Porto's Boavista and a Sporting Gesture

Twice the setting for the Portuguese Grand Prix, Porto's Boavista street circuit is remembered for a piece of sportsmanship that decided a world title.

The Circuito da Boavista was a street circuit in Porto, and like the best walks in a harbor city it began at the water. The original course started on the waterfront at the Esplanada do Rio de Janeiro, followed the Avenida da Boavista that gave it its name, then wound back through small neighborhoods to the line.

It hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1958 and 1960. Stirling Moss won the first from pole for Vanwall, yet the race is remembered for what he did afterward. Mike Hawthorn, his fellow Briton and rival for the title, had finished second but faced disqualification for driving against the direction of the race after a spin, and Moss persuaded the stewards to let the result stand. Hawthorn kept his six points and beat Moss to the championship by one. Rarely has good sportsmanship carried so exact a price. The 1960 race was a contest of survival: Jack Brabham won for Cooper, and only four other cars finished within five laps of him, as crashes and breakdowns accounted for Phil Hill, Graham Hill and John Surtees among others.

Those two championship rounds were Boavista's only ones. The circuit returned in 2005 on a shorter layout of 4.800 km, staging historic races every second year and World Touring Car Championship rounds from 2007 to 2013, until the city council suspended the event in 2015 on grounds of cost. The streets went back to being streets, with one of the sport's finer moments written into them.

Every Grand Prix here

• 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix
• 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix