1952 Swiss Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Switzerland 1952 took place on 18 May at the track Bremgarten in Bern and was the first of eight races of the Formula 1 season 1952.
Background
The Grand Prix of Switzerland in 1952 was the first race, which was held under the new formula - 2 mode, as not homed sufficient competitors in Formula 1. The development possibilities of the Alfa Romeo 159 were largely exhausted and for the redesign was not enough money. Therefore, the team withdrew from Formula 1. For so did Talbot and Gordini, so that Ferrari would be left behind as the only competitive team. B.R.M. ' s vehicle was not yet mature. The hosting of the World Cup driver according to the rules of Formula 2 meant slower lap times, but also significantly greater starter fields. The race distance has been increased over the previous year from 42 to 62 rounds, the prize money for the winner was 7,000 SFr.
Favorite was still Ferrari. In Bern, but the team stepped up to without his number one Alberto Ascari, who dabbled in Indianapolis, one of the few attempts to integrate the races somehow in the drivers' world championship. Due to the large time span of the training time in the U.S. it was Ascari not possible to participate in both events. So Ferrari came with Farina, Taruffi and André Simon as a replacement for the injured in a traffic accident Villoresi. The Swiss Rudolf Fischer drove a fourth car. Maserati had originally planned to report two vehicles for the reigning World Champion Fangio and José González Froilán, but the vehicles were not ready.
Training
The training of Ferrari As expected, dominates. Farina secured with 2.5 sec. Ahead of his teammate Taruffi the pole position. His time, however, was about 11 seconds slower than that of Fangio in the previous year. Robert Manzon in the Gordini completed the first row.
Race
In a sports car race before the pre-war star Rudolf Caracciola was serious accident, which put an end to his career. Farina continued his pole position into the lead and pulled the box away until lap 17 before he stopped on the track with ignition problems. Before Rosier had been flung in round 3 in round out of his car, but without suffering great injury. Collins and Abecassis were with their H.W.M. failed with broken rear axles, which inspired the team to withdraw the remaining drivers Moss and Macklin for security reasons. By Farinas failure Taruffi lay ahead of Simon in the lead. Once Farina returned on foot to the pits, Simon was called in to the pits and handed his Ferrari at Farina. But in the 51st round he lay again with Simon's car with the same problem. Thrown back by the driver change to the third place, he was able to overtake on lap 35 the pre- deployed Behra again. Behra had a problem with a broken exhaust. This meant that he insert on the other few boxes holding had to give him a makeshift repair and the driver always cool with water as it was unbearably hot in the cockpit for a slower drove. Taruffi drove an easy victory. It should be his only victory in a World Championship race.
Message list
Classification
Line-up
Race results
Standings after the race
The first five were 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 points; one point there was for the fastest lap. There are only the four best results from the eight races. * Includes the point for the fastest lap, numbers in parentheses are void results.