ARA Model Review: 1957 MASERATI 250F FORMULA ONE #1 (Fangio at Nurburgring)
13 July 1998
ARA MODEL REVIEW BRUMM 1:43 SCALE 1957 MASERATI 250F FORMULA ONE #1, WINNER, AUGUST 4, 1957 GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY, NURBURGRING, JUAN MANUEL FANGIO Brumm Catalog #R92 Distributed by Automobilia, division of Lustron Industries, Inc. 18 Windgate Drive, New City, New York 10956 Phone or fax: 914-639-6806 e-mail: lustron@worldnet.att.net As with all Brumm models (manufactured in Italy), the model is 1:43 scale and is presented in a see-through plastic display case with a removable cover. The 1:43 scale is a good compromise between space considerations regarding display and sufficient size to permit reasonable levels of detail. Model length: 4.0 inches; width: 1.50 inches; height: 1.0 inch Model construction: Metal with plastic interior (detailed) and windscreen, exhaust system Display case length: 5 inches; width: 2.50 inches; height: 2.50 inches The 1957 version of the Maserati 250F was a history-making Grand Prix car; it carried Juan Manuel Fangio to his fifth, and fourth consecutive, World Championship title and, in Maserati's greatest year, earned the marque its only World Championship driver title! The 250F represented classic 1950s Grand Prix design; the model designation was first applied to the 1954 Maserati Grand Prix cars. Former works cars sold to private teams became a large part of the Grand Prix entry and the backbone of the "privateer" effort in mid-1950s Grand Prix competition! As Mike Lawrence notes in his Directory of Grand Prix Cars: 1945 to 1965 (Aston Publications, 1989): "It was an ideal privateer's car, being practical, relatively simple and reliable, and strong and sweet to drive. Without it, it is hard to imagine what the state of F1 would have been like in the mid-1950s, especially the many non-Championship events." The impressive and dramatic bright red Brumm model depicts the most famous of the 250Fs, the #1 driven by Fangio to victory in one of the classic races of all time, the 1957 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring! The win over the Scuderia Ferrari and Vanwall teams, featuring a record-shattering Fast Lap, clinched Fangio's 1957 title! The 1957 German GP was the only race in 1957 contested by Fangio in a works Maserati designated as #1! In most of the events his car wore #2, with the exception of Monaco (#32), Reims (#10) and Casablanca (#6). The German GP-winning car was chassis number 2529 (referred to by most sources as "the lightweight") and was driven by Fangio in the World Championship races at Buenos Aires, Rouen, Aintree, Nurburgring, Pescara, and Monza and in the nonchampionship Buenos Aires City GP and Casablanca events. The car was driven by Harry Schell at Monaco. Clear photography, including pages 116 and 121 of Mike Lang's book Grand Prix! (Haynes Publishing, 1981), and page 176 of The History of Motor Racing (William Boddy and Brian Laban, W.H. Smith, London, 1977), confirms the car's unusual numeral positioning (slanted) and the numeral design. The car's silhouette, mirror design, and wheels are modeled accurately. The windscreen, side and hood scooping and deflector design are correctly represented. The filler cap positioning on the tail is accurately reproduced. Two of the three Maserati badges are correctly placed; the third, on the nosepiece, should be below the angled numeral rather than above it. The model is accurately representative of the 250F as the "sleekest" of the front-engined F1 cars of the period! Mike Lawrence describes the introduction of the 250F in 1954 as follows: "For the new formula Maserati made what was to become recognized as one of the great classic designs, the 250/F1, which abbreviated to 250F. In truth, it broke no new ground and was not exceptionally successful, with only eight World Championship wins during the four years the works ran them. It was, however, beautiful to behold, sold in large numbers to privateers, confirmed the stature of Stirling Moss and provided Fangio with perhaps his greatest drive, in the 1957 German GP. Further, 250Fs not only appeared in the first race of the 2.5-litre formula, Argentine 1954, but also in the last, US GP, 1960. My own theory is that it achieved classic status after Fangio drove it at Rouen in 1957. Photographs showing him holding it in a four-wheel drift on a long, sweeping downhill curve caught everyone's imagination. It is the epitome of Grand Prix racing of the period." As Brad King noted in Racing Cars (Octopus Books, London, 1973), the Maserati 250F was "an unsophisticated car but a light and attractively designed one that was always a potential winner in the hands of a good driver-as Juan Manuel Fangio proved when he won the Argentine and Belgian Grands Prix with the brand new car in 1954, before he moved to Mercedes-Benz." In Racing Cars and the History of Motorsport (Octopus Books, London, 1973), Peter Roberts states "Although the 250F Maserati of the 50s was not a sophisticated car, its body shape is generally acknowledged to be the zenith of design aesthetics. It really LOOKED like a Grand Prix vehicle." In The Grand Prix (W.W. Norton Company, New York, 1973), L.J.K. Setright discusses the six-cylinder 250F: "The 2.5-litre Maserati, which continued into 1957 as a faster car than ever, a better handling car than ever, yet in comparison with its rivals a more old-fashioned car than ever. Moving the propellor shaft alongside the driver allowed the car to be lower overall, more tubes might be put into the chassis to make it stiffer, minor tricks of the aerodynamicist's trade might be tried around the radiator duct to make it a little faster, but the Maserati trump card for 1957 was that they had Fangio to drive a car that had been brought al punto by Moss at the end of the previous season. It was evident then that the car had more than sheer power and speed to help it on its way, for it was visibly more controllable through corners than were its rivals." Lawrence states "1957 was to be the type's greatest year. The chassis were built from smaller-gauge tubes and moved closer to being true space-frames. Power was increased to 270 bhp at 8000 rpm, partly by adding nitromethane to the fuel. Even wider drum brakes were employed and the body was sleeker." The works Maserati team entered at least four Maserati 250F racecars in each of the seven rounds of the 1957 World Championship season. Privateer teams also utilized Maserati 250F entries but these were cars built prior to 1957; for example, the most successful privateer effort, the Scuderia Centro Sud team, campaigned 1956 250Fs. For the first race of the 1957 World Championship season, the January 13 Grand Prix of Argentina on the Buenos Aires Autodrome, the works Maserati entry consisted of Juan Manuel Fangio, Jean Behra, Carlos Menditeguy, and Stirling Moss. Moss, Fangio and Behra qualified 1-2-3 with Menditeguy starting eighth. The race was a battle between the works Maseratis and the Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50s. A chaotic start marred the event, with Moss' 250F suffering a bent throttle rod necessitating a long pit stop. Behra led the first two laps of the race; Eugenio Castellotti then led the next six laps in a Lancia. Behra then retook the lead for the next four laps before Peter Collins in another Lancia led from laps thirteen through twenty-five; the Scuderia Ferrari Lancia drivers both retired with clutch failure! Thereafter, Fangio and Behra led the remainder of the race (Fangio for 73 laps, Behra for eight) with Fangio (18.3 seconds victory margin), Behra and Menditeguy (one lap down) finishing 1-2-3 for a works Maserati sweep of the podium! Harry Schell in a Scuderia Centro Sud 1956-built Maserati 250F finished fourth, two laps down, with the first non-Maserati, the Jose Froilan Gonzalez/Alfonso De Portago Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50, fifth, two laps down! Moss set Fast Lap en route to finishing eighth, seven laps down, in the fourth works Maserati 250F! Fangio's victory gave him a point lead he would never lose in 1957! For round two, May 19 at Monaco, Fangio and Menditeguy were joined by Giorgio SCarlatti, Harry Schell, and Hans Herrmann in the works Maserati 250F team. Fangio won the pole but Menditeguy and Schell qualified seventh and eighth with Scarlatti fourteenth and Herrmann failing to qualify with an effort ranking nineteenth. Stirling Moss had joined Vanwall for the remaineder of the 1957 season; he led the first four laps of the 1957 Monaco GP before wrecking! Fangio then took over the lead and led the remainder of the 105-lap race, setting Fast Lap en route to a 25.2 seconds victory margin over Tony Brooks in a Vanwall. Masten Gregory finished third, two laps down, in a Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati 250F. The other three works 250Fs retired! Schell retired from fourth place after 23 laps with suspension failure; Menditeguy wrecked after 50 laps while running third, while Scarlatti, with relief from Schell, retired with an oil leak after 64 laps after running as high as fifth. Fangio now led the championship with 17 points to six apiece for Behra and Brooks. The French Grand Prix, held at Rouen on July 7, was round three of the 1957 title chase. Fangio was joined by Behra, Schell, and Menditeguy in the works 250F entries. Fangio and Behra qualified 1-2 with Schell fourth and Menditeguy ninth. Luigi Musso led the first three laps (and set Fast Lap) in a Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 but Fangio led the remainder of the 77-lap race, taking a 50.8 seconds victory over Musso with Ferrari's Peter Collins third, 75.2 seconds behind Musso. After running second on the first lap, Behra suffered a split exhaust and finished fifth, seven laps down. Schell ran fifth early in the race but an overheating engine placed him sixth, also seven laps down. Menditegury ran as high as fifth through lap 25 but was seventh when his engine expired after 30 laps. Fangio now led teammate Behra 25 to 8 in the title chase! The British Grand Prix was held at Aintree on July 20, and Maserati was again represented by Fangio, Behra, Schell, and Menditeguy. All four retired with mechanical problems as Fangio's win streak ended and Maserati had no "podium" representative for the first time in 1957's World Championship! Stirling Moss won the pole in his Vanwall with Behra qualifying second, Fangio fourth, Schell seventh and Menditeguy eleventh. Moss led the first twenty-two laps with Behra running second; Moss then suffered mechanical problems and pitted, taking over the Vanwall of the ill-feeling Tony Brooks and setting Fast Lap on a march through the field. Behra took over the lead and led laps 23-69 before suffering clutch failure! Moss then took over the lead in Brooks' Vanwall and led the remainder of the 90-lap race, winning over Luigi Musso and Mike Hawthorn in Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50s. Fangio's engine failed after 49 laps while running seventh; his best position during the event was sixth! Schell, sixth on lap one, fell to thirteenth at the time of his retirement after 39 laps with water pump failure. Menditeguy ran seventh and retired from eighth after 35 laps with gearbox failure! Fangio's lone failure of 1957 closed the leadership gap to twelve points as Fangio remained at 25 points with Luigi Musso next at 13. The August 4 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring produced a legendary Fangio victory in the Maserati 250F depicted by the Brumm model! Fangio, Behra, and Schell were joined in works 250Fs by Giorgio Scarlatti. Fangio won the pole with Behra qualifying third, Schell sixth and Scarlatti thirteenth. Maserati employed a strategy of starting on half-full fuel tanks, necessitating a fuel stop. Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 driver Mike Hawthorn led the first two laps before Fangio took over the lead from laps three through eleven before pitting. Peter Collins then led the next three laps in another Ferrari Lancia D50 before Hawthorn resumed the lead through lap twenty. Fangio's pursuit lowered the lap record from 9 minutes, 41.6 seconds prior to 1957 to a Fast Lap of nine minutes, 17.4 seconds, 8.2 seconds quicker than Fangio's pole time of nine minutes, 25.6 seconds! Fangio took the lead on lap 21 (of 22) and won by 3.6 seconds over Hawthorn as Collins and Luigi Musso completed a 2-3-4 finish for Scuderia Ferrari. Behra ran fourth for the first nine laps but slipped to sixth, on the lead lap, at the finish. Schell ran as high as tenth on lap ten but finished seventh, also on the lead lap. Scarlatti finished tenth, one lap down. The points after the German GP were Fangio 34, Musso 16. Round six of the 1957 Championship took place at Pescara, Italy. Fangio won the pole (his fourth of the season) with Behra qualifying fourth, Schell fifth and Scarlatti tenth. Luigi Musso led the first lap in the only Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 entered; thereafter, Moss led the remaining seventeen laps in his Vanwall, setting Fast Lap en route to a victory margin of three minutes, 13.9 seconds over Fangio. Fangio had spun on oil deposited when Musso retired and pitted for wheel changing. Schell finished third, also on the lead lap but 4 minutes, 22.9 seconds behind Fangio on the long circuit! Scarlatti ran fifth mid-race and finished sixth, one lap down. Behra ran fourth for the first four laps before retiring with oil pipe problems. The Pescara result moved Moss into second place in points with 17 behind Fangio's 40. The Grand Prix of Italy at Monza on September 8 was the season finale. Fangio, Behra, and Schell qualified 4-5-6 with Scarlatti starting twelfth. Vanwall took the front row with Stuart Lewis-Evans winning the pole! Vanwall and Maserati combined to lead every lap although the advantage was Vanwall's, 81 to 6! Behra led laps four and six but dropped back to tenth with an overheating engine, finally retiring after 49 laps. Stirling Moss' Vanwall teammates Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans led a total of nine laps (Lewis-Evans five, Brooks four) with Brooks also setting Fast Lap but Lewis-Evans retired with mechanical problems and Brooks' throttle stuck while he was leading after twenty laps and a pit stop dropped him to an eventual seventh, five laps down. Moss upheld Vanwall's honors by leading 72 of the 87 laps, winning by 41.2 seconds over Fangio. Fangio was seventh on the first lap but led laps seven through ten before running second for the final sixty-four laps of the event. Wolfgang Von Trips was third, albeit two laps down, in a Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50. Harry Schell was running third when he retired with mechanical problems after 34 laps; he took over Giorgio Scarlatti's car and finished fifth, three laps down. All told, the works Maserati team made 29 entries of its 250F racecars in the 1957 World Championship, resulting in 28 race starts. Fangio was the only driver to compete for the works Maserati team in all seven 1957 World Championship events. Fangio won four races and finished second twice, achieving six point-paying finishes, four poles, and two Fast Laps. He suffered one mechanical retirement, posting an average finish of 3.0 from an average start of 2.0! Juan Manuel completed 458 of 499 possible laps, or 91.78%! He led five races for a total of 263 laps, or 52.71%! Jean Behra competed in six 1957 World Championship races for the works Maserati team, posting one runnerup and one fifth-place finish for a total of two point-paying finishes. He earned one non-points finish and suffered three mechanical retirements. Behra achieved an average finish of 8.0 from an average start of 3.2. Jean completed 314 of 394 possible laps, or 79.69%. He led three races for a total of 57 laps, or 14.46%. Harry Schell also drove in six 1957 World Championship races for the works Maserati team, achieving a third-place finish and sharing a fifth-place finish with Scarlatti. He posted two non-point finishes and suffered two mechanical retirements. Schell achieved an average finish of 10.0 from an average start of 6.0. He completed 206 of 399 possible laps, or 51.63%. Carlos Menditeguy's four 1957 World Championship races for the works Maserati team produced one third-place finish, two mechanical retirements and one retirement by accident. His average finish of 9.5 came from an average start of 8.8. He completed 214 of 372 possible laps, or 57.53%. Giorgio Scarlatti's four 1957 World Championship races for the works Maserati team resulted in one fifth-place finish shared by Harry Schell, two non-points finishes and one mechanical retirement. His average finish of 7.25 came from an average start of 12.25. He completed 186 of 232 possible laps, or 80.17%. Stirling Moss' one 1957 World Championship start in a works Maserati resulted in a non-point eighth-place finish from a pole start, setting Fast Lap en route to completing 93 of the race's 100 laps. Hans Herrmann failed to qualify for the Monaco GP driving a works Maserati. All told, the 28 1957 World Championship works Maserati 250F race starts produced four wins, three runnerup finishes and two third-place finishes for a total of nine "podium" finishes plus two fifth-place finishes for a total of eleven point-paying finishes. Six non-point finishes were achieved. Ten entries retired, nine mechanical failures and one accident. The 28 entries completed 1471 of 1996 possible laps, or 73.7%. The works Maseratis achieved five poles and set three Fast Laps. The cars led six of the eight races for a total of 320 laps, or 64.13%. The works Maseratis won four races of the seven contested, all by Fangio. Vanwall took three wins, with Stirling Moss taking two and sharing the other with Tony Brooks. In the three races won by Fangio, the leading non-works Maserati finishes were recorded twice by Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50s, once apiece by drivers Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso, and by Harry Schell in a Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati. Of twenty-one (21) possible "podium" finishes in 1957 World Championship competition, works Maseratis achieved nine, works Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50s took seven, Vanwall achieved four and a Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati took one. Works Maseratis took five pole positions (Fangio four, Moss one) to two for Vanwall (Moss one, Lewis-Evans one). Works Maseratis achieved three Fast Laps (two Fangio, one Moss), a figure matched by Vanwall (Moss two, Brooks one). Luigi Musso scored the other driving a Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50. Works Maseratis led six races and 320 laps; Vanwall led four races and 145 laps and Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50s led four races and 34 laps. Works Maseratis scored a 1-2-3 at Buenos Aires in the Argentine GP with Maserati 250Fs from both the works and Centro Sud combining for a 1-2-3-4. No manufacturer achieved even a 1-2 finish in the other six races. Fangio won the 1957 World Championship title with 40 net points (46 gross, six "dropped" points). Moss finished second with 25 points; he scored 24 points driving the Vanwall entries and one (for Fast Lap) with a works Maserati in the season-opener. Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 drivers Luigi Musso and Mike Hawthorn finished third and fourth with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Vanwall driver Tony Brooks was fifth with eleven points. Scuderia Centro Sud driver Masten Gregory, pilot of 1956 model Maserati 250F entries, finished sixth with ten points. Tied for seventh at eight points apiece were works Maserati driver Jean Behra, Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati and works Maserati pilot Harry Schell and Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 driver Peter Collins. Works Maserati driver Carlos Menditeguy finished tied for twelfth ranking with four points while fellow works Maserati pilot Giorgio Scarlatti tied for fifteenth ranking with one point. Fangio led all drivers with four wins to two for Moss (Vanwall) and one shared win for Moss and Brooks (Vanwall). Fangio led all drivers with four poles to two for Moss (one Maserati, one Vanwall) and one for Stuart Lewis-Evans (Vanwall). Moss led all drivers with three Fast Laps (two Vanwall, one Maserati); Fangio took two, with Brooks (Vanwall) and Musso (Lancia) achieving one apiece. Fangio led all drivers with five races led and a total of 263 laps led, or 52.71%! Moss ranked second, leading four races driving for Vanwall for a total of 136 laps. Fangio's works Maserati teammate Jean Behra ranked third with three races led for a total of 57 laps. Ranking fourth was Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 driver Peter Collins, the leader of two races for 16 laps. His teammate Mike Hawthorn led one race for eight laps, while fellow Scuderia Ferrari driver Eugenio Castellotti led one race for six laps. Vanwall's Stuart Lewis-Evans led one race for five laps with teammate Tony Brooks leading one race for four laps. Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 driver Luigi Musso led two races for four laps. The works Maserati team contested six non-championship Formula One races in 1957. Fangio, Behra, Menditeguy and Moss drove works 250F entries in the January 27 Buenos Aires Motordrome City GP. Fangio and Moss qualified 1-2, Behra fourth and Menditeguy eighth. Fangio won the event by finishing first and third in the two-heat event, setting Fast Lap en route to posting an aggregate win by 24.5 seconds over Behra, the runnerup in both heats. Moss retired from the first heat after 24 laps with exhaustion but relieved Menditeguy in the second, allowing Menditeguy to place sixth in both heats and sixth on aggregate, on the lead lap. Musso and Collins teamed in a Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 to finish third on aggregate; Collins drove the car to a win in the second heat and shared the race's Fast Lap honors with Fangio. Behra, Harry Schell and Giorgio Scarlatti were entered to drive works Maserati 250Fs in the April 7 Siracusa (Italy) GP. Schell qualified fifth and Behra sixth while Scarlatti didn't start due to engine problems. The race was a total failure for the Maseratis as Schell's engine failed after one lap and Behra's brakes failed after 17! Peter Collins won from the pole over Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 teammate Luigi Musso. Stirling Moss finished third, albeit three laps down, setting Fast Lap in his Vanwall. Behra was the works Maserati team's only entry in the April 22 Pau (France) GP and he won from the pole, setting Fast Lap after taking the lead on lap six and leading every lap thereafter of the 110-lap event, winning by two laps over runnerup Scuderia Centro Sud 1956 Maserati 250F driver Harry Schell, the leader of the first five laps! Ivor Bueb finished third, three laps down, in a Connaught B. The works Maserati team fielded four entries for the July 14 Reims GP, with Fangio winning the pole, Behra starting third, Schell ninth and Menditeguy fifteenth. None of the works Maserati's led the event, as Stuart Lewis-Evans led the first 33 laps in a Vanwall and Luigi Musso led the final 28 laps of the 61-lap race in his Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D50 to win by 27.5 seconds over Behra. Behra set Fast Lap after a bad start saw him seventh on lap one. Lewis-Evans faded to third with an oil leak, 48.7 seconds behind Behra. Schell finished fourth, one lap down. Fangio was running second when he crashed out on lap 57! Menditeguy retired after 28 laps with gearbox failure when running ninth. Behra, Giorgio Scarlatti, and Schell drove the works Maserati 250F entries in the September 22 Modena GP. Behra and Schell qualified 1-2 with Scarlatti starting fourth. Behra led laps the final 29 laps of the first heat and all forty laps of the second, setting Fast Lap en route to a 40.3 seconds victory margin over Scuderia Ferrari driver Luigi Musso, driving the new Ferrari Dino 156! Musso led laps two through ten of heat one and shared Fast Lap honors with Behra. Schell finished third in each heat and on aggregrate, 28.6 seconds behind Musso; Harry led the first lap of Heat One. Scarlatti finished fifth in both heats and on aggregate, two laps down. The Ain Diab circuit in Casablanca hosted the nonchampionship Grand Prix of Morocco on October 27, 1957. Behra, Fangio, Schell, and Scarlatti all drove works Maserati 250Fs. Behra qualified second, Fangio fifth, Schell seventh, and Scarlatti thirteenth. All four drivers finished the race! Behra won, leading from lap to the conclusion of the 55-lap event, taking victory by 30.1 seconds over Stuart Lewis-Evans' Vanwall. Maurice Trintignant was third in a works BRM 25, with Fangio fourth, on the lead lap, 34.4 seconds behind Trintignant, after setting Fast Lap and running second from laps 17-23. Schell finished fifth, one lap down; he had run fourth from laps 24-43 before being overhauled by Fangio. Scarlatti finished seventh, three laps down, after running fifth mid-race. Peter Collins had led the first seven laps of the event in a works Ferrari Dino 156 while Tony Brooks had won the pole in a Vanwall as honors were well distributed! In the six 1957 nonchampionship races the works Maserati team contested, Behra won three races and Fangio one to give Maserati four wins to Scuderia Ferrari's two, one apiece by Peter Collins and Luigi Musso in Lancia D50s. Fangio and Behra each took two poles in the six nonchampionship events for Maserati, with Peter Collins (Scuderia Ferrari Lancia) and Tony Brooks (Vanwall) earning one apiece. With one Fast Lap shared, the seven Fast Laps in the six events saw Maserati take five of the honors, three by Behra, two by Fangio. Scuderia Ferrari Lancia drivers Collins and Musso took one apiece. Only Behra contested each of the six nonchampionship races entered by the works Maserati team and he won three and was runnerup in two, with one mechanical retirement, for an average finish of 3.83 from an average start of 2.83 with two poles, one Fast Lap, and 383 of 446 laps completed, or 85.87%. The eighteen works Maseratis entered in the six 1957 nonchampionship events achieved four wins, two runnerup finishes, one third, two fourths, and two fifths for eleven Top Five finishes! They also posted two nonpoint finishes. Three cars were eliminated by mechanical problems, one by accident and one by driver fatigue. They achieved four poles and five Fast Laps, completing 991 of 1184 possible laps, or 83.7%! Our website at http://members.aol.com/autoracg/ provides a wealth of useful and interesting auto racing information! The site also contains descriptions of the many services and products available from Auto Racing Analysis!
