1951 Swiss Grand Prix

 1951 Swiss Grand Prix

Racing data
1st of 8 races of the 1951 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XI Grand Prix of Switzerland
Date:	May 27, 1951
Place:	Bern
Course:	Bremgarten
Length:	305.76 km in 42 laps of 7.28 km
Weather:	heavy rain
Spectator:	~ 52000
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time:	2: 35.9 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time:	2: 51.1 min (lap 33)
Podium
First:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Second:	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari
Third:	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo

The Swiss Grand Prix took place in 1951 on the Bremgarten circuit and was the first race in the 1951 World Cup .

background

The conditions at the first World Championship run of the new season changed little compared to the final phase of last season. Furthermore, the Alfa Romeo and the Ferrari determined the scenery. Alfa Romeo had installed an additional tank with a capacity of 225 liters on the Farina vehicle , which made refueling superfluous and thus compensated for one of the biggest shortcomings of last season. The Swiss de Graffenried and Consalvo Sanesi completed the team. Ferrari entered again with Ascari and Villoresi , Piero Taruffi drove a third car . Ascari drove the new Ferrari 375 with a 4.5-liter naturally aspirated engine, but was still handicapped by burn injuries that he had sustained during a race in Genoa a week earlier. Two private Ferrari registered with the Swiss Rudolf Fischer (2.5-liter Formula 2 car) and the British Peter Whitehead (1.5-liter car with supercharger) were also at the start. The French Talbot-Lago were well represented with six vehicles, but had little chance of keeping up with the Italians, especially since they had hardly developed their vehicles compared to the previous year. The field was supplemented by the two British HWMs, one of which competed with Stirling Moss , who made his Formula 1 debut here.

training

The training took place under completely dry conditions. Villoresi took his chance to be number 1 at Ferrari and put his car on the front row with 2: 39.3 minutes. In the first practice session he even set the fastest time, but could not maintain this against the Alfa Romeo of Fangio and Farina in the second practice. Fangio started from pole position with a time of 2: 35.9 minutes, Farina was 1.9 seconds slower. Ascari could only get a seat in the third row.

run

On race day it started to rain heavily. The organizers therefore allowed the drivers to do an inspection round to familiarize themselves with the new conditions.

Despite the poor visibility, with the exception of Hirt , who stopped at the start with his Veritas Meteor , all drivers came back safely from the first lap. In the lead were the three Alfa Romeos with Fangio in the lead ahead of Farina and Sanesi, followed by Villoresi, who was able to overtake Sanesi after five laps. In the 13th lap, however, the end came for Villoresi when he could no longer see in the spray of a lapped Talbot driving in front of him and landed in a hedge in the Forsthaus curve. He was unharmed. Taruffi, on the other hand, coped well with the conditions. After the first lap ninth, he first overtook Whitehead's and Fischer's private Ferraris, was then waved in front by the painful Ascari, passed de Graffenried and Sanesi one after the other and caught up with Farina.

On lap 31, Henry Louveau broke his leg when his vehicle overturned. Peter Whitehead got away with minor injuries six laps later in an accident on the same corner.

Fangio drove unchallenged at the front of the field with the exception of laps 24-28 when he was thrown back by his refueling stop behind Farina - he drove with the additional tank and did not have to refuel - and won the race by almost a minute. Behind them, Taruffi was able to displace Farina from second place two laps before the end and in this time still distance him by 24 seconds. Stirling Moss finished eighth on his Formula 1 debut.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Ecurie Belge	2	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Team Philippe Etancelin	4th	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Team Yves Giraud-Cabantous	6th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot	D.
Ecurie Rosier	8th	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
	10	Henri Louveau	Talbot-Lago T26C
HWM	12	George Abecassis	HWM 51	Alta	D.
	14th	Stirling Moss
Scuderia Ferrari	16	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari 125	Ferrari	D.
	18th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari 375
	20th	Alberto Ascari
	44	Piero Taruffi
Alfa Romeo Motorsport	22nd	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo 159	Alfa Romeo	P
	24	Juan Manuel Fangio
	26th	Emmanuel de Graffenried
	28	Consalvo Sanesi
Enrico Platé	30th	Louis Chiron	Maserati 4CLT	Maserati	P
	32	Harry Schell
Ecurie espadon	38	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari 212	Ferrari	P
Ecurie Belgique	40	Guy Mairesse	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot	D.
Team José Froilán González	42	José Froilán González	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Ecurie espadon	52	Peter Hirt	Veritas meteor	Veritas	D.

classification

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	km / h	Starting row
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	2: 35.900	168.108	1R
2.	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	2: 37.800	166.084	1M
3.	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2: 39,300	164.520	1L
4th	Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	2: 40.300	163.493	2R
5.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	2: 41.800	161.978	2L
6th	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	2: 45,200	158.644	3R
7th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2: 46,000	157.880	3M
8th.	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago	2: 52.700	151.754	3L
9.	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	2: 52.900	151,579	4R
10.	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	2: 54.100	150.534	4L
11.	Henri Louveau	Talbot-Lago	2: 56.200	148.740	5R
12.	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	2: 57.300	147.817	5 M
12.	José Froilán González	Talbot-Lago	2: 57.300	147.817	5L
14th	Stirling Moss	HWM	2: 58,400	146.906	6R
15th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	3: 00,300	145.358	6L
16.	Peter Hirt	Veritas meteor	3: 01.600	144.317	7R
17th	Harry Schell	Maserati	3: 02.400	143.684	7M
18th	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	3: 02,500	143,605	7L
19th	Louis Chiron	Maserati	3: 03,100	143.135	8R
20th	George Abecassis	HWM	3: 03.800	142.590	8L
21st	Guy Mairesse	Talbot-Lago	3: 12,000	136,500	9M

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	s. Rd.	guide
01.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	42	2: 07: 53.640	143.44	2: 51.100	37
02.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	42	2: 08: 48.880	142.42
03.	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	42	2: 09: 12.950	141.98		5
04th	Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	41	2: 09: 27,100	138.34
05.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	40	2: 08: 05.700	136.4
06th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	40	2: 10: 59,000	133.39
07th	Louis Chiron	Maserati	40	2: 11: 20,200	133.03
08th.	Stirling Moss	HWM	40	2: 11: 25,000	132.95
09.	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago	39	2: 08: 04,600	133.01	3: 09,000
10.	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	39	2: 10: 59.900	130.04	3: 13.700
11.	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	39	2: 11: 41,400	129.36
12.	Harry Schell	Maserati	38	2: 09: 43,400	127.95
13.	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	35	2: 08: 27,510	119.01	3: 24,900
14th	Guy Mairesse	Talbot-Lago	31	2: 08: 38.330	105.26	3: 27,000
DNF	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	36	accident
DNF	Henri Louveau	Talbot-Lago	30th	accident		3: 06.900
DNF	George Abecassis	HWM	23	ignition
DNF	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	14th	ignition		3: 29,500
DNF	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	12	accident
DNF	José Froilán González	Talbot-Lago	10	engine		3: 25.800
DNF	Peter Hirt	Veritas meteor	0	Fuel system

World Cup stand after the race

The first five got 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2 points respectively; there was a point for the fastest lap. Only the four best results from eight races count.

Item	driver	constructor									Points
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	9								9
2.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	6th								6th
3.	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	4th								4th
4th	Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	3								3
5.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	2								2

Individual evidence

• Lang, Mike: Grand Prix! 1950-1965 ; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981, ISBN 978-0854292769 .