who were regarded as the best in Formula One at the time —Juan Manuel Fangio in his Mercedes and Alberto Ascari in his Ferrari — and took the lead of the race. Ascari retired with engine problems, and Moss led until lap 68 when his engine also failed. Fangio took the victory, and Moss had to push his Maserati to the finish line. Neubauer, already impressed when Moss had tested a Mercedes-Benz W196 at Hockenheim, promptly signed him for the 1955 season. 1955 Moss's first World Championship victory came at the 1955 British Grand Prix, a race he was also the first British driver to win. Leading a 1–2–3–4 finish for Mercedes, it was the first time he had beaten Fangio, his teammate, rival, friend and mentor. It has been suggested that Fangio allowed Moss to win in front of his home crowd. Moss himself asked Fangio this repeatedly, and Fangio would always reply with: "No. You were just better than me that day." The same year, Moss also won the RAC Tourist Trophy, the Targa Florio (with Peter Collins) and the Mille Miglia. Mille Miglia In 1955 Moss won Italy's one-thousand-mile Mille Miglia road race, an achievement that Doug Nye described as the "most iconic single day's drive in motor racing history." His co-driver was motor racing journalist Denis Jenkinson, who prepared a set of pace notes for Moss, and the two completed the race in ten hours and seven minutes. Motor Trend headlined it as "The Most Epic Drive Ever". Before the race, he had taken a pill given to him by Fangio, and he has commented that although he did not know what was in it, "Dexedrine and Benzedrine were commonly used in rallies. The object was simply to keep awake, like wartime bomber crews." After the win, he spent the night and the following day driving his girlfriend to Cologne. 1956–1962 Moss won the Nassau Cup at the 1956 and 1957 Bahamas Speed Week. Also in 1957 he won on the longest circuit ever to hold a Formula One Grand Prix, the Pescara Circuit, where, yet again, he demonstrated his mastery in long-distance racing. The event lasted three hours and Moss beat Fangio, who started from pole position, by approximately 3 minutes. In 1958, Moss's forward-thinking attitude made waves in the racing world. Moss won the first race of the season in a rear-engined F1 car,