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Peter Collins

FIA Super Licence United Kingdom
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1952 Formula One season – 1958 Formula One season
Teams	Hersham and Walton Motors, Vanwall, Maserati, Ferrari
Races	35 (32 starts)
List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions	0
Wins	3
Podiums	9
Career points	47
Pole position	0
Fastest lap	0
First race	1952 Swiss Grand Prix
First win	1956 Belgian Grand Prix
Last win	1958 British Grand Prix
Last race	1958 German Grand Prix

Peter John Collins (6 November 1931 – 3 August 1958) was a Formula One driver from England. He participated in 35 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952. He won 3 races, achieved 9 podiums, and scored a total of 47 championship points.

In common with many British drivers of the immediate post-war period, Collins cut his racing teeth in the frenetic 500cc category (adopted as Formula 3 at the end of 1950), when his parents bought him a Cooper 500 from the fledgling Cooper Car Company. These small machines, powered by motorcycle engines, were also the proving ground of many of Collins' F1 contemporaries, notably including Stirling Moss.

He got his F1 break in 1952, picking up a drive for the lowly Hersham and Walton Motors team, replacing Moss. Results did not come the team's way, and Collins left after the 1953 season. Following spells driving for Vanwall and Maserati, and one brief outing in a British Racing Motors which ended with a crash in qualifying, Collins was signed to the Ferrari team for the 1956 F1 season.

Finally things looked to be going Collins' way. The 1956 season proved to be a turning point, with a second place - behind Moss - at Monaco, and wins at the Belgian and French Grands Prix. Indeed, Collins was on the verge of becoming Britain's first F1 World Champion when he handed his Lancia in Formula One-Ferrari D50 over to team leader Juan Manuel Fangio after the latter suffered a steering-arm failure toward the end of the 1956 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Collins eventually finished second, but the advantage handed to Moss, and the extra points gained by Fangio's finish, demoted Collins to third in the championship. This selfless, team-orientated action gained Collins immense respect among the Italian racing tifosi, and the gratitude and admiration of Enzo Ferrari himself, a man notoriously hard to please. In his double-biography of Collins and Mike Hawthorn, "Mon Ami Mate", Chris Nixon describes the ensuing relationship between the English driver and his Italian boss as being almost like father and son from this point on.

In 1957, Collins was joined at Ferrari by Mike Hawthorn. The two became very close friends, often getting into much off-track trouble together, and took to calling each other "mon ami mate" after a newspaper cartoon strip. 1957 also saw Collins marry American Louise King. However, despite a third-placed finish at the 1957 German Grand Prix, Ferrari were distinctly under-par for much of the season as the Ferrari 801 model (an evolution of the 1954 Lancia D50) was by then becoming obsolete. 1958 saw the introduction of the new Ferrari Dino 246, a far improved car, and once again results began to go the way of Scuderia Ferrari. Collins scored his third and final career victory at the 1958 British Grand Prix, as well as taking a third place at 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. Hawthorn also won in 1958 French Grand Prix, but the two were chasing Tony Brooks' Vanwall at the German Grand Prix when disaster struck. Pushing hard to keep pace, Collins lost control of his car and, in Hawthorn's direct sight, spun off the track, disappearing over a bank. During the ensuing accident Collins was thrown clear of the Ferrari, hit a tree and sustained critical injuries to his head. Despite being airlifted to hospital, Collins died later that afternoon.

Complete World Championship Formula One results

(F1 driver results legend 2; * shared drive)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Points
1952 Formula One season	Hersham and Walton Motors	Hersham and Walton Motors HWM 52	Alta (automobile)	1952 Swiss Grand Prix Ret	1952 Indianapolis 500	1952 Belgian Grand Prix Ret	1952 French Grand Prix 6	1952 British Grand Prix Ret	1952 German Grand Prix DNS	1952 Dutch Grand Prix DNQ	1952 Italian Grand Prix				NC	0
1953 Formula One season	Hersham and Walton Motors	Hersham and Walton Motors HWM 53	Alta (automobile)	1953 Argentine Grand Prix	1953 Indianapolis 500	1953 Dutch Grand Prix 8	1953 Belgian Grand Prix Ret	1953 French Grand Prix 13	1953 British Grand Prix Ret	1953 German Grand Prix	1953 Swiss Grand Prix	1953 Italian Grand Prix			NC	0
1954 Formula One season	Tony Vandervell	Vanwall	Vanwall	1954 Argentine Grand Prix	1954 Indianapolis 500	1954 Belgian Grand Prix	1954 French Grand Prix	1954 British Grand Prix Ret	1954 German Grand Prix	1954 Swiss Grand Prix	1954 Italian Grand Prix 7	1954 Spanish Grand Prix DNS			NC	0
1955 Formula One season	Owen Racing Organisation	Maserati Maserati 250F	Maserati	1955 Argentine Grand Prix	1955 Monaco Grand Prix	1955 Indianapolis 500	1955 Belgian Grand Prix	1955 Dutch Grand Prix	1955 British Grand Prix Ret						NC	0
	Maserati	Maserati Maserati 250F	Maserati							1955 Italian Grand Prix Ret
1956 Formula One season	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari Ferrari 555	Ferrari	1956 Argentine Grand Prix Ret											3rd	25
		Lancia in Formula One-Ferrari Lancia-Ferrari D50	Ferrari		1956 Monaco Grand Prix 2*	1956 Indianapolis 500	1956 Belgian Grand Prix 1	1956 French Grand Prix 1	1956 British Grand Prix 2 *	1956 German Grand Prix Ret *	1956 Italian Grand Prix 2 *
1957 Formula One season	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia in Formula One-Ferrari Lancia-Ferrari D50	Ferrari	1957 Argentine Grand Prix 6 *											9th	8
		Ferrari Ferrari 801	Ferrari		1957 Monaco Grand Prix Ret	1957 Indianapolis 500	1957 French Grand Prix 3	1957 British Grand Prix 4 *	1957 German Grand Prix 3	1957 Pescara Grand Prix	1957 Italian Grand Prix Ret
1958 Formula One season	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari Ferrari Dino 246	Ferrari	1958 Argentine Grand Prix Ret	1958 Monaco Grand Prix 3	1958 Dutch Grand Prix Ret	1958 Indianapolis 500	1958 Belgian Grand Prix Ret	1958 French Grand Prix 5	1958 British Grand Prix 1	1958 German Grand Prix Ret	1958 Portuguese Grand Prix	1958 Italian Grand Prix	1958 Moroccan Grand Prix	5th	14

Preceded by Luigi Musso	List of Formula One fatal accidents August 3, 1958	Succeeded by Stuart Lewis-Evans
Sporting positions
Preceded by José Froilán González	BRDC International Trophy 1955	Succeeded by Stirling Moss
Preceded by Jean Behra	BRDC International Trophy 1958	Succeeded by Jack Brabham

External links

• The 500 Owners Association