This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2019) |
1959 United States Grand Prix | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
![]() | |||||
Race details | |||||
Date | December 12, 1959 | ||||
Official name | II Grand Prix of the United States | ||||
Location |
Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida | ||||
Course | Former Military Airbase | ||||
Course length | 8.36 km (5.2 miles) | ||||
Distance | 42 laps, 351 km (218 miles) | ||||
Weather |
Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 25 °C (77 °F); Winds speeds up to 25.93 km/h (16.11 mph)[1] | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Cooper-Climax | ||||
Time | 3:00.0 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver |
![]() | Cooper-Climax | |||
Time | 3:05.0 on lap 39 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Cooper-Climax | ||||
Second | Cooper-Climax | ||||
Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 1959 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on December 12, 1959, at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. It was the last of 9 races in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and the 8th and final in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.It was the second United States Grand Prix (ninth including the American Grand Prize races from 1908 to 1916), and the only occasion the race was held at the home of the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance sports car race, the Sebring International Raceway in Florida. The race was held over 42 laps of the 8.36-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 351 kilometres.
The race was won by New Zealander Bruce McLaren driving a Cooper T51 for the works Cooper team, the first win for a New Zealand-born driver. McLaren won by six-tenths of a second over French driver Maurice Trintignant driving a Rob Walker Racing Team-entered Cooper T51. British driver Tony Brooks finished third in his Ferrari Dino 246. Championship points leader Australian Jack Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap and pushed his Cooper T51 across the line to finish fourth.[2] Brooks's third-place finish clinched the title for Brabham. It was the first of three world championships for Brabham, and the first for an Australian, for Cooper, and for a rear-engined car.
McLaren's win at 22 years, 3 months and 12 days saw him became the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner, a record that would stand for over 40 years. However, he was not the youngest to win a World Championship race. That record was held by American driver Troy Ruttman who had won the 1952 Indianapolis 500 when aged 22 years, 2 months and 19 days.[a]
This was the last race until the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix that no former world champions were in the field. This was also the last race where a bonus point for fastest lap would be awarded until the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).