1951 Formula One season

The 1951 Formula One season was the fifth season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the second World Championship of Drivers , which was contested over eight races between 27 May and 28 October 1951. The season also included several non-championship races for Formula One cars.

Juan Manuel Fangio won his first Drivers' Championship, [ 1 ] beating reigning champion and Alfa Romeo teammate Nino Farina , as well as several drivers from their main rival, Ferrari . Alfa Romeo has not won any Formula One championship since.

Multiple teams, including Alfa Romeo, were running chassis from before World War II . Regulation changes for 1952 , however, would make them obsolete.

Ferrari's newer, naturally aspirated 4.5-litre cars offered a real challenge to the Alfas, which were nearing the end of their development potential. The Ferraris were able to capitalize on the inefficiency of the Alfa's very thirsty engines, particularly at Silverstone. Although Alfas won four races, with Fangio taking the championship, Ferrari's three victories spelled the end for the Alfas. BRM made their only championship appearance with the V16 at Silverstone, and the old, slow Talbots were...

Points were given to the top 5 finishers (8, 6, 4, 3, 2). One point was given for the fastest lap. Only the best four of eight scores counted towards the world championship. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps.

Although the official championship season would start in late May in Switzerland, a handful of non-championship events were to be run. The first was the first-ever Syracuse Grand Prix near the ancient city of Syracuse on the southern island of Sicily. This race was won by Italian Luigi Villoresi driving the new 4 1/2 litre Ferrari 375 on the 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) public road circuit. Villoresi would triumph again two weeks later at Pau in southwest France over homeland hero Louis Rosier and Ni...

Three weeks after the Goodwood and Pau races, it was the San Remo Grand Prix in western Italy, not far from Monaco. Alberto Ascari made his first appearance of the season and promptly won in a Ferrari 375 on this twisty and demanding 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) street circuit, ahead of his countryman Dorino Serafini and Swiss Rudi Fischer, both in Ferraris. A week later was the Bordeaux Grand Prix in western France, and it was won by Rosier in a Talbot, ahead of Fischer and Briton Peter Whitehead in...

A week later was the BRDC International Trophy race at Silverstone, with the Alfa Romeos making their first appearance in 1951. Of the first two heats, Fangio won the first while Farina won the second, and Reg Parnell won the final all-important event, which was stopped because of torrential rain and flooding. Two weeks after this was the Paris Grand Prix in the Bois de Boulogne Park in the French capital city, which Farina won in a Maserati.

A week after the BRDC International Trophy race, the Formula One Championship season started in Switzerland at the very dangerous and tree-lined Bremgarten public road circuit near Bern around the time the Monaco Grand Prix would have been held, but that historic race was not held this year. Alfa Romeo, the dominant team in 1950 with its supercharged 159 Alfetta, took the first five places on the grid, except 3rd, which Luigi Villoresi took in a Ferrari. Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio was on pole ...

The Indianapolis 500 in the United States was run three days after the Swiss Grand Prix on a Wednesday. It was the only non-European championship round and the only round that was not run to FIA Grand Prix regulations. Lee Wallard won this demanding race in his Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser.

Farina had won again at Ulster Trophy held at the very dangerous and fast Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland in an Alfa, and the next championship Grand Prix was in Belgium at the fastest circuit of the year: the spectacular and rural 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) Spa-Francorchamps circuit. With Fangio and Farina once again 1–2 with the Ferraris of Villoresi and Alberto Ascari taking 3rd and 4th, the Alfas and Ferraris dueled around this circuit, with only 13 entries – small grids in all kinds of moto...

The French Grand Prix, given the honorary designation of the European Grand Prix this year, was held at the very fast 7.7 kilometres (4.8 mi) Reims-Gueux circuit (a circuit only two mph slower than Spa) deep in northern French champagne country played the host for an exciting race. Fangio, on pole again, was beaten off the line by 3rd-placed qualifier Ascari, with 2nd-placed qualifier Farina making a terrible start and dropping to 11th. On this triangular public road circuit, made up entirely of...

The British Grand Prix at the Silverstone airfield circuit in England played host to round 5 of the World Championship, and this race was to make history. The Alfa Romeos, with their powerful 420 hp supercharged 1.5L engines were fast but had horrendous fuel consumption: 6.5 km/L per gallon (thanks to the relatively simple pre-World War II engine design), meaning that Fangio and Farina had to stop twice to refuel, José Froilán González in the more fuel-efficient 4.5L naturally aspirated V12 Ferr...

A week after the British Grand Prix, the non-championship Dutch Grand Prix at the fast beachside Zandvoort circuit near Amsterdam was won by Louis Rosier in a Talbot, ahead of veteran Phillippe Etancelin and up-and-comer Stirling Moss in an HWM.

West Germany had been banned from international sports competitions until 1951, so the German Grand Prix was able to be a Grand Prix championship round for the first time since 1939. The venue was the same as it had been in 1939 – it was the dauntingly challenging, dangerous, and twisty 22.9 kilometres (14.2 mi) Nürburgring Nordschleife. Ascari took pole position in front of his teammate González and Alfa drivers Fangio and Farina. At the start, Farina took the lead, but the Alfas started to dev...

A week after the German Grand Prix was the Albi Grand Prix on a high-speed and dangerous public road circuit outside the southwestern French village of Albi. Maurice Trintignant won this race in a Simca. Ten days after this race, the Coppa Acerbo at the 25.4 kilometres (15.8 mi) and dauntingly dangerous Pescara Circuit in eastern Italy, which was won by José Froilán González in a Ferrari. Two weeks later, Fangio won the Bari Grand Prix in the small southeastern Italian coastal city.

Italy was the next championship race, and the Monza Autodrome near Milan played host to the seventh round of the Formula One Grand Prix championship. Fangio, in an Alfa, pole position again, but he retired his car, which had engine problems; Farina, who had taken Felice Bonetto's Alfa, had a leaking fuel tank and had to come in twice for fuel, which dropped him down the order far enough for him only to get as far as third. Fellow local hero and Milan native Ascari won again in his Ferrari–which ...

The last non-championship race of the year, the Goodwood Trophy, was won by Farina in an Alfa three weeks after the Italian Grand Prix.

The first ever Formula One Spanish Grand Prix, held at the Pedralbes street circuit in Barcelona, took place four weeks after the Goodwood Trophy race. The Ferrari and Alfa Romeo teams each ran four cars, with Ferrari fielding Ascari, Gigi Villoresi, Froilan González, and Piero Taruffi and Alfa Romeo running Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Felice Bonetto, and Baron Emanuel de Graffenried. Ascari was fastest in practice and shared the front row of the 4–3–4 grid with Fangio, González, and Farina. Behind...

Points were awarded to the top five classified finishers, with an additional point awarded for setting the fastest lap, regardless of finishing position or even classification. Only the best four results counted towards the championship. Shared drives result in half points for each driver if they finished in a points-scoring position. If more than one driver set the same fastest lap time, the fastest lap point would be divided equally between the drivers. Numbers without parentheses are champion...

Other Formula One races, which did not count towards the World Championship, were also held in 1951.