Italian GP 1952

Italian GP, 1952

The final round of the World Championship was not a great showdown as such had been Ferrari's domination that the title had been settled at the German GP in August. The Italian teams all made a big effort, however, and Ferrari ran five factory cars for World Champion Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina, Gigi Villoresi, Piero Taruffi and Andre Simon. Maserati wheeled out three factory cars for Felice Bonetto, Froiland Gonzalez and Franco Rol and there were three semi-factory entries from Escuderia Bandierantes as well. Gordini had three cars for Jean Behra, Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon while Connaught had a three-car team with Stirling Moss, Dennis Poore and Kenneth McAlpine driving and HWM had three cars for Lance Macklin, Peter Collins and Tony Gaze. The organizers decided that only 24 of the 35 entries should be allowed to start, notable victims of this rule being Hans Stuck Sr. in an Ecurie Espadon Ferrari, all three HWMs, both Enrico Plate's old Maseratis and most of the privateers. Elie Bayol was impressively fast in the single OSCA.

In practice Ascari was faster than Villoresi and Farina with Trintignant the only non-Ferrari on the front row. Gonzalez headed row two with Taruffi, Manzon and Simon alongside and on row three Moss was alongside Bayol, Behra and Mike Hawthorn in his Cooper-Bristol.

At the start Gonzalez took the lead in his Maserati with Ascari and Villoresi chasing. Behind them was Bonetto with a whole group of cars trying to pass him.

The battle at the front was decided when Gonzalez had a slow pit stop which enabled Ascari and Villoresi to get ahead. The Argentine driver did catch and pass Villoresi but Ascari was a minute ahead at the finish. Farina finished fourth having eventually pulled clear of Bonetto. Ferrari might still be the dominant force by the Maserati star was rising.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 12 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 500 80 2h50m45.600s  1 
2 26 Froilan Gonzalez Maserati A6GCM 80 2h51m47.400s  5 
3 16 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 500 80 2h52m49.800s  2 
4 10 Giuseppe Farina Ferrari 500 80 2h52m57.000s  3 
5 22 Felice Bonetto Maserati A6GCM 79  13 
6 8 Andre Simon Ferrari 500 79  8 
7 14 Piero Taruffi Ferrari 500 77  6 
8 48 Chico Landi Maserati A6GCM 76  18 
9 40 Ken Wharton Cooper-Bristol T20 76  15 
10 62 Louis Rosier Ferrari 500 75  17 
11 50 Eitel Cantoni Maserati A6GCM 75  23 
12 30 Dennis Poore Connaught-Lea Francis A 74  19 
13 36 Eric Brandon Cooper-Bristol T20 73  20 
14 2 Robert Manzon Gordini T16 71  7 
15 38 Alan Brown Cooper-Bristol T20 68  21 
r 32 Stirling Moss Connaught-Lea Francis A 60 Mechanical 9 
r 46 Gino Bianco Maserati A6GCM 46 Engine 24 
r 6 Jean Behra Gordini T16 42 Engine 11 
nc 42 Mike Hawthorn Cooper-Bristol T20 38  12 
r 24 Franco Rol Maserati A6GCM 24 Engine 16 
r 4 Maurice Trintignant Gordini T16 5 Engine 4 
r 28 Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Lea Francis A 3 Suspension 22 
r 18 Rudolf Fischer Ferrari 500 3 Engine 14 
r 34 Elie Bayol OSCA 20 0 Gearbox 10 
nq 70 Charles de Tournaco Ferrari 500   25 
nq 58 Alberto Crespo Maserati Plat © 4CLT   26 
nq 60 Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati Plat © 4CLT   27 
nq 54 Peter Collins HWM-Alta (52)   28 
nq 68 Peter Whitehead Ferrari 125   29 
nq 56 Tony Gaze HWM-Alta (52)   30 
nq 64 Bill Aston Aston-Butterworth NB   31 
nq 52 Lance Macklin HWM-Alta (52)   32 
nq 20 Hans Stuck Ferrari 212   33 
nq 66 Johnny Claes Simca Gordini-Gordini T15   34 
nq 44 Piero Dusio Cisitalia-BPM D46   35