Peter Collins

British racing driver

Peter Collins and his Ferrari seasons

Peter Collins won three Grands Prix for Ferrari and finished third in the 1956 championship before his death at the Nürburgring in 1958.

Peter Collins was born in Kidderminster, England, on 6 November 1931, the son of a garage owner. He began racing at 17 in a Cooper 500, the small cars that became Formula Three, and finished third in the 1951 Autosport National Formula 3 Championship before moving to Formula Two with HWM.

HWM promoted him to Formula 1 in 1952, and he made his debut at the Swiss Grand Prix. For the next four seasons he raced only now and then, for HWM, Vanwall and Maserati, without scoring championship points. Away from the World Championship he was far more successful, winning the 1953 RAC Tourist Trophy for Aston Martin, the 1955 BRDC International Trophy and the 1955 Targa Florio with Mercedes.

Ferrari signed him for 1956, and results came at once. He won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa and then the French Grand Prix at Reims, and with five podiums he finished third in the championship. The 1957 season brought two more podiums but no wins. In 1958 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring for Ferrari, and in July he won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Two weeks later Collins was killed in a crash during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on 3 August 1958. He made 36 championship starts and scored 3 wins and 9 podiums, and he was also twice runner up at Le Mans with Aston Martin, in 1955 and 1956.

0 world titles, 3 wins, 0 pole positions, 36 starts.

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