1951 German Grand Prix

 1951 German Grand Prix

Racing data
6th of 8 races of the 1951 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	Grand Prix of Germany
Date:	July 29, 1951
Place:	Nürburg
Course:	Nürburgring
Length:	455.423 km in 20 laps of 22.772 km
Weather:	sunny
Pole position
Driver:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time:	9: 55.800 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time:	9: 55.800 min
Podium
First:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Third:	José Froilán González	Ferrari

The 1951 German Grand Prix took place on July 29th at the Nürburgring and was the sixth race of the 1951 World Cup .

background

With the Grand Prix of Germany in 1951 , a major international motorsport event took place on the Nürburgring for the first time since the Second World War . The fact that Ferrari had caught up with the previously dominant Alfa Romeo in the previous race at Silverstone made the race even more exciting, especially since the track characteristics also suited Ferrari here.

Alfa Romeo started the race with four works cars. In addition to the regular drivers Fangio and Farina , Bonetto drove the third car this time and Paul Pietsch, the only German starter , drove the fourth car. The Alfa Romeo could  not play their superior top speed on this route - with the exception of the Döttinger Höhe - and were therefore not considered the top favorites compared to the Ferrari due to their enormous fuel consumption.

Scuderia Ferrari also made four entries. In addition to the regular drivers Ascari , González and Villoresi , Piero Taruffi returned to the team. Ascari in particular was given good chances as he knew the track very well thanks to numerous races in other categories. The Gordini factory again gave three mentions, but the cars were inferior to the Italian factory teams in every respect, one could only hope for success or progress due to problems of the others.

Maserati and Talbot were only represented by private teams.

training

In practice, Ferrari was on a par with the Alfa Romeos. Alberto Ascari secured the pole position with 9: 55.8 minutes ahead of his team-mate González. Fangio, who drove for the first time at the Nürburgring, finished third in an Alfa Romeo. They were the only ones who got a time under 10 minutes. The performance of Robert Manzon also attracted attention , who managed to leave an Alfa Romeo (Bonetto) behind in the defeated Simca-Gordini and to achieve the ninth-fastest time.

run

In hot weather, Fangio came back as the leader from the first lap with a lead of 3 seconds on Ascari and another 3 seconds on González and Farina. In the second lap, Paul Pietsch went off the track at the “carousel” and fell back to last place. On the fifth lap, Ascari managed to catch up with Fangio and overtake him in the Breidscheid section. One lap later, González was also over. On the eighth lap, Farina had to retire with a gearbox failure shortly after Villoresi had passed him. When the Ferraris made a pit stop at halftime of the race, Fangio was able to take the lead again, which he only held until his second stop on lap 14. His stop lasted longer than usual due to transmission problems and Ascari took the lead again. Pietsch, who had fought his way back to 12th place after his departure at the beginning of the race, came off the track again on the 11th lap in the north curve, but was uninjured. When Bonetto had to retire on the same lap because the ignition was damaged, Fangio was the only Alfa Romeo to remain in the race. Ascari was still in the lead and won his first race in the Formula 1 World Championship with a lead of over 30 seconds despite another short pit stop to change tires. The Alfa Romeo were beaten by Ferrari for the second time in a row.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari	71	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 375F1	Ferrari 4.5 V12	P
	72	Luigi Villoresi
	73	Piero Taruffi
	74	José Froilán González
Alfa Romeo SpA	75	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo 159B	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8C	P
	76	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo 159B
	77	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo 159A
	78	Paul Pietsch	Alfa Romeo 159
Enrico Platé	79	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati 4CLT / 50	Maserati 1.5 L4C	P
Equipe Gordini	81	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini T15	Gordini 1.5 L4C	E.
	82	Robert Manzon
	83	André Simon
Ecurie Rosier	84	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
	85	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago T26C
Philippe Étancelin	86	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
Yves Giraud-Cabantous	87	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
Duncan Hamilton	88	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
Scuderia Ambrosiana	89	David Murray	Maserati 4CLT / 48	Maserati 1.5 L4C	D.
Pierre Levegh	90	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
Ecurie espadon	91	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari 212F2	Ferrari 2.5 V12	P
Antonio Branca	92	Antonio Branca	Maserati 4CLT / 48	Maserati 1.5 L4C	P
Ecurie Belgique	93	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.
Ecurie Belge	94	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 4.5 L6	D.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	line
01	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	9: 55.8	137.825	1
02	José Froilán González	Ferrari	9: 57.5	137.433	1
03	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	9: 59.0	137.088	1
04th	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	10: 01.0	136.632	1
05	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	10: 06.6	135.371	2
06th	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	10: 12.9	133.979	2
07th	Paul Pietsch	Alfa Romeo	10: 15.7	133.370	2
08th	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	10: 23.8	131.638	3
09	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	10: 28.9	130.571	3
10	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	10: 46.1	127.095	3
11	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	10: 52.8	125.790	3
12	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	10: 57.5	124.891	4th
13	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago	11: 00.2	124.380	4th
14th	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	11: 07.5	123.020	4th
15th	Louis Rosier	Simca-Gordini	11: 08.2	122.891	5
16	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	11: 25.6	119.772	5
17th	Antonio Branca	Maserati	11: 26.7	119.581	5
18th	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	11: 33.5	118.408	5
19th	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	11: 41.0	117.141	6th
20th	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago	11: 49.3	115.770	6th
21st	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	11: 52.9	115.186	6th
22nd	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago	12: 09.1	112.627	7th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	km / h	begin	Fastest lap
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	20th	0	3: 23: 03.3	134,801	01
2.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	20th	0	3: 23: 33.8	134.464	03	9: 55.8
3.	José Froilán González	Ferrari	20th	0	3: 27: 42.3	131.783	02
4th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	20th	0	3: 28: 53.5	131.034	05
5.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	20th	0	3: 30: 52.4	129,803	06th
6th	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	19th	0			08th
7th	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	19th	0			09
8th.	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago	19th	0	3: 30: 02.7	123.799	15th	10: 44.5
9.	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	18th	0	3: 29: 42.7	117.470	19th	11: 24.7
10.	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago	18th	0	3: 32: 35.4	115.879	22nd	11: 21.3
11.	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	17th	0	3: 23: 19.0	114.433	18th	11: 18.4
DNF	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	17th	0	accident		11	11: 43.9
DNF	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	13	0	engine		14th
DNF	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	12	0	Magneto		10
DNF	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago	12	0	Oil pump		20th	11: 29.7
DNF	Paul Pietsch	Alfa Romeo	11	0	accident		7th
DNF	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	11	0	engine		12
DNF	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	08th	0	transmission		04th
DNF	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	04th	0	transmission		21st	10: 58.7
DNF	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago	03	0	ignition		13	11: 56.6
DNF	Antonio Branca	Maserati	02	0	engine		17th
DNF	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	02	0	engine		16

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. * includes the point for the fastest lap, fields marked in the same color indicate a vehicle pick-up (point sharing) and numbers in brackets are deleted results.

Item	driver	constructor									Points
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	9 *		(1*)	5 *	6th	7 *			27 (28)
2.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari			6th	3		8th			17th
3.	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	4th		8th	2	1*				15th
	Luigi Villoresi	Alfa Romeo			4th	4th	4th	3			15th
	José Froilán González	Ferrari				3	8th	4th			15th
6th	Lee Wallard	Kurti's power		9 *							9
7th	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	6th					2			8th
8th.	Mike Nazaruk	Kurti's power		6th							6th
9.	Reg Parnell	Ferrari				3					5
		BRM					2
10.	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo				4th					4th
11.	Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	3								3
	Andy Linden	Sherman		3							3
	Louis Rosier	Talbot			3						3
	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo					3				3
15th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	2								2
	Bobby Ball	Schroeder		2							2
	Jack McGrath	Kurti's power		2							2
	Manuel Ayulo	Kurti's power		2							2
	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot			2						2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lang, Mike; Grand Prix 1950-1965; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981 p33. ( ISBN 0-85429-276-4 ) (English)
2. ↑ ibid