Swiss Grand Prix 1949
The IX. The Swiss Grand Prix was a Formula 1 race and took place on July 3, 1949 on the Bremgarten circuit in Bremgarten near Bern . The race belonged to the Grandes Épreuves category and was organized according to the regulations of the International Formula 1 (racing cars with engines up to 1.5 liters displacement with compressor or up to 4.5 liters displacement without compressor; race distance at least 300 km or at least three hours of racing ) held over 40 laps of 7.280 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 291.2 km.
The winner was Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 125 GPC , with which he achieved his first success at an official International Grand Prix both for himself and for Scuderia Ferrari .
The race After losing to Louis Rosier at the Belgian Grand Prix , who had covered the entire distance there with his Lago-Talbot T26C without refueling, Ferrari reacted and equipped Luigi Villoresi's racing car with additional tanks for the subsequent Swiss Grand Prix , so that in view of the significantly shorter race distance of 300 km (in Spa-Francorchamps the classic Grand Prix distance of 500 km had been driven) this should now also make it non-stop. His friend and team mate Alberto Ascari, on the other hand, had a Ferrari 125 GPC in a normal configuration, so he had to refuel at least once. The third representative of the team was Peter Whitehead with his customer car, which, unlike the cars of his stable colleagues, did not yet have a modified rear suspension, so that he was forced to use ballast to get the driving behavior at least somewhat under control.
The Ferrari trio in Bern faced no fewer than seven Lago Talbot - almost the entire production volume - their owners hoped to repeat Rosier's success in Belgium perhaps one more time. The fast Maserati were also not to be underestimated, above all Giuseppe Farina with the car he used himself, whose susceptibility to defects, however, often prevented countable successes. With five Swiss riders at the start, including the newly crowned winner of the British Grand Prix Emmanuel de Graffenried , the proportion of local drivers was greater than ever before, even if the rest of them no longer had to be satisfied with the very latest equipment. The Talbot by the Italian Clemente Biondetti was a particular curiosity . It was a vehicle that was repeatedly redesigned and modernized by its future owner Luigi Platé , but its origins go back to the Grand Prix model developed for the 1926 season .
Following his racing strategy, Ascari set a high pace with his Ferrari right from the start in order to gain enough lead for his refueling stop, while Farina, who had fought his way up to second place after a bad start, was once again in a promising position with a defect had to give up. Villoresi was thus behind his team-mate in second place with an already quite safe gap on the Maserati of the Siamese prince “B. Bira ” , while behind the Talbot drivers could not follow the pace of the top and waited for their chance at the pit stops due at halftime.
At least the two Grand Prix veterans Raymond Sommer and Philippe Étancelin - who drove his best season in a long time - managed to move up to positions three and four on this occasion, but Ascari got back on the track in time before them and made himself immediately in pursuit of his teammate, whom he was the only one who had to let pass. However, the Ferrari team miscalculated the fuel consumption of Villoresi's car, so that it had to come to the pits again to refuel a few laps before the end of the team-internal duel. Once again he was denied a possible victory in a Grande Épreuve at the last minute, while Ascari was able to safely drive home the first Grand Prix success for himself and the team.
Individual references / comments
- ↑ www.gilcodesign.com (accessed January 21, 2020)