1952 German Grand Prix

  1952 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 8 in the 1952 World Drivers' Championship
Date	3 August 1952 (1952-08-03)
Official name	XV Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility 22.810 km (14.173 mi)
Distance	18 laps, 410.580 km (255.123 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	9:56.0
Fastest lap
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	10:05.1 on lap 5
Podium
First	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari
Third	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1952 German Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 3 August 1952 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It was the sixth 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.

Report

The Maserati factory team finally made an appearance with their new car, the A6GCM, which was driven by Felice Bonetto. Also racing A6GCMs were the Escuderia Bandeirantes drivers Bianco and Cantoni. Ferrari once again entered the successful trio of Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and Piero Taruffi, while there were privateer Ferrari entries for Rudi Fischer and Rudolf Schoeller of Ecurie Espadon, Roger Laurent of Ecurie Francorchamps, and Piero Carini of Scuderia Marzotto. Jean Behra returned to action for the Gordini team, having recovered from his shoulder injury. He replaced Prince Bira, and was partnered by teammates Robert Manzon and Maurice Trintignant. HWM entered three cars, with regular Peter Collins joined by the Belgian pairing of Paul Frère and Johnny Claes, while Australian Tony Gaze drove a privateer HWM. Bill Aston drove an Aston Butterworth, and the field was completed by a plethora of privateer German cars (Veritas, AFM and BMW).

Ferrari were once again fastest in qualifying, with Ascari and Farina being joined on the front row of the grid by the Gordinis of Trintignant and Manzon. The remaining works Ferrari driver, Taruffi, started from the second row, alongside the Ecurie Espadon-entered Ferrari of Fischer and Paul Pietsch in a Veritas. Bonetto's works Maserati made the third row, along with the Gordini of Jean Behra, and a pair of local entrants: Hans Klenk's Veritas, and Willi Heeks in an AFM.

The race turned out to be rather a processional event, with Ascari leading Farina all the way in the first 16 laps. Two laps from home, he had to dive into the pits for oil, emerging 10 seconds behind Farina-which he rattled off on the next lap, catching Farina just a mile from home to win by several seconds after an otherwise dull race. Piero Taruffi had been running in third behind his teammates, but he lost the position to Rudi Fischer towards the end of the race when he encountered problems due to his suspension breaking. Fischer's podium and Taruffi's fourth place-finish ensured that it was a Ferrari 1-2-3-4. Manzon, who had been running in fourth for much of the first half of the race, between Taruffi and Fischer, was forced to retire when a wheel fell off his car. This meant that his teammate Behra was left to take the final points in fifth position in his Gordini, ahead of Roger Laurent's Ferrari. Felice Bonetto, of the factory Maserati team, was disqualified for receiving a push start after his first lap spin.

Ascari, who had taken his fourth consecutive victory, along with a fourth consecutive fastest lap, had now scored the maximum of 36 points for the season, as only a driver's four best results counted. As a result, he clinched the world championship, making him the first driver to win the championship with two races left to go. Ascari's teammates, Taruffi and Farina, remained in second and third, respectively, in the Drivers' Championship , while Swiss driver Fischer's second podium of the season raised him up to fourth in the standings.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	101	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	9:56.0	–
2	102	Nino Farina	Ferrari	9:58.4	+ 2.4
3	109	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	9:59.0	+ 3.0
4	107	Robert Manzon	Gordini	10:01.0	+ 5.0
5	103	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	10:02.5	+ 6.5
6	117	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	10:04.0	+ 8.0
7	127	Paul Pietsch	Veritas	10:05.3	+ 9.3
8	128	Hans Klenk	Veritas	10:08.5	+ 12.5
9	123	Willi Heeks	AFM-BMW	10:09.9	+ 13.9
10	105	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	10:12.0	+ 16.0
11	108	Jean Behra	Gordini	10:13.8	+ 17.8
12	121	Fritz Riess	Veritas	10:14.3	+ 18.3
13	112	Paul Frère	HWM-Alta	10:16.0	+ 20.0
14	120	Tony Gaze	HWM-Alta	10:16.7	+ 20.7
15	125	Toni Ulmen	Veritas	10:17.9	+ 21.9
16	115	Gino Bianco	Maserati	10:19.0	+ 23.0
17	119	Roger Laurent	Ferrari	10:21.0	+ 25.0
18	122	Theo Helfrich	Veritas	10:22.0	+ 26.0
19	126	Adolf Brudes	Veritas	10:24.1	+ 28.1
20	129	Josef Peters	Veritas	10:24.5	+ 28.5
21	114	Bill Aston	Aston Butterworth	10:25.0	+ 29.0
22	124	Helmut Niedermayr	AFM-BMW	10:26.0	+ 30.0
23	136	Rudolf Krause	BMW	10:27.6	+ 31.0
24	118	Rudolf Schoeller	Ferrari	10:29.1	+ 33.1
25	110	Marcel Balsa	BMW	10:30.4	+ 34.4
26	116	Eitel Cantoni	Maserati	10:31.2	+ 35.2
27	104	Piero Carini	Ferrari	10:35.5	+ 39.5
28	133	Willi Krakau	AFM-BMW	No time	–
29	135	Ernst Klodwig	BMW	10:34.2	+ 38.2
30	130	Günther Bechem	BMW	10:35.3	+ 39.3
31	131	Ludwig Fischer	AFM-BMW	No time	–
32	113	Johnny Claes	HWM-Alta	10:41.0	+ 45.0
33	111	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	No time	–
34	134	Harry Merkel	BMW	No time	–

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	101	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	18	3:06:13.3	1	9
2	102	Nino Farina	Ferrari	18	+14.1	2	6
3	117	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	18	+7:10.1	6	4
4	103	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	17	+1 lap	5	3
5	108	Jean Behra	Gordini	17	+1 lap	11	2
6	119	Roger Laurent	Ferrari	16	+2 laps	17
7	121	Fritz Riess	Veritas	16	+2 laps	12
8	125	Toni Ulmen	Veritas	16	+2 laps	15
9	124	Helmut Niedermayr	AFM-BMW	15	+3 laps	22
10	113	Johnny Claes	HWM-Alta	15	+3 laps	32
11	128	Hans Klenk	Veritas	14	+4 laps	8
12	135	Ernst Klodwig	BMW	14	+4 laps	29
Ret	107	Robert Manzon	Gordini	8	Accident	4
Ret	123	Willi Heeks	AFM-BMW	7	Retirement	9
Ret	120	Tony Gaze	HWM-Alta	6	Gearbox	14
Ret	126	Adolf Brudes	Veritas-BMW	5	Engine	19
Ret	110	Marcel Balsa	BMW	5	Retirement	25
Ret	130	Günther Bechem	BMW	5	Ignition	30
Ret	116	Eitel Cantoni	Maserati	4	Axle	26
Ret	136	Rudolf Krause	BMW	3	Retirement	23
Ret	118	Rudolf Schoeller	Ferrari	3	Suspension	24
Ret	114	Bill Aston	Aston Butterworth	2	Oil pressure	21
Ret	109	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	1	Accident	3
Ret	127	Paul Pietsch	Veritas	1	Gearbox	7
Ret	105	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	1	Disqualified	10
Ret	112	Paul Frère	HWM-Alta	1	Gearbox	13
Ret	122	Theo Helfrich	Veritas	1	Retirement	18
Ret	129	Josef Peters	Veritas	1	Retirement	20
Ret	104	Piero Carini	Ferrari	1	Brakes	27
Ret	115	Gino Bianco	Maserati	0	Retirement	16
DNS	133	Willi Krakau	AFM-BMW	0	Non starter
DNS	131	Ludwig Fischer	AFM-BMW	0	Non starter
DNS	134	Harry Merkel	BMW	0	Non starter
DNS	111	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	0	Non starter

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Alberto Ascari	36
	2	Piero Taruffi	22
	3	Nino Farina	18
3	4	Rudi Fischer	10
1	5	Troy Ruttman	8

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 2009-12-01. 

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