French GP 1951
French GP, 1951
The French GP was the third round of the World Championship of 1951 to feature the regular participants. Turning up was a quartet of Alfa Romeo 159s against three Ferrari 375s and the Ferrari-built Thinwall Special of Reg Parnell. There were also seven Talbot Lagos and four Gordinis. Alfa Romeo had brought back Luigi Fagioli while the Ferrari line-up included Froilan Gonzalez. Fangio and Farina were quickest in qualifying for Alfa with Ascari's Ferrari the third car on the front row. At the start Ascari took the lead with Fangio chasing. Both were to retire early and, with Villoresi also in trouble, this enabled Farina to make up for a bad start and take the lead. Gonzalez chased with Fagioli behind him. At his pit stop Fagioli handed over to Fangio and Gonzalez was replaced by Ascari. This did not trouble Farina who was a long way ahead until his second pit stop when he began to suffer magneto problems and dropped back. With Ascari running into brake problems Fangio was left to win by a minute with Ascari second and Villoresi third - three laps behind. Parnell was fourth a further lap behind but he was still ahead of Farina at the finish.
| POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
| 1= | 8 | Luigi Fagioli | Alfa Romeo 159 | 7 | ||
| 1= | 8 | Juan-Manuel Fangio | Alfa Romeo 159 | 77 | 3h22m11.000s | |
| 2= | 14 | Froilan Gonzalez | Ferrari 375 | 6 | ||
| 2= | 14 | Alberto Ascari | Ferrari 375 | 77 | 3h23m09.200s | |
| 3 | 10 | Luigi Villoresi | Ferrari 375 | 74 | 4 | |
| 4 | 26 | Reg Parnell | Thin Wall Ferrari-Ferrari 375 TW | 73 | 9 | |
| 5 | 2 | Giuseppe Farina | Alfa Romeo 159 | 73 | 2 | |
| 6 | 42 | Louis Chiron | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C | 71 | 8 | |
| 7 | 46 | Yves Giraud-Cabantous | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C | 71 | 11 | |
| 8 | 44 | Eugene Chaboud | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-GS | 69 | 14 | |
| 9 | 48 | Guy Mairesse | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C | 66 | 19 | |
| 10 | 6 | Consalvo Sanesi | Alfa Romeo 159 | 58 | 5 | |
| 11= | 4 | Juan-Manuel Fangio | Alfa Romeo 159 | 1 | ||
| 11= | 4 | Luigi Fagioli | Alfa Romeo 159 | 55 | ||
| r | 28 | Johnny Claes | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA | 54 | Accident | 12 |
| r | 40 | Louis Rosier | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA | 43 | Mechanical | 13 |
| r | 38 | Philippe Etancelin | Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA | 37 | Inlet Manifold | 10 |
| r | 36 | Aldo Gordini | Simca Gordini-Gordini T11 | 27 | Engine | 17 |
| r | 20 | Harry Schell | Maserati 4CLT/48 | 24 | Overheating | 22 |
| r | 32 | Maurice Trintignant | Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 | 11 | Engine | 18 |
| r | 12 | Alberto Ascari | Ferrari 375 | 10 | Gearbox | 3 |
| r | 34 | Andre Simon | Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 | 7 | Engine | 21 |
| r | 30 | Robert Manzon | Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 | 3 | Engine | 23 |
| r | 50 | Onofre Marimon | Maserati Milano 4CLT/50 | 2 | Engine | 15 |
| r | 18 | Emmanuel de Graffenried | Maserati 4CLT/48 | 1 | Transmission | 16 |
| r | 24 | Peter Whitehead | Ferrari 125 | 1 | Engine | 20 |
| ns | 26 | Brian Shawe-Taylor | Thin Wall Ferrari-Ferrari 375 TW | Car Raced By Parnell | 27 |