MY TOP 20 BRITISH F1 DRIVERS - Number 18

PETER COLLINS
GRANDS PRIX - 35
WINS - 3
BEST QUALIFYING - 2nd twice
POINTS SCORED - 47
--- F1 CAREER ---
1952 - HWM Alta - 0pts
1953 - HWM Alta - 0pts
1954 - Vanwall - 0pts
1955 - Maserati - 0pts
1956 - Ferrari - 3rd - 25pts
1957 - Ferrari - 9th - 8pts
1958 - Ferrari - 5th - 14pts


This man is seen by nearly everyone as the ultimate gentleman driver, the man who gave up his own chance of a world title to help a fellow teammate and rival achieve the same goal. But Peter Collins in his own right by that time had already established himself as one of the top Grand Prix drivers of the great era that was the 1950's.

Collins began as nearly all young aspiring British driver did at the time when his parents bought him a small 500cc Cooper to compete in the British 500cc category (the category would later become Formula 3) competing in the same races ans anothe future great, Stirling Moss. Collins continued in the 500cc's until at the age of 22 he got his first big break in Formula 1 with the lowly british team HWM (Hersham/Walton Motors). At a time when it was Italian contructors that dominated, HWM were seen as Britain's leading lights before the likes of Cooper, BRM and Lotus came to prominence. With F2 machinery, Collins made his debut in the season opening Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten and amazingly he qualified an impressive 6th out of 22 entrants, a very impressive show of intent with an inferior car, the rest of the season was a disappointment as the HWM was shown up by the more faster and reliable Italian cars. No points for Collins and only a best finish of 6th in France (up until 1958, points were only awarded down to 5th.)

1953 was no different in terms of his fortunes, no points again and Collins was only able to enter 4 of the seasons races in HWM's new car for 1953. When the car was'nt suffering with mechanical gremlins, Collins did manage to finish races well up the field when he could. For 1954, Collins became part of the now famous British name Vanwall for their debut season, 1954 marked the return of F1 engine and chassis regulations and Vanwall (set up by Tony Vandervell, originally a backer of BRM) would build the first British Grand Prix car to conform to the new regulations and Collins was hired to drive it for the 3 races they were entered for, the best result being a 7th place in Monza. Collins left Vanwall for some speradic outings for Alfred Owen in his privately entered Maserati 250F, only entering in 2 races, but his race pace was impressive enough to earn a offer of a lifetime at the time, a call from the great man himself Enzo Ferrari to drive one of his cars in the 1956 season, finally Peter Collins had reached the big time. He was presented as a Ferrari driver in front of the Italian Media as part of a 4 car team along with Eugenio Castelotti, Luigi Musso and the legend Juan Manuel Fangio.

In the Ferrari, Collins was able to run at the buisness end of the field, fighting for race wins and championships, Collins would thrive being teammate to Fangio. Collins never qualified lower than 9th and finished 2nd in his first race with the new car (his 2nd race with Ferrari) in Monaco, after that came his first success, Victory at the infamous Spa-Francorchamps, at the time it was only the 5th win by a British driver at a world championship event. The 2nd win followed almost immediately in France and this put him into a world championship lead AHEAD of Fangio, he was still in the running coming into the final round at Monza where he would perform an action that would forever label Peter Collins as a true sportsman.

With 15 laps to go in the 50 lap race, Fangio suffered a steering column failure in his Ferrari and was forced to retire, this left Peter Collins fighting for the lead with Moss and Luigi Musso, when Moss (the leader) set the fastest lap, this would give him the bonus point he needed to take the world title if Collins pulled out (2nd would have been enough to give Collins the title). Then when Collins found out about this, he voluntarialy drove into the pits, giving up his 2nd place and persuaded the fallen Fangio to take over, he then completed the final 13 laps and because it was in effect a shared drive, Fangio and Collins shared the 6 points (3 each) and it gave Fangio the title by just 2 points (Fangio 30, Moss 28, Collins 25.) Thanks to this, Collins was hailed as a hero amongst the Italian fans and earned him the respect of Mr Ferrari. Also Fangio would be forever grateful to Collins.

He stayed with Ferrari for 1957 when he was joined by his good friend Mike Hawthorn, but the season was a disappointment as the car was outpaced by the Maserati (who now had Fangio at the helm) and also Vanwall, despite the new found uncompetitiveness, he did manage 2 podium finishes, one of which in the now famous German grand prix of 1957 when he was the victim of Fangio's masterclass. But hopes were high for 1958 when Ferrari would introduce their new car, the Dino 246. The season started slowly but picked up when Collins too 3rd at Monaco, Hawthorn won in France and then Collins took an emotional win at the British grand prix, both Hawthorn and Collins were in title contention going into the German grand prix against the Vanwall pairing of Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks.

Germany however would tragically be Collins's final race, while chasing Tony Brooks for the lead, Collins lost control, his car jumped a grassy bank, he was thrown out of the car (back in the 1950's, drivers raced without seatbelts) and smashed into a tree, he died later that afternoon in hospital due to massive head injuries.