1951 Spanish Grand Prix

 1951 Spanish Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 8 races in the 1951 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XI Gran Premio de Espana
Date:	October 28, 1951
Place:	Barcelona
Course:	Barcelona
Length:	442.12 km in 70 laps of 6.316 km
Weather:	hot
Pole position
Driver:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time:	2: 10.59 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time:	2: 16.930 min (lap 3)
Podium
First:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Second:	José Froilán González	Ferrari
Third:	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo

The 1951 Spanish Grand Prix took place on October 28th at the Circuit de Pedralbes near Barcelona and was the eighth and final race of the 1951 World Cup .

Reports

background

Before the last race, Juan Manuel Fangio (27 points) and Alberto Ascari (25 points) had a good chance of winning the world title. Both would be world champions if they won the race, regardless of the competitor's ranking. If Ascari wins and Fangio is second, the latter could only achieve a maximum of 29 points due to the deleted results (if he also turned the fastest lap), Ascari would have 30 points if he won because the points from France would be deleted. If González wins if his two competitors fail at the same time, he would be more the new champion thanks to a third place.

Both Italian works teams competed with four cars each. The driver line-up did not offer any surprises. De Graffenried drove the fourth Alfa Romeo for the still injured Sanesi , while Ferrari gave the fourth vehicle to Taruffi . Alfa Romeo had installed an additional pedal-operated flap on the Fangios car, which supplied the compressor with more air and further increased the power on the straight. Gordini started with 3 works cars that were driven by the French drivers Trintignant , Manzon and Simon . The field was supplemented by a number of privately registered Talbot-Lago and Scuderia Milano , which used two local drivers ( Godia-Sales and Jover ) in outdated Maseratis .

training

In practice, the Alfa Romeo and the Ferrari were roughly equal. Ascari was fastest in the Ferrari ahead of Fangio in the Alfa, González in the Ferrari and Farina in the Alfa Romeo.

run

Ascari was able to stay in the lead for the first three laps, then he was ousted by Fangio. From the sixth lap it became clear that Ferrari had made a mistake in choosing tires. One after the other, all drivers came to the pits with more or less major tire problems. It turned out that the idea of ​​installing smaller 16-inch rear tires in order to achieve more acceleration and thus not be distanced from the Alfa Romeo on the long straight resulted in the tires overheating and not lasting long. In addition, the Ferrari had installed larger tanks in order to be able to drive through the race without refueling, which increased the weight of the vehicles in the initial phase.

This gave Fangio a comfortable lead. Ascari spun on the ninth lap and fell back to sixth place due to the subsequent pit stop. The Alfa Romeos' pit stops went smoothly and they maintained their leading position over the now best-placed Ferrari from González. On lap 17, Ascari had to have new tires fitted and Taruffi was uninjured on lap 30 when he went off the track due to a defective tire.

On lap 48 Villoresi had to retire due to a defective ignition, leaving González as the only pursuer of the Alfa Romeo. He hoped that he would be able to intercept this with further refueling stops, but when Fangio actually stopped on lap 53, he was still too far behind. However, he managed to pass Farina when she stopped on lap 55. He continued to catch up with Fangio, but was unable to catch up with him until the end of the race. Fangio won the last race of the season and at the same time secured his first of five drivers' titles. It would also be Alfa Romeo's last World Championship race for almost 30 years.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari	2	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari	P
	4th	Luigi Villoresi
	6th	José Froilán González
	8th	Piero Taruffi
Gordini	12	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini Type 15GC	Gordini	E.
	14th	Robert Manzon
	16	André Simon
Ecurie Siam	18th	B.Bira	Maserati 4CLT	Maserati	P
Alfa Romeo Motorsport	20th	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo 159	Alfa Romeo	P
	22nd	Juan Manuel Fangio
	24	Felice Bonetto
	26th	Emmanuel de Graffenried
Ecurie Rosier	28	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
	30th	Louis Chiron
Team Yves Giraud-Cabantous	32	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot	D.
Team Philippe Etancelin	34	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Ecurie Belge	36	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Team Georges Grignard	38	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot	D.
Scuderia Milano	44	Francisco Godia-Sales	Maserati 4CLT	Maserati	P
	46	Juan Jover

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Starting row
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2: 10.590	1
2.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	2: 12.270	1
3.	José Froilán González	Ferrari	2: 14.010	1
4th	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	2: 14.940	1
5.	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2: 16.380	2
6th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	2: 16,400	2
7th	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	2: 16.800	2
8th.	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	2: 21.800	3
9.	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	2: 23.810	3
10.	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	2: 24,600	3
11.	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	2: 25.250	3
12.	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago	2: 30.320	4th
13.	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	2: 31,000	4th
14th	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	2: 32.180	4th
15th	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	2: 34.460	5
16.	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago	2: 36.580	5
17th	Francisco Godia-Sales	Maserati	2: 37.450	5
18th	Juan Jover	Maserati	2: 41.990	DNS
19th	B.Bira	Maserati	2: 45.990	6th
20th	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago	2: 46.780	6th

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	Fastest lap	guide
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	70	2: 46: 54,100	158.74	2: 16.930	67
2.	José Froilán González	Ferrari	70	2: 47: 48.380	157.88
3.	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	70	2: 48: 39.640	157.08
4th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	68	2: 47: 06,200	154.02		3
5.	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	68	2: 47: 46.700	153.40
6th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	66	2: 49: 05,200	147.73
7th	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago	64	2: 47: 27,100	144.65	2: 32.570
8th.	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	63	2: 47: 07,200	142.68	2: 34.590
9.	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	63	2: 48: 16,200	141.70
10.	Francisco Godia-Sales	Maserati	60	2: 49: 06,600	134.28
DNF	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	48	ignition
DNF	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	48	engine
DNF	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago	37	accident		2: 26,000
DNF	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	30th	lost wheel
DNF	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	25th	engine
DNF	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago	23	engine		2: 41,100
DNF	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	7th	engine		2: 40.260
DNF	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago	4th	ignition		2: 33.220
DNF	B.Bira	Maserati	1	engine
DNS	Juan Jover	Maserati

World Championship status after the race (final score)

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 *		9 *	31 (37)
2.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari			6th	(3)		8th	8th	3	25 (28)
3.	José Froilán González	Ferrari				(3)	8th	4th	6th	6th	24 (27)
4th	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	4th		8th	(2)	(1*)		3 *	4th	19 (22)
5.	Luigi Villoresi	Alfa Romeo			4th	4th	4th	3	(3)		15 (18)
6th	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	6th					2	2		10
7th	Lee Wallard	Kurti's power		9 *							9
8th.	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo					3		2	2	7th
9.	Mike Nazaruk	Kurti's power		6th							6th
10.	Reg Parnell	Ferrari				3					5
		BRM					2
11.	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo				4th					4th
12.	Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	3								3
	Andy Linden	Sherman		3							3
	Louis Rosier	Talbot			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. ^ Nye, Doug, Moss, Stirling; Fangio a Pirelli album, Heel-Verlag Königswinter 1991, p. 81; ( ISBN 3-89365-236-1 )
2. ↑ Lang, Mike; Grand Prix 1950-1965; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981 p. 36. ( ISBN 0-85429-276-4 ) (Engl.)
3. ↑ Yates, Brook; Enzo Ferrari - Life and Legend, Heyne Verlag Munich 1991, p. 215 ( ISBN 3-453-05921-2 )