Team · 1954–1960 · United Kingdom
Vanwall was created by industrialist Tony Vandervell, owner of the Thinwall bearings factory: the team’s name combines his surname with the name of the bearings. The chassis of the 1956 car was designed by Colin Chapman and the body by Frank Costin. At the 1957 British Grand Prix at Aintree, Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss shared one car to victory — the first World Championship win for a British car.
The Constructors’ Championship was first contested in 1958, and Vanwall was its first winner: Moss and Brooks won three races each for the team. Moss lost the drivers’ title to Ferrari’s Mike Hawthorn by one point. At the final race of the season, in Morocco, Stuart Lewis-Evans crashed and soon died of his burns; after that Vandervell, whose health was failing, wound down the programme, and Vanwall cars raced only occasionally.