Crawling to the finish line

The 1958 Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix was raced at Spa-Francorchamps and was won by British driver Tony Brooks in a Vanwall. It was Brooks first solo Grand Prix victory after his car won the 1957 British Grand Prix in a shared drive with Stirling Moss. Brooks finished 20 seconds ahead of fellow Briton Mike Hawthorn (picture above) driving a Ferrari D246 F1, who had started in pole position.

On the last lap, Brooks came out of La Source to end the race, and his gearbox seized as he crossed the line, luckily situated in the downhill to Eau Rouge. When Mike Hawthorn was coming out of the same corner to end his race in second, his engine failed as he was coming to the finish line. Stuart Lewis-Evans’s suspension collapsed on the way into La Source, as he too crawled to the line. He finished in a fine third place, in a career-best finish (picture below), the first of just two podium finishes to his too short Grand Prix career.