DataGrange Motorsport

Sorry, Felipe ... I Get to Drive it First ...

The F1 Hoopla gets underway as the Scuderia unveils its new F150 for all to enjoy.

The hype is soooo tedious for long time F1 enthusiasts, yet there is something special about catching a glimpse of a new Horse for the first time …

Ferrari Unveils New F150 Chassis

Ferrari became the first team to launch their 2011 challenger on Friday, as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa took the wraps of the F150. Ferrari hope the new car – named to mark the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification – will return the Scuderia to championship glory after they missed out on both 2010 titles.

For more, read on …

Add some spice to your race viewing weekend and play Fantasy Cup Series (NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar).

Luigi Musso's Ferrari Dino ends up destroyed and laying limp in a wheatfield after a disastrous encounter at Muizone.

1958 RACE 6
Reims-Gueux, France

6 July, Forty-Fourth Grand Prix de l’Automobil Club de France

P1 Grid: M. Hawthorn, GBR, Scuderia Ferrari Dino 246 2.4 liter DOHC twin bank six. Englebert (second, career).

Hawthorn wins the start and leads wire-to-wire for the victory.

Briton Mike Hawthorn and his now formula dominant Ferrari Dino 246 easily drives away to victory at Reims, yet the meeting again brings tragedy to Grand Prix racing when Italian driving sensation Luigi Musso, the defending race champion and chasing Hawthorn from P2, breaks loose at Muizone on Lap 10. Musso’s Ferrari veers out of control and turns over before somersaulting several times into an adjacent field. The beloved Italian driving champion expires a mere hour later from massive injuries.

1. Hawthorn, Scuderia Ferrari (third, career).
2. S. Moss, GBR, Vanwall, -24.6 sec.
3. W. von Trips, WGER, Scuderia Ferrari.

Constructor Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (twenty-sixth).
Engine Victor: Ferrari (twenty-sixth).

Championship
Hawthorn-GBR 23, Moss-GBR 23, Musso-ITA 12 (d).

Scuderia Ferrari 45, Vandervell Products Ltd 27, Epperly 20.

Adytum on High

Alberto Ascari and his Lancia Take a Precarious Tumble Into the Harbor After Blowing the Chicane at the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix.

1955 RACE 2
Principality of Monaco

22 May, Thirteenth Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco

P1 Grid: J.M. Fangio, ARG, Mercedes 196W 2.5 liter fuel injection inline eight. Continental (16th, career).

Fangio wins the start.
S. Moss (Mercedes) assumes the lead at Lap 50 after Fangio suffers mechanicals.
M. Trintignant (Ferrari) assumes the lead at Lap 81 after Moss suffers mechanicals and A. Ascari suffers a dramatic shunt at Harbour Chicane. Trintigant drives on to victory.

The May 1955 Monaco meeting triggers a horrific strech for motor sport that continues to prompt pause among enthusiasts to the current day. In the race proper, the heady Daimler Benz team, thrilled with its recent signing of Briton ace Stirling Moss, roar off the grid with J.M. Fangio and Moss at the spearhead. The afternoon seemingly emeges as a dominant performance for the Silver Arrows, yet Fangio suffers mechanicals (failed transmission) on Lap 49, yielding the lead to teammate Moss. Moss confidently leads the field for the next thirty laps, but on Lap 80 suffers another mechanical, rare for the Teuton marque. A. Ascari, driving for Lancia, inherits the point for a brief moment before breaking loose in Moss’ oil stream. Ascari misses the apex at Harbour Chicane, slides into the harbor wall, and in dramatic fashion flips over the barrier and soars into the Cote d’Azur. As officials retrieve the injured Ascari and his auto from the harbor, M. Trintignant speeds his Ferrari 625 into the lead and on to the flag, a surprise maiden victory for both himself and the French nation.

Motor sport takes a dark turn shortly afterward; the great Ascari, likely still suffering from the injuries inflicted at Monaco, dies four days later in a horrific shunt during a test session at Monza. Seventeen days later at the Sarthe, Pierre Levegh’s flaming Mercedes hurtles an embankment near Maison Blanche and crashes headlong into the main tribune, killing over eighty spectators. A stunned Daimler Benz AG, distressed over the negative press, swiftly withdraws from the contest, and shortly thereafter from all of international motor sport.

1. Trintignant, FRA, Scuderia Ferrari 625 Type 106, 2.5 liter inline four. Pirelli (maiden victory).
2. E. Castellotti, ITA Lancia D50, -20.3 sec.
3. C. Perdisa, ITA,Officine Alfieri Maserati.

Constructor Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (twentieth).
Engine Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (twentieth).

Championship
Trintignant-FRA 11.33, Fangio-ARG 10, G. Farina-ITA 6.33.

Scuderia Ferrari 21, Daimler Benz AG 13, Officine Alfieri Maserati 8.

1954 Drivers’ Champion: Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentina (second, all-time with Ascari).  Mercedes 196W Silver Arrow.

1954 Putative Constructors’ Champion: Ferrari (fourth, all-time).

Fangio ascends atop the tables as the all-time leader in P1 grid positions (15) and race victories (13).

The season marks the debut of Mercedes’ wondrous Silver Arrows as well as the Scuderia’s latest iterations, the 625 and the 553, which rises to the fore at Monza.  The Lancia D50 under Ascari makes its debut in the final meeting at Barcelona.

1954 Bremgarten stands as the final time Formula 1 hosts a race in Switzerland; the Le Mans Maison Blanche disaster in the following summer (June 1955) prompts Swiss authorities to cancel the 1955 event at Bern before announcing its prohibition of motor sport.

Adytum on High: The sport loses Argentine driver Onofre Marimon (Maserati) during a qualifying session at the Nurburging in late July. Marimon purportedly suffers brake failure at the bottom of incline while approaching the Wehrseifen curve. Marimon’s car veers off the course over a banking, soars into the trees, and lands upside down, fatally pinning the driver to the steering shaft.

Constructors’ Champion:

1954 Ferrari 625

1954 Ferrari 553

The Day Belongs to Juan Manuel Fangio (50), Flanked All Afternoon by Farina and Ascari.

1953 RACE 9
Monza, Italy

13 September, Twenty-Fourth Gran Premio d’Italia
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

P1 Grid: A. Ascari, ITA, Ferrari Tipo 500 2.0 liter inline four. Pirelli (13th, career).

A. Ascari (Ferrari) wins the start.
J.M. Fangio (Maserati) assumes the lead at Lap 7 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 9 with a pass.
G. Farina (Ferrari) assumes the lead at Lap 10 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 11 with a pass.
Farina assumes the lead on Lap 12 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 14 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 25 with a pass.
Farina assumes the lead on Lap 26 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 27 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 29 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 34 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 36 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 41 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 42 with a pass.
Farina assumes the lead on Lap 46 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 47 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead on Lap 50 with a pass.
Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 53 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 80 (final lap) with a pass and drives on to victory.

With Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari already having captured the Formula 1 crown with his victory at the Nürburgring two weeks prior, the final meeting at Monza served only to settle home honors between Ferrari and Maserati. Scuderia honcho Enzo Ferrari’s public threats to shut down his factory operation at Maranello only adds to the prerace buildup as crowds press into the Autodromo to perhaps witness the final running of his red prancing horses. No one leaves disappointed as a breathtaking duel between Ascari, teammate Nino Farina, and Maserati ace Juan Manuel Fangio, arguably the greatest in F1 history, dominates the afternoon. All three cars fiercely contest for the point over the first fifty circuits, and the result appears in doubt until Ascari assumes the lead at Lap 53. The Italian ace maintains P1 for the remaining 27 laps with Fangio tightly hugging his rear wheels, yet the final curve at Parabolica holds a surprise for all racers and spectators at the circuit. Entering the final turn in the lead, Ascari drifts wide to avoid backmarker John Fairman in his Connaught, yet his rear breaks loose and slides into Onofore Marimon’s Maserati. Both cars spin in the middle of the circuit, collecting Fairman, yet both Fangio and Farina deftly dodge the obstructions and cover the remaining metres to the finish. Both Fangio and Maserati gleefully cheer their maiden victory in Formula 1 as well as their crushing defeat of Ferrari on home soil.

1. Fangio, ARG, Officine Alfieri Maserati, Maserati A6SSG 2.0 liter inline six. Pirelli (7th, career).
2. Farina, ITA, Scuderia Ferrari, -1.4 sec.
3. L. Villoresi, ITA, Scuderia Ferrari.

Constructor Victor: Officine Alfieri Maserati (maiden).
Engine Victor: Officine Alfieri Maserati (maiden).

A. Ascari ascends as the all-time leader in P1 grid positions with 13, and heads the Formula 1 tables with 13 victories.

Scuderia Ferrari stands atop the tables with 17 constructor and engine victories.

Championship
A. Ascari-ITA 46.5, G. Farina-ITA 32, J.M. Fangio-ARG 29.5. (Official: Ascari, Fangio, Farina).

Scuderia Ferrari 119.5, Officine Alfieri Maserati 62.5, Keck-Kurtis Kraft 9.

1953 F1 Driver’s Champion: A. Ascari, Italy, Ferrari (2nd career, all-time leader).

1953 F1 Constructor’s Champion: Scuderia Ferrari (3rd all-time).

Briton Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati, 18, right) In Fierce Hand-to-Hand Combat at Reims in 1953.

1953 RACE 5
Reims, France

5 July, Fortieth Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France
Reims-Gueux

P1 Grid: A. Ascari, ITA, Ferrari Tipo 500 2.0 liter inline four. Pirelli (10th, career).

J.F. Gonzalez (Maserati) wins the start.
J.M. Fangio (Maserati) assumes the lead at Lap 30 with a pass.
M. Hawthorn (Ferrari) assumes the lead at Lap 32 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 35 with a pass.
Hawthorn assumes the lead at Lap 38 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 39 with a pass.
Hawthorn assumes the lead at Lap 42 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 45 with a pass.
Hawthorn assumes the lead at Lap 48 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 49 with a pass.
Hawthorn assumes the lead at Lap 54 with a pass.
Fangio assumes the lead at Lap 55 with a pass.
Hawthorn assumes the lead at Lap 57 with a pass and drives on to victory.

In a remarkable wheel-to-wheel Grand Prix duel for the ages, Maserati and Ferrari wage an epic battle between drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Briton Michael Hawthorn. Commencing on Lap 30, both drivers initiate a side-by-side donnybrook that involves alternating passes of each other on the final corner at Reims before the home straight. Hawthorn, taking his mark on the famed Argentine, makes his decisive move for the point with only three laps remaining and then bravely holds off hard charging Fangio by a breathtaking five meter margin. An ecstatic Hawthorn, the standing champion at Le Mans for Jaguar claimed just one week prior, earns both his maiden Formula 1 victory as well as the first driver triumph for Great Britain.

1. Hawthorn, GBR, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari Tipo 500 2.0 liter inline four. Pirelli (maiden, career).
2. Fangio, ARG, Officine Alfieri Maserati, -1.0 sec.
3. Gonzalez, ARG, Officine Alfieri Maserati.

Constructor Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (14).
Engine Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (14).

Championship
A. Ascari-ITA 28, M. Hawthorn-GBR 14, L. Villoresi-ITA 13.

Scuderia Ferrari 64, Officine Alfieri Maserati 26, Keck-Kurtis Kraft 9.

Race Officials Tend to the Injured After Nino Farina Plows Into the Crowd at Buenos Aires.

1953 RACE 1
Buenos Aires, Argentina

18 January, Maiden Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Autodromo Oscar Alferedo Galéz

P1 Grid: A. Ascari, ITA, Ferrari Tipo 500 2.0 liter inline four. Pirelli (8th, career).

The 1953 Grand Prix season again runs under the Formula 2 specification.

Ascari wins the start and leads wire to wire for ninety-seven laps for victory, yet the race story revolves around Ferrari driver Giuseppe ‘Nina’ Farina. Per the permission of Argentine president Juan Perón, race fans line up trackside in rally-style fashion at many locations around the circuit, including the right hand sweeper that terminates the front stretch. The crowd presses itself onto the circuit’s asphalt edge as the race proceeds and on Lap 30, a young boy steps on the circuit to cheer the passing cars. Farina, approaching the curve, brakes and swerves to stay clear of the wayward child, yet his car breaks loose with the sudden action and careens into the crowd. Five to seven spectators lose their lives and scores suffer injuries in the horrific debacle as Farina climbs from the wreckage without a scratch.

Ferrari ascends as the series all-time leader in constructor and engine victories with eleven, surpassing one-time marque power Alfa Romeo.

1. Ascari, ITA, Scuderia Ferrari (9th, career).
2. L. Villoresi, ITA, Scuderia Ferrari, -31.7 sec.
3. J. F. Gonzalez, ARG, Officine Alfieri Maserati.

Constructor Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (11, all-time).
Engine Victor: Scuderia Ferrari (11, all-tiime).

Championship
A. Ascari-ITA 9, L. Villoresi-ITA 6, J.F. Gonzaléz-ARG 4.

Scuderia Ferrari 19, Officine Alfieri Maserati 6.

The Unassailable Alberto Ascari and Ferrari Dominate the Nurburgring and the Entire Series in 1952.

With the permanent withdrawal of Alfa Romeo and the accompanying pullback of Maserati from Formula 1 after the 1951 season, the field was literally left wide open for Scuderia Ferrari. Series organizers, stunned by the sudden departure by the Italian marques, desperately adopts a lesser mechanical formula (F2) in order to encourage other constructors, primarily the British, to replenish the depleted starting grid.

The Scuderia takes full advantage of the fallow period and in turn emblazons its brand among the minds of racing enthusiasts for all time. The marque dominates all events with the exception of Indianapolis, and ace driver Alberto Ascari establishes the F1 pantheon after winning six consecutive races, including four by wire-by-wire result. Along the way to his maiden F1 championship, Ascari ascends atop the tables with eight career victories, eclipsing the great Argentine Fangio, who misses most of the 1952 circuit with injury.

Ferrari wins its second consecutive constructor’s championship and matches former racing power Alfa Romeo with ten chassis and engine victories.

The Ferrari Tipo 500 1.9 Liter Inline Four.