Tipo 250F T2 (1957)

There was now little room for manoeuvre when it came to developing the 250F's 6-cylinder, and so it was necessary to come up with an innovative new power unit, with the result that Ing. Alfieri turned his attention to the 12-cylinder configuration. He quickly discounted a flat-12 option, as this would have meant designing a whole new chassis, and instead plumped for the classic 60°-vee angle layout.

A car mounted with the new engine was test-driven by Juan Manuel Fangio at Modena with very positive results. It then took part in qualifying for the Siracusa Grand Prix, but didn't actually race because of difficulties with tuning the carburation. Behra finally raced the new single-seater in the 1957 Italian Grand Prix where it proved itself a very efficient adversary, thanks to its powerful 300 bhp output. However, when Maserati retired from racing that year, development was stopped.