1959 256 F1

In 1959, in an effort to squeeze the best possible performance out of the F1 car’s V6, its capacity was increased to 2.5 litres, the maximum permitted by regulations, giving rise to the 256. Apart from the engine, another difference from the 246 was the fitting of disc brakes. These had been experimented with in 1958, but were only adopted definitively in 1959.

Having lost their best drivers, Ferrari took on Tony Brooks, who reached second place in the final rankings behind Australian Jack Brabham in the Cooper-Climax. The cars from Maranello, which still used front mounted engines, began to have difficulty keeping pace with the rear engined English cars. Brooks, battling for the championship right up to the last race, won in France and Germany. The Maranello constructor was certainly not helped by a strike which forced it to withdraw from the British Grand Prix, on a track where Ferrari had taken the first two places only a few weeks beforehand at the Aintree 200.