| 1952 German Grand Prix | |||||
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 3 August 1952 (1952-08-03) | ||||
| Official name | XV Großer Preis von Deutschland | ||||
| Location | Nürburgring,Nürburg,West Germany | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 22.810 km (14.173 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 18 laps, 410.580 km (255.123 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 10:04.4 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Alberto Ascari | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 10:05.1 on lap 5 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1952 German Grand Prix was aFormula Two race held on 3 August 1952 at theNürburgring Nordschleife. It was race 6 of 8 in the1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula One regulations normally used. The 18-lap race was won byFerrari driverAlberto Ascari after he started frompole position. His teammatesGiuseppe Farina andRudi Fischer finished in second and third places.
1952 was the 25th anniversary of the race track, and a sports car race dubbed theXV. Großer Preis von Deutschland – Großer Jubiläumspreis vom Nürburgring für Sportwagen 1952 was run as support. It was won 1-2-3-4 byMercedes-Benz W194300 SL Spyders.[1][2]
TheMaserati factory team finally appeared with their new car, theA6GCM, which was driven byFelice Bonetto. Also racing A6GCMs were the Escuderia Bandeirantes driversBianco andCantoni.Ferrari once again entered the successful trio ofAlberto Ascari,Nino Farina andPiero Taruffi, while there were privateer Ferrari entries forRudi Fischer andRudolf Schoeller of Ecurie Espadon,Roger Laurent of Ecurie Francorchamps, andPiero Carini of Scuderia Marzotto.Jean Behra returned to action for theGordini team, having recovered from his shoulder injury. He replacedPrince Bira, and was partnered by teammatesRobert Manzon andMaurice Trintignant.HWM entered three cars, with regularPeter Collins joined by the Belgian pairing ofPaul Frère andJohnny Claes, while AustralianTony Gaze drove a privateer HWM.Bill Aston drove anAston Butterworth, and the field was completed by a plethora of privateer German cars (Veritas,AFM andBMW).
Ferrari were once again fastest in qualifying, with Ascari and Farina being joined on the front row of the grid by the Gordinis of Trintignant and Manzon. The remaining works Ferrari driver, Taruffi, started from the second row, alongside the Ecurie Espadon-entered Ferrari of Fischer andPaul Pietsch in a Veritas. Bonetto's works Maserati made the third row, along with the Gordini of Jean Behra, and a pair of local entrants:Hans Klenk's Veritas, andWilli Heeks in an AFM.
The race turned out to be rather a processional event, with Ascari leading Farina all the way in the first 16 laps. Two laps from home, he had to dive into the pits for oil, emerging 10 seconds behind Farina-which he rattled off on the next lap, catching Farina just a mile from home to win by several seconds after an otherwise dull race. Piero Taruffi had been running in third behind his teammates, but he lost the position to Rudi Fischer towards the end of the race when he encountered problems due to his suspension breaking. Fischer's podium and Taruffi's fourth place-finish ensured that it was a Ferrari 1-2-3-4. Manzon, who had been running in fourth for much of the first half of the race, between Taruffi and Fischer, was forced to retire when a wheel fell off his car. This meant that his teammate Behra was left to take the final points in fifth position in his Gordini, ahead of Roger Laurent's Ferrari. Felice Bonetto, of the factory Maserati team, was disqualified for receiving a push start after his first lap spin.
Ascari, who had taken his fourth consecutive victory, along with a fourth consecutive fastest lap, had now scored the maximum of 36 points for the season, as only a driver's four best results counted. As a result, he clinched the world championship, making him the first driver to win the championship with two races left to go.[3] The date was 3 August, the earliest anyone would claim the Championship untilJim Clark seized the crown on 1 August in1965, also at theNürburgring. Ascari's teammates, Taruffi and Farina, remained in second and third, respectively, in the Drivers' Championship, while Swiss driver Fischer's second podium of the season raised him up to fourth in the standings.
Only the lap times from the 7 best placed drivers are known.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101 | Alberto Ascari | Ferrari | 10:04.4 | – |
| 2 | 102 | Nino Farina | Ferrari | 10:07.3 | + 2.9 |
| 3 | 109 |  Maurice Trintignant | Gordini | 10:19.1 | + 14.7 |
| 4 | 107 | Robert Manzon | Gordini | 10:25.3 | + 20.9 |
| 5 | 103 | Piero Taruffi | Ferrari | 10:26.3 | + 21.9 |
| 6 | 117 |  Rudi Fischer | Ferrari | 10:41.9 | + 37.5 |
| 7 | 127 |  Paul Pietsch | Veritas | 10:56.3 | + 51.9 |
| 8 | 128 | Hans Klenk | Veritas | ||
| 9 | 123 | Willi Heeks | AFM-BMW | ||
| 10 | 105 | Felice Bonetto | Maserati | ||
| 11 | 108 | Jean Behra | Gordini | ||
| 12 | 121 | Fritz Riess | Veritas-BMW | ||
| 13 | 112 |  Paul Frère | HWM-Alta | ||
| 14 | 120 |  Tony Gaze | HWM-Alta | ||
| 15 | 125 | Toni Ulmen | Veritas-BMW | ||
| 16 | 115 |  Gino Bianco | Maserati | ||
| 17 | 119 | Roger Laurent | Ferrari | ||
| 18 | 122 | Theo Helfrich | Veritas-BMW | ||
| 19 | 126 | Adolf Brudes | Veritas-BMW | ||
| 20 | 129 | Josef Peters | Veritas-BMW | ||
| 21 | 114 |  Bill Aston | Aston Butterworth | ||
| 22 | 124 | Helmut Niedermayr | AFM-BMW | ||
| 23 | 136 | Rudolf Krause | Reif-BMW | ||
| 24 | 118 | Rudolf Schoeller | Ferrari | ||
| 25 | 110 | Marcel Balsa | Balsa-BMW | ||
| 26 | 116 |  Eitel Cantoni | Maserati | ||
| 27 | 104 | Piero Carini | Ferrari | ||
| 28 | 133 | Willi Krakau | AFM-BMW | ||
| 29 | 135 | Ernst Klodwig | Heck-BMW | ||
| 30 | 130 | Günther Bechem | Nacke-BMW | ||
| 31 | 131 | Ludwig Fischer | AFM-BMW | ||
| 32 | 113 | Johnny Claes | HWM-Alta | ||
| 33 | 111 | Peter Collins | HWM-Alta | ||
| 34 | 134 | Harry Merkel | Krakau-BMW |
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | Alberto Ascari | 36 |
| 2 | Piero Taruffi | 22 |
| 3 | Nino Farina | 18 |
 3 | 4 | Rudi Fischer | 10 |
 1 | 5 |  Troy Ruttman | 8 |
| Source:[9] | |||
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