Complete calendar with 11 races
The 1958 Formula 1 season delivered one of the sport's most dramatic and tragic championship battles, with Mike Hawthorn edging Stirling Moss by a single point to claim Britain's first World Championship. The season featured multiple race winners, intense rivalry between British teams and drivers, and culminated in heartbreak when Hawthorn retired from racing immediately after securing the title, only to die in a road accident three months later. The championship marked the end of Juan Manuel Fangio's reign and the beginning of a new era dominated by British engineering and drivers.
Mike Hawthorn's championship campaign was unusual in that he won only a single race - the French Grand Prix at Reims - yet accumulated enough points through consistent finishing to secure the title. The tall, flamboyant Englishman drove for Ferrari, extracting maximum performance from the Lancia-Ferrari Dino 246 while managing his car's mechanical components with the care learned from years of experience. His single victory came in France, where he held off Moss in a thrilling duel, but it was his steady accumulation of second and third-place finishes that ultimately delivered the championship.
Stirling Moss dominated the season in terms of race victories, winning four races for Vanwall and Rob Walker's privateer Cooper team. His victories in Argentina, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Morocco showcased his brilliant versatility, winning in both Vanwall's powerful front-engine car and Cooper's revolutionary rear-engine challenger. Despite his superior performance, Moss lost the championship by a single point due to the quirks of the points system, which only counted a driver's best six results. Had all results counted, Moss would have been champion. The injustice of this outcome still resonates with racing enthusiasts.
The season's most controversial moment came at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Porto, where Moss' championship hopes were severely damaged. Leading comfortably, Moss suffered a mechanical failure and handed victory to teammate Stuart Lewis-Evans. However, Hawthorn's second-place finish moved him ahead in the championship standings. More controversially, Hawthorn received a push-start after spinning, which some argued should have resulted in disqualification. Moss sportingly testified on Hawthorn's behalf to stewards, helping him avoid penalty - a gesture of sportsmanship that likely cost Moss the championship.
Vanwall achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first constructor to win the newly-established Constructors' Championship, introduced this season to recognize team achievements. The British manufacturer's combination of Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks, and Stuart Lewis-Evans delivered six victories and demonstrated British engineering excellence could match or exceed Italian sophistication. However, tragedy struck at Morocco when Lewis-Evans suffered horrific burns in a fiery crash. He would die from his injuries six days later, casting a pall over Vanwall's championship success and contributing to team owner Tony Vandervell's decision to withdraw from racing.
Juan Manuel Fangio's final season as a competitive force saw the 47-year-old Argentine racing for Maserati, but age and declining machinery meant he could no longer compete for victories. His best finish was fourth at Reims, a far cry from his dominant championship campaigns. Fangio retired from racing after the French Grand Prix in July, bowing out quietly without fanfare. His departure marked the end of an era, as the sport's greatest champion stepped away from competition, his record of five World Championships secure and his legendary status assured.
The emergence of rear-engine cars, exemplified by Cooper's Climax-powered challenger, signaled a technical revolution. Moss' victory for the Rob Walker team at Argentina in a Cooper proved that Jack Brabham's and John Cooper's unconventional philosophy - positioning the engine behind the driver for better weight distribution - could compete with traditional front-engine designs. While Cooper would not dominate until 1959, the 1958 season planted the seeds of a technical transformation that would make front-engine Grand Prix cars obsolete within two years.
The championship concluded at the season finale in Morocco, where Moss won but Hawthorn's second-place finish secured the title by a single point. The British driver's championship was bittersweet - he had achieved his lifetime ambition but had lost close friend and teammate Peter Collins, killed in a crash at the Nürburgring, and witnessed Lewis-Evans' fatal accident in Morocco. Hawthorn announced his retirement from racing immediately after clinching the title, planning to focus on his garage business in England.
Tragedy struck on January 22, 1959, when Hawthorn died in a road accident on the Guildford bypass, his Jaguar colliding with a truck. He was just 29 years old and had been champion for barely three months. His death shocked the motorsport world and robbed Britain of its first World Champion. Hawthorn's legacy remains complex - a talented driver who achieved his dream but paid the ultimate price, dying in a road accident after surviving the dangers of 1950s racing. The 1958 season would be remembered as much for its tragedy as its dramatic championship battle.