May 31st 1959, Dutch Grand Prix
Stacey led into Tarzanbocht with Moss close behind and Brabham third, everyone else single file, but as they came by to finish lap one, it was Moss with a narrow lead over Stacey. Stacey had none of it, however, and took the lead back into Tarzan to begin lap 2. Bonnier and Surtees also fancied moves, passing Gregory and Lewis-Evans respectively. Further behind, Brabham appeared to be struggling early on with Ramos getting in front of him to take third and the queue behind him only growing with Phil Hill, González, Bonnier and Gregory all waiting for a look in. The Ferraris in general were looking very racy with both Hill and Bonnier having unsuccessful looks at Brabham. González got out of line getting passed by Bonnier and also lost out to Gregory, with Lex Davison also having a pop. Even Gerino Gerini, still 11th, was looming large in Graham Hill's mirrors. Phil Hill finally got the job done and passed both Bonnier and Brabham to get into P4. Gregory then stumbles on Brabham, which let Davison past him.
Surtees' climb through the pack was at this point being stymied by the Voecklers of Simon and Tavano, still struggling to get off the mark. Stacey was keeping a hold of the lead for now, though Moss was doing a good job at managing the gap. Brabham was still having a horrid time, and while he'd been keeping Bonnier at bay, Lex Davison went from strength to strength, finding a gap inside both of them at Tunnel Oost to take fifth place and opening a gap for Masten Gregory to do the same just two turns later. The Lotuses were absolutely flying around the dunes.
Gerini finally got past Graham Hill and hits the top 10 on lap 6, and Surtees also got his moves on the Voecklers complete, reaching fifteenth place. Even further back, Consalvo Sanesi had been stuck behind the slow-starting Dan Gurney for a while, but he finally made the move stick and reached the dizzying heights of 20th place. Brabham and Bonnier's death match had been going for multiple laps now and benefited yet another driver, this time González snuck past the duo at Tarzan and took seventh place, leaving the winners of the last two races eighth and ninth and Gerini and Graham Hill waiting patiently for their respective turns to pass them.
On lap 8, Phil Hill got the move done on Ramos and takes his Ferrari to third place, and Bonnier finally got the move on Brabham done, but Brabham was not done and would doubtless be having another go at the Ferrari later. It certainly hadn't stopped Gerini from passing the two in the meantime! Towards the rear, Robert la Caze had been floundering in nineteenth most of his time before his gearbox let go. As he got out of the car, he waved, dumbfounded, to the orange O.S.C.A. of Carel Godin de Beaufort which had been out there since the start, the grandstands shouting "oranje boven!" this whole time!
Bonnier got more breathing room ahead of Brabham on lap 9, as Gerini let him through and held up the Australian for a bit. Gerini clearly had no intentions of being too patient with his teammate though, and when González became the Swede's new stumbling block, Gerini simply passed both and took Brabham with him, putting them 7-8. Stacey by then had a bit more of a gap open to Moss, enough for the Brit to have to start worrying about Phil Hill's Ferrari. The Lotuses of Davison and Gregory (the latter ever-so-slightly quicker than the former yet unable to pass) had now caught Ramos and were threatening a move for fourth.
Voeckler's race went from bad to terminally worse at Tarzan on the tenth lap. Fernand Tavano and André Simon were trying to communicate to each other about how to get past John Surtees, but in so doing, Simon was too busy trying to understand Tavano's signals to look out for his brake point. The two never actually collided, but they both span in avoidance of each other and wound up beached in the sand by the roadside.
On lap 11, Davison got past Ramos and up into fourth, while Gregory couldn't quite make the move stick. Gerini was not too far away though, and Bonnier had broken past Brabham again. Further ahead, Moss had found a bit of pace, enough to put a bigger gap between him and Hill, but Stacey was just that little bit out of reach, the lead expanding. Jim Russell's valiant effort just outside the top 10 would sadly be fruitless, an oil leak ending his hopes, but more significantly for the championship battles, Jo Bonnier's engine expired at the same time. This pinned Ferrari's hopes on Phil Hill and Gerino Gerini, neither of which had won a race before. That said, their job would be made easier when Stirling Moss' car started smoking, it seemed that his clutch had been through a bit too many shifts around the twisty layout.
This opened the race wide for Stacey, but Phil Hill was not too far away. Both were on a similar strategy though, leading to a long stalemate between the two. Ramos was struggling for pace at this point against the other Lotuses, and while Gregory floundered for a while behind the Brazilian, Lex Davison had no such compunctions and grabbed third place from both of them before Gregory made his own way through. This left Lotus in a strong 1-3-4 position with Gerini quickly nabbing fifth place. Brabham was back on some kind of form, but simply could not find a way past González.
On lap 23, Gregory passed Davison to pick up third place, leaving the field relatively static for a while. Five laps later, Gurney pulled out on lap 28 having gotten a puncture. As Stacey prepared to lap de Beaufort's illegally running car, this was the impetus the clerk of the course needed and he motioned to Carel to pull over. The local hero had had his fun; it was time to end his day.
Brabham finally got past González on lap 29, while Lewis-Evans passed Consalvo Sanesi four laps later, the first of the fast-finish drivers to get past another driver, but Sanesi immediately got past him again on the very next lap. It took Stuart an embarrassing 8 additional laps to get back through. Similarly, González got back ahead of Brabham very quickly. John Surtees was the biggest gainer at this point, getting past Graham Hill for ninth place. The top five was astoundingly static, but with all gaps getting slowly smaller and smaller. Electrical issues for Bruce McLaren reduced the field to 14 drivers.
By this point, Ramos, González and Brabham found themselves in a strong battle for sixth place with Surtees and Graham Hill a short way behind, all five hoping to get in the mix for the win as they would soon start to reel in the top five, where the only movement was Gerini getting within striking distance of Davison for fourth. A few laps later, they were within a potentially good range, just as Lewis-Evans pulled out with a gearbox failure just as he was starting to make up the gap to Collins' Cooper.
It took until lap 59 for Ramos to fully catch Gerini and Davison, with the top three now all together but with similar pace. Stacey still led Hill and Gregory, with a sizeable gap to Davison in fourth. Brabham had fallen behind the O.S.C.A. drivers, and Surtees was right on him. Feeling the danger from Ramos, Gerini finally got the move done on Davison at the first chance he got, the Lotus driver keeping Ramos behind for now. Collins was hanging around the back of this pack, but clearly seemed to be missing something. That something was soon confirmed to have been oil pressure, continuing a poor season's start for the defending champion. This luck seemingly also extended to Alan Stacey. He'd led 61 of the first 62 laps, but he'd now been betrayed by a snapped suspension arm.
This left Phil Hill in the lead, but Masten Gregory was closing in lap on lap. Ramos got past Davison and took fourth place, with Gerini now third, and Graham Hill took his spot back from Surtees on lap 65, now for eighth place. At the very back, Salvadori had caught Sanesi, allowing him to have a go at second-last for the first time in many many moons. On lap 69, he finally passed Sanesi to hit the top 10. Graham Hill got past teammate González and into sixth place, then past Davison, making it an O.S.C.A. 4-5-6 behind Ramos as Davison ran out of juice and fell behind González.
Gerini was backing up Ramos and Hill ably, but forgot about the man behind: González found a good opening at Gerlachbost and powered past the three of them and up into third place. By lap 72, Gerini was really starting to falter, prompting Ramos to swap positions with Graham Hill to give the Brit a shot at an overtake. After a lap of failed moves, Ramos took it upon himself to try again, but instead clumsily tapped Gerini into a spin and out of what was undoubtedly his best race up to this point.
Brabham soon got past Davison, dropping the Lotus driver to eighth. A couple more laps through, Surtees also cleared Davison, and took that chance to get past Brabham for good measure! Not only that, he pulled off a masterful divebomb on Graham Hill at Tarzanbocht to claim fifth place, which also opened a gap for Brbham to follow through into sixth. Hill didn't take this lying down however. On lap 77, he passed both of them in consecutive corners through the twisty dunes to reclaim fifth. González was reeling in the slowing top two of Hill and Gregory now, believing he might have just enough to catch them by the end. Instead, González span! Completely unprompted, he lost the rear, span around and stalled his O.S.C.A.. This elevates Ramos to third, while Graham Hill lost fourth place to John Surtees on lap 79.
Phil Hill had been leading for ages with Masten Gregory just a bit faster, yet not ever able to find a way past. Neither American had won a Grand Prix to this point, and it would not be Hill in this case. Trying to keep Gregory behind must have cost him more fuel than Ferrari had planned for, and with just two laps remaining, Hill's car ground to a slow, tragic halt. Masten Gregory now held a good lead with just two laps remaining, but Ramos would not let him have it easy, catching at a rate of knots. With one lap yet, the Brazilian had to not put a single foot wrong, but a slide at Scheivlak robbed him of the momentum he needed. With all the reprieve he needed, Masten Gregory scored a maiden victory for both himself and the Lotus works team. Graham Hill was able to find his way back past Surtees on the penultimate lap to claim a second career podium. B.C.M.A. take fourth and fifth, Surtees edging out Brabham after a difficult day for the Australian. Lex Davison claimed the final point, with Phil Hill slotting into seventh place ahead of Salvadori and Sanesi.
1. Masten Gregory (Lotus-O.S.C.A.) 2:20:30.02
2. Hernando da Silva Ramos (O.S.C.A.) +13.89
3. Graham Hill (O.S.C.A.) +29.51
4. John Surtees (B.C.M.A.) +32.88
5. Jack Brabham (B.C.M.A.) +35.41
6. Lex Davison (Lotus-O.S.C.A.) +1 lap
7. Phil Hill (Ferrari) +3 laps/Out of fuel
8. Roy Salvadori (Vanwall) +3 laps
9. Consalvo Sanesi (O.S.C.A.) +4 laps
Ret. José Froilán González (O.S.C.A.) +7 laps/Spin
Ret. Gerino Gerini (Ferrari) +11 laps/Collision
Ret. Alan Stacey (Lotus-O.S.C.A.) +22 laps/Suspension
Ret. Peter Collins (Cooper-Climax) +23 laps/Oil pressure
Ret. Stuart Lewis-Evans (Lotus-O.S.C.A.) +34 laps/Gearbox
Ret. Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax) +47 laps/Electrics
Ret. Dan Gurney (Lotus-O.S.C.A.) +57 laps/Puncture
Ret. Stirling Moss (B.C.M.A.) +71 laps/Clutch
Ret. Jim Russell (Cooper-BRM) +73 laps/Oil leak
Ret. Jo Bonnier (Ferrari) +73 laps/Engine
Ret. Fernand Tavano (Voeckler-O.S.C.A.) +75 laps/Accident
Ret. André Simon (Voeckler-O.S.C.A.) +75 laps/Accident
Ret. Robert la Caze (Voeckler-O.S.C.A.) +77 laps/Gearbox
Fastest lap: John Surtees (B.C.M.A.) - 1:35.11
Championship standings
Drivers
1. Masten Gregory - 11 (1 win, 1 5th, 2 Rets)
2. Jack Brabham - 11 (1 win, 1 5th, 1 Ret)
3. José Froilán González - 9 (1 win, 3 Rets)
4. Jo Bonnier - 9 (1 win, 2 Rets)
5. John Surtees - 4 (1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 Ret)
=. Graham Hill - 3 (1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 Ret)
7. Phil Hill - 6 (1 2nd, 1 7th)
8. André Simon - 6 (1 2nd, 3 Rets)
=. Hernando da Silva Ramos - 6 (1 2nd, 3 Rets)
10. Wolfgang von Trips - 6 (1 2nd, 1 Ret)
11. Stirling Moss - 4
12. Gerino Gerini - 3
13. Stuart Lewis-Evans - 2
14. Lex Davison - 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
15. Fernand Tavano - 1 (1 6th, 3 Rets)
16. Peter Collins - 1 (1 6th, 2 Rets)
Constructors
1. O.S.C.A. - 18
2. B.C.M.A. - 16
3. Lotus-O.S.C.A. - 13
4. Ferrari - 12
5. Voeckler-O.S.C.A. - 7
6. Cooper-Climax - 1
Entrants
1. Officine Secializzate Costruzione Automobili - 18
2. British Commonwealth Motorsport Association - 16
3. Scuderia Ferrari - 12
4. Team Lotus - 11
5. Écurie Voeckler - 7
6. Scuderia Centro Sud - 6
7. Rob Walker Racing - 2
8. Cooper Car Company - 1
Prize money to come in due course.
Masten Gregory - Lotus 16 chassis 1 | OSCA 1559 engine 8
Alan Stacey - Lotus 16 chassis 2 | OSCA 1559 engine 9
Lex Davison - Lotus 16 chassis 3 | OSCA 1559 engine 10
Honoré Wagner - Lotus 12 chassis 2 | OSCA 1558 engine 11
