1958 Formula One season

The 1958 Formula One season was the 12th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 9th World Championship of Drivers, the first International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and five non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 19 January and 19 October 1958. The Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Drivers' Championship but not the Manufacturers' Cup.

British driver Mike Hawthorn driving for Ferrari won his first and only Drivers' Championship after a close battle with compatriot Stirling Moss.^[1] Following the Portuguese Grand Prix, Hawthorn faced a penalty, but Moss sportingly spoke up for him. Moss would go on to win four races over Hawthorn's one, but the points from the Portuguese round enabled Hawthorn to claim the title.^[2] It was the first of only two occasions in Formula One history where a driver won the championship, having won only one race in the season, the other being Keke Rosberg in 1982.^[3] Vanwall won the inaugural Manufacturers' Cup.^[4]

Four drivers died during the season: American Pat O'Connor during the Indianapolis 500, Italian Luigi Musso (Ferrari) during the French Grand Prix, his British teammate Peter Collins during the German Grand Prix, and Brit Stuart Lewis-Evans (Vanwall) during the Moroccan Grand Prix. After Collins' accident, Hawthorn had decided to retire from racing at the end of the season. So he did, but then, tragically, lost his life in a road accident three months later.

Since the early 1900s, Grand Prix racing had been dominated by front-engined cars, but this was the last championship to be won by one. From 1959 on, mid-engined cars, with their better road holding, increased driving comfort, lighter weight, and ease on tires and mechanical components (particularly brakes), would have the upper hand.