abstract
| - Indeed, Giancarlo Baghetti made history by becoming only the third driver (after Nino Farina and Johnnie Parsons) to win on his debut race, using a FISA entered Ferrari 156, supported by the Ferrari team. Dan Gurney and Jim Clark would complete the podium after a series of problems for the three scarlet cars of Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips and Richie Ginther who all failed to score. The race would also go down as an epic in F1 history through the manner of Baghetti's victory, in a race which saw the dominant Ferrari 156 finally succumb to technical issues. Hill had initially led the race, before a brief lead for von Trips was ended with a engine failure before the halfway mark. Hill then spun, taking a whack from Stirling Moss in the process, to put him out of contention, with Ginther taking the lead. Yet, even Ferrari's lead driver would suffer in the heat, a sudden loss of oil dumping him out of the race, leaving Baghetti as the tifosi's only hope. And there would be drama right through to the line too, as Baghetti snatched victory from Gurney just a couple of hundred yards from the line, a tenth of a second ultimately splitting them as they flashed past the pits. Earlier in the race, the Italian had been part of a brawl for fourth that had seen himself, Gurney, Jo Bonnier, Clark, Innes Ireland, Graham Hill, Tony Brooks, Moss and Bruce McLaren demonstrate why they were the best in the world at motor racing, before the heat of the French summer began to take its toll on the previously unstoppable scarlet cars.
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