1952 French Grand Prix
1952 French Grand Prix | |||||
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Race details | |||||
Date | 6 July 1952 | ||||
Official name | XXXIX Grand Prix de l'ACF | ||||
Location | Rouen-Les-Essarts,Grand-Couronne,France | ||||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
Course length | 5.100 km (3.169 miles) | ||||
Distance | 77 laps, 392.700 km (244.012 miles) | ||||
Weather | Rain | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Ferrari | ||||
Time | 2:14.8 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver |
![]() | Ferrari | |||
Time | 2:17.3 on lap 28 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Ferrari | ||||
Second | Ferrari | ||||
Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders |
The1952 French Grand Prixwas aFormula Tworace held on 6 July 1952 atRouen-Les-Essarts.It was race 4 of 8 in the1952 World Championship of Drivers,in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula One regulations normally used. Unusually this race was run over a duration of 3 hours, rather than a fixed distance.[1]
Report[edit]
Having won the previous weekend'sGrand Prix de la Marne,Jean Behra,racing forEquipe Gordini,was among the favourites for the first French Grand Prix to be held at Rouen-Les-Essarts. Also driving for Gordini were regularsRobert ManzonandPrince Bira,alongsideMaurice Trintignant,who replacedJohnny Claesfrom the lineup for the previous round. Claes entered the race in aSimca-Gordiniunder his own 'Ecurie Belge' label, which he had used in the1950and1951seasons.Ferrariretained their lineup ofAscari,FarinaandTaruffi,who had locked out the front row of the grid inBelgium.There were also several privateer Ferrari entries: the Swiss duo ofRudi FischerandPeter Hirt,representing Ecurie Espadon, the Italian pairing ofFranco ComottiandPiero Carini,for Scuderia Marzotto, andLouis Rosier.HWMagain ran regular driversLance MacklinandPeter Collins,this time alongside FrenchmanYves Giraud-Cabantous.While the factoryMaseratiteam remained absent, their new car, theA6GCM,made its World Championship debut, driven byPhilippe Étancelinof Escuderia Bandeirantes.Enrico Platéentered a pair of older Maseratis, the4CLT/48model, forToulo de GraffenriedandHarry Schell.Completing the grid werePeter Whitehead,in a privately runAlta,andMike Hawthorn,who again took part in aCooper-Bristol.
Ascari took his second consecutive pole position, with his Ferrari teammates Farina and Taruffi again joining him on the front row of the grid. The Gordini team locked out the second row, with Behra and Manzon qualifying in fourth and fifth, respectively. Their teammates Trintignant and Bira started from the third row, alongside Peter Collins in the fastest of the HWMs. The new Maserati A6GCM proved a disappointment, with Philippe Étancelin only managing to qualify on the seventh row of the grid (out of eight).
The Ferraris once again dominated the race, with Alberto Ascari leading Farina from start to finish, thus taking his second consecutive victory in the World Championship. Despite a good start from the Gordinis of Manzon and Behra, that saw them take third and fourth place, respectively, by the end of the first lap, Piero Taruffi managed to regain third place on lap 4 and subsequently held it for the remainder of the race, ensuring that it was an all-Ferrari podium. Manzon finished fourth, a lap behind Taruffi, while his teammate Maurice Trintignant took the final points-scoring position of fifth. HWM driver Peter Collins took sixth, two laps behind Trintignant, ahead of Jean Behra, for whom seventh represented something of a recovery, having been in last place at the end of lap 3. His race had been compromised when he crashed and consequently needed to pit.[2]
Ascari's win, and fastest lap, ensured that he took a five-point lead in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of fellow Ferrari driver Piero Taruffi. Farina's second consecutive second-place finish took him to third in the standings, one point adrift of Taruffi.Indianapolis 500winnerTroy Ruttmanwas a further four points behind in fourth, one point ahead of Gordini driver Robert Manzon.
Entries[edit]
- ^1— Piero Taruffi qualified and drove the entire race in the #12 Ferrari.Luigi Villoresi,who was also entered in the same car, was unable to participate due to injury.[5]
- ^2— Toulo de Graffenried qualified and drove 26 laps of the race in the #16 Maserati.Harry Schell,whose own vehicle had already retired, took over the car for a further 8 laps before again being forced to retire.[6]
- ^3— Philippe Étancelin qualified and drove the entire race in the #28 Maserati.Eitel Cantoniwas also entered in the car, but took no part in the Grand Prix after being fired.[5]
- ^4— Chico Landi withdrew from the event prior to practice.[5]
- ^5— Rudi Fischer qualified and drove 37 laps of the race in the #36 Ferrari. He was initially due to drive the #34Ferrari 500,but engine problems in practice meant that he instead participated in a 212.Peter Hirttook over the car for the remainder of the race.[6]Rudolf Schoeller,named substitute driver for the car, was not used during the Grand Prix.[7]
- ^6—Vittorio Marzotto,Sergio SighinolfiandReg Parnellwere the designated substitute drivers for cars #38, #40 and #42, respectively. None of the three was used during the Grand Prix.[7]
Classification[edit]
Qualifying[edit]
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:14.8 | – |
2 | 10 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:16.2 | + 1.4 |
3 | 12 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:17.1 | + 2.3 |
4 | 4 | ![]() |
Gordini | 2:19.3 | + 4.5 |
5 | 2 | ![]() |
Gordini | 2:20.4 | + 5.6 |
6 | 44 | ![]() |
Simca-Gordini-Gordini | 2:21.6 | + 6.8 |
7 | 22 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 2:21.9 | + 7.1 |
8 | 6 | ![]() |
Gordini | 2:23.0 | + 8.2 |
9 | 14 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:27.0 | + 12.2 |
10 | 24 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 2:27.5 | + 12.7 |
11 | 16 | ![]() |
Maserati | 2:28.6 | + 13.8 |
12 | 18 | ![]() |
Maserati | 2:29.0 | + 14.2 |
13 | 26 | ![]() |
Alta | 2:29.5 | + 14.7 |
14 | 20 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 2:30.9 | + 16.1 |
15 | 42 | ![]() |
Cooper-Bristol | 2:32.0 | + 17.2 |
16 | 28 | ![]() |
Maserati | 2:33.7 | + 18.9 |
17 | 36 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:34.6 | + 19.8 |
18 | 38 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:36.0 | + 21.2 |
19 | 40 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2:37.7 | + 22.9 |
20 | 32 | ![]() |
Simca-Gordini-Gordini | 2:39.6 | + 24.8 |
Race[edit]
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 77 | 3:02:42.6 | 1 | 91 |
2 | 10 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 76 | + 1 lap | 2 | 6 |
3 | 12 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 75 | + 2 laps | 3 | 4 |
4 | 2 | ![]() |
Gordini | 74 | + 3 laps | 5 | 3 |
5 | 44 | ![]() |
Simca-Gordini-Gordini | 72 | + 5 laps | 6 | 2 |
6 | 22 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 70 | + 7 laps | 8 | |
7 | 4 | ![]() |
Gordini | 70 | + 7 laps | 4 | |
8 | 28 | ![]() |
Maserati | 70 | + 7 laps | 18 | |
9 | 20 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 70 | + 7 laps | 14 | |
10 | 24 | ![]() |
HWM-Alta | 68 | + 9 laps | 10 | |
11 | 36 | ![]() ![]() |
Ferrari | 66 | + 11 laps | 17 | |
12 | 38 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 63 | + 14 laps | 16 | |
Ret | 6 | ![]() |
Gordini | 56 | Axle | 7 | |
Ret | 42 | ![]() |
Cooper-Bristol | 51 | Ignition | 15 | |
Ret | 16 | ![]() ![]() |
Maserati | 34 | Brakes | 12 | |
Ret | 26 | ![]() |
Alta | 17 | Clutch | 13 | |
Ret | 14 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 17 | Engine | 9 | |
Ret | 32 | ![]() |
Simca-Gordini-Gordini | 15 | Engine | 20 | |
Ret | 18 | ![]() |
Maserati | 7 | Gearbox | 11 | |
Ret | 40 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 2 | Engine | 19 | |
DNS | 34 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 0 | Engine | ||
Source:[8] |
- Notes
- ^1– Includes 1 point for fastest lap
[edit]
- Car #34: Fischer (33 laps) then Hirt (33 laps)
- Car #16: de Graffenried (20 laps) then Schell (14 laps)
Championship standings after the race[edit]
- Drivers' Championship standings
Pos | Driver | Points | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
1 | ![]() |
18 |
![]() |
2 | ![]() |
13 |
![]() |
3 | ![]() |
12 |
![]() |
4 | ![]() |
8 |
![]() |
5 | ![]() |
7 |
Source:[9] |
- Note:Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.
References[edit]
- ^Hodges, David (1967).The French Grand Prix.pp. 152–155.
- ^"French GP, 1952 Race Report".Grandprix.com.Retrieved2 February2013.
- ^"1952 French Grand Prix - Race Entries".manipef1.com. Archived fromthe originalon 9 May 2012.Retrieved6 January2016.
- ^"1952 ACF GP - Entry List".chicanef1.com.Retrieved1 January2014.
- ^abc"France 1952 - Result".statsf1.com.Retrieved11 January2014.
- ^ab"French Grand Prix 1952 - Results".ESPNF1.Retrieved11 January2014.
- ^ab"France 1952 - Race entrants".statsf1.com.Retrieved11 January2014.
- ^"1952 French Grand Prix".formula1.com. Archived fromthe originalon 2 January 2010.Retrieved4 August2015.
- ^"France 1952 - Championship • STATS F1".www.statsf1.com.Retrieved1 March2019.