1952 Dutch GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Zandvoort
* Location – Netherlands
* Corners – 9
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 2:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 1:46.500 (Alberto Ascari)
* Lap Record (F1R) – None Set
* Pit Lane Length – 20 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – Low
* Tyre Wear – Medium

## Qualifying 1

In a brilliant end to the session, Ferrari do come to the fore as expected but it is only Pietsch who can beat all of the competition with a brilliant time. Whitehead does take 3rd, but is not able to surpass the time of Collins in the Maserati, who looks lively here and could well threaten the prancing horse dominance in the race.

Rol is 4th for Maserati, followed by Bayol in the Gordini, Cabantous in the Ferrari and Krause in the AFM, who maintains his top 10 position despite the threat from larger teams. The Maserati duo of Stuck and Farina are up next as it stands, with de Graffenried of Gordini pipping the Frazer Nash of Taruffi to the final top 10 spot.

Down at the bottom Gerrard finishes 21st and really must improve to stand a chance at qualifying in Q2. Failing to qualify are Manzon, Rosier and Moss as expected, with Klenk's retirement from the series now confirmed today too.

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Paul Pietsch [F] – 1:49.679 (11)
* 2nd – Peter Collins [M] – 1:49.760 (10)
* 3rd – Peter Whitehead [F] – 1:49.778 (10)
* 4th – Franco Rol [M] – 1:49.820 (8)
* 5th – Elie Bayol [G] – 1:50.940 (7)
* 6th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – 1:52.836 (4)
* 7th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 1:53.897 (7)
* 8th – Hans Stuck [M] – 1:54.519 (8)
* 9th – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 1:54.599 (5)
* 10th – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 1:54.740 (8)
* 11th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 1:55.108 (6)
* 12th – Rudi Fischer [G] – 1:56.420 (15)
* 13th – Josef Peters [V] – 1:56.749 (6)
* 14th – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 1:56.892 (7)
* 15th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 1:58.929 (2)
* 16th – Chico Landi [ B ] – 1:58.955 (3)
* 17th – Johnny Claes [CN] – 1:59.220 (7)
* 18th – Jean Behra [G] – 2:00.020 (2)
* 19th – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 2:03.199 (5)
* 20th – David Murray [H] – 2:03.888 (3)
* 21st – Bob Gerrard [F] – 2:03.952 (3)
* 22nd – Dennis Poore [CP] – 2:04.042 (2)
* 23rd – Alan Brown [H] – 2:07.231 (2)
* 24th – Bill Aston [E] – 2:07.640 (3)
* 25th – Robert Manzon [G] – No Time Set (0)
* 26th – Louis Rosier [CI] – No Time Set (0)
* 27th – Stirling Moss [AB] – No Time Set (0)

## Qualifying 2

Whitehead takes pole for Ferrari, in the 1st step towards challenging for the championship. However behind him are a group of Maserati's with Farina, Collins and Rol so close they can not be separated by the timing equipment. This is especially interesting as Farina is by no means out of the title hunt, and though Rol still leads the championship one wonders how easily the others will let him by!

Also making the top 10 are the Ferrari's of Pietsch, Gerrard and Cabantous; all of whom are rather lower down the pecking order than one would expect. 9th place is the lone Gordini in the top 10 of Bayol, ahead of the only Frazer Nash in the championship driven by Piero Taruffi - who does a great job to stay ahead of the remaining Gordini's.

Further down the order Landi scrapes into the race by the skin of his teeth, depriving Hawthorn of a place on the grid by a mere 8 tenths of a second. Also losing out are Murray and Brown in the HWM's sandwiching Aston's ERA…they will all have to wait until the next round until they get a chance to race again.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Peter Whitehead [F] – 1:46.100 (9)
* 2nd – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 1:46.120 (5)
* 3rd – Peter Collins [M] – 1:46.120 (6)
* 4th – Franco Rol [M] – 1:46.120 (7)
* 5th – Hans Stuck [M] – 1:46.240 (8)
* 6th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 1:46.439 (11)
* 7th – Bob Gerrard [F] – 1:46.678 (13)
* 8th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – 1:46.679 (8)
* 9th – Elie Bayol [G] – 1:46.900 (8)
* 10th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 1:47.011 (8)
* 11th – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 1:47.020 (9)
* 12th – Jean Behra [G] – 1:47.060 (9)
* 13th – Rudi Fischer [G] – 1:47.240 (4)
* 14th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 1:47.454 (8)
* 15th – Johnny Claes [CN] – 1:47.748 (9)
* 16th – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 1:47.788 (8)
* 17th – Dennis Poore [CP] – 1:48.096 (7)
* 18th – Josef Peters [V] – 1:48.279 (5)
* 19th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 1:48.582 (4)
* 20th – Chico Landi [ B ] – 1:50.079 (6)
* 21st – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 1:50.899 (4)
* 22nd – David Murray [H] – 1:52.296 (5)
* 23rd – Bill Aston [E] – 1:52.598 (4)
* 24th – Alan Brown [H] – 1:53.932 (5)

## Overall Qualifying Results

So in the championship battle the man in 3rd place Whitehead is on pole, Farina - currently 5th a couple of points down on the leaders - is in 2nd place on the grid. Collins is a fly in the ointment here, yet to score for Maserati but lining up in 3rd position…

Championship leader Rol is 4th on the grid, and few expect him to be able to hold on to his championship lead with Whitehead in such stunning form. The surprise on the grid comes behind Stuck (also yet to score for Maserati) in 6th and 7th with Pietsch and Gerrard - the two former champions of 1950 and 1951 respectively - who are 4th and 2nd in the championship and will be looking to clear the Maserati's as quickly as possible to challenge Whitehead, who is the punter's choice to take the victory today.

It looks to be the end of the title challenge for Bayol and Fischer though, who sit 9th and 13th on the grid and are unlikely to be able to make their way into the points then unfortunately. Failing to qualify are Hawthorn for Connaught, the two HWMs of Murray and Brown and newcomer Aston for ERA. As usual Manzon, Rosier and Moss fail to show up due to financial reasons…better luck for all of them next time.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - Collins gets a good start as he rounds the stricken Farina, who stalls off the line, and gets up the inside of Whitehead to lead into the 1st corner. Rol also benefits from Farina's poor getaway to move into 3rd position.

Farina causes more carnage though as he swerves wildly to block his team-mate Stuck, causing several cars to move past the pair of them including Cabantous, Bayol and de Graffenried. Also making the most of the confusion and going onto the grass to get by is Dennis Poore for Cooper who finds himself in an astounding 7th position overall as it stands! Behra is the last man to make it through in 8th ahead of the recovering Farina and Stuck in 9th and 10th.

Losing out even more are Pietsch and Gerrard who were not only impeded by the difficulties Farina had but also failed to react to the next set of drivers challenging for position, which enables Peters and Krause to make the most of that and take 11th and 12th respectively! Fischer also loses out and drops back to 15th place, ahead of Claes, Gonzalez, Landi and the slow starting duo of Taruffi and Ascari bring up the rear as it stands.

*Lap 10* - Things get even better for Maserati, as Rol passes Whitehead at Gerlachcbocht by getting his car positioned for Hugenholtzbocht far more quickly. Farina makes amends for his poor start with successive passes on Behra, Poore, de Graffenried and Bayol to climb into 5th position now. The latter of these manages to avoid being passed by the man tracking him, which is Pietsch who is now into 7th place as it stands.

Poore is 8th now as he takes advantage of the bad luck of de Graffenried, who slides wide at Panoramabocht to drop down to 11th behind Gerrard and Behra too. Taruffi starts to make his way back up the field too on this lap.

In an incredibly lively lap 3 a nightmare for Maserati at Tarzanbocht as Rol challenges Collins for the lead…causing both to slide wide. And that permits a Ferrari to come through into the lead…but not the one you would expect! For Pietsch has managed to overtake several drivers on the run from Panoramabocht to the 1st corner to climb from 7th to 3rd…and then into 1st thanks to the failure to judge the corner by the leaders.

Collins makes it out of the corner into 2nd position, with Cabantous' Ferrari into 3rd from Rol, Whitehead, the recovering Farina in 6th, Bayol 7th and Gerrard 8th. Poore is finally feeling the pressure of running in the top 10 as an error at Marlboro drops him down to 12th behind the Gordinis of Behra, Fischer and de

Graffenried.

Lap 4 sees Farina's recovery complete as he moves past Rol and then helps his Maserati team leader to overtake Cabantous behind him and move the pair of them into 3rd and 4th. Whitehead looks to be really suffering at this stage, as he drops to 6th position with his team leader Gerrard right on his tail!

On lap 5 Bayol is the man on the move, as he really messes things up for Maserati by passing and squeezing out both Rol and Farina on the same lap…permitting Whitehead, Gerrard and Cabantous to take up 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. Collins is now 6th from Farina 7th and Rol 8th…disaster for Maserati!!!

Whitehead is back in charge on lap 6 with a pass on Pietsch that will upset the German, who was making good progress. Farina is now 3rd as Bayol loses out to him in a battle of the late brakers into Marlboro. Cabantous also loses out as he drops to 7th due to a tussle with Rol that costs them both time. Behra and Fischer are 9th and 10th for Gordini currently.

Bayol will not let the Ferrari's and Maserati's alone; he battles past Farina once more with Pietsch making a mistake at the treacherously quick Panoramabocht that moves him back to 4th! Rol is quickly back past Cabantous and into 5th from Collins, the aforementioned Frenchman in 7th and Gerrard in 8th place.

On lap 8 we see Whitehead and Bayol begin to put some breathing space between them and the chasing pack; with Pietsch back into 3rd place now as he overtakes Farina around the outside at Bos Uit. Collins and Cabantous pass Rol, as the Italian struggles to get into his rhythm and makes another error into the 1st corner…making more of a mistake as a result is Gerrard, whose car swaps end as he falls to 10th place overall behind Fischer and Stuck!

Finally on lap 9 we see the race settle down a little, Cabantous does pass Collins for 5th place which allows Rol through at the same corner. Further back Behra passes both Stuck and Gerrard to go up to 9th position with the crowd loving all of the action on track at the moment!

Lap 10 extends Whitehead's lead over Bayol, who now has Cabantous in 3rd place behind him. Pietsch is down to 4th place from Farina et al behind, though there is still a very long way to go.

*Lap 20* - Pietsch passes Cabantous, as the Ferrari squabbles continue at this stage. Stuck takes Behra for 8th position on this lap also, with Taruffi past Krause as the Frazer Nash driver makes his way back into 13th position. On lap 12 the only real action is an all Maserati fight as Rol takes Farina for 5th position, otherwise things remain at the status quo.

Cabantous gets it all wrong on the next lap, as he almost spins at Sheivlak and lets both Farina and Rol through…much to the chagrin of his Ferrari team-mates. Fischer puts a smile on the faces of the Gordini pit-crew, with a pass on Collins' Maserati for 7th position.

The first pit-stop takes place on Lap 14 as Gonzalez falls to the rear of the field as a result of his early tyre change. Collins re-passes Fischer on this lap too, and goes one better to take 6th from Cabantous also! And Gerrard's day goes from bad to worse as de Graffenried finally creates an opening to seize 11th position at Rob Slotemakerbocht.

On lap 15 we have the first of the front-runners come in for their pit-stops, some appear to be running a 5 stop strategy here due to the very short pit lane! That strategy will be based on getting through the traffic with little difficulty of course though…and it is Bayol and Pietsch in first followed by de Graffenried and Gerrard; they now sit 9th, 10th, 17th and 18th respectively.

Farina is now up to 2nd behind Whitehead, from Rol in 3rd, Collins 4th, Fischer 5th, Cabantous 6th, Stuck 7th and Behra 8th. Poore is the man just outside the top 10 in 11th place now.

Cabantous passes Fischer to move into 5th place for Ferrari - clearly next year's contract negotiations appear to be on his mind now - Behra passes Stuck here too with both Bayol and Pietsch gaining ground behind. At the back defending champion Gerrard is held up by Claes, who de Graffenried had little difficulty in dispatching earlier in the lap.

Collins is up to 3rd place now as he passes his team-mate and current championship leader Rol, which will not be what the Italian had hoped to see here! Fischer has an awful lap here, as he plummets down to 7th place and looks like he really needs a new set of tyres on his car. Gerrard is still behind Claes back in 17th place as it stands.

Both Whitehead and Fischer pit on lap 18, coming out in drastically different positions - the former race leader emerges in 2nd position, just under 5 seconds behind the new leader Farina. Pietsch and Bayol both put the moves on Behra to go into 7th and 8th, with the German passing the Frenchman in the process as they go 3 abreast into Bos Uit! Fischer - by contrast to Whitehead - emerges in 16th behind both Gerrard and de Graffenried.

Lap 19 sees Cabantous make another mistake, to make the progress of Pietsch and Bayol that much easier as they are into 6th and 7th positions behind Stuck in 5th for Maserati. And on lap 20 Whitehead uses his newer, grippier tyres to reclaim his lead from Farina, who now has Rol's Maserati pursuing him in 3rd from Collins and Bayol - who has out-smarted Pietsch by putting the Maserati of Stuck in the Ferrari driver's way and thus putting a car in between the two of them. Also in a display of real resilience Krause passes the squabbling duo of de Graffenried and Gerrard in a move that makes the AFM garage bounce with delight!

*Lap 30* - Lap 21 sees Farina pit and drop to 9th place as a result, but he will be delighted to have new tyres at his disposal given that the pace is being set by Whitehead, Bayol and Pietsch who have all pitted once. Indeed both Collins and Rol lose out to aforementioned latter pair this lap…Collins even loses a place to his team-mate Stuck too! Fischer also makes a double overtake - taking the impressive scalps of Gerrard and de Graffenried as he now sits 11th behind Krause in 10th.

Taruffi pits on lap 22 to drop to 18th place, whilst Fischer makes his way past Krause to regain his top 10 position. Lap 23 sees far more action, as firstly Pietsch re-takes Bayol for what is now 2nd position, Farina is up past Collins for 6th place at Sheivlak whilst Krause drops behind de Graffenried and Gerrard as his tyres begin to scream "enough"! Behra and Poore pit on this lap as well.

Bayol will not lie down! He re-passes Pietsch as he refuses to let the Ferrari driver get away from him; Farina is now 5th behind Rol with Stuck in 6th and Collins in 7th as the Maserati's battle for inter-team supremacy on track.

Cabantous is finding times with his worn-out tyres very difficult as he loses places to Fischer and de Graffenried. Crucially Gerrard fails to pass him also, as the defending champion is still outside the top 10 in a real shock thus far. Though he finally makes his way through on the next lap to 10th place…but could it be too little too late for him?

Farina is definitely not willing to gift Rol the title of top Maserati, as he proves with a daring overtake up the inside at Panoramabocht…Fischer for Gordini is also still unwilling to let Bayol steal all the headlines for his team, as he gets a slipsteam on Stuck to claim 6th position.

On lap 30 quite a few drivers pit - some for the 2nd time even! Bayol and Pietsch are two such drivers who drop back to 4th and 5th behind Farina and Rol in 2nd and 3rd. Fischer is now into 6th position from Collins 7th, Taruffi 8th, Ascari 9th and Behra in 10th place. De Graffenried emerges from his stop in 11th, ahead of Krause, Gerrard and Stuck. Cabantous is the other driver to stop on this lap, his lazy pit crew costing him a lot of time and dropping him back to 18th place overall.

*Lap 40* - Both Ascari and Peters pit on lap 31, whilst on track it is just Gerrard passing Krause for 11th place that happens this time out. Landi is the only person to stop on lap 32 besides Rol, whose pit-stop drops him to 8th position behind de Graffenried in 7th with Fischer and Collins in 5th and 6th.

Krause makes his stop on lap 33 and falls to 17th position, Collins pits on the next lap and emerges in 14th place, with de Graffenried in 7th ahead of Behra, Gerrard and Taruffi as the Swiss really gets the pedal down to set one of his fastest laps thus far.

Lap 36 sees Whitehead pull into the pits and fall behind Farina - albeit by less than 2 seconds. Rol is up to 5th position this lap, from de Graffenried and Fischer with a whole line of cars in their wake.

It takes very little time indeed for Whitehead to get back into the lead as he drives clean around the outside of Farina at Tarzanbocht. Gerrard is now up to 8th place ahead of Behra and Taruffi as the Ferrari driver begins to make a comeback. Stuck passes Taruffi the very next lap though, to make it 3 Maserati's in the top 10.

*Lap 50* - Bayol passes Farina for 2nd position as the Italian is clearly beginning to struggle on his tyres. And indeed he pits on lap 42 and comes out in 5th position…and simultaneously Pietsch gets past Bayol for what has now become 2nd place. Will the Ferrari man be able to hold him off this time? Also on this lap Cabantous gets the better of Taruffi at Hugenholtzbocht and Gonzalez pits and drops behind Landi as a result.

Farina comes out fighting with his new tyres as he passes Rol for 4th place…and then the race settles down for a while, until on lap 45 several drivers come into the pits to refuel. But surprisingly enough Bayol and Pietsch emerge in 2nd and 3rd still, as the only difference is how far behind the leader and how close Farina in 4th place is now! De Graffenried, Gerrard and Taruffi all pit too and drop to 10th, 12th and 16th position overall respectively.

More drivers follow them in on the next lap in the shape of Behra and Poore; at the back end of the top 10 Stuck is now 7th ahead of Cabantous in 8th, de Graffenried in 9th and Collins in 10th place. Gerrard sits 11th as it stands, with the Ferrari team still scratching their head as to why he is slow today!

De Graffenried passes Cabantous for 8th place at the Marlboro chicane and Gerrard makes it back into the top 10 at the expense of Collins. Lap 48 sees Landi take Claes for position in a rare pass for the BMW driver, in this case for 18th place.

Little happens on lap 50 other than Claes pitting to drop to the rear of the field…and so it's Whitehead, Pietsch, Bayol, Farina and Rol in the points as it stands.

*Lap 60* - Lap 51 sees de Graffenried usurp 7th place from Stuck and on the following lap Gerrard takes Cabantous for 9th position as the race gets back into gear. Behra passes Collins on the next lap as the Gordini's race pace once again easily improves on their qualifying performance, and Taruffi gets past Ascari for 13th at the same time.

Whitehead pits for the 3rd time on lap 54 and comes out around 3 seconds ahead of Pietsch and Bayol. Farina is really not far behind them either at this stage….Ficher also pits on this lap and is out in 10th place meaning de Graffenried moves into 6th from Stuck in 7th, Gerrard 8th and Cabantous in 9th.

HE WILL NOT GIVE UP!!! Bayol powers past Pietsch at Tunnel Oost with a great exit from Marlboro giving him the requisite impetus; Fischer moves ahead of Cabantous on this lap also. He may not give up but he is in a slower car than the German, and as a result Pietsch takes the place back on the very next lap. Gonzalez pits this time around too and loses places to both Landi and Claes in the process.

Fischer and Gerrard take advantage of a slip by Stuck, to go into 7th and 8th whilst Landi pits this lap to fall into 20th though only 6 seconds behind Gonzalez. Behra passes Cabantous for 10th place on the next lap as no less than 4 Gordini's now sit within the top 10!

On lap 60 it all kicks off near the front as Bayol and Pietsch enter the pits at the same time, and the Frenchman's pit crew do him proud by putting him out a full 2 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver! Farina is now into 2nd place as a result though. De Graffenried, Gerrard, Stuck and Cabantous all pit at this point too, going into 7th, 9th, 11th and 14th positions overall respectively.

*Lap 70* - Lap 61 sees Cabantous pass Ascari, whilst Rol pits and comes out JUST in front of Fischer in the continuing battle for the final point. Peters pits on lap 62, but does not lose a place as Claes et al are too far behind to take advantage.

On lap 63 Farina stops, dropping behind Bayol and Pietsch, whilst Ascari also stops and gives 13th place to Taruffi. Gerrard overtakes Behra on lap 64 to claim 8th position, but the Ferrari man still does not appear to be firing on all cylinders today. Stuck takes Collins for 10th on the next lap too…as the Maserati in-fighting continues.

Cabantous gets the better of Collins also, as the Englishman falls right off the pace with some incredibly worn tyres at this stage. Behra pits on lap 68 and loses positions to Cabantous and Collins also.

Poore pits on the very next lap, losing places to Taruffi and Ascari in the process. And again with the race having settled into a more gentle rhythm the only event of any great consequence is Gonzalez pitting to drop to the rear of the field.

*Lap 80* - Lap 71 sees Collins finally come in for a new set of tyres, though by now he has fallen to a lowly 14th position. The next lap sees Whitehead make his 4th and final stop of the race, whilst Fischer drops to 9th position after his final stop also.

On lap 75 Bayol and Pietsch pit for their final stops, emerging about 11 seconds ahead of Farina. Also pitting on this lap are Gerrard who comes out in 8th and de Graffenried who is out in 11th place; the latter within reach of both Cabantous and Behra ahead…and with fresher tyres too.

Cabantous is going backwards next time around lap-time wise, letting through Behra and de Graffenried as a result. Also moving up is Collins as he overtakes Ascari at Gerlachbocht to go into 13th position.

On lap 77 de Graffenried makes the most of his newer tyres to easily outstrip his team-mate Behra for 9th position. At Rob Slotemakerbocht we lose out first driver in the race, as Poore's previous good start is a long way behind him as he slides far too wide and crashes into some hay bales to become the 1st retirement from the race. His team-mate continues to race as Poore does not have a mathematical shot at the title.

Gonzalez passes Landi as he desperately seeks to avoid the ignominy of being the last to finish. Fischer passes Stuck for 6th position as he moves back into his previous place, whilst further up the field Pietsch finally makes his way past Bayol to sit 2nd behind his team-mate Whitehead.

HE JUST DOES NOT GIVE UP!!! Bayol sensationally comes back at the 1950 champion Paul Pietsch in the Ferrari with a brilliant move up the inside at Rob Slotemakerbocht…the Gordini faithful are jubilant at this display of resilience from the Frenchman!

*Lap 90* - Pietsch comes back at Bayol to reclaim 2nd position, as their ding-dong battle is almost at an end! At the same time Gerrard seems to have an issue with his car…he comes out of Hugenholtzbocht particularly slowly and Landi simply misjudges the gap between the two cars as he is launched over the defending champion's back wheel and into the corner at Rob Slotemakerbocht, where his race comes to a very quick end. Gerrard gets a little further around, but is forced to pull off the track at Hugenholtzbocht - the team make the decision not to pull off Whitehead given that there are only a few laps left to go and so it would not benefit either driver position-wise.

On lap 84 de Graffenried passes Stuck for 7th position as the Gordini driver moves to within less than 10 seconds of his team-mate Fischer in front. Also behind Collins passes Taruffi for 11th place, but the Maserati driver will be disappointed not to have made more progress after his good starting position.

Behra is up to 8th as he also puts Stuck behind him, and further back Gonzalez becomes the 4th retirement of the race with a gearbox issue that takes him out of the race at Sheivlak.

All of which means that Whitehead takes his 2nd consecutive victory to put 1 hand on the trophy with just the final race in Italy remaining - it is also a hat-trick for him too! Team-mate Pietsch will push him all the way however, and his 2nd place today is the reward for a gutsy battle with Bayol that went right to the chequered flag. 4th and 5th for Farina and Rol keeps their hopes alive - albeit not the result either would have hoped for.

Fischer, de Graffenried and Behra are 6th, 7th and 8th respectively for Gordini, ahead of the Maserati of Stuck and the Ferrari of Cabantous rounding out the top 10. Collins finishes 11th ahead of Taruffi, Ascari, Krause, Peters and Claes, who is the last of the classified finishers today.