1953 Formula One Season

1953 FIA Formula One World Championship

Previous	Next
1952	1954

1953 World Champion, Alberto Ascari

Season data

Number of races

9

First race

Argentine Grand Prix

Last race

Italian Grand Prix

Drivers' World Championship

Champion

Alberto Ascari
34.5 points

Runners-up

Juan Manuel Fangio
28 points

3rd

Nino Farina
26 points

As in 1952, the 1953 Formula One season consisted of a small number of Formula One races, following the FIA's decision to once again run the World Drivers' Championship to Formula Two regulations rather than Formula One.

The 4th FIA World Drivers' Championship, which commenced on January 18, 1953, and ended on September 13 after nine races, was won by Alberto Ascari, driving for Scuderia Ferrari.

In addition to the Formula One races and the World Championship Formula Two races, numerous other Formula Two races, which did not count towards the Championship, were also held during the year.

World Championship season summary[]

Ferrari again dominated the championship, taking seven of the eight grands prix, although Fangio's Maserati challenge took him to second place in the championship and a win at Monza. Ascari stretched his unbeaten run to nine grand prix before Hawthorn broke the sequence at Reims.

Points were given to top 5 finishers (8, 6, 4, 3, 2). 1 point was given for fastest lap. Only the best four of nine scores counted towards the world championship. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps. In 1953, all World Championship events (except the Indianapolis 500) were run under Formula 2 regulations.

World Championship season review[]

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Tyres	Report
1	Argentine Grand Prix	January 18	Autódromo 17 de Octubre	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
2	Indianapolis 500	May 30	Indianapolis	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	F	Report
3	Dutch Grand Prix	June 7	Zandvoort	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
4	Belgian Grand Prix	June 21	Spa- Francorchamps	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
5	French Grand Prix	July 5	Reims	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	P	Report
6	British Grand Prix	July 18	Silverstone	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
7	German Grand Prix	August 2	Nürburgring	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	P	Report
8	Swiss Grand Prix	August 23	Bremgarten	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
9	Italian Grand Prix	September 13	Monza	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	P	Report

1953 Drivers Championship final standings[]

Pos.	Driver	ARG	500‡	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	SUI	ITA	Pts.
1	Alberto Ascari	1*		1	1	4	1**	8† / Ret*†	1*	Ret	34.5 (46.5)
2	Juan Manuel Fangio	Ret		NC	Ret / Ret†	2*	2	2	4† / Ret†	1*	28 (29.5)
3	Nino Farina	Ret		2	Ret	5	3	1	2	2	26 (32)
4	Mike Hawthorn	4		4	6	1	5	3	3	4	19 (27)
5	Luigi Villoresi	2		Ret*	2	6	Ret	8† / Ret†	6	3	17
6	José Froilán González	3		3†	Ret*	3	4**				13.5 (14.5)
7	Bill Vukovich		1*								9
8	Toulo de Graffenried			5	4	7	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	7
9	Felice Bonetto	Ret		3†		Ret	6	4	4† / Ret†	Ret	6.5
10	Art Cross		2								6
11	Onofre Marimón				3	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4
12	Maurice Trintignant	7†		6	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	4
13	Sam Hanks		3†								2
14	Duane Carter		3†								2
15	Óscar Alfredo Gálvez	5									2
16	Jack McGrath		5								2
17	Hermann Lang								5		2
18	Fred Agabashian		4†								1.5
19	Paul Russo		4†								1.5
20	Stirling Moss			9		Ret		6		13	0
21	Jean Behra	6			Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret		0
22	Roberto Mieres			NC		Ret				6	0
23	Jimmy Daywalt		6								0
24	Harry Schell	7†		Ret	7	Ret	Ret	Ret		9	0
25	Louis Rosier			7	8	8	10	10	Ret	16	0
26	Ken Wharton			Ret		Ret	8		7	NC	0
27	Prince Bira					Ret	7	Ret		11	0
28	Jacques Swaters							7	Ret		0
29	Jim Rathmann		7								0
30	Sergio Mantovani									7†	0
31	Luigi Musso									7†	0
32	Peter Collins			8	Ret	13	Ret				0
33	John Barber	8									0
34	Ernie McCoy		8								0
35	Max de Terra								8		0
36	Umberto Maglioli									8	0
37	Alan Brown	9					Ret	Ret		12	0
38	Tony Bettenhausen		9								0
39	Fred Wacker				9						0
40	Peter Whitehead						9				0
41	Hans Herrmann							9			0
42	Albert Scherrer								9		0
43	Louis Chiron					15				10	0
44	Paul Frère				10				Ret		0
45	Jimmy Davies		10								0
46	Duke Nalon		11								0
47	André Pilette				11						0
48	Bob Gerard					11					0
49	Rodney Nuckey							11			0
50	Johnny Claes			NC	Ret†	12		Ret		Ret	0
51	Carl Scarborough		12								0
52	Theo Helfrich							12			0
53	Kenneth McAlpine			Ret			Ret	13		NC	0
54	Manny Ayulo		13								0
55	Yves Giraud Cabantous					14				15	0
56	Hans Stuck							Ret		14	0
57	Jimmy Bryan		14								0
58	Rudolf Krause							14			0
59	Bill Holland		15								0
60	Ernst Klodwig							15			0
61	Rodger Ward		16								0
62	Wolfgang Seidel							16			0
63	Walt Faulkner		17								0
—	Jack Fairman						Ret			NC	0
—	Lance Macklin			Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret		Ret	Ret	0
—	Roy Salvadori			Ret		Ret	Ret	Ret		Ret	0
—	Élie Bayol					Ret				Ret	0
—	Chico Landi								Ret	Ret	0
—	Robert Manzon	Ret									0
—	Carlos Menditeguy	Ret									0
—	Pablo Birger	Ret									0
—	Adolfo Schwelm Cruz	Ret									0
—	Marshall Teague		Ret								0
—	Spider Webb		Ret								0
—	Bob Sweikert		Ret								0
—	Mike Nazaruk		Ret								0
—	Pat Flaherty		Ret								0
—	Jerry Hoyt		Ret								0
—	Johnnie Parsons		Ret								0
—	Don Freeland		Ret								0
—	Gene Hartley		Ret								0
—	Chuck Stevenson		Ret								0
—	Cal Niday		Ret								0
—	Bob Scott		Ret								0
—	Andy Linden		Ret								0
—	Johnny Thomson		Ret								0
—	Georges Berger				Ret						0
—	Arthur Legat				Ret						0
—	Jimmy Stewart						Ret				0
—	Tony Rolt						Ret				0
—	Ian Stewart						Ret				0
—	Duncan Hamilton						Ret				0
—	Tony Crook						Ret				0
—	Edgar Barth							Ret			0
—	Oswald Karch							Ret			0
—	Willi Heeks							Ret			0
—	Theo Fitzau							Ret			0
—	Kurt Adolff							Ret			0
—	Günther Bechem							Ret			0
—	Ernst Loof							Ret			0
—	Erwin Bauer							Ret			0
—	Peter Hirt								Ret		0
—	Piero Carini									Ret	0
—	John Fitch									Ret	0
Pos.	Driver	ARG	500‡	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	SUI	ITA	Pts.

* Fastest lap (1 point awarded)
** Multiple drivers set equal fastest lap times, thus sharing the 1 point.
† Position shared between more drivers of the same car
‡ Several cars were shared in this race. See the race page for details.
Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

Non-Championship race results[]

Formula One/Two races also held in 1953, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
III Gran Premio di Siracusa	Syracuse	March 22	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
XIV Grand Prix de Pau	Pau	April 6	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	Report
V Lavant Cup	Goodwood	April 6	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
II Aston Martin Owners Club F2 Race	Snetterton	April 18	Eric Thompson	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
III Grand Prix de Bordeaux	Bordeaux	May 3	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	Report
I Strassen-Rennen Karl-Marx-Stadt	Karl-Marx-Stadt	May 3	Rudolf Krause	BMW-Reif	Report
V BRDC International Trophy	Silverstone	May 9	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	Report
XV Eläintarhanajot	Eläintarharata	May 10	Rodney Nuckey	Cooper-Bristol	Report
VI Gran Premio di Napoli	Posillipo	May 10	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	Report
VII Ulster Trophy	Dundrod	May 16	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	Report
I Winfield JC Formula 2 Race	Charterhall	May 23	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Climax	Report
III Coronation Trophy	Crystal Palace	May 23	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
XXIII Grand Prix des Frontières	Chimay	May 24	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	Report
I Snetterton Coronation Trophy	Snetterton	May 30	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
XVII Internationales ADAC Eifelrennen	Nürburgring	May 31	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
XV Grand Prix de l'Albigeois	Albi	May 31	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	Report
I Coupe de Printemps	Montlhéry	May 31	Marcel Balsa	BMW	Report
I Paul Greifzu Gedachtnisrennen	Dessau	June 7	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
II West Essex CC Race	Snetterton	June 27	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
I Midlands MECC Race	Silverstone	June 27	Tony Crook	Cooper-Alta	Report
III Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts	Rouen-les-Essarts	June 28	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	Report
IV Strassen-rennen Halle-Saale-Schleife	Halle-Saale-Schleife	July 5	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
I Crystal Palace Trophy	Crystal Palace	July 11	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
IX Internationales Avusrennen	AVUS	July 12	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	Report
II United States Air Force Trophy	Snetterton	July 25	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
V Circuit du Lac	Aix-les-Bains	July 26	Élie Bayol	OSCA	Report
I Dresden Autobahn-spinne	Dresden-Hellerau	July 26	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
I Bristol MC & LCC Race	Thruxton	August 3	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
I Mid-Cheshire MC Race	Oulton Park	August 8	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
III Grand Prix de Sables d'Olonne	Les Sables-d'Olonne	August 9	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	Report
II Newcastle Journal Trophy	Charterhall	August 15	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	Report
V Circuit de Cadours	Cadours	August 30	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	Report
V Sachsenringrennen	Sachsenring	September 6	Edgar Barth	EMW-BMW	Report
I RedeX Trophy	Snetterton	September 12	Eric Thompson	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
III Skarpnäcksloppet	Skarpnäck	September 13	Erik Lundgren	Ford	Report
I London Trophy	Crystal Palace	September 19	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	Report
IV Gran Premio di Modena	Modena	September 20	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	Report
VI Madgwick Cup	Goodwood	September 26	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea-Francis	Report
II Bernau Autobahnschleife	Bernau	September 27	Artur Rosenhammer	EMW	Report
II Joe Fry Memorial Trophy	Castle Combe	October 3	Bob Gerard	Cooper-Bristol	Report
I Curtis Trophy	Snetterton	October 17	Bob Gerard	Cooper-Bristol	Report

1953 Formula One Season

Contents

World Championship season summary[]

World Championship season review[]

1953 Drivers Championship final standings[]

Non-Championship race results[]

Notes[]

See Also[]

Fan Feed