1959 United States Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 9 in the 1959 Formula One season | |||
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| Date | December 12, 1959 | ||
| Official name | II United States Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida |
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| Course | Former Military Airbase | ||
| Course length | 8.36 km (5.2 mi) | ||
| Distance | 42 laps, 351 km (218 mi) | ||
| Weather | Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 77 °F (25 °C); winds gusting up to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Cooper-Climax | ||
| Time | 3:00.0 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Maurice Trintignant
|
Cooper-Climax | |
| Time | 3:05.0 on lap 39 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Cooper-Climax | ||
| Second |
|
Cooper-Climax | |
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
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The 1959 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on December 12, 1959, at Sebring International Raceway. It was the ninth and final round of the 1959 Formula One season. It was the second United States Grand Prix (ninth including the American Grand Prize races of the 1908–16). It was the first and only occasion the race was held at the home of the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance sports car race, the Sebring International Raceway in Florida. The race was held over 42 laps of the 8.36-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 351 kilometres.
The race was won by New Zealander Bruce McLaren driving a Cooper T51 for the works Cooper team, the first win for a New Zealand-born driver. McLaren won by six tenths of a second over French driver Maurice Trintignant driving a Rob Walker Racing Team-entered Cooper T51. British driver Tony Brooks finished third in his Ferrari Dino 246. Championship points leader Australian Jack Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap and had to push his Cooper T51 across the line to finish fourth. Brooks' third-place finish clinched the title for Brabham. It was the first of three world championships for Brabham, and the first for an Australian, for Cooper and for a rear-engined car.
It was widely reported by the European press at the time that McLaren's win at 22 years, 3 months and 12 days saw him became the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner, a record that would stand for over 40 years. However, the record was in fact held by American driver Troy Ruttman who had won the 1952 Indianapolis 500 when aged 22 years, 2 months and 19 days, meaning that at the time of their respective wins, Ruttman was three weeks younger than McLaren (the Indianapolis 500, while not the usual type of Grand Prix and was ignored by most of the Formula One drivers, was included as a round of the World Championship between 1950 and 1960).
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