1952 Swiss Grand Prix

1952 Formula One Season
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1952 Swiss Grand Prix
Date	May 18, 1952
Round	1
Track	Bremgarten
Laps	62
Weather	Hot & Sunny
Pole Position
Driver
Time
Fastest Lap
Driver
Time

The 1952 Formula One season had huge rule changes from 1951. Alfa Romeo, who had dominated the 1950 and 1951 events retired from Grand Prix racing, and as a result, only Ferrari were likely to be competitive this season.

Because of this, and a huge reduction of entries, the World Championship was run according to Formula Two rules and regulations, in an attempt to boost entry to the races.

There were still absences from the opening round in Bremgarten. Juan Manuel Fangio - reigning World Champion - moved to Maserati, but did not show at the event. Jose Froilan Gonzalez was in the same situation, having moved to Maserati from Ferrari. Alberto Ascari had gone to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500. Luigi Villoresi had been injured in the run up to the event. All this left Piero Taruffi in the unlikely position of Ferrari's Number 1 driver heading for Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Maserati did not turn up with their car, and Juan Manuel Fangio didn't race. There were cars however, from HWM, and Gordini, which took the field to a respectable number.

Giuseppe Farina was on pole for Ferrari, with Rudolf Fischer and Robert Manzon behind him. Come the race, Farina was dominating until his Ferrari broke down. This left Piero Taruffi to coast to a Grand Prix win.

Stirling Moss drove well early on for HWM, challenging for second place after qualifying ninth. Jean Behra was in the top three until he had to pit because his exhaust pipe had fallen off, as a result, he was being burned. Giuseppe Farina took over Andre Simon's car, and moved into second, until that too had to be retired with magneto failure.

Taruffi won excellently, and he was followed home by Rudolf Fischer in his home race, the only man not lapped, with third place going to the Gordini of Jean Behra. Ken Wharton was a shock fourth for Frazer Nash-Bristol, and Alan Brown took fifth for Cooper.

Results

Bold type denotes bonus point for setting the fastest lap.

Pos/Lap		Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1		Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	3:01:46.1	2	9
2		Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	+ 2:43.2	5	6
3		Jean Behra	Gordini	+ 1 lap	7	4
4		Ken Wharton	Fraser Nash-Bristol	+ 2 laps	13	3
5		Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	+ 3 laps	15	2
6		Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	+ 4 laps	8
7		Peter Hirt	Ferrari	+ 6 laps	19
8		Eric Brandon	Cooper-Bristol	+ 7 laps	17
52		Prince Bira	Simca Gordini-Gordini	Engine	11
51		Andre Simon	Ferrari	Magneto	4
Share		Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari
31		Harry Schell	Maserati-Plate	Engine	18
24		Stirling Moss	HWM-Alta	Withdrew	9
24		Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	Withdrew	12
20		Robert Manzon	Gordini	Radiator	3
16		Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	Magneto	1
12		Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	Halfshaft	6
12		George Abecassis	HWM-Alta	Halfshaft	10
4		Hans von Stuck	AFM-Kuchen	Engine	14
4		Toni Ulmen	Veritas-BMW	Fuel Leak	16
2		Louis Rosier	Ferrari	Accident	20
1		Max de Terra	Simca-Gordini-Simca	Magneto	21