Having been dropped from the calendar following Fagioli's fatal accident in 1952, the resumption of championship racing through the dangerous streets of Monte Carlo was marked by the 1955 event also being designated as the Grand Prix of Europe, as well as the traditional Grand Prix of Monaco. The dramatic weekend that followed made it worthy of its twin titles, and then some.
For Monaco, Mercedes entered three cars, two special shorter wheelbase versions for Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, and a third, standard version for Hans Hermann, who was for this race called in to replace Karl Kling, who had been injured in a crash in the Mille Miglia. Unfortunately, Hermann's appearance in Monaco also ended in an accident. With Fangio and Moss trading fastest times in practice, Hermann's attempts to keep up proved beyond the capabilities of either himself or his car. On the high-speed entrance to Casino Square he lost control and his Mercedes ploughed head-on into a stone wall. The German was taken to hospital with broken ribs, a punctured lung and other internal injuries that would keep him out of racing for a long time. To replace him in Monaco, team manager Nuebauer appointed the French privateer Andre Simon, who qualified the repaired Mercedes mid-way in the 20-car field.
Meanwhile, on this tightest of all circuits where good grid positions were vitally important, the fight for front row honours was intense. Fangio took pole with a time that beat by over 6 seconds the circuit record set in 1937 by the Mercedes star Rudolph Caracciola. Only a second slower than Fangio was Moss, though the team mates were separated on the at the front of the grid by the Lancia of Alberto Ascari, who was credited with a time equal to Fangio's.
That evening several of the drivers, including the three on the front row, went to the cinema. On the way back to their hotels, they took a stroll around the track. As they walked along the harbourfront chicane someone in the group pointed to the barrier and said whoever touches this tomorrow will end up in the water. Ascari, though well-known for his superstitions, took this as a dare and deliberately touched the barrier with his hand.
"There followed in the race one of the most extraordinary accidents in the whole history of motor racing. Ascari skidded wildly at the chicane, the Lancia bounced off a stone bollard, and disappeared in a great cloud of steam into the harbour. Ascari surfaced, and was dragged to safety by frogmen, stationed in boats at that point in case such an unlikely thing should occur." - Gregor Grant (Autosport)
Ascari's unlikely accident happened with just nine laps to go when he had inherited the lead, following the retirements of the frontrunning Mercedes team mates: Fangio, who stopped on lap 50 with a broken axle, and Moss, whose engine broke 31 laps later, though he pushed the car across the line and was classified as the ninth, and last, finisher. The unexpected winner was Maurice Trintignant, whose victory in a Ferrari was his first in a championship Grand Prix. But the 1955 Monaco event was forever after known as the last race of Alberto Ascari.
Ascari's Mysterious Fatal Accident
His injuries were comparatively slight - a broken nose and a severe shaking - and when Fangio visited him in hospital that night Ascari joked that it was fortunate he could swim. Still, on a more serious note, the two-time World Champion confided in Juan that he wondered if his star was setting, and if, after 32 championship Grands Prix his total of 13 victories (the last one was in Switzerland in 1953) would prove to be an unlucky number. His father Antonio Ascari, Alberto knew all too well, had also won 13 of 32 races before he was killed in 1925.
Though he had this year deserted him for a full-time Lancia drive, Enzo Ferrari had a particular affection for Alberto Ascari. Ferrari knew Ascari loved his wife Mietta and their two children dearly, but wondered why he didn't show it more often. Ascari replied that he didn't want his children, especially, to become too fond of him because, one day he might not come back from a race and they would suffer less if he kept them at arm's length.
Enzo Ferrari: "On the Thursday after falling into the sea at Monte Carlo Ascari turned up at Monza, where Castellotti was practising one of our 3-litre sports model they were due to drive that weekend in Germany. Alberto remarked that, after an accident, one must as soon as possible get back behind the wheel again in order not to lose one's nerve. During the mid-day break, he asked if he could take the car round the track a couple of times. He set off without bothering about his crash helmet and with his tie fluttering over his shoulder. The second time round, he was killed on the big, sweeping bend that is hardly a bend at all. His death, on 26 May, came on the same day of the month as his father."
All of Italy mourned the loss and on the day of Alberto Ascari's funeral in Milan the whole city fell silent, as a procession carrying the fallen hero moved slowly through the streets lined with an estimated one million silent mourners dressed in black. It required 15 carriages to carry the profusion of wreaths and flowers, and in the hearse, drawn by a team of plumed black horses, Ascari's familiar light blue helmet lay on top of the black coffin.
"I have lost my greatest opponent," Juan Manuel Fangio said. "I deeply admired the graceful, pleasant style of Alberto's driving. He was a real champion, worthy in every way of his father Antonio."
- excerpt from the biography FANGIO: The Life Behind The Legend by Gerald Donaldson https://www.amazon.com/Fangio-Behind-Legend-Gerald-Donaldson/dp/0753518279
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