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25px Belgium  1953 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 4 of 9 in the 1953 Formula One season
Spa-Francorchamps layout
Spa-Francorchamps layout
Date 21 June 1953
Official name XV Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Belgium
Course Permanent racing circuit
14.120 km (8.774 mi)
Distance 36 laps, 508.320 km (315.855 mi)
Weather Hot, dry
Pole position
Driver 25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati
Time 4:30.0
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Argentina José Froilán González Maserati
Time 4:34.0 on lap 2
Podium
First 25px Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari
Second 25px Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari
Third 25px Argentina Onofre Marimón Maserati

The 1953 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on June 21, 1953 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It was the fourth round of the 1953 World Drivers' Championship, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One regulations normally used.

Race report[]

Two weeks after the previous World Championship race, the Dutch Grand Prix, the teams headed to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Ferrari were once again unchanged from the previous race, retaining the lineup of Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina, Luigi Villoresi and Mike Hawthorn, while there were also privateer Ferraris for Louis Rosier and the Ecurie Francorchamps duo of Jacques Swaters and Charles de Tornaco. The Maserati factory team added Johnny Claes and a third Argentine, Onofre Marimón, to their lineup of Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González, while Felice Bonetto missed this race. Toulo de Graffenried drove the only privateer Maserati at Spa. Jean Behra, whose injuries prevented his participation at Zandvoort, returned for Gordini alongside Maurice Trintignant, and the American pairing of Harry Schell and Fred Wacker, while HWM called on the services of Paul Frère (as they had done the previous year) in their third car in addition to regulars Peter Collins and Lance Macklin. The field was completed by several privateers—Berger in a Simca-Gordini, Legat in a Veritas and Pilette in a Connaught.

A record crowd of over 100,000 spectators crammed into the forest track to watch this dramatic race. The Maseratis were definitely capable of matching the Ferraris for sheer speed – Juan Manuel Fangio put in a record-shattering practice lap of 117 mph, breaking Ascari's run of five consecutive pole positions (excluding the Indianapolis 500). The defending World Champion had to settle for second place on the grid this time. The Maserati of González completed the front row, while row two consisted of the Ferraris of Farina and Villoresi. On the third row were Marimón in a Maserati, the remaining works Ferrari of Hawthorn, and Trintignant in the leading Gordini. Toulo de Graffenried, in his own Maserati, out-qualified the fourth works Maserati of Johnny Claes, with both starting from row four, while the remaining Gordinis were split between the fifth and sixth rows of the grid.

At the flag, Fangio waved González past and stunned everyone with another blitzkrieg lap of 110 mph from a standing start. After 11 laps, González had pulled out a full minute's lead, but it had taken its toll on his engine which expired, leaving Fangio half a minute clear. On lap 13, it was the other Argentine's turn to fall prey to engine troubles and so Ascari inherited the lead, initially ahead of Farina, before his race was ended by engine problems, handing second place to Hawthorn, while Marimón and Villoresi were third and fourth, respectively. Engine problems for Marimón allowed Villoresi to move up to third on lap 28, and a fuel leak for Hawthorn meant that Villoresi inherited second place on the following lap. Shortly after his own car had retired, Fangio took over Claes's, and made something of a charge through the field: before Fangio retired on lap 14, Claes had been in ninth; by lap 30, Fangio had taken the car to third, behind only Ascari and Villoresi, who took another 1–2 victory. However, Fangio crashed heavily on the final lap of the race, giving his teammate Onofre Marimón his first podium position in the process. The remaining points were taken by the privateer Maserati of de Graffenried and the Gordini of Trintignant, while Hawthorn, in sixth place, just missed out.[1]

Alberto Ascari, who had taken his ninth consecutive World Championship victory (ignoring the Indy 500), already had a large lead in the points standings. He was twelve points ahead of his teammate Villoresi, while Bill Vukovich, who won at Indianapolis, was third. González, who took the fastest lap point for this race, now had seven points, putting him eighteen points behind Ascari, and the remaining Ferraris of Farina and Hawthorn only had six points each.

Entries[]

No Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre
2 25px Argentina José Froilán González Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
4 25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
6 25px Belgium Johnny Claes1 Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
8 25px Italy Luigi Villoresi Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
10 25px Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
12 25px Italy Nino Farina Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
14 25px UK Mike Hawthorn Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
16 25px France Jean Behra Equipe Gordini Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
18 25px France Maurice Trintignant Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
20 25px United States Harry Schell Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
22 25px UK Lance Macklin HW Motors HWM-Alta HWM 53 Alta F2 2.0 L4 D
24 25px Belgium Paul Frère HWM-Alta HWM 53 Alta F2 2.0 L4 D
26 25px UK Peter Collins HWM-Alta HWM 53 Alta F2 2.0 L4 D
28 25px Argentina Onofre Marimón Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
30 25px Switzerland Toulo de Graffenried Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
32 25px France Louis Rosier Ecurie Rosier Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 D
34 25px Belgium Georges Berger Georges Berger Simca-Gordini-Gordini Simca-Gordini T15 Gordini 1500 1.5 L4 E
36 25px Belgium Arthur Legat Arthur Legat Veritas Veritas Meteor Veritas 2.0 L6 E
38 25px United States Fred Wacker Equipe Gordini Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
40 25px Belgium André Pilette Ecurie Belge Connaught-Lea Francis Connaught A Lea Francis 2.0 L4 E
42 25px Belgium Jacques Swaters Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 E
44 25px Belgium Charles de Tornaco Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 E
Sources: [2][3]
^1  — Johnny Claes qualified and drove 14 laps of the race in the #6 Maserati. Juan Manuel Fangio, whose own car had already retired, took over the car for the remainder of the race.[4]

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 4 25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 4:30.0
2 10 25px Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari 4:32.0 +2.0
3 2 25px Argentina José Froilán González Maserati 4:32.0 +2.0
4 12 25px Italy Nino Farina Ferrari 4:36.0 +6.0
5 8 25px Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 4:39.0 +9.0
6 28 25px Argentina Onofre Marimón Maserati 4:40.0 +10.0
7 14 25px UK Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 4:42.0 +12.0
8 18 25px France Maurice Trintignant Gordini 4:45.0 +15.0
9 30 25px Switzerland Toulo de Graffenried Maserati 4:49.0 +19.0
10 6 25px Belgium Johnny Claes Maserati 4:50.0 +20.0
11 24 25px Belgium Paul Frère HWM-Alta 4:52.0 +22.0
12 20 25px United States Harry Schell Gordini 4:53.0 +23.0
13 32 25px France Louis Rosier Ferrari 4:56.0 +26.0
14 16 25px France Jean Behra Gordini 4:57.0 +27.0
15 38 25px United States Fred Wacker Gordini 5:03.3 +33.0
16 26 25px UK Peter Collins HWM-Alta 5:03.0 +33.0
17 22 25px UK Lance Macklin HWM-Alta 5:14.0 +44.0
18 40 25px Belgium André Pilette Connaught-Lea-Francis 5:23.0 +53.0
19 36 25px Belgium Arthur Legat Veritas 5:41.0 +1:11.0
20 34 25px Belgium Georges Berger Simca-Gordini-Gordini 5:58.0 +1:28.0
21 42 25px Belgium Jacques Swaters Ferrari No time
22 44 25px Belgium Charles de Tornaco Ferrari No time
Sources:[5][6]

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 10 25px Italy Alberto Ascari Ferrari 36 2:48:30.3 2 8
2 8 25px Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 36 + 2:48.2 5 6
3 28 25px Argentina Onofre Marimón Maserati 35 + 1 Lap 16 4
4 30 25px Switzerland Toulo de Graffenried Maserati 35 + 1 Lap 9 3
5 18 25px France Maurice Trintignant Gordini 35 + 1 Lap 8 2
6 14 25px UK Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 35 + 1 Lap 7  
7 20 25px United States Harry Schell Gordini 33 + 3 Laps 12  
8 32 25px France Louis Rosier Ferrari 33 + 3 Laps 13  
9 38 25px United States Fred Wacker Gordini 32 + 4 Laps 15  
10 24 25px Belgium Paul Frère HWM-Alta 30 + 6 Laps 11  
11 40 25px Belgium André Pilette Connaught-Lea-Francis 29 + 7 Laps 18  
Ret 6 25px Belgium Johnny Claes
25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio
Maserati 35 Accident 10  
Ret 22 25px UK Lance Macklin HWM-Alta 19 Engine 17  
Ret 12 25px Italy Nino Farina Ferrari 16 Engine 4  
Ret 4 25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 13 Engine 1  
Ret 2 25px Argentina José Froilán González Maserati 11 Throttle 3 1
Ret 16 25px France Jean Behra Gordini 9 Engine 14  
Ret 26 25px UK Peter Collins HWM-Alta 4 Clutch 16  
Ret 34 25px Belgium Georges Berger Simca-Gordini-Gordini 3 Engine 20  
Ret 36 25px Belgium Arthur Legat Veritas 0 Transmission 19  

† Shared Drive - Car #6: Claes (13 laps) then Fangio (22 laps)


Drivers' Championship standings after the race[]

Pos Driver Points
1 25px Italy Alberto Ascari 25
2 25px Italy Luigi Villoresi 13
3 25px USA Bill Vukovich 9
4 25px Argentina José Froilán González 7
5 25px Italy Nino Farina 6
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.


Previous race:
1953 Dutch Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1953 season
Next race:
1953 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1952 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1954 Belgian Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1953 Belgian 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.


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