Can the English David "Slay" the Argentine Goliath?
At the beginning of 1956 I had an unique change to handicap the coming Grand Prix season. Here's how I rated the two top drivers.
The headline question highlights all discussion of the 1956 International racing picture. Not since the thrilling days of the mid-Thirties and the fierce duels between the great German aces Rudi Caracciola and Bernd Rosemeyer has a racing season promised such excitement as the prospective combat this year between the two greatest post-war drivers—Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss.
The record suggests that young Moss will have a difficult time of it. Fangio has won two consecutive World Championships in the last two years and is at the top of his form as a master driver, while Moss could only place 14th in 1954 and a very poor second to Fangio in 1955 driving equal cars.
However, partisans of Moss point out that in 1954 Fangio was number one driver for the Maserati works team when he won the Argentine and Belgian Grands Prix and later in the year was number one for Mercedes-Benz (winning the French, German, Swiss and Italian Grands Prix) while Moss began the season with his own Maserati which was considerably slower and less maneuverable than Fangio's works car. After Fangio joined Mercedes, Moss became number one for Maserati—but the Italians were no match for Teutonic thoroughness and Moss was often sidelined with mechanical failures.
In 1955, both Fangio and Moss were on the Mercedes works team, with Fangio as designated number one. Considerable speculation has arisen as to whether his victories were justified by his talents or were by order of the Mercedes racing manager Alfred Neubauer. Among supporters of Moss it is an article of faith that their boy was held back in order to let Fangio knock off his third title.
What is perhaps more important in making a case for Moss is his record in the Mercedes-Benz fight for the Sports Car Championship: Neubauer, realizing the impossibility of controlling a sports-car race (such as the Mille Miglia) relaxed his tight rein over the team and allowed the drivers to go at their own pace. Moss (and co-drivers) won all three of the Mercedes victories! And the World Champion was reduced to trailing the young Briton across the line into three second place finishes.
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