1953 Italian Grand Prix

1953 Italian Grand Prix
Previous←	1953 Swiss Grand Prix
Round	9 of 1953
Next→	1954 Argentine Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	September 13, 1953
Official Name	XXIV Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza Monza, Monza e della Brianza, Italia
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.300 km (3.915 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 504 km (313.171 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Alberto Ascari Ferrari
Time	2:02.7
Fastest Lap
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati
Time	2:04.5 on lap 39
Podium
First	Juan Manuel Fangio
Second	Giuseppe Farina
Third	Luigi Villoresi
Lap Leaders

The 1953 Italian Grand Prix was (with the cancellation of the Spanish Grand Prix) the final race of the 1953 season. It was held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 13. An exciting slipstreaming battle among several drivers saw leader Alberto Ascari spin out of contention on the final lap, giving victory to Juan Manuel Fangio.

Background

With the world championship having been decided three weeks earlier at Berne, the Italian GP had a rather anticlimactic air to it. But Enzo Ferrari filled the news void, by announcing that the Ferrari team was withdrawing from auto racing, effective immediately. Ferrari's growing reputation for erratic behavior was enhanced, when not only did the team arrive with no fewer than six of their 500 models, but in practice a brand new model 553 was tested.

The 553 was designed to be run in the new 2.5 liter formula, but appeared at Monza with the Typo 500 2.0 liter engine, purely as a shakedown test. The car was not a success in 1954, only winning one race before the model was retired.

Maserati showed up with four factory cars and three privateers. Much of their effort was in testing new drivers, as the recovery of José Froilán González, who suffered a cracked vertebra in a sports car race in Lisbon, was not guaranteed. Filling out the field were four Connaughts, four Coopers (including one for rising star Stirling Moss), three Gordinis, three HWMs and two French OSCAs. All told the entry was second in the European races only to Germany.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 1953 Italian Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
2	Luigi Villoresi	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
4	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
6	Giuseppe Farina	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
8	Mike Hawthorn	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
10	Umberto Maglioli	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
12	Piero Carini	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P
14	Lance Macklin	HW Motors	HWM	53	Alta	Alta GP 2.5 L4	D
16	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	HW Motors	HWM	53	Alta	Alta GP 2.5 L4	D
18	John Fitch	HW Motors	HWM	53	Alta	Alta GP 2.5 L4	D
20	Jack Fairman	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	Type A	Lea-Francis	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	D
22	Roy Salvadori	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	Type A	Lea-Francis	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	D
24	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	Type A	Lea-Francis	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	D
26	Johnny Claes	Connaught Engineering	Connaught	Type A	Lea-Francis	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	D
28	Stirling Moss	Cooper Car Company	Cooper	T23	Alta	Alta GP 2.5 L4	D
30	Ken Wharton	Ken Wharton	Cooper	T23	Bristol	BS1 2.0 L6	D
32	Louis Chiron	Louis Chiron	OSCA	20	OSCA	2000 2.0 L6	P
34	Élie Bayol	OSCA Automobili	OSCA	20	OSCA	2000 2.0 L6	P
36	Maurice Trintignant	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	Type 16	Gordini	20 2.0 L6	E
38	Harry Schell	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	Type 16	Gordini	20 2.0 L6	E
40	Roberto Mieres	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	Type 16	Gordini	20 2.0 L6	E
42	Chico Landi	Scuderia Milano	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
44	Prince Bira	Scuderia Milano	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
46	Alan Brown	Equipe Anglaise	Cooper	T23	Bristol	BS1 2.0 L6	D
48	Hans Stuck	Hans Stuck	AFM	6	Bristol	BS1 2.0 L6	D
50	Juan Manuel Fangio	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
52	Felice Bonetto	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
54	Onofre Marimón	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
56	Sergio Mantovani	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
58	Toulo de Graffenried	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati	A6 2.0 L6	P
64	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Ferrari	500	Ferrari	500 2.0 L4	P

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	4	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2:02.7	—
2	50	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	2:03.2	+ 0.5
3	6	Nino Farina	Ferrari	2:03.9	+ 1.2
4	54	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	2:04.1	+ 1.4
5	2	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	2:04.6	+ 1.9
6	8	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2:04.9	+ 2.2
7	52	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	2:05.1	+ 2.4
8	36	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	2:05.7	+ 3.0
9	58	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	2:05.9	+ 3.2
10	28	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	2:06.6	+ 3.9
11	10	Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari	2:06.9	+ 4.2
12	56	Sergio Mantovani	Maserati	2:07.5	+ 4.8
13	34	Élie Bayol	OSCA	2:07.8	+ 5.1
14	22	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea Francis	2:08.0	+ 5.3
15	38	Harry Schell	Gordini	2:08.5	+ 5.8
16	40	Roberto Mieres	Gordini	2:08.8	+ 6.1
17	64	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	2:08.9	+ 6.2
18	24	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea Francis	2:09.0	+ 6.3
19	30	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	2:09.3	+ 6.6
20	12	Piero Carini	Ferrari	2:09.5	+ 6.8
21	42	Chico Landi	Maserati	2:09.7	+ 7.0
22	20	Jack Fairman	Connaught-Lea Francis	2:09.9	+ 7.2
23	44	Prince Bira	Maserati	2:10.1	+ 7.4
24	46	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	2:10.5	+ 7.8
25	32	Louis Chiron	OSCA	2:10.8	+ 8.1
26	18	John Fitch	HWM-Alta	2:11.0	+ 8.3
27	14	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	2:11.5	+ 8.8
28	16	Yves Giraud Cabantous	HWM-Alta	2:11.9	+ 9.2
29	48	Hans Stuck	AFM-Bristol	2:13.0	+ 10.3
30	26	Johnny Claes	Connaught-Lea Francis	2:14.6	+ 11.9

Grid

Pos	Pos	Pos
Driver	Driver	Driver
		______________
	______________	1
______________	2	Alberto Ascari
3	Juan Manuel Fangio
Giuseppe Farina
		______________
	______________	4
______________	5	Onofre Marimón
6	Luigi Villoresi
Mike Hawthorn
		______________
	______________	7
______________	8	Felice Bonetto
9	Maurice Trintignant
Toulo de Graffenried
		______________
	______________	10
______________	11	Stirling Moss
12	Umberto Maglioli
Sergio Mantovani
		______________
	______________	13
______________	14	Élie Bayol
15	Roy Salvadori
Harry Schell
		______________
	______________	16
______________	17	Roberto Mieres
18	Louis Rosier
Kenneth McAlpine
		______________
	______________	19
______________	20	Ken Wharton
21	Piero Carini
Chico Landi
		______________
	______________	22
______________	23	Jack Fairman
24	Prince Bira
Alan Brown
		______________
	______________	25
______________	26	Louis Chiron
27	John Fitch
Lance Macklin
		______________
	______________	28
______________	29	Yves Giraud-Cabantous
30	Hans Stuck
Johnny Claes

Race

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts.
1	50	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	80	2:49:45.9	2	9
2	6	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	80	+ 1.4	3	6
Ret	4	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	79	Spun off	1
3	2	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	79	+ 1 Lap	5	4
4	8	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	79	+ 1 Lap	6	3
5	36	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	79	+ 1 Lap	8	2
Ret	52	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	77	Out of fuel	7
6	40	Roberto Mieres	Gordini	77	+ 3 Laps	16
7	56	Sergio Mantovani Luigi Musso	Maserati	76	+ 4 Laps	12
Ret	54	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	75	Accident	4
8	10	Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari	75	+ 5 Laps	11
9	38	Harry Schell	Gordini	75	+ 5 Laps	15
10	32	Louis Chiron	OSCA	72	+ 8 Laps	25
11	44	Prince Bira	Maserati	72	+ 8 Laps	23
Ret	58	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	70	Engine	9
12	46	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	70	+ 10 Laps	24
13	28	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	70	+ 10 Laps	10
14	48	Hans Stuck	AFM-Bristol	67	+ 13 Laps	29
15	16	Yves Giraud Cabantous	HWM-Alta	67	+ 13 Laps	28
16	64	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	65	+ 15 Laps	17
NC	20	Jack Fairman	Connaught-Lea Francis	61	+ 19 Laps	22
NC	30	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	57	+ 23 Laps	19
NC	24	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea Francis	56	+ 24 Laps	18
Ret	12	Piero Carini	Ferrari	40	Engine	20
Ret	22	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea Francis	33	Throttle	14
Ret	42	Chico Landi	Maserati	18	Engine	21
Ret	34	Élie Bayol	OSCA	17	Engine	13
Ret	18	John Fitch	HWM-Alta	14	Engine	26
Ret	26	Johnny Claes	Connaught-Lea Francis	7	Fuel line	30
Ret	14	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	6	Engine	27

Standings after race

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