1951 Spanish Grand Prix
| 1951 Spanish Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
 Pedralbes street circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 28 October 1951 | ||||
| Official name | XI Gran Premio de España | ||||
| Location | Pedralbes Circuit, Barcelona, Catalonia | ||||
| Course | Street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 6.316 km (3.925 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 442.120 km (274.721 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Hot, Dry | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Scuderia Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 2:10.59 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Juan Manuel Fangio | Alfa Romeo | |||
| Time | 2:16.93 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Alfa Romeo | ||||
| Second | Scuderia Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Alfa Romeo | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
The 1951 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 28 October 1951 at Pedralbes Circuit. It was the eighth and final race of the 1951 World Championship of Drivers.
This race was determined by tyre choice – Ferrari chose a 16-inch rear wheel, whilst Alfa Romeo settled for the 18 inch, which proved to be the better of the two options. Juan Manuel Fangio led Alberto Ascari by two points before the race. Ascari led the race from José Froilán González, but the Ferraris suffered numerous tread problems. Piero Taruffi threw a tyre tread on lap 6 and was followed on lap 7 by Luigi Villoresi, Ascari on lap 8 and Gonzalez on lap 14. The Ferraris were forced to stop frequently to change tyres and Fangio comfortably won the race and his first drivers' title, after Ascari finished 4th was not able to overhaul Fangio's total. After the race, Alfa Romeo announced that due to lack of finances, they would not be competing in the 1952 season.
Entries
[edit]
- ^1 — Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell both withdrew from the event prior to practice.[3]
- ^2 — Juan Jover qualified in the #46 Maserati, although he did not start the race. Joaquin Palacio had been entered in car #46, but he withdrew prior to practice.[3]
- ^3 — Toni Branca withdrew from the event prior to practice. Chico Landi had also been entered in car #48, but he too withdrew from the Grand Prix before practice.[3]
Championship permutations
[edit]Three drivers were fighting for the championship going into the race: Fangio on 27 points, Ascari on 25 points and González on 21 points. Championship leader Fangio only needed a second place in order to win his maiden drivers' title.
The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner:[4]
| Fangio would have won if: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Manuel Fangio
|
 Alberto Ascari
|
José Froilán González
| |
| Pos. | 2nd or better | Any position | Any position |
| 3rd | |||
| 4th | 3rd or lower | ||
| 5th | 4th or lower | ||
| lower than 5th + FL | |||
| lower than 5th w/o FL | 2nd or lower + FL | ||
| Ascari would have won if: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberto Ascari
|
Juan Manuel Fangio
|
José Froilán González
| |
| Pos. | 1st | Any position | Any position |
| 2nd | 3rd or lower | ||
| González would have won if: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| José Froilán González
|
Juan Manuel Fangio
|
Alberto Ascari
| |
| Pos. | 1st + FL | lower than 5th w/o FL | 3rd or lower |
Classification
[edit]Qualifying
[edit]Race
[edit]- Notes
- ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap
Final Championship standings
[edit]- Bold text indicates the World Champion.
- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | Juan Manuel Fangio
|
31 (37) |
|
|
2 | Alberto Ascari
|
25 (28) |
|
|
3 | José Froilán González
|
24 (27) |
|
|
4 | Nino Farina
|
19 (22) |
|
|
5 | Luigi Villoresi
|
15 (18) |
| Source:[7] | |||
- 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
[edit]- ^ "1951 Spanish Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ^ "1951 Spanish GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "Spain 1951 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ^ "Looking back at the history of the Spanish GP". atlasf1.autosport.com. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ^ Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 37. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
- ^ "1951 Spanish Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ^ "Spain 1951 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.