1952 Swiss GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Bremgarten
* Location – Switzerland
* Corners – 13
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 3:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 2:35.900 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 2:33.550 (Piero Taruffi)
* Pit Lane Length – 30 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Medium

## Qualifying 1

In a rain-soaked session it falls to Bayol in the Gordini to claim the provisional pole position (for all it will be worth) away from Claes, Fischer and Whitehead. Most of the top 10 have been in the barriers at some point in this session and no-one yet knows how much to push in dry weather, which should make Q2 very interesting indeed!

But the casualties here are those teams affected by financial difficulties in the shape of Cisitalia and Aston Butterworth, and most surprisingly the Ferrari of Cabantous, who is now incredibly unlikely to qualify for the race as he will be ranked lower than all 24 drivers who competed in Q1, assuming they complete at least one lap in Q2.

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Elie Bayol [G] – 2:46.740 (6)
* 2nd – Johnny Claes [CN] – 2:46.770 (6)
* 3rd – Rudi Fischer [G] – 2:47.580 (6)
* 4th – Peter Whitehead [F] – 2:47.720 (6)
* 5th – Jean Behra [G] – 2:48.380 (2)
* 6th – Franco Rol [M] – 2:49.140 (3)
* 7th – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 2:49.540 (3)
* 8th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 2:49.780 (3)
* 9th – Peter Collins [M] – 2:50.060 (2)
* 10th – Bob Gerrard [F] – 2:50.780 (3)
* 11th – Alan Brown [H] – 2:51.080 (2)
* 12th – Dennis Poore [CP] – 2:52.318 (2)
* 13th – Hans Klenk [M] – 2:52.926 (2)
* 14th – Hans Stuck [M] – 2:52.980 (2)
* 15th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 2:53.135 (2)
* 16th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 2:53.340 (2)
* 17th – Josef Peters [V] – 2:53.580 (3)
* 18th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 2:53.610 (2)
* 19th – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 2:53.760 (2)
* 20th – Chico Landi – 2:55.840 (2)
* 21st – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 2:58.320 (2)
* 22nd – David Murray [H] – 3:00.260 (3)
* 23rd – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 3:26.890 (1)
* 24th – Robert Manzon [G] – DSQ (1)
* 25th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – No Time Set (0)
* 26th – Louis Rosier [CI] – No Time Set (0)
* 27th – Stirling Moss [AB] – No Time Set (0)

## Qualifying 2

Bayol claims Pole Position for Gordini! Fischer takes 2nd and de Graffenried rounds out a 1-2-3 for the French marque as Ferrari are thoroughly beaten here, accomplishing just 4th, 6th and 7th in the end with 2 of them slower than the Frazer Nash of Taruffi no less!

Behra is the slowest Gordini to qualify in 8th ahead of the Connaught of Claes and Krause's AFM who rounds out the Top 10.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Elie Bayol [G] – 2:31.840 (5)
* 2nd – Rudi Fischer [G] – 2:31.940 (4)
* 3rd – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 2:32.300 (6)
* 4th – Bob Gerrard [F] – 2:32.339 (7)
* 5th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 2:32.786 (3)
* 6th – Peter Whitehead [F] – 2:33.099 (5)
* 7th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 2:33.179 (2)
* 8th – Jean Behra [G] – 2:33.300 (5)
* 9th – Johnny Claes [CN] – 2:33.590 (5)
* 10th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 2:34.407 (3)
* 11th – Josef Peters [V] – 2:34.500 (4)
* 12th – Franco Rol [M] – 2:35.379 (3)
* 13th – Chico Landi [ B ] – 2:35.400 (3)
* 14th – Hans Klenk [M] – 2:36.240 (2)
* 15th – David Murray [H] – 2:38.300 (3)
* 16th – Peter Collins [M] – 2:38.560 (4)
* 17th – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 2:38.680 (4)
* 18th – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 2:40.200 (2)
* 19th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 2:43.461 (2)
* 20th – Dennis Poore [CP] – 2:46.640 (2)
* 21st – Alan Brown [H] – 2:46.800 (1)
* 22nd – Hans Stuck [M] – 2:56.940 (2)
* 23rd – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 3:04.690 (1)
* 24th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – 2:32.259 (2)
* 25th – Robert Manzon [G] – No Time Set (0)
* 26th – Louis Rosier [CI] – No Time Set (0)
* 27th – Stirling Moss [AB] – No Time Set (0)

## Overall Qualifying Results

The men missing out on a race seat today are Brown of HWM, Stuck of Maserati - which is a surprise given how quick he was in the Indy 500 - and Hawthorn of Connaught; these, plus those drivers who did not take part in Q1 will have until Monday to recover from their exertions today.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - And they get under-way at Bremgarten…the crowd roar as home favourites Fischer and de Graffenried get away from the line and take up 1st and 2nd place, and that is because erstwhile pole sitter Bayol fails to get away from the line properly! He drops to 5th position behind the fast-starting Ferrari's of Pietsch and Whitehead.

A surprise in 6th, and definitely the big winner off the start is Landi in the BMW, who has defending champion Gerrard behind. Claes, Taruffi and Behra round out the top 10, though the Italian there will be upset to have lost 4 positions on the 1st lap.

The other action at the start is a coming together between Gonzalez and Collins, causing both to retire at the Batlehem corner and leaving 18 runners in the race.

*Lap 5* - Bayol comes back with a vengeance! The Frenchman passes Whitehead through Quarry as the Ferrari driver runs seriously wide and loses several positions in the process…Pietsch also loses out to the Gordini driver, who puts a great move on him at Tritignant. And his next victim (much to the disappointment of the Swiss crowd) is de Graffenried, who he brakes up the inside of at Forsthaus. Also recovering well is Taruffi, who is back up to 5th place ahead of Landi, Gerrard and Whitehead.

But on lap 3 it is de Graffenried's turn to pull it back, as he passes Bayol for 2nd position and to restore the Gordini 1-2-3. On this lap Gerrard passes Landi for 6th position but the BMW driver now has a pretty impressive lead over Whitehead in the Ferrari!

Lap 4 sees Taruffi pass Pietsch as the Frazer Nash man once again bucks the odds…and Landi re-passes Gerrard up the inside at Forsthaus; Ferrari really have seemed quite off the pace this weekend!

And on lap 5 de Graffenried outbrakes himself at Eymatt to allow Bayol back past through and Taruffi too, so the Italian is now into a podium position!!!

*Lap 10* - Taruffi's resurgence continues with a brilliant pass on Bayol to move into 2nd position, and Ferrari continue to be bafflingly mediocre today as Whitehead loses out to the Gordini of Behra for 8th place.

On lap 8 Behra continues his momentum to pass none other than the 1951 champion Bob Gerrard for 7th position, as the Gordini driver makes ground on his team-mates who are pushing very hard indeed thus far…back tyres sliding out has been a mark of the French team's race approach today!

Lap 9 sees perennial back-marker Dennis Poore live up to his surname with an error at Forsthaus that spells the end to his race, whilst Taruffi is chasing down the leader's gap to less than 1 second as it stands!

Lap 10 is a lot more subdued than the previous two, but there is some action as Klenk passes Murray in the HWM for 15th place…though all the attention is on the exciting Gordini squadron, who are keeping the fans well entertained with their late braking and wild oversteer!

*Lap 15* - The Swiss fans have their heads in their hands…as de Graffenried gets it all wrong at Passerelle Elchholz and spins out of the race. But they at least have the consolation that Fischer is currently leading the way, from Taruffi, Bayol, Pietsch and Landi's BMW which now sits in the points paying positions.

But it gets worse for the Swiss, as Fischer comes towards the self same corner his team-mate and countryman just made a mistake on and has an almost carbon-copy incident, as it seems that he ran out of grip at the crucial moment after braking just a little too late! That puts Taruffi into the lead of the race from Bayol, Pietsch and Behra in the Gordini who takes Landi for 4th place.

Landi reclaims the position the very next lap though and is back in 4th place, whilst Whitehead takes Gerrard in the inter-team battle at Ferrari.

The poisoned chalice that is the lead of the race claims it's latest victim as Taruffi spins out on what may well be some oil that has been laid down at Forsthaus from previous incidents there…the Frazer Nash driver was on for a great result but has now been eliminated on lap 14!

And the latest retirement is Claes for Connaught, who fails to negotiate the Eymatt corner and crashes out as a result to leave just 13 runners remaining in the race at this point with none other than Chico Landi in a podium position as it stands!

*Lap 20* - Whitehead passes Behra for 4th as the Englishman starts to make amends for his poor beginning to the race. And Klenk is also on the move as the Maserati driver risks a little more to pass Krause and sail into the Top 10.

And on lap 17 both overtakes are reversed, as messieurs Behra and Krause extract their revenge to reclaim their respective positions!

A lot of action on lap 18 as Josef Peters for Veritas passes the Cooper of Ascari for 8th position at Quarry corner, and Murray becomes the 1st person to pit as he drops to the rear of the field behind Farina.

Rol follows suit with a far better stop that brings him out 11th behind Klenk, and on lap 20 it's all change as Pietsch pits to come out in 5th position behind Gerrard and Whitehead in 3rd and 4th, which means Landi now sits in 2nd overall for BMW! Behra pits as well to move Peters into a career-high 6th position.

*Lap 25* - Bayol crashes out at, guess where, Passerelle Elchholz of course…and Gordini's misery is compounded. At the same time BMW are in dream-land as the race leader is now none other than Chico Landi, and Veritas have a man in the points in the shape pf Peters! Whitehead pits to allow Pietsch into 3rd position, and Ascari passes Behra for 6th place too.

Ascari pulls into the pits the very next lap though, and an abysmally slow stop puts him down to 9th out of 12.

Not much to report on lap 23, other than Farina getting the better of Klenk in a drag race down to Forsthaus to move into the Top 10.

Finally on lap 25 Landi pulls into the pits with a 15 second advantage…but the mechanics seem slow and lazy and he loses a lot of time waiting for them to fill his car up. He emerges in 3rd place behind Gerrard and Pietsch, whilst Farina pits at the same time to drop to the rear of the field.

*Lap 30* - Gerrard sets the fastest lap of the race as he pushes hard before his pit-stop comes up, and on lap 28 he comes in to the pits but the stop is not quite so good as Pietsch's and as a result he comes out behind his German team-mate.

The top 3 are now separated by less than 10 seconds…if only Landi's pit crew had been more awake he could well have been leading the race at this point!

*Lap 35* - Whitehead passes Landi after setting a succession of very competitive laps to create a Ferrari 1-2-3 in a stunning turnaround, whilst Peters pitstop sees him come out in 6th behind Behra. And Krause's stop drops him down to 9th behind both Rol and Ascari too.

*Lap 40* - Lap 37 sees the demise of Murray, as the HWM driver runs too wide at Wohlenrampe and crashes into the hay bales at the side of the track.

And on the very next lap Ascari picks up some debris from the incident, causing a puncture and seeing him finish in the barriers at Eymatt!

On an action packed lap 40 Whitehead gets the better of Gerrard to nip in front at Jordenrampe, and with only 10 drivers left in the race the drivers still in will be delighted to have achieved a Top 10 finish at worst!

At the front Pietsch extends his lead and claims fastest lap at the same time too; it really does look to be the German's race to lose now.

*Lap 45* - Pietsch pits and drops from the lead down to 4th position, which means Whitehead is into the lead from Gerrard and Landi, who puts BMW back on to the podium for the time being. Behra also pits, but has enough of a lead to emerge in 5th still.

Whitehead pits on the next lap to pass Gerrard the lead from Landi in 2nd, with the Englishman emerging about 15 seconds behind Paul Pietsch. Klenk pits too but comes out in the same place.

Rol's pitstop gifts Krause 7th place on lap 43 and Farina stops on the 45th lap - though he's still in 10th position. But the focus right now is on Landi gaining on Gerrard in the lead in a real turn up for the books that has the Ferrari driver under some serious pressure.

*Lap 50* - On lap 47 Landi has the gap down to less than a second, and on the following time around he delights the previously sullen crowd with a phenomenal overtake on the defending champion around the outside at Passerelle Elchholz (or the Gordini graveyard, as some are now calling it). What a race for BMW so far!!!

Unfortunately for Landi his pit crew do not seem to mind, and another frankly poor pit-stop drops him back to 4th where he could have been at least in the Top 3…which is now Ferrari territory throughout.

*Lap 55* - Disaster strikes for Klenk! He gets it completely wrong at Forsthaus, and with Krause coming up to lap him the AFM driver's car is struck by debris from the crash which forces him to retire up the road at Jordenrampe! The AFM team look distraught in the pits as the news filters through, though 9th place is a very respectable result in some ways. And so 8 drivers remain.

The big questions now are whether Gerrard can build up enough of a lead to emerge in 1st position, and whether Landi can close the gap to Whitehead quickly enough to challenge for a podium!

And with black clouds overhead surely the rain can only be a matter of minutes away?!?

*Lap 60* - Gordini have the final blow dealt in what has been a cruel and long Grand Prix, as Behra misjudges his braking at Forsthaus to crash into the wall…only narrowly avoiding the cars already beached at that corner! And with just 7 drivers remaining the rain begins slowly and starts to intensify…

Gerrard pits and comes out less than 2 seconds down on Pietsch…but crucially with wet weather tyres on! What a strategy from the champion!!!

Lap 57 sees a tragic end to Landi's challenge…the young Brazilian was just 5 seconds behind the Ferrari's but Forsthaus has become the epicentre of the bad weather, and judging braking correctly there has become rather difficult indeed!

And on lap 58 Gerrard's gamble pays off as he easily scythes past Pietsch to inherit the lead…doesn't look like he'll be slowing down much as the rain gets even heavier out there.

The man setting the quickest pace out there is Peters right now, who is driving right on the edge of the limit his slick tyres will do! He is taking about 5 seconds per lap over others with slick tyres!!!

On lap 59, and with just 3 laps remaining we have a confirmed 6th position as Rol becomes the latest Forsthaus casualty. Devastatingly unlucky for the Maserati driver who just misses out on the points but this does mean that the remaining 5 drivers - Gerrard, Pietsch, Whitehead, Peters and Farina will take home the points today (presuming Farina finishes 1 more lap), with fastest lap to the intrepid Landi.

*Lap 62* - In a huge climax here Peters completely misjudges his braking at the unbelievably slick Forsthaus corner…he tries to gather the car up but this simply sends it into a tank-slapper that trashes him straight into the wall.

And that means 4th place can be Farina's if he can just complete the next couple of laps…but as he comes up to Forsthaus for the penultimate time he too can not control the rear end of his car under braking and promptly swaps ends to leave just 3 cars to finish the race.

And it is a somewhat ominous sight for the other teams to see a Ferrari 1-2-3 here with Gerrard taking a splendid victory from seemingly nowhere, over perennial challenger Pietsch and the supporting act Whitehead in 3rd. Peters is classified in 4th with Farina in 5th and the fastest-lap point is confirmed as belonging to Landi in the BMW. Onwards to Spa we go!