1951 Italian Grand Prix

  1951 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 8 in the 1951 Formula One season
Date	16 September 1951
Official name	XXII GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.300 km (3.915 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 504.000 km (313.171 mi)
Weather	Warm and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time	1:53.2
Fastest lap
Driver	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo
Time	1:56.5
Podium
First	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second	José Froilán González	Ferrari
Third	Felice Bonetto Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo
Lap leaders

The 1951 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 September 1951 at Monza. It was the seventh round of the 1951 World Drivers' Championship.

Report

Toulo de Graffenried returned to Alfa Romeo's four-car line up, in place of Paul Pietsch, having raced for Enrico Platé in France and Germany. He raced alongside the regular Alfa drivers, Fangio, Farina and Bonetto. The works Ferrari team retained the same four drivers from the race at the Nürburgring — Ascari, Villoresi, González and Taruffi — while Brazilian Chico Landi made his World Championship debut in a privately run Ferrari. The field was completed by works teams from BRM, Simca-Gordini and OSCA, as well as the usual Talbot-Lago entries.

The front row positions on the grid were shared equally between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, with Fangio, Farina, Ascari and González posting the four fastest qualifying times. The second row consisted of the remaining works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi, alongside Felice Bonetto. Reg Parnell, in a BRM, was also supposed to be on the second row, but was unable to start due to lubrication problems.

Fangio was the initial race leader, having started from pole position, but he soon had to cede the position to Ascari. He retook the lead on lap eight before pitting for a tyre change, which dropped him to fifth. Early retirements for Farina and de Graffenried left José Froilán González in second, behind his teammate Ascari. Fangio attempted to bridge the gap to the Ferraris, but engine problems put paid to his chances. The sole remaining Alfa driver, Nino Farina, who had taken over Bonetto's car on lap 30, inherited third place as a result of Fangio's retirement. He was fast, but fuel leakages meant that he needed to make two further pitstops; he therefore had to settle for third. Alberto Ascari took his second, and Ferrari's third, consecutive Championship race victory, ahead of British Grand Prix winner González. The other works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi completed the points positions in what was another successful race for the Scuderia.^[1]

Ascari's victory took him to within two points of Championship leader Fangio, while González was a further four points behind in third. Only Fangio and Ascari remained in contention for the Drivers' Championship with one race remaining, as not even a win would suffice for González to overhaul his fellow Argentinian's points haul.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
2	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
4	Luigi Villoresi		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
6	José Froilán González		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
8	Piero Taruffi		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
10	Gianni Marzotto^1		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari 375 F1 4.5 V12	P
12	Chico Landi	Francisco Landi	Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
14	Rudi Fischer	Ecurie Espadon	Ferrari	Ferrari 212	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
16	Peter Whitehead	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 F1 1.5 V12s	P
18	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
20	Louis Chiron		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
22	Pierre Levegh	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
24	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
26	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
28	Jacques Swaters	Ecurie Belgique	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
30	Reg Parnell	BRM Ltd.	BRM	BRM P15	BRM 15 1.5 V16s	D
32	Ken Richardson^2		BRM	BRM P15	BRM 15 1.5 V16s	D
34	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159M	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
36	Toulo de Graffenried^3		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159M	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
38	Juan Manuel Fangio		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159M	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
40	Felice Bonetto^4		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159A	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
44	Franco Rol	OSCA Automobili	OSCA	OSCA 4500G	OSCA 4.5 V12	P
46	Robert Manzon	Equipe Gordini	Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
48	André Simon		Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
50	Maurice Trintignant		Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
Sources:[2][3]

^1 — Gianni Marzotto withdrew from the event prior to practice^[4]

^2 — Ken Richardson qualified the #32 BRM, although he did not start the race. Hans Stuck was also entered in the same car, but he took no part in either qualifying or the race.^[4]

^3 — Toulo de Graffenried qualified and drove the race in the #36 Alfa Romeo. Consalvo Sanesi was also entered in the car, but injury prevented his participation in the Grand Prix.^[4]

^4 — Felice Bonetto qualified and drove 29 laps of the race in the #40 Alfa Romeo. Nino Farina, whose own vehicle had already retired, took over the car for a further 50 laps.^[5]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	38	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	1:53.2	–
2	34	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	1:53.9	+ 0.7
3	2	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	1:55.1	+ 1.9
4	6	José Froilán González	Ferrari	1:55.9	+ 2.7
5	4	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	1:57.9	+ 4.7
6	8	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	1:58.2	+ 5.0
7	40	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	1:58.3	+ 5.1
8	30	Reg Parnell	BRM	2:02.2	+ 9.0
9	36	Toulo de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	2:05.2	+ 12.0
10	32	Ken Richardson	BRM	2:05.6	+ 12.4
11	48	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	2:08.0	+ 14.8
12	50	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	2:08.9	+ 15.7
13	46	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	2:09.0	+ 15.8
14	24	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:09.3	+ 16.1
15	18	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:10.8	+ 17.6
16	12	Chico Landi	Ferrari	2:11.2	+ 18.0
17	20	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:12.1	+ 18.9
18	44	Franco Rol	OSCA	2:13.4	+ 20.2
19	16	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	2:16.2	+ 23.0
20	22	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:16.5	+ 23.3
21	26	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:18.6	+ 25.4
22	28	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:18.8	+ 25.6
23	14	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	No time	–
24	32	Hans Stuck	BRM	No time	–

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	80	2:42:39.3	3	8
2	6	José Froilán González	Ferrari	80	+24.6[6]	4	6
3	40	Felice Bonetto Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	79	+1 lap	7	2 3
4	4	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	79	+1 lap	5	3
5	8	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	78	+2 laps	6	2
6	48	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	74	+6 laps	11
7	18	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	73	+7 laps	15
8	24	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	72	+8 laps	14
9	44	Franco Rol	OSCA	67	+13 laps	18
Ret	38	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	39	Engine	1
Ret	50	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	29	Engine	12
Ret	46	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	29	Engine	13
Ret	20	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	23	Ignition	17
Ret	22	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	9	Engine	20
Ret	28	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	7	Overheating	22
Ret	34	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	6	Engine	2
Ret	26	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4	Oil pump	21
Ret	36	Toulo de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	1	Compressor	9
Ret	16	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	1	Magneto	19
Ret	12	Chico Landi	Ferrari	0	Transmission	16
DNS	30	Reg Parnell	BRM	0	Non Starter	8
DNS	32	Ken Richardson	BRM	0	Non Starter	10
DNS	14	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	0	Non Starter
Source:[7]

Notes

• Pole position: Juan Manuel Fangio – 1:53.2^[8]
• Fastest lap: Nino Farina – 1:56.5^[6]
• Farina (50 laps) took over from Bonetto (29) after Farina's car retired. Points for 3rd position were shared between the drivers (Farina received 1 extra point for setting the fastest race lap).
• First race: Chico Landi

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	27 (28)
	2	Alberto Ascari	25
	3	José Froilán González	21
	4	Nino Farina	17 (18)
	5	Luigi Villoresi	15 (18)

• Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

1. "Italian GP, 1951 Race Report". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
2. "1951 Italian Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
3. "1951 Italian GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
4. "Italy 1951 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
5. "Italian Grand Prix 1951 - Results". ESPN F1. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
6. Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 35. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
7. "1951 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
8. Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 34. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.