1950 Italian GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Monza
* Location – Italy
* Corners – 8
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 2:30.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 1:58.600 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – None
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Weather – N/A
* Temp – 15°C
* Fuel Consumption – Medium
* Tyre Wear – None

## Qualifying 1

Gerrard closes out Q1 on Provisional Pole, with the same drivers as before in the top 5…but Pietsch is now up to speed and has the upper hand on de Graffenried with the title in the balance.

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Bob Gerrard [EP] – 1:59.500 (7)
* 2nd – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [F] – 2:00.700 (7)
* 3rd – Geoff Crossley [T] – 2:00.700 (4)
* 4th – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 2:00.900 (7)
* 5th – Yves-Girard Cabantous – 2:01.300 (1)
* 6th - Nello Pagani [SA] – 2:01.700 (2)
* 7th – Paul Pietsch [F] – 2:01.700 (2)
* 8th – Luigi Fagioli [AR] – 2:02.000 (2)
* 9th – Maurice Trintignant [E] – 2:02.100 (1)
* 10th – Toulo de Graffenried [SA] – 2:02.150 (5)
* 11th – Prince Bira [EP] – 2:02.200 (2)
* 12th – Peter Walker [A] – 2:02.650 (1)
* 13th – Franco Rol [E] – 2:03.300 (2)
* 14th – Dorino Serafini [E] – 2:03.500 (2)
* 15th – Juan Manuel Fangio [AR] – 2:03.500 (1)
* 16th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 2:04.770 (1)
* 17th – Louis Rosier [T] – No Time Set
* 18th – Harry Schell [E] – No Time Set
* 19th – Reg Parnell [SA] – No Time Set
* 20th – Joe Kelly [A] – No Time Set
* 21st – Joe Fry [EP] – No Time Set

## Qualifying 2

Gerrard tops the timesheets in Q2, from Pietsch and Pagani…it is certainly first blood to the German title contender here in terms of qualifying results as de Graffenried could only manage 5th in this session.

Fangio sets an impressive lap near the end to move to 6th in the session, ahead of Serafini and Walker…full grid line up to come in a moment.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Bob Gerrard [EP] – 1:58.600 (5)
* 2nd – Paul Pietsch [F] – 1:58.850 (10)
* 3rd – Nello Pagani [SA] – 1:59.100 (4)
* 4th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [A] – 1:59.200 (7)
* 5th – Toulo de Graffenried [SA] – 1:59.300 (9)
* 6th – Juan Manuel Fangio [AR] – 1:59.400 (2)
* 7th – Dorino Serafini [E] – 1:59.500 (6)
* 8th – Peter Walker [A] – 1:59.740 (1)
* 9th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [F] – 2:00.090 (2)
* 10th – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 2:00.300 (5)
* 11th – Prince Bira [EP] – 2:00.800 (6)
* 12th – Maurice Trintignant [E] – 2:00.800 (6)
* 13th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 2:01.140 (4)
* 14th – Franco Rol [E] – 2:01.550 (5)
* 15th – Geoff Crossley [T] – 2:02.050 (2)
* 16th – Luigi Fagioli [AR] – 2:03.100 (2)

## Overall Qualifying Results

So Gerrard claims Pole Position here from Pietsch, who looks set to ride to the 1950 Driver's Title here today…as Pagani and Cabantous sit between him and de Graffenried. Fangio is a credible 6th on the grid ahead of Serafini, Walker and Gonzalez.

A brief mention to Franco Rol for making the grid here, and to messieurs Crossley and Fagioli for going faster in Q1 than Q2!

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - An awful start for Gerrard, as he stalls from Pole Position and only just gets going in time not to be passed by all those behind him…Pietsch gets rather held up by this and subsequently drops down to 5th place, undoing all the good work of qualification as de Graffenried storms into the lead of the race in a textbook start for the Swiss!

Pagani holds station in 3rd with Serafini right behind him in 4th…then Pietsch, the quick-starting Fagioli who is up from the back to 6th ahead of Fangio and the luckless Gerrard.

The man previously in 9th was Gonzalez, but as he neared the 1st corner he was shunted by Bira, who had in turn been hit by Trintignant…all 3 end up in the barriers on the outside of turn 1 and are thus eliminated from proceedings.

Those most affected, who had to swerve to avoid the incident were messieurs Walker and Ascari, who lost bags of time in getting out of the way.

The best start has to go to Franco Rol though, who skirts the chaos to be in the top 5 by the end of the 1st corner and up to 2nd position by the end of the 1st lap! One wonders how much fuel he could possibly have on board though!?!

*Lap 8* - Rol charges past de Graffenried at the front, as the Italian makes the most of his lighter fuel levels while he still can…Gerrard demonstrates his qualifying pace was no fluke as he eases up to 3rd place, including a textbook move on Pietsch around the outside at the 1st Lesmo that left the German floundering.

Speaking of the current championship challenger, he is now down to 6th with Fangio also having got the better of him but a somewhat unfortunate Cabantous having now dropped behind.

Disaster for Serafini strikes though, as he attacks too hard around the 2nd Sud corner and must pit to fix a punctured tyre from his excursion there…and he almost causes a real catastrophe as he emerges from the gravel to tag Ascari! It seems as if the Ferrari driver can continue, but that impact will hardly have helped his chances as he is last of those yet to pit.

*Lap 16* - Rol pits from the lead to slot back into 10th place, ahead of Ascari and the duo of Serafini and Taruffi, who have both had unscheduled pits thanks to tyre punctures!

That gives de Graffenried the lead of the race, from Gerrard and Pagani…Pietsch is up to 4th as he finds some good pace here, with Fangio down to 5th and Cabantous up to 6th thanks to those pitting already. Crossley overtakes Fagioli for what is now 7th place, and the Englishman will certainly begin to hope for points very soon indeed…

*Lap 24* - As de Graffenried pits for his 1st stop he comes out a fair way behind Pietsch with some serious ground to make up…Gerrard now leads the race with Pagani right on his tail still as the two sit nearly a full 20 seconds ahead of Pietsch.

Fangio is now up to 4th with Cabantous in 5th and de Graffenried just behind them on track. Walker holds 7th now, as Rol recovers to 8th thanks to pitstops from Crossley and Fagioli.

*Lap 32* - Gerrard and Pagani both pit from the lead, and so Pietsch and Cabantous move up as a result…though neither has pitted as yet. Fangio has a nightmare of a time, as he pits and then damages his car so badly on his outlap that he must return to the pits once more, the team take the decision to fuel to the end of the race though so he should not have to pit again.

De Graffenried is now up to 5th place, behind both Gerrard and Pagani, with his nearest competition Walker (who is yet to stop) and then the trio of Crossley, Taruffi and Fagioli.

More woe is in store for Rol, as a hydraulics issue forces him into the pits for an unscheduled stop…but he is at least ahead of Ascari, who has pitted once less than his ailing Italian counterpart.

*Lap 40* - Pietsch makes his first and only scheduled stop, and he is looking good right now with just a 15 second deficit to the leader Gerrard. Pagani is now nearly 10 seconds by the man on a similar strategy to him, and surprisingly Cabantous is keeping with the pace a good 17 seconds ahead of de Graffenried, whose strategy is really not paying off at the moment.

Walker is the only man yet to pit, though this must surely be imminent, and so he sits in the final points paying position as it stands.

*Lap 48* - Gerrard pulls a further lead out over Pagani, and almost has a pitstops advantage over Pietsch in what should be a fascinating conclusion to this race. De Graffenried is up to 4th position, but with a stop still to take Cabantous is likely to capitalise as he sits 5th at the moment.

In a real twist Serafini is now the man in 6th after his dismal start…and Walker sits 7th with no further stops to make. Everyone behind them has now been lapped and looks unlikely to score today.

*Lap 56* - As Gerrard makes his final pitstop his relentless pace easily puts him out in front of Pietsch, with Pagani now also around 1 stop ahead of the German in terms of time.

De Graffenried is still 4th and gaining on those in front, but nowhere near quick enough to influence the podium…indeed he will surely be overtaken by Cabantous and potentially Serafini too once he does make his final stop.

*Lap 64* - As Pagani he makes his final stop he comes out directly in front of Pietsch…with Gerrard easily in the lead now. Cabantous is in a strong 4th position, with de Graffenried in 5th being hunted by Serafini who has been on a comeback since his very early issues.

Walker is ahead of Fagioli, who must pit once more, which will surely promote Taruffi and Ascari in his place.

*Lap 80* - In an F1R first Gerrard takes Pole Position, Fastest Lap (and thus of course the Lap Record) and the victory too…an incredible performance from the Englishman!

In what could be a crucial development in the title race Pietsch passes Pagani with about 5 laps remaining; the Italian will be pleased with a podium but it could have been so much more.

Cabantous rounds his season off with 4th place ahead of de Graffenried, who would in all likelihood have been caught by Serafini at the end…but the ERA driver was unfortunate to not have time on his side today.

Walker heads up Taruffi, the recovering Fangio and Crossley at the outskirts of the Top 10, with Fagiolo, Rol and Ascari rounding out today's finishers.