Belgian GP 1953

Belgian GP, 1953

A fortnight after the Dutch GP the Formula 1 teams were back in action again at Spa-Francorchamps. Johnny Claes was signed up to drive for the Maserati factory alongside Froilan Gonzalez, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Onofre Marimon. Ferrari ran its usual four drivers with Alberto Ascari teamed with Mike Hawthorn, Giuseppe Farina and Gigi Villoresi. Gordini had three factory cars for Jean Behra, Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell while HWM ran Paul Frere alongside Peter Collins and Lance Macklin. The field was completed by a few privateers, notably Baron Emanuel de Graffenried in a Maserati.

Fangio and Gonzalez made a Maserati sandwich for Ferrari's Ascari on the front row with Farina and Villoresi on the second.

At the start the two Maseratis took off into the lead with Gonzalez ahead of Fangio. But then things started to go wrong. Gonzalez broke his throttle pedal and stopped at Stavelot and then Fangio suffered an engine failure and so Ascari found himself in the lead with Hawthorn second and Marimon third although he soon dropped behind Villoresi with engine problems. Hawthorn dropped back with a fuel leak in the closing stages. Fangio, who had taken over Claes's car and charged hard, crashed heavily when his steering failed on the final lap and so Marimon was classified third.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 10 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 500 36 2h48m30.300s  2 
2 8 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 500 36 2h51m18.500s  5 
r= 6 Johnny Claes Maserati A6GCM   10 
r= 6 Juan-Manuel Fangio Maserati A6GCM 35 Accident  
3 28 Onofre Marimon Maserati A6GCM 35  6 
4 30 Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati A6GCM 35  9 
5 18 Maurice Trintignant Gordini T16 35  8 
6 14 Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 500 35  7 
7 20 Harry Schell Gordini T16 33  12 
8 32 Louis Rosier Ferrari 500 33  13 
9 38 Fred Wacker Gordini T16 32  15 
10 24 Paul Frere HWM-Alta (53) 30  11 
11 40 Andre Pilette Connaught-Lea Francis A 29  18 
r 22 Lance Macklin HWM-Alta (53) 19 Engine 17 
r 12 Giuseppe Farina Ferrari 500 16 Engine 4 
r 4 Juan-Manuel Fangio Maserati A6GCM 13 Engine 1 
r 2 Froilan Gonzalez Maserati A6GCM 11 Throttle 3 
r 16 Jean Behra Gordini T16 9 Engine 14 
r 26 Peter Collins HWM-Alta (53) 4 Clutch 16 
r 34 Georges Berger Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 3 Engine 20 
r 36 Arthur Legat Veritas METEOR 0 Transmission 19 
ns 42 Jacques Swaters Ferrari 500  Withdrew 21 
ns 44 Charles de Tournaco Ferrari 500  Withdrew 22