Italian GP 1951

Italian GP, 1951

After two consecutive Ferrari wins in World Championship events, Juan-Manuel Fangio hit back with a non-Championship win at Bari for Alfa Romeo. The stage was thus set for a fascinating battle at Monza between the Alfa Romeo and Ferrari teams.

Alfa arrived with four cars for Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Felice Bonetto and Baron Emanuel de Graffenried while Ferrari fielded five cars for Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Froilan Gonzalez, Piero Taruffi and Chico Landi. In addition to the usual Talbot Lagos there were factory teams from BRM, OSCA and Simca-Gordini.

The grid saw Fangio and Farina sharing the front row with Ascari and Gonzalez while Villoresi, Taruffi, Bonetto took the second. Reg Parnell should also have been in the second row but his BRM was withdrawn because of lubrication problems.

At the start Fangio took the lead but after a few laps had to give way to Ascari. He fought back and took the lead again before coming into the pits for fresh tires. Farina and de Graffenried were early retirements although Farina was later able to take over Bonetto's car. This left Gonzalez in second place.

Fangio tried to catch the Ferraris but his car started to misfire and it was left to Farina - in Bonetto's car - to charge up to third, passing Villoresi. He was very quick but his fuel tank was leaking and so he had to make two more stops and ended up third.

The result meant that the World Championship remained open with the finale scheduled to take place in Spain at the end of October.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 2 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 375 80 2h42m39.300s  3 
2 6 Froilan Gonzalez Ferrari 375 80 2h43m23.900s  4 
3= 40 Felice Bonetto Alfa Romeo 159   7 
3= 40 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo 159 79   
4 4 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 375 79  5 
5 8 Piero Taruffi Ferrari 375 78  6 
6 48 Andre Simon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 74  11 
7 18 Louis Rosier Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 73  15 
8 24 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 72  14 
9 44 Franco Rol OSCA 4500G 67  18 
r 38 Juan-Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 159 39 Engine 1 
r 46 Robert Manzon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 29 Engine 13 
r 50 Maurice Trintignant Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 29 Engine 12 
r 20 Louis Chiron Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 23 Ignition 17 
r 22 Pierre Levegh Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 9 Engine 20 
r 28 Jacques Swaters Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 7 Overheating 22 
r 34 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo 159 6 Mechanical 2 
r 26 Johnny Claes Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 4 Mechanical 21 
r 36 Emmanuel de Graffenried Alfa Romeo 159 1 Supercharger 9 
r 16 Peter Whitehead Ferrari 125 1 Engine 19 
r 12 Chico Landi Ferrari 375 1 Transmission 16 
ns 30 Reg Parnell BRM P15  Engine/ Gearbox 8 
ns 32 Ken Richardson BRM P15  Incorrect Licence 10 
ns 32 Hans Stuck BRM P15  Engine/ Gearbox 24 
ns 14 Rudolf Fischer Ferrari 212  Accident 25