1953 Argentine Grand Prix

Argentina  1953 Argentine Grand Prix
Race details
Race 1 of 9 in the 1953 World Drivers' Championship
Date 18 January 1953
Official name I Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location Autódromo 17 de Octubre, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.912 km (2.431 mi)
Distance 97 laps, 379.464 km (235.788 mi)
Weather Hot, dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:55.4
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari
Time 1:48.4 on lap 73
Podium
First
  • Italy Alberto Ascari
Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third Maserati

The 1953 Argentine Grand Prix was the first round of the 1953 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, which was run to Formula Two regulations in 1952 and 1953. The race was held in Buenos Aires on January 18, 1953 at the Autódromo Galvez (official name: Autódromo Juan y Óscar Gálvez, also known as the Autódromo 17 de Octubre) as the first official Formula One race in South America. Previously, the Indianapolis 500 (part of the Formula One championship calendar from 1950 to 1960) was the only Formula One championship race held outside of Europe but run to AAA regulations.

Race report

The inaugural Argentine Grand Prix, held in mid-January, was attended by four of the major works teams: Maserati, Ferrari, Cooper and Gordini. Former World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio, who had not competed in the Championship since clinching the 1951 title in Spain, raced for Maserati alongside fellow Argentinians José Froilán González and Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, and Italian driver Felice Bonetto. Ferrari lined up with the familiar trio of reigning World Champion Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi, as well as their new signing Mike Hawthorn, who had driven a privateer Cooper the previous year. The Cooper team entered the British pair of Alan Brown and John Barber alongside the local driver Adolfo Schwelm Cruz. Gordini retained their 1952 trio of Manzon, Trintignant and Behra, who were joined by a pair of Argentinians—Carlos Menditeguy and Pablo Birger—the latter of which drove a Simca-Gordini.

Ascari was once again the fastest qualifier, taking his fourth consecutive World Championship pole position. His teammates Villoresi and Farini lined up third and fourth, but the returning Fangio prevented a Ferrari front row lockout by qualifying second in his Maserati. González, in the second Maserati, started from row two alongside Hawthorn, making his first appearance for Ferrari, and the Gordini of Trintignant. The remaining Gordinis of Manzon, Menditeguy and Behra made up the third row with Gálvez in his Maserati. Row four consisted of the Coopers of Brown and Schwelm Cruz, and Birger in the sole Simca-Gordini. At the back of the grid were the Maserati of Bonetto and Barber in the final Cooper.

Due to President Juan Perón's decision to allow free access to the circuit, there were an excessive number of spectators and they lined the track as the race began. One of the spectators wandered onto the track, and, in order to avoid hitting him, Nino Farina was forced to swerve. Farina ultimately lost control of his car and crashed into the crowd on lap 31, killing 13 spectators. Ascari, who started from pole, led the entirety of the race, taking his seventh consecutive World Championship race victory, and, in so doing, established an early lead in the Drivers' Championship. Fangio was in second until a transmission issue forced him to retire from the race. Manzon initially inherited the position, but Villoresi ultimately took second place, a lap behind his teammate. Hawthorn had been running in third, although he was eventually overtaken by González, preventing a Ferrari 1-2-3. Hawthorn finished fourth, ahead of Gálvez, who took the final points in his first and only World Championship race.[1]

Entries

No Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre
2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
4 Argentina José Froilán González Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
6 Italy Felice Bonetto Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
8 Argentina Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
10 Italy Alberto Ascari Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
12 Italy Nino Farina Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
14 Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
16 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
20 United Kingdom Alan Brown Cooper Car Co. Cooper-Bristol Cooper T20 Bristol BS1 2.0 L6 D
22 United Kingdom John Barber Cooper-Bristol Cooper T23 Bristol BS1 2.0 L6 D
24 Argentina Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Cooper-Bristol Cooper T20 Bristol BS1 2.0 L6 D
26 France Robert Manzon Equipe Gordini Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
28 France Maurice Trintignant1 Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
30 France Jean Behra Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
32 Argentina Carlos Menditeguy Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
34 Argentina Pablo Birger Simca-Gordini Simca-Gordini T15 Gordini 1500 1.5 L4 E
Sources: [2][3]
^1 — Maurice Trintignant qualified and drove 50 laps of the race in the #28 Gordini. Harry Schell took over the car for the remainder of the race.[4]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 10 Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari 1:55.4
2 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 1:56.1 +0.7
3 14 Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 1:56.5 +1.1
4 12 Italy Nino Farina Ferrari 1:57.1 +1.7
5 4 Argentina José Froilán González Maserati 1:58.5 +3.1
6 16 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 1:59.4 +4.0
7 28 France Maurice Trintignant Gordini 2:00.4 +5.0
8 26 France Robert Manzon Gordini 2:00.9 +5.5
9 8 Argentina Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Maserati 2:01.3 +5.9
10 32 Argentina Carlos Menditeguy Gordini 2:01.8 +6.4
11 30 France Jean Behra Gordini 2:02.6 +7.2
12 20 United Kingdom Alan Brown Cooper-Bristol 2:03.2 +7.8
13 24 Argentina Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Cooper-Bristol 2:03.7 +8.3
14 34 Argentina Pablo Birger Simca-Gordini-Gordini 2:03.8 +8.4
15 6 Italy Felice Bonetto Maserati 2:04.2 +8.8
16 22 United Kingdom John Barber Cooper-Bristol 2:06.8 +11.4
Source:[5]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 10 Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari 97 3:01:04.6 1 9
2 14 Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 96 +1 lap 3 6
3 4 Argentina José Froilán González Maserati 96 +1 lap 5 4
4 16 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 96 +1 lap 6 3
5 8 Argentina Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Maserati 96 +1 lap 9 2
6 30 France Jean Behra Gordini 94 +3 laps 11
7 28 France Maurice Trintignant
United States Harry Schell
Gordini 91 +6 laps 7
8 22 United Kingdom John Barber Cooper-Bristol 90 +7 laps 16
9 20 United Kingdom Alan Brown Cooper-Bristol 87 +10 laps 12
Ret 26 France Robert Manzon Gordini 67 Wheel 8
Ret 2 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 36 Transmission 2
Ret 6 Italy Felice Bonetto Maserati 32 Transmission 15
Ret 12 Italy Nino Farina Ferrari 31 Accident 4
Ret 32 Argentina Carlos Menditeguy Gordini 24 Gearbox 10
Ret 34 Argentina Pablo Birger Simca-Gordini-Gordini 21 Differential 14
Ret 24 Argentina Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Cooper-Bristol 20 Wheel 13
Source:[6]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Italy Alberto Ascari 9
2 Italy Luigi Villoresi 6
3 Argentina José Froilán González 4
4 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn 3
5 Argentina Óscar Alfredo Gálvez 2

References

  1. "Argentine GP, 1953 Race Report". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  2. "1953 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  3. "1953 Argentine GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  4. "Argentine Grand Prix 1953 - Results". ESPN F1. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  5. "1953 Argentine Grand Prix - Qualifying and Race Results". f1pulse.com. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  6. "1953 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
Previous race:
1952 Italian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1953 season
Next race:
1953 Indianapolis 500
Previous race:
None
Argentine Grand Prix Next race:
1954 Argentine Grand Prix
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