1953 Swiss Grand Prix

 1953 Swiss Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 9 races of the 1953 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XIII Grand Prix of Switzerland
Date:	23rd August 1953
Place:	Bern
Course:	Bremgarten
Length:	473.2 km in 65 laps of 7.28 km
Weather:	sunny, warm
Spectator:	~ 70000
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Time:	2: 40.1 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time:	2: 41.3 min (lap 50)
Podium
First:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second:	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari
Third:	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari

The 1953 Swiss Grand Prix took place on August 23 at the Bremgarten race track near Bern and was the eighth of nine races in the 1953 World Cup .

background

At Maserati , Hermann Lang replaced the injured González . Otherwise, the team started with its regular line-up of Fangio , Bonetto and Marimón . At Ferrari , too, the line-up of the team ( Ascari , Farina , Villoresi and Hawthorn ) did not change. At Gordini's , the American Fred Wacker drove the third car, Connaught was absent, as was Cooper . The English HWM team that sent Paul Frère , Lance Macklin and Albert Scherrer into the race was there again.

training

As was usual in 1953, the Ferrari and the Maserati determined the training process. Juan Manuel Fangio secured pole position in the Maserati ahead of Ascari and Farina. The fourth-best time was surprisingly achieved by Maurice Trintignant in the Gordini , who had beaten two factory cars from Maserati and Ferrari. Fred Wacker had a serious accident during training in which he injured himself so that he could not take part in the race.

run

Fangio used his pole position for the best start, but was only able to defend the lead until halfway through the first lap when Ascari overtook him. Farina and Trintignant, however, could not implement their good starting positions, Farina fell back to ninth place at the start and was able to fight her way up to seventh place during the first lap. Trintignant came back from the first lap in ninth place, Rosier and Swaters didn't even finish the first lap. By the seventh lap Farina had fought his way to third place, one lap later Fangio dropped out of Ascari with transmission problems and three laps later exchanged the car with Bonetto and fell back to 9th place when he had to stop again on the next lap for a Change wheel. As a result, Farina slipped into second place in front of Villoresi, who, however, spun on the oil sprayed by Peter Hirt on the 20th lap, damaged his radiator and had to go to the pit a few times over the course of the race to refill water. Fangio was able to make up a few places in Bonetto's car but retired on lap 29 with engine failure. On lap 40 the leading Ascari drove into the pits with engine problems and lost over a minute. It fell back to fourth place. Farina was now leading Marimón and Hawthorn. Four laps later, Hawthorn overtook the Argentine, who had to retire two more laps later with engine failure. Ascari's car was perfectly fine again after the pit stop and he started a race to catch up. On lap 51 he overtook Hawthorn and two laps later he passed Farina and was again in the lead, which he was able to defend to the finish. He won the race ahead of Farina and Hawthorn. What nobody could have suspected at the time, it was his last victory in a world championship race, and also the last time that he should finish a race.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Ecurie Francorchamps	2	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	E.
Escuderia Bandeirantes	4th	Francisco Landi	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.0 L6	P
Equipe Gordini	6th	Jean Behra	Gordini T16 (1952)	Gordini 2.0 L6	E.
	8th	Maurice Trintignant
	44	Fred Wacker
Ecurie Rosier	10	Louis Rosier	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	D.
Team Louis Chiron	12	Louis Chiron	OSCA 20	OSCA	P
HWM	14th	Paul Brother	HWM 53	Alta 1.5	D.
	16	Lance Macklin
	18th	Albert Scherrer
Team Ken Wharton	20th	Ken Wharton	Cooper T23	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Scuderia Ferrari	24	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P
	26th	Mike Hawthorn
	28	Luigi Villoresi
	46	Alberto Ascari
Officine Alfieri Maserati	30th	Felice Bonetto	Maserati A6SSG	Maserati 2.0 L6	P
	32	Juan Manuel Fangio
	34	Hermann Lang
	36	Onofre Marimón
Ecurie espadon	38	Peter Hirt	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P
	40	Max de Terra
Team Emmanuel de Graffenried	42	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati A6SSG	Maserati 2.0 L6	P

classification

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	km / h	Starting row
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	2: 40,100	163.70	1 row
2.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2: 40.700	163.09	1 M.
3.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	2: 42,600	161.18	1 L
4th	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	2: 43.800	160.00	2 rows
5.	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	2: 44,500	159.32	2 L
6th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2: 44,600	159.22	3 rows
7th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2: 48.100	155.91	3 M.
8th.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	2: 49.900	154.26	3 L
9.	Ken Wharton	cooper	2: 51,500	152.82	4 rows
10.	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	2: 52,000	152.37	4 L
11.	Hermann Lang	Maserati	2: 54.800	149.93	5 R
12.	Jean Behra	Gordini	2: 55,000	149.76	5 M
13.	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	2: 55,100	149.67	5 L
14th	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	2: 55,400	149.42	6 R
15th	Lance Macklin	HWM	2: 57.100	147.98	6 L
16.	Paul Brother	HWM	2: 57.900	147.32	7 R
17th	Peter Hirt	Ferrari	3: 01,500	144.40	7 M.
18th	Albert Scherrer	HWM	3: 07.400	139.85	7 L
19th	Max de Terra	Ferrari	3: 21,100	130.32	8 R
20th	Francisco Landi	Maserati	3: 29.700	124.98	8 L
DNS	Louis Chiron	OSCA	without time
DNS	Fred Wacker	Gordini	without time

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	s. Rd.	guide
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	65	3: 01: 34,400	156.37	2: 41,300	52
2.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	65	3: 02: 47.330	155.33		13
3.	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	65	3: 03: 10.360	155.00
4th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	52	3: 04: 16.660	151.70
	Felice Bonetto		12
5.	Hermann Lang	Maserati	62	3: 02: 20,300	148.52
6th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	62	3: 02: 47.510	148.16
7th	Ken Wharton	cooper	62	3: 04: 51.510	146.5
8th.	Max de Terra	Ferrari	51	3: 03: 47,160	121.21
9.	Albert Scherrer	HWM	49	3: 03: 59.670	116.33
DNF	Francisco Landi	Maserati	54	transmission
DNF	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	47	Power transmission
DNF	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	46	engine
DNF	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	43	Rear axle
DNF	Jean Behra	Gordini	37	engine
DNF	Lance Macklin	HWM	29	engine
DNF	Peter Hirt	Ferrari	17th	engine
DNF	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	12	handing over
	Juan Manuel Fangio		17th	engine
DNF	Paul Brother	HWM	1	engine
DNF	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	0	accident
DNF	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	0	accident

World Cup stand after the race

In 1953, points were awarded according to the following scheme:

1st place	place 2	place 3	4th place	5th place	Fastest lap
8th	6th	4th	3	2	1

• Only the four best results from nine races counted. Deleted results are shown in brackets.
• The numbers marked with * include the point for the fastest lap.
• Fields marked in the same color indicate shared vehicles.

Item	driver	constructor										Points
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	9 *		8th	(8th)	(3)	8.5 *	(1*)	9 *		34.5 (46.5)
2.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari			6th		(2)	4th	8th	6th		24 (26)
3.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati					7 *	6th	6th	1.5		20.5
4th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	3		(3)		8th	(2)	4th	4th		19 (24)
5.	José Froilán González	Maserati	4th		2	(1*)	4th	3.5 *				13.5 (14.5)
6th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	6th		1*	6th						13
7th	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power		9 *								9
8th.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati			2	3			2			7th
9.	Felice Bonetto	Maserati			2				3	1.5		7.5
10.	Art Cross	Kurti's power		6th								6th
11.	Onofre Marimón	Maserati				4th						4th
12.	Oscar Gálvez	Maserati	2									2
	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power		2								2
	Duane Carter	Kurti's power		2								2
	Jack McGrath	Kurti's power		2								2
	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini				2						2
	Hermann Lang	Maserati								2		2
18th	Fred Agabashian	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5
	Paul Russo	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.gp-suisse.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=26&lang=de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Lang, Mike; Grand Prix 1950-1965; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981 S63f. ( ISBN 0-85429-276-4 ) (Engl.)
3. ↑ http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr031.html