1954 Belgian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Spa-Franchorchamps
* Location – Belgium
* Corners – 13
* Laps – 36
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 5:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 4:22.100 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 4:18.884 (Sergio Mantovani)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

## Qualifying 1

After the usual early surge by Vanwall and assorted others to put Salvadori at the front from the Cooper drivers it is Mercedes who step in to dominate the session, with Kling, Gerard, Volonterio and Whitehead clearly sharing setups to maximise their potential overall time.

Their nearest competitors are Lancia, with Collins holding the torch for the Italians in 5th, whilst de Graffenriend and Maglioli both remain inside the top 10, albeit behind 2 other drivers who have put in astounding performances here - 1st of all Mantovani's Ferrari is in a very credible 6th position, which is in no way indicative of the speed that car has available! Also, in 7th is Salvadori who is really driving the wheels off the Vanwall this season.

Rounding out the top 10 is Farina in the Maserati, as it seems the team is in a bit of disarray and the Italian's effort appears to have been isolated amongst his team-mates. Decent performances also from Nuckey on his debut sees him in 11th, Pollet is 1st Gordini as usual in 12th and the other newcomers are Pilette in 20th and Whitehouse in 21st.

A total of 28 cars head into Q2, and we see the end of the Connaught duo of Swaters and Macklin, the Ferrari trio of Musso, Taruffi and Godia, the Gordini duo of Trintignant, Gonzalez and the Vanwall pair of Menditeguy and Behra. Flockhart and Rosier both fail to set a lap-time for HWM, and we also say goodbye to Schell's Cooper and Wacker's Klenk.

**Qualifying 1 Results**

## Qualifying 2

Maserati re-establish their dominance in Q2, with conditions a little warmer they shave 2 tenths of the previous best Mercedes time - Marimon takes the session ahead of team-mates Herrmann and Lang. Best Mercedes is Kling in 4th, who sets an identical time to Whitehead who will start behind the German by virtue of the fact that the Brit's Q1 time was not as quick.

Gerard is 6th, with Farina 7th, championship leader Volonterio in a lowly 8th and Moss 9th as the Mercedes-Maserati domination continues apace this season - though one Maserati is ousted by a Cooper, as Berger finishes 11th with Villoresi in an impressive 10th for Cooper!

Another good showing for Salvadori sees the Vanwall in 12th place, ahead of the Lancia trio led by de Graffenried, débutante Nuckey lines up 16th for Cooper ahead of the lead Ferrari Mantovani in 17th place. Following them are the Gordini duo of Pollet and Ascari with Hawthorn rounding out the top 20. Fellow débutante Whitehouse just misses out on the top 20 as he takes 21st place.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

## Overall Qualifying Results

And so Q2 provides the majority of the grid positions, meaning that Marimón takes Pole Position for Maserati, from Herrmann and Lang. Villoresi does keep his top 10 position, as only 2 drivers fail to improve on their Q1 times - Collins and Mantovani.

Collins still maintains 14th place, whilst Mantovani claims 15th position for Ferrari at the expense of the Lancia of Maglioli - otherwise it stays as per the Q2 standings. It should be an exciting race in Spa, with less than 2 seconds separating the top 10 on what is a very long track!

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - And we are under-way in the somewhat delayed, but much anticipated Belgian GP - the 2nd race of the season…on Pole Position Marimón stalls!!! Disaster for the Maserati - he slowly gets going again, but that's caused Lang, Whitehead and Gerard to have to slow down and take avoiding action. As a result several drivers profit from this…

Going into the 1st turn Herrmann outbrakes himself, followed by Kling and Gerard - all of which hands the incentive to the fast-starting Berger! The Belgian goes around the outside, before cutting back in where his team-mates outbrake themselves to come out in the lead of the race!!!

Lang and Marimón take advantage of those who outbrake themselves to take 2nd and 3rd place as it stands - followed by Herrmann and Kling in 4th and 5th, which makes it a Maserati 1-2-3-4 - with Whitehead then 6th for Mercedes.

Villoresi continues his great form in qualifying to move up to 7th for Cooper, ahead of both Gerard, Farina and Volonterio. Moss is 11th for Maserati, with Nuckey relishing his 1st race as he avoids the chaos to move up to 12th position. That chaos is caused by Mantovani being tagged by Helfrich, which creates a barrier at Les Combes - the pair of them are then smashed into by an out-of-control Brandon! All of that delays those from Ascari downwards by a variety of times and will make catching up a rather difficult feat!

*Lap 2* - Marimón reclaims the lead of the race with some great moves up the inside at Masta Kink and La Source; meanwhile the man on the move is Farina who is into 6th and taking through both Volonterio in 7th and Moss in 8th.

Salvadori has made up some ground as he is now 12th, with Nuckey going in the other direction down to 14th behind de Graffenried. Pollet also passes Maglioli on this lap too.

*Lap 3* - Farina takes Kling for 5th as he continues to make up ground - meanwhile Whitehead makes an error at Stavelot that lets through both Villoresi and Gerard. Salvadori brakes to avoid the recovering Whitehead and locks up, as a result losing places to de Graffenried and Nuckey.

*Lap 4* - Marimón has built up a significant lead now - 3.5 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger after he sets the fastest lap of the race. However the nearest driver to him is a position very much in contention - as Herrmann now occupies it with a couple of brave overtaking manoeuvres at Les Combes and Malmedy! Farina continues his recovery as he moves up to 3rd position, with Berger 4th and Lang down to 5th place.

Moss passes Volonterio for 7th, whilst Gerard takes the plucky Villoresi to demote the Cooper driver down to 10th position. Moving up is Salvadori, who passes both de Graffenried and Nuckey - the latter also loses a position to Collins, as his début begins to become a rather challenging affair.

*Lap 5* - Farina is now right on the back of Herrmann for 2nd place, with Berger and Lang fighting over 4th as the Maserati's lock out the points positions - but they lost such a lead last race! Moss takes 6th place as Kling makes an error at Masta Kink to overshoot his braking point and make it an incredible Maserati 1-2-3-4-5-6, with Volonterio now top Mercedes in 7th place!!!

De Graffenried takes Salvadori, whilst Nuckey refuses to lie down with a well-judged overtake on Collins in the Lancia.

*Lap 6* - Farina tries to brave it around the outside of Malmedy and runs wide, which allows Berger to take advantage and slip up the inside and claim 3rd place - Farina recovers to block both Lang and Moss doing likewise. Meanwhile Herrmann is on fire, as he sets the fastest lap of the race to gain ground on Marimon.

Villoresi will simply not lie down, and pushes hard to get past Berger at Masta Kink on the inside; that's 9th place for the Cooper driver.

*Lap 7* - Farina looks to have picked up some dirt on his tyres, and he loses a place to Lang as he slides wide at Haut de la Cote on this lap. Also Volonterio at last breaks the Maserati stranglehold and moves into 6th position with a well-timed jump up the inside at La Source.

Further back Pilette gets it all wrong at Masta Kink and rattles over the grass to seriously damage the under-side of his car, though he does try to carry on at least…

*Lap 8* - …but it's too much, and the HWM driver pits on this lap. But even this is not enough for Fangio to be able to gain enough ground to pass him!

Berger is the latest Maserati driver to over-drive the car and his error allows both Lang and Farina through - meanwhile Moss regains 6th place from Volonterio to re-establish the Maserati dominance. Gerard re-passes Villoresi, as his desperate attempts to rid himself of the Cooper continue.

*Lap 9* - A relatively quiet lap here - Herrmann again cuts the gap to Marimon to just 2.1 seconds with another sub 4:14 lap-time!

*Lap 10* - Kling passes Volonterio to re-assume the position as best Mercedes, but the nearest Maserati is around 2 seconds away. Meanwhile de Graffenried pits early to try and take advantage of the emptiness of the pit-lane - he comes out in 17th behind Maglioli leaving Nuckey to heap the pressure on Salvadori for 12th place.

*Lap 11* - Moss is the man on the move up front, as he re-enters the points with a spectacular overtake on Berger, which moves both Kling and Volonterio closer to the Maserati duo. Nuckey takes Salvadori, as the Cooper driver refuses to lie down!

Both Manzon and Parnell pit on this lap, thereby gifting their respective places to Whitehouse and Gould - it looks like most people running a 2 stopper will be coming in next time around…

*Lap 12* - The drivers pile into the pits, where Marimon's mechanics seem to have difficulties in fitting a wheel nut, thereby slowing him down and effectively losing the lead to Herrmann. Not the actual lead though, as this is now occupied by Volonterio, who does not pit.

Also not pitting is Pollet, who moves up to 3rd place as a result - otherwise the big gains in the pits are Gerard and Whitehead passing both Berger and Kling. De Graffenried also gains place as a result of not pitting, whilst Gould's pit gives the place back to Parnell.

*Lap 13* - Volonterio pits from the lead of the race, promoting Herrmann into 1st place whilst Farina overtakes Lang for 4th position. Volonterio has quite a slow top, and slips back into 9th place. Whitehouse's pit hands the place back to Manzon, as it seems the Cooper is more dialled in than the Vanwall at this point in the race.

*Lap 14* - Pollet is going backwards quickly, as his tyres wear out - Marimon takes 2nd place from him, though he has about 5 seconds over Farina in 4th as it stands. Whitehead takes Gerard on this lap, as the battle over top Mercedes continues…

*Lap 15* - Gerard re-takes Whitehead on this lap, as the Mercedes battle continues apace and sees the Maserati bastion extend their lead. Pollet is still around 4 seconds up on Farina, and it looks so far like a 1 stopper may be a viable option if you have the pace to back it up!!!

*Lap 16* - Lang takes Farina for 4th place, allowing Moss to close up - thankfully for the Maserati drivers the Mercedes continue to fight amongst themselves with Whitehead passing Gerard and Berger getting the better of Volonterio, as Kling waits to pounce on his rivals.

*Lap 17* - Whitehead slips up to let both Gerard and Berger past as the Mercedes battle over 7th place intensifies, which must be playing into the hands of Pollet - as although he's losing ground to the Maserati's gaining on him from behind, he's holding a 15 second advantage over the other drivers!

Kling does pounce here, as he takes Volonterio - though Villoresi is now only 5 seconds down on the battle, as opposed to the 10 seconds he was earlier on! Also Salvadori re-takes Nuckey here, and Marimon sets the fastest lap to close the ground on Herrmann.

*Lap 18* - Defending hard from Lang, Pollet overcooks it as his tyres give up the ghost on this lap - he drops positions, not only to Lang, but also to Farina and Moss too! He will surely have to come in next time around, or risk losing even more time to the Maseratis…

*Lap 19* - Herrmann responds to Marimon's fastest lap by taking a further hundredth of a second out of the Argentinean, but this is soon eclipsed by 4 tenths as Lang sets a stellar lap-time to reduce the gap to the leading pair!

Pollet does pit on this lap, and comes out in 16th position behind Collins' Lancia - thus promoting Gerard to 6th place, some 6 seconds down on Moss, with Whitehead moving up to 7th ahead of Berger as the Maserati's don't have it all their own way on this lap.

*Lap 20* - Lang sets ANOTHER fastest lap to really hone in on Marimon, who is starting to crack under the pressure of this barrage of lap-times and has dropped 4 seconds to Herrmann as a result. Gerard is now just 5 seconds down on the Maserati's, whilst Volonterio has slipped back into the clutches of Villoresi's relentless charging Cooper!

Meanwhile Salvadori overcooks the entrance to La Source, and loses valuable time and places to both Nuckey and de Graffenried. Also both Pilette and Fangio come in for long-overdue pit-stops on this lap.

*Lap 21* - A quiet lap this time around, with only Berger making a move as he passes Whitehead for 7th place - now only Gerard stands between the Maseratis and their 1-2-3-4-5-6!

*Lap 22* - De Graffenried strikes on this lap, taking 12th place away from Nuckey as the Swiss continues to make steady progress up the field, as his experience warrants. Meanwhile Salvadori has dropped right off the back of the pair of them, and Pollet's heavy fuel load is starting to hand time to Maglioli behind him…

*Lap 23* - Lang and Marimon are now locked in a battle for 2nd place, with a 9 second gap to Farina that could start to drop if they become too focused on one another! Meanwhile Whitehead takes a despairing dive up the inside at La Source, and comes good as he somehow manages to slow the car down enough to come out of the corner ahead of Berger!

De Graffenried pits on this lap, coming out just behind Pollet's Gordini - which in all likelihood means that the Frenchman's pace has not been quick enough to convert the 1 stopper into points today.

*Lap 24* - The 2 stoppers come in for their 2nd stop, though such is the lead of the Maserati's that Herrmann still comes out in 1st place. Volonterio does not pit and so moves up to 2nd, whilst a slow stop for Marimon drops him behind Lang and Farina. Whitehead also passes Gerard in the pits, as the Mercedes continue to squabble between themselves.

A very slow stop for Villoresi loses position to his team-mate Nuckey, and it seems we have a contest on for the top Cooper driver too today! Pollet moves up to right behind the Coopers as of course he has already pitted, and we now have a really exciting scrap on for 10th place, as another slow stop for Kling means he is only 3 seconds ahead of Nuckey!

*Lap 25* - Volonterio passes Herrmann for the lead! The Mercedes driver sees the gap at La Source, and dives up the inside to take 1st place from the Maserati…Marimon takes Farina on this lap too. The Cooper battle continues apace, as Villoresi re-takes Nuckey on this lap.

Manzon pits on this lap too, which promotes Whitehouse into the top 20 for a little time at least…

*Lap 26* - Volonterio pits and drops down to 9th place, which moves Herrmann up to the race lead. Nuckey re-takes Villoresi to move back into the #1 Cooper spot, and it gets worse for the Italian as Salvadori - fresh from a pass on Pollet at Malmedy - dives up the inside at Masta Kink to briefly move into 12th position, but Villoresi gets lucky as the Vanwall driver can't keep the car under control and so cedes the position. On this lap Whitehouse pits to move Manzon back into 20th place too.

*Lap 27* - Berger passes Gerard for 7th place, whilst the fight for 11th rages on with Salvadori making the pass stick on Villoresi this time. Further back Whitehouse loses a wheel!!! The Vanwall driver heads round the track on 3 wheels and manages to just make it back to the pits where they screw it back on and send him out - such is the gap he has over the Connaught drivers that he doesn't lose a position though!

*Lap 28* - A relatively quite lap, with the only real action being Salvadori passing Nuckey again for 11th place.

*Lap 29* - And the battle for 11th continues, with Nuckey taking Salvadori back - otherwise Lang and Marimon have got the gap down to Herrmann to just 10 seconds up front!

*Lap 30* - And yet again Salvadori passes Nuckey! These two cannot stop fighting with each other, but despite this they've been steadily gaining ground on Kling, who is having a surprisingly off-colour day today!

*Lap 31* - Herrmann takes the fastest lap of the race, as the German seems keen to take every point possible today! The battle for 2nd place is alive, as Marimon passes Lang with a daredevil pass at L'Eau Rouge - and, as standard, Nuckey passes Salvadori again!!!

*Lap 32* - It's all square on this lap - Pollet is really gaining on Villoresi though and is almost on top of him already!

*Lap 33* - Herrmann breaks the 4:13 barrier!!! The race is looking all but win now, as he establishes his dominance in fine style! Whitehead takes 2 seconds out of Moss this lap, as the Mercedes driver does everything he can to close the gap!

*Lap 34* - Herrmann is on fire - ANOTHER lap under 4:13 and he is keen to ensure the fastest lap point is well out of reach of any of his team-mates! De Graffenried passes Pollet, whose focus has been so much on the Coopers ahead that he hasn't taken into account the threat from the Lancia behind.

At the back Fangio completes a rotten day for Connaught, as he spins off at Masta Kink after misjudging the corner and ends his race in the barriers to become only the 4th retirement of the day in what has been a relatively low-attrition race for once!

*Lap 35* - Moss passes Farina for 4th place, as the Maserati's must now feel safe enough to fight in amongst themselves as the nearest Mercedes is about 6 seconds down the road!

*Lap 36* - Herrmann crosses the line in 1st place with another sub 4:13 lap - but that is eclipsed by Marimon who sets an even better 4:12 lap-time to claim the fastest-lap point to go along with his pole position. But the win has eluded him and gone to compatriot Hans Herrmann.

Lang takes the final podium slot, and Farina re-passes Moss to take 4th position - but that does confirm a Maserati lockout of the points positions in an impressive recovery from their disaster in Buenos Aires!

Whitehead is best non-Maserati in 6th place, as he manages to keep Berger behind him to prevent the full 1-2-3-4-5-6 for Maserati. Gerard takes 8th, with Volonterio 9th and Kling rounding out the top 10 for Mercedes.

Nuckey crowns an impressive début with 11th place ahead of Salvadori and his compatriot Villoresi in 13th - though it is incredibly close over the line for those positions! De Graffenried finishes 14th for Lancia from Pollet's Gordini in 15th and the remaining Lancia duo of Collins and Maglioli 16th and 17th.

Ascari finishes 18th with Hawthorn the lead Ferrari in 19th and Manzon rounding out the top 20 - Whitehouse finishes 21st on his début but at least he does make the finish line. The Connaught duo of Parnell and Gould are 22nd and 23rd, ahead of the retired drivers Fangio, Mantovani, Helfrich and Brandon.