The 1958 F1 season marked the end of Italian dominance, the debut of the Manufacturers' Championship, and the last title won by a front-engined car.
Key Facts
- Champion driver
- Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari)
- Manufacturers' Cup winner
- Vanwall
- Races in championship
- 11
- Hawthorn's race wins
- 1
- Drivers killed in season
- 4
- Season dates
- 19 January – 19 October 1958
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
By the late 1950s, British constructors such as Vanwall and Cooper had developed competitive front-engined and mid-engined cars, challenging the long-standing supremacy of Italian marques Maserati and Ferrari. Juan Manuel Fangio, five-time world champion and dominant force of the era, was nearing the end of his career, leaving the field more open than it had been for years.
The 1958 Formula One season comprised eleven championship rounds from January to October. Mike Hawthorn driving for Ferrari claimed the Drivers' Championship by a single point over Stirling Moss, winning only one race. Vanwall won the inaugural International Cup for F1 Manufacturers with six victories. Four drivers died during the season, and Fangio retired after just two races.
Hawthorn retired at season's end and was killed in a road accident three months later. The season marked the definitive end of Italian team dominance and of the front-engined era, as mid-engined Cooper-Climax cars had already previewed the layout that would sweep F1 from 1959 onward, transforming car design for all subsequent seasons.