How it unfolded
Late confirmation of the race kept most British teams away; only ten cars started. Rob Walker's private entry prepared a mid-engined Cooper T43 for Stirling Moss, whose 1.96-litre Climax four was nearly 100 hp down on Ferrari's 2.4-litre V6 Dino 246. Tyres were the bigger problem: Cooper's bolt-on wheels took far longer to change than Ferrari's knock-off hubs, so Walker and Moss decided to run all 80 laps without a stop while feigning pit preparations. Moss took the lead around lap 35, managed his tyres and crossed the line with canvas showing through the tread. Ferrari's pit saw the state of his rubber, assumed he would have to stop, and realised too late that he would not. Moss beat Musso by 2.7 seconds — the first championship win for a mid-engined car, the first for a private entry and Cooper's first victory.
Why it still matters
This race overturned F1's design orthodoxy. Within three years competitive front-engined cars had vanished from the grid, and placing the engine behind the driver remains the absolute standard for single-seater racing. It also proved a small British garage could beat a major Italian manufacturer, opening the era of 'garagiste' constructors.