1951 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 twist from the disaster of the Indy 500 the BRM of Farina sits right near the top of the times, behind the Alfa Romeo of Cabantous…that said, this session was so rain affected that most of the big contenders simply set a lap to qualify for the 2nd qualifying session and have a run at Pole Position then.

The exceptions were the ERA of Rosier, the HWM of Chiron and the BRM of Moss, all of whom will not be allowed to compete in Q2.

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Yves-Girard Cabantous [AR] – 3:02.442 (3)
* 2nd – Giuseppe Farina – 3:03.508 (1)
* 3rd – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [SA] – 3:03.584 (4)
* 4th – Peter Walker [E] – 3:03.638 (2)
* 5th – Rudi Fischer [AR] – 3:04.871 (2)
* 6th – Georges Grignard [A] – 3:05.138 (3)
* 7th – Maurice Trintignant [EG] – 3:05.963 (1)
* 8th – Prince Bira [SA] – 3:06.502 (1)
* 9th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 3:06.554 (2)
* 10th – Reg Parnell [EG] – 3:06.796 (2)
* 11th – Paco Godia [EP] – 3:06.973 (4)
* 12th – Luigi Fagioli (O) – 3:07.044 (1)
* 13th – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 3:07.492 (2)
* 14th – Bob Gerrard [AR] – 3:07.575 (2)
* 15th – David Murray [T] – 3:07.642 (2)
* 16th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 3:07.744 (2)
* 17th – Johnny Claes [T] – 3:08.753 (3)
* 18th – Toni Branca [EP] – 3:09.062 (1)
* 19th – Onofre Marimon [T] – 3:10.087 (1)
* 20th – Franco Rol – 3:11.519 (1)
* 21st – John James [EG] – 3:20.659 (2)
* 22nd – Juan Manuel Fangio – 3:21.041 (1)
* 23rd – Toulo de Graffenried [EP] – 3:25.646 (1)
* 24th – Felice Bonetto [SA] – 3:30.000 (1)
* 25th – Louis Rosier [E] – No Time Set
* 26th – Louis Chiron [H] – No Time Set
* 27th – Stirling Moss – No Time Set

## Qualifying 2

With a limited amount of track time due to poor weather the drivers have to seize the moment to lay down their fastest laps; doing so with some aplomb is Farina in the BRM, from Walker's ERA and Gonzalez in the Scuderia Ambrosiana.

Pietsch is there or thereabouts in 6th place, but former championship contender de Graffenried finds himself significantly down the order in 17th overall.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Giuseppe Farina – 2:35.565 (2)
* 2nd – Peter Walker [E] – 2:36.008 (1)
* 3rd – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [SA] – 2:37.082 (2)
* 4th – Johnny Claes [T] – 2:37.197 (2)
* 5th – Bob Gerrard [AR] – 2:37.341 (2)
* 6th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 2:37.632 (1)
* 7th – Maurice Trintignant [EG] – 2:37.708 (2)
* 8th – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 2:37.989 (2)
* 9th – Rudi Fischer [AR] – 2:38.025 (2)
* 10th – Luigi Fagioli [O] – 2:38.038 (2)
* 11th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [AR] – 2:38.176 (2)
* 12th – Reg Parnell [EG] – 2:38.715 (3)
* 13th – Onofre Marimon [T] – 2:38.951 (2)
* 14th – Paco Godia [EP] – 2:39.838 (3)
* 15th – Toni Branca [EP] – 2:40.113 (2)
* 16th – David Murray [T] – 2:40.777 (2)
* 17th – Toulo de Graffenried [EP] – 2:40.803 (1)
* 18th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 2:40.861 (2)
* 19th – Georges Grignard [A] – 2:42.694 (2)
* 20th – Juan Manuel Fangio – 2:46.274 (1)
* 21st – John James [EG] – 2:51.245 (1)
* 22nd – Prince Bira [SA] – No Time Set
* 23rd – Franco Rol [EG] – No Time Set
* 24th – Felice Bonetto [SA] – No Time Set

## Overall Qualifying Results

As Q1 was wet Q2 really determined the grid positions for tomorrow's race, the only exception really was the fight between Fangio and James for the final race spot…but the Englishman missed out after having technical difficulties earlier in the week that halted his progress significantly.

Everyone will be looking forward to seeing how Farina will cope as he looks to achieve a maiden victory for the fledgling BRM squad…but the stiff competition behind will make this far from a formality one would expect.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - Farina maintains his lead over Walker off the start, with Gonzalez retaining the 3rd spot ahead of the quick-starting Fagioli in the O.S.C.A who gains a full 6 position in the 1st lap alone! Claes is down to 5th as a result, with Fischer up to 6th place after a tussle with Pietsch that sees the German come off worse with some front wing damage as a result.

Even worse for the defending champion is to come though, as his rival for the title last season de Graffenried advances from 17th on the grid up to 8th place to put more pressure on the Ferrari driver.

Cabantous sits 9th ahead of Gerrard, who had difficulties getting off the line and so has sacrificed his excellent qualifying position already…

*Lap 6* - Farina and Walker are setting the pace, and draw away from the rest with ease…meanwhile Claes passes Gonzalez, who loses a lot of time due to Fagioli making an error in front of him and compromising the Argentinean's exit to Jordenrampe.

Gerrard is up to 4th after a set of brilliant laps that see him overtake no less than 6 drivers! Cabantous follows him through to 5th, from the aforementioned Gonzalez and the recovering Trintignant.

Former 7th placed man and defending champion Paul Pietsch can do little about the front wing damage sustained in the 1st lap and as a result sails wide at Eymatt with no control over where he ends up, which happens to be in the barriers with his race over.

*Lap 12* - Farina is beginning to string out his lead over Walker, who in turn still has a good buffer back to 3rd placed man Gonzalez; the Argentinean has strung together a great series of laps to move past Claes, Gerrard and Cabantous. The former 2 of this group are still in the Top 5, but Cabantous has had a tougher time of late and has also lost positions to Trintignant, Taruffi and Fischer to drop outside of the points.

De Graffenried is up to 10th position, but is still some way off the points and has a group of 4 drivers right on his tail! Tough times for the Swiss at his home Grand Prix; especially as he is not even the the best performing Swiss driver right now as Fischer sits ahead of him in 8th overall.

*Lap 18* - The pack are beginning to become somewhat strung out, with Claes now leading the way by virtue of the fact that he is yet to pit. Farina is in 2nd place after his stop and will almost certainly resume the lead of the race once the Belgian comes in for his stop.

Trintignant is up to 3rd position also due to not having stopped, with Walker and Gonzalez in the other point scoring positions right now.

Another former title challenger falls by the wayside though, as Gerrard gets it all wrong at Glasbrunnenrampe to slam hard into the tyre wall and end the 1st race of the season proper stationary and with one wheel spinning wildly in the air.

*Lap 24* - Farina is really motoring out front! He gains around 2 seconds per lap over his nearest competition to open up a commanding lead over the rest, though several drivers behind him are now fuelled to the end of the race. The most threatening of which is surely Walker in the ERA who is in 2nd at the moment ahead of Gonzalez and Claes, with Trintignant cutting a rather lonely figure in 5th at the moment.

Another casualty of the demanding Bremgarten circuit is newcomer Paco Godia who crashes out at Passerelle Elchholz after pushing the envelope there once too often! And so now just 17 drivers remain in the race…

*Lap 30* - Farina pits and comes out just ahead of Walker, but a mistake on cold tyres puts the Italian around 1 second behind his adversary. This shouldn't be an issue though as Walker still has 1 more pitstop to make, so Farina should be back into the lead sooner rather than later.

Claes is looking in a strong position for a podium, with Gonzalez and Trintignant also in line for some good points today if they can keep up with the pace. Taruffi is in no-man's land in 6th, ahead of Cabantous, de Graffenried, Fischer and Branca who rounds out the top 10.

At the back Fangio's car finally lets go and he pulls gently off at Passerelle Elchholz to retire in 17th position; though what is remarkable is that every remaining driver is still on the lead lap, albeit only just in some cases!

*Lap 36* - Walker makes his final stop to hand the lead back to Farina, but the ERA driver loses a fair amount of time in the pits and so Claes inherits 2nd position as a result.

Trintignant has taken 4th position from Gonzalez in a brilliant manoeuvre but will struggle to make any further ground on those in front of him; Cabantous retires from 7th on the place after going off at Passerelle Elchholz on a patch of oil left by the ailing Fangio a few laps earlier.

The home fans are also delighted to see a 3-way Swiss battle between de Graffenried, Fischer and Branca…though they will be disappointed it is taking place so far outside the points!

*Lap 42* - After the respective demises of Pietsch, Gerrard, Godia, Fangio and Cabantous there will be several drivers who will simply be relieved to have finished the race today. Indeed with dropped scores to be taken into account before the end of the season many will look to literally forget this race weekend as few are likely to use it as a legitimate scoring race.

Marimon and Grignard will certainly be happy to reach the end of the race, albeit 1 lap down on the leaders; a situation shared by both Ascari and Parnell too.

It's a case of what could have been for Fagioli as a 3 stop strategy looked to be a fair way wide of the mark, whilst Murray must be please to finish within the Top 10. The all-Swiss affair is eventually won by Branca, from Fischer and de Graffenried, though this is unlikely to have any real effect on the title race in the end.

Taruffi drove a good race today, and is somewhat unlucky to come home in 6th place, with Trintingant demoted to 5th by the hard-charging Gonzalez. A bigger shock is in store though, as Walker uses the advantage of his fresher tyres to good effect as he closes down Claes to regain his 2nd place on the very last lap through the Jordenrampe curves!

But of course the big winner is Giuseppe Farina today, who will enjoy the 1st victory of the season proper while having placed himself firmly on the map as a championship contender this season, if he can tame the beast that is the BRM!