The 1952 British Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 19 July 1952 at Silverstone Circuit. It was race 5 of 8 in the 1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula One regulations normally used.
1952 British Grand Prix | |||||
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![]() Silverstone Circuit in 1952–1973 configuration | |||||
Race details | |||||
Date | 19 July 1952 | ||||
Official name | 5th RAC British Grand Prix | ||||
Location |
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, England | ||||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
Course length | 4.7105 km (2.927 miles) | ||||
Distance | 85 laps, 400.307 km (248.739 miles) | ||||
Weather | Overcast, dry. | ||||
Attendance | 100,000 (estimate)[1] | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Ferrari | ||||
Time | 1:50.0 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver |
![]() | Ferrari | |||
Time | 1:52.0 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Ferrari | ||||
Second | Ferrari | ||||
Third | Cooper-Bristol | ||||
Lap leaders |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Silverstone_1952_5.jpg/220px-Silverstone_1952_5.jpg)
New pit facilities had been built on the straight between Woodcote and Copse corners; the original pits were located between Abbey and Woodcote.
Report
editJean Behra was unable to take part in the British Grand Prix, having broken his shoulder blade at the non-championship Grand Prix de Sables d'Olonne the previous weekend. Consequently, Maurice Trintignant took over Behra's Gordini T16 for Silverstone, having driven a Simca-Gordini T15 at Rouen-Les-Essarts. The Gordini team also fielded regular drivers Robert Manzon and Prince Bira. As in the previous race, Belgian driver Johnny Claes entered a privateer Simca-Gordini under the 'Ecurie Belge' moniker. Ferrari stuck with the same three drivers — Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and Piero Taruffi — who had monopolised the podium positions at the French Grand Prix. There were also a number of privateer Ferrari entrants: Fischer and Hirt for Ecurie Espadon, Peter Whitehead and Roy Salvadori. HWM continued their policy of partnering regulars Peter Collins and Lance Macklin with a local driver, in this case Duncan Hamilton. The Connaught team ran a quartet of Lea Francis-engined entries — McAlpine, Downing, Thompson and Poore — while the remainder of the grid was made up of a series of privateers of various constructors, including Coopers and Maseratis.
The three works Ferraris, led on this occasion by Farina, again qualified in the top three positions on the grid, this time being joined on the four-car front row by Manzon. The second row consisted of Downing alongside Reg Parnell and Mike Hawthorn in a pair of Cooper-Bristols. The Connaughts of Poore and Thompson shared row three with Bira's Gordini and Hamilton in his HWM.
Ascari took the lead at the start of the race and held onto it for the whole 85 laps, taking his third consecutive victory in the World Championship. Polesitter Nino Farina was in second place for the first 26 laps but he dropped down the field when he needed to pit to change spark plugs, eventually finishing in sixth, just outside the points. Despite making a bad start that saw him drop to ninth by the end of the first lap, fellow Ferrari driver Taruffi recovered to take second place, finishing a lap behind Ascari. Dennis Poore, who had been running in third after Farina's pit stop, needed to make a stop of his own in order to refuel his car. This allowed Hawthorn to inherit third place, which he held for the remainder of the race. He finished a lap behind Taruffi and took his first World Championship podium in just his third race. Poore took fourth, ahead of Connaught teammate Eric Thompson in the fifth and final points position.[2]
Ascari's win, coupled with yet another fastest lap, allowed him to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship once again. He now enjoyed an eight-point lead over fellow Ferrari driver Taruffi. Farina, having not scored any points, was seven points adrift of Taruffi.
Entries
editClassification
editQualifying
editRace
editPos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 15 | Alberto Ascari | Ferrari | 85 | 2:46:11 | 2 | 91 |
2 | 17 | Piero Taruffi | Ferrari | 84 | +1 lap | 3 | 6 |
3 | 9 | Mike Hawthorn | Cooper-Bristol | 83 | +2 laps | 7 | 4 |
4 | 6 | Dennis Poore | Connaught-Lea Francis | 83 | +2 laps | 8 | 3 |
5 | 5 | Eric Thompson | Connaught-Lea Francis | 82 | +3 laps | 9 | 2 |
6 | 16 | Nino Farina | Ferrari | 82 | +3 laps | 1 | |
7 | 8 | Reg Parnell | Cooper-Bristol | 82 | +3 laps | 6 | |
8 | 14 | Roy Salvadori | Ferrari | 82 | +3 laps | 19 | |
9 | 4 | Ken Downing | Connaught-Lea Francis | 82 | +3 laps | 5 | |
10 | 21 | Peter Whitehead | Ferrari | 81 | +4 laps | 20 | |
11 | 26 | Prince Bira | Gordini | 81 | +4 laps | 10 | |
12 | 1 | Graham Whitehead | Alta | 80 | +5 laps | 12 | |
13 | 19 | Rudi Fischer | Ferrari | 80 | +5 laps | 15 | |
14 | 27 | Johnny Claes | Simca-Gordini-Gordini | 79 | +6 laps | 23 | |
15 | 31 | Lance Macklin | HWM-Alta | 79 | +6 laps | 29 | |
16 | 3 | Kenneth McAlpine | Connaught-Lea Francis | 79 | +6 laps | 17 | |
17 | 33 | Harry Schell | Maserati-Platé | 78 | +7 laps | 32 | |
18 | 34 | Gino Bianco | Maserati | 77 | +8 laps | 28 | |
19 | 32 | Toulo de Graffenried | Maserati-Platé | 76 | +9 laps | 31 | |
20 | 10 | Eric Brandon | Cooper-Bristol | 76 | +9 laps | 18 | |
21 | 23 | Tony Crook | Frazer Nash-BMW | 75 | +10 laps | 25 | |
22 | 11 | Alan Brown | Cooper-Bristol | 69 | +16 laps | 13 | |
Ret | 29 | Peter Collins | HWM-Alta | 73 | Ignition | 14 | |
Ret | 30 | Duncan Hamilton | HWM-Alta | 44 | Engine | 11 | |
Ret | 12 | Stirling Moss | ERA-Bristol | 36 | Engine | 16 | |
Ret | 25 | Maurice Trintignant | Gordini | 21 | Gearbox | 21 | |
Ret | 28 | Tony Gaze | HWM-Alta | 19 | Engine | 26 | |
Ret | 7 | David Murray | Cooper-Bristol | 14 | Engine | 22 | |
Ret | 24 | Robert Manzon | Gordini | 9 | Clutch | 4 | |
Ret | 20 | Peter Hirt | Ferrari | 3 | Brakes | 24 | |
Ret | 35 | Eitel Cantoni | Maserati | 0 | Brakes | 27 | |
DNS | 2 | Bill Aston | Aston Butterworth | 0 | Non Starter | ||
Source: [7] |
- Notes
- ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Championship standings after the race
edit- Drivers' Championship standings
Pos | Driver | Points | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alberto Ascari | 27 | |
2 | Piero Taruffi | 19 | |
3 | Nino Farina | 12 | |
4 | Troy Ruttman | 8 | |
5 | Robert Manzon | 7 | |
Source: [8] |
- Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.
References
edit- ^ "British Grand Prix". Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press. 26 July 1952. Retrieved 9 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "British GP, 1952 Race Report". Grand Prix.com. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
- ^ "1952 British Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ^ "1952 British GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Britain 1952 - Race entrants". statsf1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ^ "Britain 1952 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ^ "1952 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- ^ "Britain 1952 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.