Swedish Grand Prix

The first Swedish Winter Grand Prix was held on a mammoth 46 kilometre circuit near Lake Rämen about 2 hours northwest of Stockholm in the snow and freezing cold with a lap time of approximately 35 minutes.

[3] The first postwar Grand Prix (a sports car event) was held in August 1955, only a few months after the Le Mans tragedy.

It drew a larger field, including works Ferrari and Maserati teams and Ecurie Ecosse's Le Mans-winning D-types, and ran 153 laps.

Behra (sharing Moss' 300S) suffered brake trouble and Olivier Gendebien (in Collins' Ferrari) had an oil leak.

[5] The oil led to a wreck involving Gendebien's teammates Collins (taking over for Wolfgang von Trips) and Phil Hill (in the car started by Maurice Trintignant).

[6] Castellotti's engine blew in the lead, giving the Trintignant/Hill 250MM the win, followed home by von Trips/Collins in the second 250MM, and Hawthorne/Alfonso de Portago/Duncan Hamilton in an 860 Monza.

[6] The last sports car Grand Prix at Råbelövsbanan was in 1957, a six-hour World Sportscar Championship race, rather than 1,000 km (620 mi).

Meanwhile, Denny Hulme was quickly closing the gap on the lead, Peterson having major trouble with tire wear and fighting to stay on the track.

On the 79th, penultimate, lap Hulme was able to pass the local hero to snatch victory, the New Zealander's decision to run harder tires on his McLaren-Cosworth having paid off.

In 1975, Austrian Niki Lauda's second year with Ferrari, the team provided him with the 312T – a car that was technically far superior to any of the competition.

He put a series of fastest laps, closed on Reutemann and overtook him to win the Grand Prix by 6 seconds.

The theory was that its four tiny front wheels would increase mechanical front-end grip – with more rubber on the road – and thus eliminate understeer while at the same time improve cornering and braking.

At Anderstorp, Jacques Laffite in his Gitanes sponsored Ligier-Matra put in a commanding display, romping to victory in the 1977 Swedish GP.

Its legality was soon protested, but it was allowed to race, Niki Lauda and John Watson qualifying 2nd and 3rd behind the Lotus 79 of Mario Andretti.

The car had, however, been deemed legal, allowing the win to stand, which also cost Arrows their chance of victory in their debut season.

The deaths of both Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson that year contributed to the demise of this round of the world championship, as interest for Formula One in Sweden fell as a result.

#31, a Ferrari 500 Mondial #0408MD driven by Valdemar Stener in the 1955 Swedish GP
Brabham BT46B "fan car"
A map of all the locations of the Swedish Grand Prix