British GP 1953

British GP, 1953

Two weeks after the magnificence French Grand Prix, the World Championship contenders gathered at Silverstone for another showdown between the factory Ferrari and Maserati teams and with Mike Hawthorn having won in France, British interest was high. The two teams fielded the usual drivers (Ferrari: Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina, Luigi Villoresi and Hawthorn; Maserati: Juan-Manuel Fangio, Froilan Gonzalez, Felice Bonetto and Onofre Marimon). HWM ran four cars and Connaught had three while there were a variety of Cooper-Bristols (including an Ecurie Ecosse car entered for Jimmy Stewart - brother of Jackie Stewart) in addition to the usual three-car Gordini effort.

The front row of the grid reflected the close battle with Ascari ahead of Gonzalez, Hawthorn and Fangio. Fangio made the best start but went wide at the first corner and so Ascari went into the lead. He would stay there for the rest of the afternoon. Behind him Hailwood spun while Gonzalez moved up the second but then slipped back to fourth when he was black-flagged for trailing oil. He rejoined in fourth place behind Ascari, Fangio and Villoresi although the last-named disappeared later with suspension trouble. Marimon also went out when his engine failed and so Farina was able to move up to and then pass Gonzalez to finish third. Hawthorn finished fifth with Bonetto sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 5 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 500 90 2h50m00.000s  1 
2 23 Juan-Manuel Fangio Maserati A6GCM 90 2h51m00.000s  4 
3 6 Giuseppe Farina Ferrari 500 88  5 
4 24 Froilan Gonzalez Maserati A6GCM 88  2 
5 8 Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 500 87  3 
6 25 Felice Bonetto Maserati A6GCM 82  16 
7 10 Prince Bira Connaught-Lea Francis A 82  19 
8 16 Ken Wharton Cooper-Bristol T23 80  11 
r 18 Jimmy Stewart Cooper-Bristol T20 79 Accident 15 
9 20 Peter Whitehead Cooper-Alta T24 79  14 
10 9 Louis Rosier Ferrari 500 78  24 
r 14 Tony Rolt Connaught-Lea Francis A 71 Mechanical 10 
r 7 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 500 67 Mechanical 6 
r 26 Onofre Marimon Maserati A6GCM 67 Engine 7 
r 2 Peter Collins HWM-Alta (53) 56 Accident 23 
r 19 Alan Brown Cooper-Bristol T23 56 Mechanical 21 
r 4 Jack Fairman HWM-Alta (53) 54 Clutch 27 
r 12 Roy Salvadori Connaught-Lea Francis A 50 Suspension 28 
r 31 Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati A6GCM 34 Clutch 26 
r 1 Lance Macklin HWM-Alta (53) 31 Clutch 12 
r 30 Jean Behra Gordini T16 30 Fuel Pump 22 
r 15 Ian Stewart Connaught-Lea Francis A 26 Engine 20 
r 29 Maurice Trintignant Gordini T16 15 Mechanical 8 
r 3 Duncan Hamilton HWM-Alta (53) 14 Clutch 17 
r 17 Bob Gerard Cooper-Bristol T23 8 Suspension  18 
r 28 Harry Schell Gordini T16 5 Magneto 9 
r 22 Tony Crook Cooper-Bristol T20 0 Fuel Injection 25 
r 11 Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Lea Francis A 0 Split Hose 13 
ns 27 Louis Chiron OSCA 20   29