and qualifying

The change from alcohol-based fuel to petrol made engine preparation a central concern. Hawthorn’s Ferrari also had experimental brakes that encouraged wheel locking, while Fangio tried both available Maseratis before selecting his car. The leading Italian machines remained closely matched and Fangio secured pole. Moss’s smaller Cooper qualified further back, but its lower weight offered a different route to success. The surviving contemporary account groups practice together, without establishing a complete session-by-session timetable.

Qualifying Classification

The grid reflects the fastest recorded qualifying laps. Individual practice session dates and clocks are not established in the available account; the schedule therefore identifies the pre-race qualifying period without inventing separate sessions.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Best Time
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	1:42.000
2	20	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	1:42.6
3	18	Peter Collins	Ferrari	1:42.6
4	4	Jean Behra	Maserati	1:42.7
5	16	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	1:42.9
6	6	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	1:43.7
7	14	Stirling Moss	Cooper	1:44.0
8	8	Harry Schell	Maserati	1:44.2
9	10	Paco Godia	Maserati	1:49.3
10	12	Horace Gould	Maserati	1:51.7

What happened in the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix?

Collins’s Ferrari suffered a driveshaft failure at the start, immediately reducing the field. Hawthorn and Fangio fought at the front while Moss brought the Cooper steadily into contention. Hawthorn’s concern over falling oil pressure cost him a stop, and Fangio also had to change worn rear tyres.

Those stops left Moss ahead, but the Cooper‘s remaining tyre life became the decisive question. A change would have been particularly costly with its bolt-on wheels. Moss moderated his pace and coaxed the car towards the finish while the opposition waited for a stop that never came.

Musso closed in, but Moss had enough in hand to win by 2.7 seconds. Hawthorn took third, with Fangio fourth and Behra fifth. Fangio collected the fastest-lap point, but the headline belonged to Cooper and Walker: a small private team had beaten the more powerful front-engined cars through careful driving and race strategy.

After the race, Stirling Moss headed the drivers’ standings with 8 points, followed by Luigi Musso on 6.

1958 Argentine Grand Prix race results

The 1958 Argentine Grand Prix was held on 19 January 1958.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	14	Stirling Moss	Cooper	80	2:19:33.7	8
2	16	Luigi Musso	Ferrari	80	+2.7 secs	6
3	20	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	80	+12.6 secs	4
4	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	80	+53.0 secs	4
5	4	Jean Behra	Maserati	78	+2 Laps	2
6	8	Harry Schell	Maserati	77	+3 Laps	0
7	6	Carlos Menditeguy	Maserati	76	+4 Laps	0
8	10	Paco Godia	Maserati	75	+5 Laps	0
9	12	Horace Gould	Maserati	71	+9 Laps	0
Ret	18	Peter Collins	Ferrari	0	Halfshaft	0

Includes 1 point for fastest lap

1958 Argentine Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	30	1:41.800

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

1958 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.

1958 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Stirling Moss	British	Cooper	8
2	Luigi Musso	Italian	Ferrari	6
3	Mike Hawthorn	British	Ferrari	4
4	Juan Manuel Fangio	Argentine	Maserati	4
5	Jean Behra	French	Maserati	2
—	Harry Schell	American	Maserati	0
—	Carlos Menditeguy	Argentine	Maserati	0
—	Paco Godia	Spanish	Maserati	0
—	Horace Gould	British	Maserati	0
—	Peter Collins	British	Ferrari	0

1958 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Cooper	8
2	Ferrari	6
3	Maserati	3

Drivers counted their best 6 results. The first five places earned 8–6–4–3–2 points, with one further point for fastest lap, shared equally when necessary. Shared drives earned no championship points. Constructors also retained their best 6 results, scoring through only their highest-placed eligible car, without fastest-lap points. Indianapolis counted for drivers only.

1958 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1958 Argentine Grand Prix	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires	19 January
2	1958 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	18 May
3	1958 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	26 May
4	1958 Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana	30 May
5	1958 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	15 June
6	1958 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	6 July
7	1958 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	19 July
8	1958 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	3 August
9	1958 Portuguese Grand Prix	Circuito da Boavista, Porto	24 August
10	1958 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	7 September
11	1958 Moroccan Grand Prix	Ain-Diab Circuit, Casablanca	19 October