The 1951 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 September 1951 at Monza. It was race 7 of 8 in the 1951 World Championship of Drivers.
| 1951 Italian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 16 September 1951 | ||||
| Official name | XXII GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA | ||||
| Location | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 6.300 km (3.915 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 80 laps, 504.000 km (313.171 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Warm and sunny | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Alfa Romeo | ||||
| Time | 1:53.2[1] | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Nino Farina | Alfa Romeo | |||
| Time | 1:56.5 on lap 64[2] | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Alfa Romeo | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
Report
edit
Toulo de Graffenried returned to Alfa Romeo's four-car line up, in place of Paul Pietsch, having raced for Enrico Platé in France and Germany. He raced alongside the regular Alfa drivers, Fangio, Farina and Bonetto. The works Ferrari team retained the same four drivers from the race at the Nürburgring — Ascari, Villoresi, González and Taruffi — while Brazilian Chico Landi made his World Championship debut in a privately run Ferrari. The field was completed by works teams from BRM, Simca-Gordini and OSCA, as well as the usual Talbot-Lago entries.
The front row positions on the grid were shared equally between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, with Fangio, Farina, Ascari and González posting the four fastest qualifying times. The second row consisted of the remaining works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi, alongside Felice Bonetto. Reg Parnell, in a BRM, was also supposed to be on the second row, but was unable to start due to lubrication problems.
Fangio was the initial race leader, having started from pole position, but he soon had to cede the position to Ascari. He retook the lead on lap eight before pitting for a tyre change, which dropped him to fifth. Early retirements for Farina and de Graffenried left José Froilán González in second, behind his teammate Ascari. Fangio attempted to bridge the gap to the Ferraris, but engine problems eliminated his chances. The sole remaining Alfa driver, Nino Farina, who had taken over Bonetto's car on lap 30, inherited third place as a result of Fangio's retirement. He was fast, but fuel leakages meant that he needed to make two further pitstops; he therefore had to settle for third. Alberto Ascari took his second, and Ferrari's third, consecutive Championship race victory, ahead of British Grand Prix winner González. The other works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi completed the points positions in what was another successful race for the Scuderia.[3]
Ascari's victory took him to within two points of Championship leader Fangio, while González was a further four points behind in third.
Entries
edit- ^1 — Gianni Marzotto withdrew from the event prior to practice[6]
- ^2 — Ken Richardson qualified the #32 BRM, although he did not start the race. Hans Stuck was also entered in the same car, but he took no part in either qualifying or the race.[6]
- ^3 — Toulo de Graffenried qualified and drove the race in the #36 Alfa Romeo. Consalvo Sanesi was also entered in the car, but injury prevented his participation in the Grand Prix.[6]
- ^4 — Felice Bonetto qualified and drove 29 laps of the race in the #40 Alfa Romeo. Nino Farina, whose own vehicle had already retired, took over the car for a further 50 laps.[7]
- ^5 — Maurice Trintignant qualified the #50 Simca-Gordini but was secretly replaced for the race by Jean Behra.[8][9]
Classification
editQualifying
editRace
edit| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Alberto Ascari
|
Ferrari | 80 | 2:42:39.3 | 3 | 8 |
| 2 | 6 |  José Froilán González
|
Ferrari | 80 | +24.6[2] | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 40 | Felice Bonetto Nino Farina
|
Alfa Romeo | 79 | +1 lap | 7 | 2 36 |
| 4 | 4 | Luigi Villoresi
|
Ferrari | 79 | +1 lap | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 | Piero Taruffi
|
Ferrari | 78 | +2 laps | 6 | 2 |
| 6 | 48 |  André Simon
|
Simca-Gordini | 74 | +6 laps | 11 | |
| 7 | 18 | Louis Rosier
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 73 | +7 laps | 15 | |
| 8 | 24 | Yves Giraud-Cabantous
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 72 | +8 laps | 14 | |
| 9 | 44 | Franco Rol
|
OSCA | 67 | +13 laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 38 | Juan Manuel Fangio
|
Alfa Romeo | 39 | Engine | 1 | |
| Ret | 50 | Jean Behra7
|
Simca-Gordini | 29 | Engine | 12 | |
| Ret | 46 | Robert Manzon
|
Simca-Gordini | 29 | Engine | 13 | |
| Ret | 20 |  Louis Chiron
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 23 | Ignition | 17 | |
| Ret | 22 | Pierre Levegh
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 9 | Engine | 20 | |
| Ret | 28 |  Jacques Swaters
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 7 | Overheating | 22 | |
| Ret | 34 | Nino Farina
|
Alfa Romeo | 6 | Engine | 2 | |
| Ret | 26 | Johnny Claes
|
Talbot-Lago-Talbot | 4 | Oil pump | 21 | |
| Ret | 36 |  Toulo de Graffenried
|
Alfa Romeo | 1 | Compressor | 9 | |
| Ret | 16 |  Peter Whitehead
|
Ferrari | 1 | Magneto | 19 | |
| Ret | 12 |  Chico Landi
|
Ferrari | 0 | Transmission | 16 | |
| DNS | 30 | Reg Parnell
|
BRM | 0 | Non Starter | 8 | |
| DNS | 32 | Ken Richardson
|
BRM | 0 | Non Starter | 10 | |
| DNS | 14 | Rudi Fischer
|
Ferrari | 0 | Non Starter | ||
| DNS | 32 |  Hans Stuck
|
BRM | 0 | Reserve Driver | ||
| DNS | 50 | Maurice Trintignant7
|
Simca-Gordini | 0 | Driver Unwell | ||
Source:[11]
| |||||||
- Notes
- ^6 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
- ^7 – Behra secretly replaced the unwell Trintignant for the race. Team principal Amédée Gordini did not inform the race organizers about the switch as it would have cut the team's starting fee. Behra even wore his compatriot's helmet to disguise the switch.[8][9]
Shared drive
edit- Farina (50 laps) took over from Bonetto (29) after Farina's car retired. Points for 3rd position were shared between the drivers (Farina received 1 extra point for setting the fastest race lap).
Championship standings after the race
edit- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | Juan Manuel Fangio
|
27 (28) |
|
|
2 | Alberto Ascari
|
25 |
|
|
3 | José Froilán González
|
21 |
|
|
4 | Nino Farina
|
17 (18) |
|
|
5 | Luigi Villoresi
|
15 (18) |
| Source:[12] | |||
- Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References
edit- ^ Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 34. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
- ^ a b Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 35. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
- ^ "Italian GP, 1951 Race Report". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
- ^ "1951 Italian Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ^ "1951 Italian GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "Italy 1951 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ^ "Italian Grand Prix 1951 - Results". ESPN F1. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Jean Behra - Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- ^ a b "Seasons - Italy 1951". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- ^ "Italy 1951 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ^ "1951 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ^ "Italy 1951 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.