1951 Swiss Grand Prix

1951 Formula One Season
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1951 Swiss Grand Prix
Date	May 27, 1951
Round	1
Track	Bremgarten
Laps	42
Weather	Rain, drying out
Pole Position
Driver
Time
Fastest Lap
Driver
Time

After dominating 1950, there was a lot of pre-race hype about whether the Alfa Romeo’s would continue to dominate as easily.

In preceding non-championship races, Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari had won races for Ferrari, and as the Alfa’s decided not to show until just three weeks before the start of the Championship series, the Ferrari looked to be the car to beat. Alfa Romeo showed their faces in the International Trophy at Silverstone and looked certain to win the event after the heats. The final was cancelled due to torrential rain.

After the Monaco debacle the year before, the race was not organised in 1951, paving the way for the late start (May 27), in Switzerland.

Before the season started their had been some personnel moves amongst the teams. Alfa Romeo ran four works cars, and whilst Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina remained from 1950, they were joined by Toulo de Graffenried. Consalvo Sanesi kept his seat after a strong performance to close the season at Monza the year before. Luigi Fagioli had a reduced role in the championship. Ferrari were lead by Alberto Ascari, and Piero Taruffi and Luigi Villoresi were good backups. Maserati ran less cars, but the grid was made up by the usual plethora of Talbot-Lago’s. Seven lined up at Bremgarten. They were lead by Louis Rosier and Philippe Etancelin. Jose Froilan Gonzalez also drove for Talbot-Lago, making a comeback from his injury at Monte Carlo the previous year. Stirling Moss made his debut in a Horsham & Walton Motors-Alta, and was teamed with another newcomer, George Abecassis.

In qualifying, Juan Manuel Fangio stormed to pole, with Giuseppe Farina alongside him. It looked like 1951 would be another Fangio-Farina showdown. There was a surprise, as Luigi Villoresi managed to put his Ferrari into third on the grid. The other two Alfa Romeo’s came fourth and fifth, before the other two Ferrari’s. It looked like Alfa Romeo and Ferrari were going to be the top two teams to beat.

Come race day, it rained. Fangio started well from pole, and Farina held second. From sixth on the grid, Piero Taruffi launched his Ferrari into contention. As the day dried out, both Fangio and Taruffi pitted for dry tyres. Giuseppe Farina chose to stay out, and his worn tyres didn’t help him. Despite not stopping, Fangio and then Taruffo overtook him, and he was left to claim third, behind Fangio and Taruffi respectively.

The Alfa’s of Consalvo Sanesi and Toulo de Graffenried came in fourth and fifth. A gutsy drive led Alberto Ascari to sixth. He was suffering from burns sustained in a Formula Two race in Genoa the previous weekend. On his debut, Stirling Moss would have got seventh had he not run out of fuel. He was forced to settle for eighth, as Louis Chiron finished seventh on a bad day for Maserati.

So Fangio led the championship. And the Alfa Romeo’s were still unbeatable it seemed, although Ferrari appeared to be closing the gap.

Results

Bold type denotes bonus point for setting the fastest lap.

Pos/Lap		Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1		Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	2:01:53.64	1	9
2		Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	+ 55.24	6	6
3		Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	+ 1:19.31	2	4
4		Consalvo Sanesi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap	4	3
5		Toulo de Graffenried	Alfa Romeo	+ 2 laps	5	2
6		Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	+ 2 laps	7
7		Louis Chiron	Maserati	+ 2 laps	19
8		Stirling Moss	HWM-Alta	+ 2 laps	14
9		Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	+ 3 laps	8
10		Philippe Etancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	+ 3 laps	11
11		Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	+ 3 laps	10
12		Harry Schell	Maserati	+ 4 laps	17
13		Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	+ 7 laps	18
14		Guy Mairesse	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	+ 11 laps	21
36		Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	Accident	17
30		Henri Louveau	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	Accident	11
23		George Abacassis	HWM-Alta	Retirement	20
14		Yves Giraud Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	Ignition	15
12		Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	Accident	3
10		Jose Froilan Gonzalez	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	Oil Jump	13
0		Peter Hirt	Veritas	Fuel System	16