1951 German Grand Prix

Report

As the 1950 German GP was a Formula 2 race, this was the first German Grand Prix held to Formula One regulatuons. It took place without the German Silver Arrows GP cars that had dominated before the war, and still had quicker lap times than 1950s Formula One, as the 1939 record of 9:43.1 would stand until 1957. Auto Union headquarters were in the communist East Germany, and no other German manufactors showed up. Mercedes had raced old cars in Temporada Argentina Formula Libre races in February, decided not to bring back the pre-war Mercedes-Benz W165, and instead studied a new Mercedes-Benz W195. This was cancelled after the German Grand Prix, and the Mercedes-Benz W196 was built to new 1954 rules. One German driver took part, Paul Pietsch, who had lead the 1939 German Grand Prix before finishing 3rd.

Alfa Romeo once again fielded four cars, with Paul Pietsch replacing Consalvo Sanesi, joining Fangio, Farina and Bonetto. Following on from their maiden victory at Silverstone, Ferrari also entered four drivers. Piero Taruffi rejoined their lineup, alongside Ascari, Villoresi and British Grand Prix winner José Froilán González. Ferrari continued their good form from the previous event, with Ascari and González the fastest two qualifiers. Fangio and Farina completed the front row, with Villoresi, Taruffi and Pietsch making up the second row.

Nino Farina initially took the lead, but, by the end of the first lap, had been passed by Fangio, Ascari and González. Paul Pietsch was running in fifth, but ended up at the back of the field after going off on the second lap. When Farina was forced to retire due to overheating problems, Fangio was left as the sole Alfa Romeo able to take the fight to the Ferrari drivers. Alberto Ascari took the lead on the fifth lap as a result of Fangio's first pitstop, but Fangio returned to the lead when Ascari took to the pits. As the Alfas required two pitstops, as opposed to just one for the Ferraris, Fangio needed to build a large lead in his second stint if he wanted to retain the lead after his second stop. He was unable to do so, therefore Ascari reclaimed the lead on the fifteenth lap of the race. Due to a misbehaving engine and a gearbox with only 3rd and 4th (4th being the highest gear), Fangio was unable to take advantage of an unexpected tyre change for Ascari, meaning that the Italian took his maiden World Championship race victory by over half a minute from Fangio. González completed the podium, with the remaining points positions going to the other works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi.

Ascari's victory took him to second in the Championship standings, ten points adrift of Fangio, who extended his lead from the previous race. After his second consecutive podium, José Froilán González moved up to third in the standings, level on points with Farina and Villoresi.

Entries

: — Paul Pietsch qualified and raced in a different car, the #78 Alfa Romeo. : — Prince Bira, Erik Lundgren and Chico Landi all withdrew from the event prior to practice.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

;Notes

• – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

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

References

|Previous_year's_race = 1950 German Grand Prix |Next_year's_race = 1952 German Grand Prix

References

1. "German GP, 1951 Race Report". Grandprix.com.
2. "1951 German Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com.
3. "1951 German GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com.
4. "Germany 1951 - Result". statsf1.com.
5. "Germany 1951 - Qualifications • STATS F1".
6. "1951 German Grand Prix". formula1.com.
7. "Germany 1951 - Championship • STATS F1".