1953 French Grand Prix

 1953 French Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 9 races of the 1953 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XL Grand Prix de l'ACF
Date:	July 7, 1953
Place:	Reims
Course:	Reims
Length:	500.82 km in 60 laps of 8.347 km
Weather:	hot
Pole position
Driver:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time:	2: 41.2 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Time:	2: 41.1 min (lap 25)
Podium
First:	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Second:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Third:	José Froilán González	Maserati

The 1953 French Grand Prix took place on July 7th at the Reims-Gueux circuit and was the fifth of nine races in the 1953 World Cup .

background

For the 1953 race, the route of the course in Reims was changed. The course was now about 500 m longer, which was almost exclusively used to extend the straight line in front of Thillois . The Ferrari team entered with four entries ( Ascari , Farina , Villoresi , Hawthorn ), supplemented by a private message from Louis Rosier . Maserati was also represented with four works cars, which were driven by the Argentines Fangio , González and Marimón and the Italian Bonetto . De Graffenried contributed a private Maserati. Cooper was there again. The only car sent by the factory was fitted with a new Alta engine, while Gerard and Wharton's private Cooper continued to have a Bristol engine installed.

training

As usual in 1953, the Maserati and the Ferraris made the best starting positions among themselves. Pole position was secured by Alberto Ascari with 2: 41.2 minutes ahead of the fastest Maserati, which - somewhat surprisingly - was driven by Bonetto and Villoresi. Fangio and González formed the second row.

run

The race almost started without Ferrari. In the sports car race before, the Ferrari of Maglioli / Carini had been disqualified for "multiple rule violations". In protest, Ferrari wanted to withdraw its cars from the Grand Prix start when an agreement was reached at the last minute. After many rather boring races with total Ascari dominance, the French Grand Prix developed into a very varied race. González drove to the front of the field from the second row. He had had his Maserati only half full and tried to convert the weight advantage into faster lap times in order to be able to afford a stop to refuel. However, until his stop exactly at halftime of the race on lap 30, his lead was not big enough to maintain his top position. It fell back to sixth place. Behind González, a battle group consisting of Ascari, Bonetto, Villoresi, Hawthorn, Fangio and Farina had already formed in the first laps of the race, from which Bonetto was the first to be eliminated with a spin. After González's stop, this group fought for victory. Hawthorn and Fangio slowly broke away from the group and led a hard-fought duel for victory over the course of laps, in which the lead often changed several times in almost every lap. The duel was ultimately decided by a gearshift error or a gearbox problem by Fangio on the last lap, which allowed Hawthorn to gain enough lead to win with an advantage of exactly one second. González managed to fight his way through the entire chasing field again after his stop, only to be beaten by Fangio by 0.4 seconds. Ascari followed in fourth 3.2 seconds later.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Equipe Gordini	2	Jean Behra	Gordini T16 (1952)	Gordini 2.0 L6	E.
	4th	Maurice Trintignant
	6th	Harry Schell
	8th	Roberto Mieres
Scuderia Ferrari	10	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P
	12	Luigi Villoresi
	14th	Giuseppe Farina
	16	Mike Hawthorn
Officine Alfieri Maserati	18th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati A6SSG	Maserati 2.0 L6	P
	20th	José Froilán González
	22nd	Onofre Marimón
	24	Felice Bonetto
HWM	26th	Lance Macklin	HWM 53	Alta 1.5	D.
	28	Peter Collins
	30th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous
Team Louis Chiron	32	Louis Chiron	OSCA 20	OSCA	P
Team Élie Bayol	34	Élie Bayol	OSCA 20	OSCA	P
cooper	36	Stirling Moss	Cooper T24	Alta 1.5	D.
Team Bob Gerard	38	Frederic Roberts-Gerard	Cooper T23	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Team Ken Wharton	40	Ken Wharton	Cooper T23	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Connaught	42	Birabongse Bira	Connaught A	Francis 2.0 L4	D.
	50	Roy Salvadori
Ecurie Rosier	44	Louis Rosier	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	D.
Team Emmanuel de Graffenried	46	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati A6SSG	Maserati 2.0 L6	P
Ecurie Belge	48	Johnny Claes	Connaught A	Francis 2.0 L4	E.

classification

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	km / h	Starting row
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2: 41,200	186.41	1 row
2.	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	2: 41,500	186.06	1 M.
3.	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2: 41.900	185.60	1 L
4th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	2: 42,000	185.49	2 rows
5.	José Froilán González	Maserati	2: 42,400	185.03	2 L
6th	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	2: 42,500	184.92	3 rows
7th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2: 43,500	183.79	3 M.
8th.	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	2: 44.700	182.45	3 L
9.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	2: 46,100	180.91	4 rows
10.	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	2: 49.600	177.18	4 L
11.	Birabongse Bira	Connaught	2: 53.200	173.49	5 R
12.	Frederic Roberts-Gerard	cooper	2: 54.200	172.50	5 M
13.	Stirling Moss	cooper	2: 55.700	171.03	5 L
14th	Ken Wharton	cooper	2: 55.800	170.93	6 R
15th	Élie Bayol	OSCA	2: 56.900	169.87	6 L
16.	Lance Macklin	HWM	2: 57.200	169.58	7 R
17th	Peter Collins	HWM	3: 02,000	165.11	7 M.
18th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	HWM	3: 06.700	160.95	7 L
19th	Roy Salvadori	Connaught	3: 23,000	148.03	8 R
20th	Harry Schell	Gordini	3: 25.800	146.01	8 L
21st	Johnny Claes	Connaught	4: 06,500	121.90	9 R
22nd	Jean Behra	Gordini	without time		9 M.
23.	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	without time		9 L
24.	Roberto Mieres	Gordini	without time		10 R
25th	Louis Chiron	OSCA	without time		10 L

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	s. Rd.	guide
1.	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	60	2: 44: 18,600	182.88	2: 41.700	14th
2.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	60	2: 44: 19,600	182.86	2: 41,100	17th
3.	José Froilán González	Maserati	60	2: 44: 20,000	182.86	2: 41.900	29
4th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	60	2: 44: 23,200	182.8	2: 41,000
5.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	60	2: 45: 26,200	181.64	2: 41,600
6th	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	60	2: 45: 34,500	181.48	2: 41.800
7th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	58	2: 46: 38,500	174.31	2: 47,500
8th.	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	56	2: 44: 55,200	170.06	2: 51.900
9.	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	55	2: 45: 14,500	166.7	2: 42.200
10.	Jean Behra	Gordini	55	2: 45: 32,000	166.4	2: 47.800
11.	Frederic Roberts-Gerard	cooper	55	2: 46: 18.700	165.62	2: 55.700
12.	Johnny Claes	Connaught	53	2: 45: 17.300	160.59	2: 57.100
13.	Peter Collins	HWM	52	2: 47: 01.700	155.92	2: 59.800
14th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	HWM	50	2: 44: 47,100	151.96	3: 04,500
DNF	Louis Chiron	OSCA	43	not classified		2: 51.800
DNF	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	42	engine		2: 44,500
DNF	Stirling Moss	cooper	38	coupling		2: 52.500
DNF	Birabongse Bira	Connaught	29	differential		2: 49,000
DNF	Elie Bayol	OSCA	18th	engine		2: 55,600
DNF	Ken Wharton	cooper	17th	engine		2: 55,300
DNF	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	14th	Power transmission		2: 45,300
DNF	Lance Macklin	HWM	8th	coupling		2: 58.100
DNF	Harry Schell	Gordini	4th	engine		2: 53,400
DNF	Roberto Mieres	Gordini	4th	Rear axle		2: 51,400
DNF	Roy Salvadori	Connaught	2	suspension		2: 54,500

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					28
2.	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	3		3		8th					14th
3.	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	6th		1*	6th						13
4th	José Froilán González	Maserati	4th		2	1*	4th					11
5.	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power		9 *								9
6th	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari			6th		2					8th
7th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati					7 *					7th
8th.	Art Cross	Kurti's power		6th								6th
9.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati			2	3						5
10.	Onofre Marimón	Maserati				4th						4th
11.	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
	Felice Bonetto	Maserati			2							2
	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini				2						2
17th	Fred Agabashian	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5
	Paul Russo	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Unless otherwise stated based on: Lang, Mike; Grand Prix 1950–1965; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981 S59f. ( ISBN 0-85429-276-4 ) (Engl.)
2. ↑ Nye, Doug and Moss, Stirling: Fangio, Heel Verlag Königswinter; P. 94. ( ISBN 3-89365-236-1 )