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An impressive victory for Moss and Maserati at Monza ’56

Moss started lap 45 with his normal lead, but rounding the Lesmo turns his engine cut as he ran out of fuel. He coasted on and by sheer good fortune Piotti was the next along and, being surprisingly quick to sum up the situation, he nosed his car up behind the coasting Maserati and pushed it all the way back to the pits, Moss free-wheeling into his pit, with the tank filler held open, ready for a quick 25 litres to be thrown in.

Quick as it was it was not quick enough and Musso went by into the lead, and as Moss shot off once more his pit noticed that the near-side rear tyre was completely devoid of tread. The next lap for the Maserati was a new track record and then the pit slowed him down for fear the bald tyre should burst…

…The Maserati pit slowed Moss right down, oblivious of the fact that Fangio was only 20sec behind, and when the two cars went by on their last half-lap only 10sec apart a furious argument broke out among the personnel. However, they need not have worried for Moss was well aware of the closeness of his rival and kept his lead, to win by a nice 6sec, just as he had done at Monaco at the beginning of the season.

By reason of regular and consistent running, Flockhart arrived a well-earned third, though he had to make a stop for fuel on the 49th lap. Godin was fourth after a non-stop drive, which was a rare occurrence in this most dramatic Grand Prix.

As anticipated before the event, it was a win-or-bust, end-of-season blind, on the most car-breaking circuit of all the Grand Prix circuits, and it was a terrific success for Maserati and Pirelli.