Spanish GP 1951

OCTOBER 28, 1951

Spanish GP, 1951

The World Championship finale took place on the 3.9 mile Pedralbes street circuit in Barcelona with Alberto Ascari and Juan-Manuel Fangio both needing to win to be sure of the World title.

The Ferrari and Alfa Romeo teams each ran four cars with Ferrari fielding Ascari, Gigi Villoresi, Froilan Gonzalez and Piero Taruffi and Alfa Romeo running Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Felice Bonetto and Baron Emanuel de Graffenried.

Ascari was fastest in practice and shared the front row of the 4-3-4 grid with Fangio, Gonzalez and Farina. Behind them were Villoresi, de Graffenried and Taruffi.

Ascari led from the start with Gonzalez chasing but by the end of the first lap Gonzalez had dropped to fifth behind Farina, Fangio and Bonetto. Fangio quickly passed Farina and took the lead from Ascari on the fourth lap.

As Fangio sailed away to victory Ferrari's challenge fell apart along with its tires - the team having opted to use smaller wheels than normal. By the time the team had sorted out the problem Ascari was two laps behind.

Fangio duly won the race and the championship with Gonzalez finishing second and Farina third.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
22 Juan-Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 159 70 2h46m54.100s  
Froilan Gonzalez Ferrari 375 70 2h47m48.380s  
20 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo 159 70 2h48m39.640s  
Alberto Ascari Ferrari 375 68  
24 Felice Bonetto Alfa Romeo 159 68  
26 Emmanuel de Graffenried Alfa Romeo 159 66  
28 Louis Rosier Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 64  20 
34 Philippe Etancelin Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 63  13 
14 Robert Manzon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 63  
10 44 Francisco Godia-Sales Maserati 4CLT/48 60  17 
Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 375 48 Ignition 
16 Andre Simon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 48 Engine 10 
36 Johnny Claes Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 37 Accident 15 
Piero Taruffi Ferrari 375 30 Wheel Lost 
12 Maurice Trintignant Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 25 Engine 11 
38 Georges Grignard Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 23 Engine 16 
32 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C Accident 14 
30 Louis Chiron Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C Engine 12 
18 Prince Bira Maserati-OSCA 4CLT/48 Engine 19 
ns 46 Juan Jover Maserati 4CLT/48  Engine 18