1957 World Sportscar Championship

[2] The season opened in Argentina, where Fangio and Moss led imperiously in the 1000 km Buenos Aires, until they retired with transmission failure.

As for Ferrari, it was left to the privateer entry of Temple Buell to take the victory, and give Maranello the initial points lead in the championship.

[2][3][4][5] For the Mille Miglia, Maserati’s challenge was over before it had really begun, with Behra smashing his car prior to the event in a road accident, and Moss retiring with brake failure just 12 km from the start.

With Maserati out of contention, Ferrari had no more real opposition and Piero Taruffi won the last Mille Miglia, ahead of Wolfgang von Trips, both in 315 S. The initial pace was set by Peter Collins in a Ferrari 335 S. He imposed a remarkable pace on the marathon and on course to smash the course record, when a broken transmission put an end to his race.

The second 335 S, driven by Alfonso de Portago and Edmont Nelson, was always up among the leaders, but about 10 km from the finish, a tyre blowout caused the car to charge off the road and into a group of spectators, killing nine onlookers and the crew.

The race victory did not go to either of the major Italian marques, as they were beaten by the Aston Martin DBR1/300 of Tony Brooks and Noël Cunningham-Reid, gaining the manufacturer their first points of the season.

At the very moment when Fangio was giving Officine Alfieri Maserati its first world championship in Formula One, the firm was going into survival mode.

[9] Note the RAC Tourist Trophy was given championship status but as in 1956 did not take place due to concerns about the safety of the Dundrod Circuit.