1953
SEASON

Rounds 1 to 3

The 1953 season started in Argentina , the first championship Formula One Grand Prix outside of Europe (with the exception of the Indianapolis 500 ). Alberto Ascari and Ferrari had dominated 1952 , but Juan Manuel Fangio , the 1951 champion returning after a year away, at the new Maserati works team were expected to put up a good fight. Ascari qualified on pole position , ahead of Fangio and Ferrari teammates Luigi Villoresi and Nino Farina . The race attracted so many spectators that they were ... The Indianapolis 500 was included in the Formula One championship, but no F1 drivers attended. Bill Vukovich won the race for the second year in a row. The Dutch Grand Prix , being the first round of the year in Europe, attracted no less than twenty entrants, and Maserati brought upgraded cars. Still, the starting grid looked almost the same as in Argentina: Ascari, with Fangio and Farina next to him, and Villoresi and González on the second row. At the start, Ascari took the lead, while his teammates converged on Fangio, squeezing him almost to a standstill. The three prancing horses led away unchallenged. Both González and Fangio retired with... In the Drivers' Championship, Alberto Ascari ( Ferrari ) was leading with 17 points. Bill Vukovich was second with 9, but he would not enter any other races. Luigi Villoresi (Ferrari) was third with 7 points.

Rounds 4 to 7

The Maseratis were favourites going into the Belgian Grand Prix because of their high top speed. Juan Manuel Fangio delivered and set pole position , ahead of championship leader Alberto Ascari and teammate José Froilán González . Ascari's Ferrari teammates Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi occupied the second row. González took the lead at the start and the two Maseratis streaked away, until they retired with mechanical issues two laps from each other. Farina retired as well, leaving Ascari and V... Ascari continued his dominance with a pole position for the French Grand Prix , ahead of Maserati's Felice Bonetto (teammate González set the qualifying time, but it was in Bonetto's car) and Villoresi. Fangio and González stood on the second row, but the latter took the lead at the start. Farina had a good start, while Bonetto spun, so González was now under threat from a group of four Ferraris. But the Argentinian streaked away and it was Fangio who started pressuring the group from behind. At... At the British Grand Prix , the front row was divided between the two Italian teams: Ascari scored pole, ahead of González, Hawthorn and Fangio. Fangio tried to take the lead at the start, but drifted wide and Ascari went back through. Hawthorn spun off and returned to the pits for a check-up. González was in second place, before officials suspected his Maserati from losing oil and ordered him to pit. Ascari increased his lead over now-second Fangio, before rain and hail fell and the circuit flo... In the Drivers' Championship, Alberto Ascari ( Ferrari ) was leading with 33.5 points, ahead of Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) with 16 and José Froilán González ( Maserati ) with 13.5.

Rounds 7 to 9

Championship leader Alberto Ascari qualified on pole position for the German Grand Prix , ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio , Nino Farina and Mike Hawthorn . Fangio took the lead at the start, but Ascari was back in front after half a lap. He looked set to score his fourth win of the year, until he suddenly appeared in the pits with just three wheels. Farina took the lead, while Ascari fell back to ninth place. On lap 10, he took over the car from teammate Luigi Villoresi , suddenly bringing the champ... At this point, the Spanish Grand Prix was still scheduled for 26 October, so there were three races left to go. Farina, Fangio and Hawthorn could theoretically prevent Ascari from becoming champion, but they had to win all remaining races, while setting the fastest lap in at least two of them. At the Swiss Grand Prix , Fangio scored pole position, ahead of Ascari and Farina, while Hawthorn started seventh. Ascari passed Fangio on the opening lap, while Farina fell back. On lap 10, Fangio switche... With his win in Switzerland , Ascari had big enough of a lead to secure his second consecutive title. This became even clearer when the Spanish Grand Prix was cancelled and only one race was left in the season, the Italian Grand Prix . Ascari showed no signs of slowing down and reached a record total of six pole positions in a season. He started ahead of Fangio and Farina. Fourth-placed Onofre Marimón made a good start to pass both champions ahead of him, to slot in behind the now-double champio... In the Drivers' Championship, Alberto Ascari ( Ferrari ) scored 34.5 points to clinch his second consecutive title, ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio ( Maserati ) with 28 and Nino Farina (Ferrari) with 26.

Scoring system

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...

Non-championship races

The following Formula One/Formula Two/Formula Libre races, which did not count towards the World Championship of Drivers, were held in 1953.

East German Championship

The table below shows the points awarded for each race. Only East German drivers were eligible for points.