The 1955 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Buenos Aires on 16 January 1955. It was race 1 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers and the third running of the Argentine Grand Prix. It was also the first of three international races within two weeks, with the 1955 1000 km Buenos Aires opening the sports cars WC season, and the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix Formula Libre race at the end of January seeing another win for Fangio and Mercedes, this time powered by the enlarged 3.0 sports car version of the F1 engine.
The high temperatures of the Argentinian summer proved to be very taxing for both drivers and cars. The race in very hot weather was won from third on the grid by Juan Manuel Fangio for Mercedes. While others had to take breaks and shared cars, 43 year old local Fangio contined for all of the 96 laps on his own, and set fastest lap, even though suffering burns to his leg.
Ferrari had brought four drivers and three cars of which two finished on the podium after one engine failed. In two three-way shared drives with José Froilán González (who had put No. 12 car on pole) and Umberto Maglioli (who was entered on the No. 10 car), Ferrari drivers Nino Farina (qualified No. 10 on 5) and Maurice Trintignant (No. 14 car DNF) finished both second and third respectively. For 1955, defending champion Mercedes had picked up Stirling Moss to expand its effort to four drivers and four cars. They qualifyied rather low, 3rd to 10th. After the cars of Moss and Kling were out, these two drivers shared the No. 8 car of Hans Herrmann, finishing fourth. Fangio and Roberto Mieres, the best of the Maserati drivers, were the only two drivers able to complete the race without handing their car to another driver, either due to exhaustion, or due to team orders after a car or driver had run into problems. Only two other Maserati did finish. Five cars were out after only two laps. Only seven of 21 cars finished, and only two covered the complete distance. Neither of the three Lancia or Gordini made it to mid-race.
According to former Ferrari and Maserati chief mechanic Giulio Borsari, Fangio acclimatized himself by moving to Argentina one month prior to the race and reducing his water consumption to one liter a day to cope with the extreme heat. Fangio also suffered severe burns to his leg which, for the entire duration of the 3 hour race, was rubbing against the chassis frame which was being heated by the exhaust. It left a permanent scar on his leg later in life. Apart from winning the Formula Libre race two weeks later, run in two heats of 30 laps, it took Fangio 3 months to recover. He finished second in the 1955 Mille Miglia. The next F1 race was in late May, in Monaco.
Entries
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Team
!No
!Driver
!Car
!Engine
!Tyre
|-
| rowspan="4" | Daimler Benz AG
|2
| Juan Manuel Fangio
| rowspan="4" |Mercedes-Benz W196
| rowspan="4" |Mercedes M196 2.5 L8
| rowspan="4" |
|-
|4
| Karl Kling
|-
|6
| Stirling Moss
|-
|8
| Hans Herrmann
|-
| rowspan="3" | Scuderia Ferrari
|10
| Giuseppe Farina
| rowspan="3" |Ferrari 625 F1
| rowspan="3" |Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
| rowspan="3" |
|-
|12
| José Froilán González
|-
|14
| Maurice Trintignant
|-
| rowspan="7" | Officine Alfieri Maserati
|16
| Jean Behra
| rowspan="7" |Maserati 250F
| rowspan="8" |Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6
| rowspan="11" |
|-
|18
| Roberto Mieres
|-
|20
| Sergio Mantovani
|-
|22
| Luigi Musso
|-
|24
| Carlos Menditeguy
|-
|26
| Clemar Bucci
|-
|28
| Harry Schell
|-
| Alberto Uría
|30
| Alberto Uría
|Maserati A6GCM
|-
| rowspan="3" | Scuderia Lancia
|32
| Alberto Ascari
| rowspan="3" |Lancia D50
| rowspan="3" |Lancia DS50 2.5 V8
|-
|34
| Luigi Villoresi
|-
|36
| Eugenio Castellotti
|-
| rowspan="3" | Equipe Gordini
|38
| Élie Bayol
| rowspan="3" |Gordini T16
| rowspan="3" |Gordini 23 2.5 L6
| rowspan="3" |
|-
|40
| Pablo Birger
|-
|42
| Jesús Iglesias
|-
|colspan=6|
|}
Classification
Qualifying
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Pos
!No
!Driver
!Constructor
!Time
!Gap
|-
!1
|12
| José Froilán González
|Ferrari
|1:43.1
|
|-
!2
|32
| Alberto Ascari
|Lancia
|1:43.6
|<nowiki>+0.5</nowiki>
|-
!3
|2
| Juan Manuel Fangio
|Mercedes
|1:43.7
|<nowiki>+0.6</nowiki>
|-
!4
|16
| Jean Behra
|Maserati
|1:43.8
| +0.7
|-
!5
|10
| Giuseppe Farina
|Ferrari
|1:43.9
| +0.8
|-
!6
|4
| Karl Kling
|Mercedes
|1:44.1
| +1.0
|-
!7
|28
| Harry Schell
|Maserati
|1:44.3
| +1.2
|-
!8
|6
| Stirling Moss
|Mercedes
|1:44.6
| +1.5
|-
!9
|40
| Pablo Birger
|Gordini
|1:44.8
| +1.7
|-
!10
|8
| Hans Herrmann
|Mercedes
|1:44.9
| +1.8
|-
!11
|34
| Luigi Villoresi
|Lancia
|1:45.2
| +2.1
|-
!12
|36
| Eugenio Castellotti
|Lancia
|1:45.3
| +2.2
|-
!13
|24
| Carlos Menditeguy
|Maserati
|1:45.4
| +2.3
|-
!14
|14
| Maurice Trintignant
|Ferrari
|1:45.8
| +2.7
|-
!15
|38
| Élie Bayol
|Gordini
|1:46.1
| +3.0
|-
!16
|18
| Roberto Mieres
|Maserati
|1:46.2
| +3.1
|-
!17
|42
| Jesús Iglesias
|Gordini
|1:46.3
| +3.2
|-
!18
|22
| Luigi Musso
|Maserati
|1:46.4
| +3.3
|-
!19
|20
| Sergio Mantovani
|Maserati
|1:46.4
| +3.3
|-
!20
|26
| Clemar Bucci
|Maserati
|1:47.6
| +4.5
|-
!21
|30
| Alberto Uría
|Maserati
|1:52.3
| +9.2
|-
! colspan="6" |Source:
|}
Race
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Laps !! Time/Retired !! Grid !! Points
|-
! 1
| 2
| Juan Manuel Fangio
| Mercedes
| 96
| 3:00:38.6
| 3
| 9
|-
! 2
| 12
| José Froilán González<br> Nino Farina<br> Maurice Trintignant
| Ferrari
| 96
| +1:29.6
| 1
| 2<br>2<br>2
|-
! 3
| 10
| Nino Farina<br> Maurice Trintignant<br> Umberto Maglioli
| Ferrari
| 94
| +2 laps
| 5
| 1 <br>1 <br>1
|-
! 4
| 8
| Hans Herrmann<br> Karl Kling<br> Stirling Moss
| Mercedes
| 94
| +2 laps
| 10
| 1<br>1<br>1
|-
! 5
| 18
| Roberto Mieres
| Maserati
| 91
| +5 laps
| 16
| 2
|-
! 6
| 28
| Harry Schell<br> Jean Behra
| Maserati
| 88
| +8 laps
| 7
|
|-
! 7
| 22
| Luigi Musso<br> Sergio Mantovani<br> Harry Schell
| Maserati
| 83
| +13 laps
| 18
|
|-
!
| 20
| Sergio Mantovani<br> Jean Behra<br> Luigi Musso
| Maserati
| 54
| Engine
| 19
|
|-
!
| 26
| Clemar Bucci<br> Harry Schell<br> Carlos Menditeguy
| Maserati
| 54
| Fuel pressure
| 20
|
|-
!
| 42
| Jesús Iglesias
| Gordini
| 38
| Transmission
| 17
|
|-
!
| 14
| Maurice Trintignant
| Ferrari
| 36
| Engine
| 14
|
|-
!
| 36
| Eugenio Castellotti<br> Luigi Villoresi
| Lancia
| 35
| Accident
| 12
|
|-
!
| 6
| Stirling Moss
| Mercedes
| 29
| Fuel system
| 8
|
|-
!
| 30
| Alberto Uría
| Maserati
| 22
| Out of fuel
| 21
|
|-
!
| 32
| Alberto Ascari
| Lancia
| 21
| Accident
| 2
|
|-
!
| 38
| Élie Bayol
| Gordini
| 7
| Transmission
| 15
|
|-
!
| 16
| Jean Behra
| Maserati
| 2
| Accident
| 4
|
|-
!
| 4
| Karl Kling
| Mercedes
| 2
| Accident
| 6
|
|-
!
| 34
| Luigi Villoresi
| Lancia
| 2
| Fuel leak
| 11
|
|-
!
| 40
| Pablo Birger
| Gordini
| 1
| Accident
| 9
|
|-
!
| 24
| Carlos Menditeguy
| Maserati
| 1
| Accident
| 13
|
|-
!colspan="8"|
|}
;Notes
- – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Shared drives
- Car #12: José Froilán González (60 laps), Nino Farina (20 laps), and Maurice Trintignant (16 laps). They shared the 6 points for second place, thus 2 points each.
- Car #10: Nino Farina (50 laps), Umberto Maglioli (22 laps), and Maurice Trintignant (22 laps). They shared the 4 points for third place, 1 1⁄3 points each, thus Farina and Trintignant both had 3 1⁄3 in total.
- Car #8: Hans Herrmann (30 laps), Stirling Moss (34 laps), Karl Kling (30 laps) shared the 3 points for fourth place, one point each.
- Car #28: Harry Schell (50 laps), and Jean Behra (38 laps).
- Car #22: Luigi Musso (50 laps), Sergio Mantovani (20 laps), and Harry Schell (13 laps).
- Car #20: Sergio Mantovani (30 laps), Jean Behra (14 laps), and Luigi Musso (10 laps).
- Car #26: Clemar Bucci (30 laps), Harry Schell (14 laps), and Carlos Menditeguy (10 laps).
- Car #36: Eugenio Castellotti (20 laps) and Luigi Villoresi (15 laps).
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
|align="center"| 1
| Juan Manuel Fangio
|align="left"| 9
|-
|align="center"| 2=
| Maurice Trintignant
|align="left"| 3
|-
|align="center"| 2=
| Nino Farina
|align="left"| 3
|-
|align="center"| 4
| José Froilán González
|align="left"| 2
|-
|align="center"| 5
| Roberto Mieres
|align="left"| 2
|-
!colspan=3|Source:
|}