1952 Italian Grand Prix

  1952 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 8 of 8 in the 1952 Formula One season
Date	7 September 1952
Official name	XXIII GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.300 km (3.915 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 504.000 km (313.171 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	2:05.7
Fastest lap
Drivers	Alberto Ascari (lap 56) José Froilán González (lap 57, 60)	Ferrari Maserati
Time	2:06.1
Podium
First	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second	José Froilán González	Maserati
Third	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari

The 1952 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 7 September 1952 at Monza. It was the eighth and final round of the 1952 World Drivers' Championship, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One regulations normally used.

Race report

Due to the dominance of the Ferrari team throughout 1952, the World Drivers' Championship had already been clinched a month prior to the season-ending Italian Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Ferrari entered five drivers for their home race, with their Dutch Grand Prix trio—World Champion Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi—being joined by Piero Taruffi and André Simon, both of whom had competed for the Scuderia at various points of the season. There were also a number of privateer Ferraris, including the Ecurie Espadon pairing of Fischer and Stuck, as well as Charles de Tornaco of Ecurie Francorchamps, Louis Rosier and Peter Whitehead. The works Maserati team appeared for the first and only time in the 1952 World Championship, running three cars for Felice Bonetto, Franco Rol and José Froilán González. Also running A6GCMs were the Escuderia Bandeirantes trio of Bianco, Cantoni and Landi, while Enrico Platé's drivers—Toulo de Graffenried and debutant Alberto Crespo—ran the older 4CLT/48 equipped with the team's own revised engines. Gordini retained their previous driver lineup of Behra, Manzon and Trintignant, while Johnny Claes drove a privateer Simca-Gordini at Monza. HWM entered a pair of cars for Peter Collins and Lance Macklin, with Australian Tony Gaze running a privateer HWM. The Connaught team, absent since the British Grand Prix, returned to the Championship with a three-car entry consisting of Stirling Moss (who had driven for ERA at the previous event), Dennis Poore and Kenneth McAlpine.

For this event, only 24 cars were allowed to take the start, meaning that 11 of the 35 drivers who had entered the race failed to qualify. These included all of the HWMs, three of the privateer Ferraris, and both of the Enrico Platé-entered Maseratis. Ascari took his third consecutive pole position (and his fifth of the season), and the front row was completed by his teammates Villoresi and Farina, and the Gordini of Trintignant. The Maserati of González started from the second row, alongside the remaining works Ferraris of Taruffi and Simon, and the Gordini of Robert Manzon. Row three consisted of Stirling Moss in the leading Connaught, Frenchman Élie Bayol in the sole OSCA, Behra in the third and final works Gordini, and Mike Hawthorn in his privateer Cooper-Bristol. The remaining works Maseratis of Bonetto and Rol were only able to make the fourth row of the grid, starting from 13th and 16th, respectively.

José Froilán González emerged in first place at the start of the race, ahead of Ascari in second. The Argentine remained in the lead for the first 36 laps of the race, until a slow pit stop allowed the Ferraris of Ascari and Villoresi to pass him for first and second, respectively. Ascari held the lead for the remainder of the race, and, in so doing, took his sixth consecutive World Championship race victory. González caught up with Villoresi and passed him to take second place in his only Championship race of the season. Villoresi completed the podium by taking his second consecutive third place finish. Farina was not far behind in fourth place, while the second Maserati of Felice Bonetto took the final points position in fifth, finishing a lap down on the leaders. The remaining works Ferraris of Simon and Taruffi finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively.

As Taruffi finished outside the points, he was unable to overtake Nino Farina in the Drivers' Championship standings. The Ferrari team monopolised the top three positions, with World Champion Alberto Ascari ahead of teammates Farina and Taruffi.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	12	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2:05.7	—
2	16	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2:06.6	+0.9
3	10	Nino Farina	Ferrari	2:07.0	+1.3
4	4	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	2:07.2	+1.5
5	26	José Froilán González	Maserati	2:07.6	+1.9
6	14	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	2:07.8	+2.1
7	2	Robert Manzon	Gordini	2:08.2	+2.5
8	8	André Simon	Ferrari	2:09.1	+3.4
9	32	Stirling Moss	Connaught-Lea-Francis	2:09.8	+4.1
10	34	Élie Bayol	Osca	2:10.6	+4.9
11	6	Jean Behra	Gordini	2:10.8	+5.1
12	42	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper-Bristol	2:11.2	+5.5
13	22	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	2:11.6	+5.9
14	18	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	2:11.8	+6.1
15	40	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	2:12.2	+6.5
16	24	Franco Rol	Maserati	2:12.7	+7.0
17	62	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	2:12.7	+7.0
18	48	Chico Landi	Maserati	2:13.0	+7.3
19	30	Dennis Poore	Connaught-Lea-Francis	2:14.0	+8.3
20	36	Eric Brandon	Cooper-Bristol	2:14.0	+8.3
21	38	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	2:15.0	+9.3
22	28	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea-Francis	2:15.1	+9.4
23	50	Eitel Cantoni	Maserati	2:15.9	+10.2
24	46	Gino Bianco	Maserati	2:17.1	+11.4
25	70	Charles de Tornaco	Ferrari	No time	—
26	58	Alberto Crespo	Maserati	No time	—
27	60	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	No time	—
28	54	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	No time	—
29	68	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	No time	—
30	56	Tony Gaze	HWM-Alta	No time	—
31	64	Bill Aston	Aston Butterworth	No time	—
32	52	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	No time	—
33	20	Hans Stuck	Ferrari	No time	—
34	44	Piero Dusio	Cisitalia-BPM	No time	—
35	66	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini-Gordini	No time	—
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	80	2:50:45.6	1	8.5
2	26	José Froilán González	Maserati	80	+1:01.8	5	6.5
3	16	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	80	+2:04.2	2	4
4	10	Nino Farina	Ferrari	80	+2:11.4	3	3
5	22	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	79	+1 lap	13	2
6	8	André Simon	Ferrari	79	+1 lap	8
7	14	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	77	+3 laps	6
8	48	Chico Landi	Maserati	76	+4 laps	18
9	40	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	76	+4 laps	15
10	62	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	75	+5 laps	17
11	50	Eitel Cantoni	Maserati	75	+5 laps	23
12	30	Dennis Poore	Connaught-Lea-Francis	74	+6 laps	19
13	36	Eric Brandon	Cooper-Bristol	73	+7 laps	20
14	2	Robert Manzon	Gordini	71	+9 laps	7
15	38	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	68	+12 laps	12
Ret	32	Stirling Moss	Connaught-Lea-Francis	60	Suspension	9
Ret	46	Gino Bianco	Maserati	46	Engine	25
Ret	6	Jean Behra	Gordini	42	Engine	11
Ret	42	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper-Bristol	38	Not classified	12
Ret	24	Franco Rol	Maserati	24	Engine	16
Ret	4	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	5	Engine	4
Ret	28	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea-Francis	4	Suspension	22
Ret	18	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	3	Engine	16
Ret	34	Élie Bayol	Osca	0	Gearbox	10
DNQ	70	Charles de Tornaco	Ferrari		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	58	Alberto Crespo	Maserati		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	60	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	54	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	68	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	56	Tony Gaze	HWM-Alta		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	64	Bill Aston	Aston Butterworth		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	52	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	20	Hans Stuck	Ferrari		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	44	Piero Dusio	Cisitalia-BPM		Did not qualify	—
DNQ	66	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini-Gordini		Did not qualify	—
Source:

Notes

• Ascari and González set equal fastest lap times, and shared the one world championship point.

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alberto Ascari	36 (53.5)
2	Nino Farina	24 (27)
3	Piero Taruffi	22
4=	Rudi Fischer	10
4=	Mike Hawthorn	10

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

Previous race: 1952 Dutch Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1952 season	Next race: 1953 Argentine Grand Prix
Previous race: 1951 Italian Grand Prix	Italian Grand Prix	Next race: 1953 Italian Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1952 Italian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.