The 1953 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 7 June 1953 at the Circuit Zandvoort. It was race 3 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One regulations normally used. The 90-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari after he started from pole position. His teammate Nino Farina finished second and Maserati drivers José Froilán González and Felice Bonetto came in third

1953 Dutch Grand Prix
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Zandvoort original layout
Zandvoort original layout
Race details
Date 7 June 1953
Official name IV Grote Prijs van Nederland
Location Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.193 km (2.605 miles)
Distance 90 laps, 377.370 km (234.488 miles)
Weather Sunny, mild, dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:51.1
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Luigi Villoresi Ferrari
Time 1:52.8 on lap 59
Podium
First
  • Italy Alberto Ascari
Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third Maserati
Lap leaders

Race report

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Ascari after winning the Grand Prix with Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld to his left.

The Dutch Grand Prix, which had been held in August the previous year, moved to an earlier June calendar slot in 1953. Ferrari retained the same four drivers who had competed at Buenos AiresAlberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Nino Farina and Mike Hawthorn—while there was also a privateer Ferrari for Frenchman Louis Rosier. The Scuderia's most significant competition came from the Maserati team, who came to Zandvoort with three of their four drivers from the Argentine Grand Prix: Juan Manuel Fangio, José Froilán González and Felice Bonetto. Swiss driver Toulo de Graffenried raced in a privateer Maserati for Enrico Platé's team. Gordini also entered three cars for this event, with Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell (who had shared Trintignant's car at Buenos Aires) being retained from their lineup for Argentina. Roberto Mieres made his Grand Prix debut in the team's third car. The Connaught works team retained Kenneth McAlpine and Stirling Moss from their lineup for the previous European race, the Italian Grand Prix, while fellow British driver Roy Salvadori also drove for the team, and Johnny Claes entered a privateer Connaught. HWM also stuck with the drivers who had competed for them in Monza—Peter Collins and Lance Macklin—while Ken Wharton completed the field in his privateer Cooper-Bristol.

Ascari took his fifth consecutive pole position (excluding the Indy 500, in which none of the European teams competed), and he was joined on the front row by Fangio in his Maserati and the second Ferrari of Farina. Villoresi in the third Ferrari started from the second row, alongside the Maserati of González, while the third row consisted of Hawthorn in the remaining works Ferrari and a pair of privateers—de Graffenried in a Maserati and Rosier in his Ferrari. The final works Maserati of Bonetto could only manage to qualify on the fifth row of the grid, starting from thirteenth.

The race was held in very difficult conditions – the track was made slippery by loose grit. The Ferraris had better road holding and once again Alberto Ascari led from start to finish, while the main competition for second place was between his teammates Farina and Villoresi. Farina ultimately finished second, while Villoresi, who took the point for fastest lap, was forced to retire with a throttle issue. A problem with his suspension forced González to retire. Three laps later, however, he took over his teammate Felice Bonetto's car and ran out the winner of an exciting duel with Mike Hawthorn, once again depriving Ferrari of a 1-2-3. González and Bonetto shared the four points for third place. Fangio retired with a broken back axle, having been in fourth behind the leading Ferrari trio at the time. Toulo de Graffenried took the final points position in fifth, his first points since the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix.[1]

Ascari's eight consecutive World Championship race victory (ignoring the Indianapolis 500) gave him a clear lead in the points standings. He was eight points clear of Bill Vukovich, the winner at Indianapolis, while his nearest genuine rivals for the Drivers' Championship were his teammates Villoresi and Farina, who were in third and fourth, respectively. González and Hawthorn were level on points with Farina, eleven points adrift of Ascari.

Entries

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No Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre
2   Alberto Ascari Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
4   Luigi Villoresi Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
6   Nino Farina Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
8   Mike Hawthorn Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 P
10   Louis Rosier Ecurie Rosier Ferrari Ferrari 500 Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4 D
12   Juan Manuel Fangio Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
14   José Froilán González Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
16   Felice Bonetto1 Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
18   Toulo de Graffenried Enrico Platé Maserati Maserati A6GCM-53 Maserati A6G 2.0 L6 P
20   Harry Schell Equipe Gordini Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
22   Roberto Mieres2 Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
24   Maurice Trintignant Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
26   Roy Salvadori Connaught Engineering Connaught-Lea Francis Connaught A Lea Francis 2.0 L4 D
28   Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Lea Francis Connaught A Lea Francis 2.0 L4 D
30   Johnny Claes Ecurie Belge Connaught-Lea Francis Connaught A Lea Francis 2.0 L4 E
32   Ken Wharton Ken Wharton Cooper-Bristol Cooper T23 Bristol BS1 2.0 L6 D
34   Stirling Moss Connaught Engineering Connaught-Lea Francis Connaught A Lea Francis 2.0 L4 D
36   Peter Collins HW Motors HWM-Alta HWM 53 Alta F2 2.0 L4 D
38   Lance Macklin HWM-Alta HWM 53 Alta F2 2.0 L4 D
40   Fred Wacker3 Equipe Gordini Gordini Gordini T16 Gordini 20 2.0 L6 E
Sources: [2][3]
^1 — Felice Bonetto qualified and drove 25 laps of the race in the #16 Maserati. José Froilán González, whose own car had already retired, took over the car for the remainder of the race.[4]
^2Jean Behra was initially due to drive the #22 Gordini,[5] but, due to injuries suffered at the non-championship Pau Grand Prix,[6] he was unable to participate, and so was replaced by Roberto Mieres.[7]
^3 — Fred Wacker neither set a qualifying time nor started the race, as his engine was used by Harry Schell.[8]

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 2   Alberto Ascari Ferrari 1:51.1
2 12   Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 1:52.7 +1.6
3 6   Nino Farina Ferrari 1:53.0 +1.9
4 4   Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 1:53.7 +2.6
5 14   José Froilán González Maserati 1:54.1 +3.0
6 8   Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 1:54.9 +3.8
7 18   Toulo de Graffenried Maserati 1:58.7 +7.6
8 10   Louis Rosier Ferrari 1:59.5 +8.4
9 34   Stirling Moss Connaught-Lea-Francis 2:00.0 +8.9
10 20   Harry Schell Gordini 2:00.1 +9.0
11 26   Roy Salvadori Connaught-Lea-Francis 2:00.5 +9.4
12 24   Maurice Trintignant Gordini 2:01.2 +10.1
13 16   Felice Bonetto Maserati 2:01.5 +10.4
14 28   Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Lea-Francis 2:01.9 +10.8
15 38   Lance Macklin HWM-Alta 2:02.4 +11.3
16 36   Peter Collins HWM-Alta 2:03.1 +12.0
17 30   Johnny Claes Connaught-Lea-Francis 2:03.9 +12.8
18 32   Ken Wharton Cooper-Bristol 2:06.4 +15.3
19 22   Roberto Mieres Gordini 2:08.5 +17.4
20 40   Fred Wacker Gordini No time
Source:[9]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2   Alberto Ascari Ferrari 90 2:53:35.8 1 8
2 6   Nino Farina Ferrari 90 + 10.4 3 6
3 16   Felice Bonetto
  José Froilán González
Maserati 89 + 1 Lap 13 2
2
4 8   Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 89 + 1 Lap 6 3
5 18   Toulo de Graffenried Maserati 88 + 2 Laps 7 2
6 24   Maurice Trintignant Gordini 87 + 3 Laps 12  
7 10   Louis Rosier Ferrari 86 + 4 Laps 8  
8 36   Peter Collins HWM-Alta 84 + 6 Laps 16  
9 34   Stirling Moss Connaught-Lea-Francis 83 + 7 Laps 9  
Ret 4   Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 67 Throttle 4 11
Ret 28   Kenneth McAlpine Connaught-Lea-Francis 63 Engine 14  
Ret 20   Harry Schell Gordini 59 Transmission 10  
NC 30   Johnny Claes Connaught-Lea-Francis 52 Not Classified 17  
Ret 12   Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 36 Axle 2  
Ret 22   Roberto Mieres Gordini 28 Transmission 19  
Ret 14   José Froilán González Maserati 22 Rear Axle 5  
Ret 32   Ken Wharton Cooper-Bristol 19 Physical 18  
Ret 26   Roy Salvadori Connaught-Lea-Francis 14 Engine 11  
Ret 38   Lance Macklin HWM-Alta 7 Throttle 15  
DNS 40   Fred Wacker Gordini 0 Did not start  
Source:[10]
Notes
  • ^1 – 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives

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Championship standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
  1   Alberto Ascari 17
  2   Bill Vukovich 9
  3   Luigi Villoresi 7
  26 4   Nino Farina 6
  1 5   Art Cross 6
Source: [11]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

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  1. ^ "Dutch GP, 1953 Race Report". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  2. ^ "1953 Dutch Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  3. ^ "1953 Dutch GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Dutch Grand Prix 1953 - Results". ESPN F1. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  5. ^ "Netherlands 1953 - Race entrants". statsf1.com. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  6. ^ "Driver spotlight #1: Jean Behra – Behra the Brave". jg-f1.com. 19 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Happy 87th birthday, Roberto Mieres!". richardsf1.com. 3 December 2011. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  8. ^ "1953 Dutch Grand Prix". silhouet.com. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  9. ^ "Dutch Grand Prix - Zandvoort, 7 Jun 1953". oldracingcars. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  10. ^ "1953 Dutch Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Netherlands 1953 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
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1953 Indianapolis 500
FIA Formula One World Championship
1953 season
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1953 Belgian Grand Prix
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