Saturday 16th July 1955

The British Grand Prix might have been staged in the shadow of the previous month’s Le Mans tragedy, which had led to the cancellation of the French Grand Prix scheduled for July 3, but it was nonetheless a classic race dominated by Mercedes. The venue was moved from Silverstone to Aintree and a 150,000 crowd saw an epic battle between Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, the pair swapping the lead and racing nose-to-tail lap after lap. At the finish Moss was ahead by 0.2 seconds to secure his maiden Formula 1 win – the first time an Englishman had won the race. Coming out of the final corner just ahead, the Guardian reported Moss “waved Fangio through … Fangio drew alongside him as they approached the chequered flag and then, it seemed, hung back to let Moss cross the line first … it was a sporting gesture and fair”. Fangio always denied he had allowed his young team-mate to take the win.