1952 French Grand Prix

The 1952 French Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 6 July 1952 at Rouen-Les-Essarts. It was race 4 of 8 in the 1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula One regulations normally used. Unusually this race was run over a duration of 3 hours, rather than a fixed distance.

1952 French Grand Prix
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Race details
Date	6 July 1952 (1952-07-06)
Official name	XXXIX Grand Prix de l'ACF
Location	Rouen-Les-Essarts, Grand-Couronne, France
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.100 km (3.169 miles)
Distance	77 laps, 392.700 km (244.012 miles)
Weather	Rain
Pole position
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	2:14.8
Fastest lap
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	2:17.3 on lap 28
Podium
First	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari
Third	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari
Lap leaders

Report

Having won the previous weekend's Grand Prix de la Marne, Jean Behra, racing for Equipe Gordini, was among the favourites for the first French Grand Prix to be held at Rouen-Les-Essarts. Also driving for Gordini were regulars Robert Manzon and Prince Bira, alongside Maurice Trintignant, who replaced Johnny Claes from the lineup for the previous round. Claes entered the race in a Simca-Gordini under his own 'Ecurie Belge' label, which he had used in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Ferrari retained their lineup of Ascari, Farina and Taruffi, who had locked out the front row of the grid in Belgium. There were also several privateer Ferrari entries: the Swiss duo of Rudi Fischer and Peter Hirt, representing Ecurie Espadon, the Italian pairing of Franco Comotti and Piero Carini, for Scuderia Marzotto, and Louis Rosier. HWM again ran regular drivers Lance Macklin and Peter Collins, this time alongside Frenchman Yves Giraud-Cabantous. While the factory Maserati team remained absent, their new car, the A6GCM, made its World Championship debut, driven by Philippe Étancelin of Escuderia Bandeirantes. Enrico Platé entered a pair of older Maseratis, the 4CLT/48 model, for Toulo de Graffenried and Harry Schell. Completing the grid were Peter Whitehead, in a privately run Alta, and Mike Hawthorn, who again took part in a Cooper-Bristol.

Ascari took his second consecutive pole position, with his Ferrari teammates Farina and Taruffi again joining him on the front row of the grid. The Gordini team locked out the second row, with Behra and Manzon qualifying in fourth and fifth, respectively. Their teammates Trintignant and Bira started from the third row, alongside Peter Collins in the fastest of the HWMs. The new Maserati A6GCM proved a disappointment, with Philippe Étancelin only managing to qualify on the seventh row of the grid (out of eight).

The Ferraris once again dominated the race, with Alberto Ascari leading Farina from start to finish, thus taking his second consecutive victory in the World Championship. Despite a good start from the Gordinis of Manzon and Behra, that saw them take third and fourth place, respectively, by the end of the first lap, Piero Taruffi managed to regain third place on lap 4 and subsequently held it for the remainder of the race, ensuring that it was an all-Ferrari podium. Manzon finished fourth, a lap behind Taruffi, while his teammate Maurice Trintignant took the final points-scoring position of fifth. HWM driver Peter Collins took sixth, two laps behind Trintignant, ahead of Jean Behra, for whom seventh represented something of a recovery, having been in last place at the end of lap 3. His race had been compromised when he crashed and consequently needed to pit.

Ascari's win, and fastest lap, ensured that he took a five-point lead in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of fellow Ferrari driver Piero Taruffi. Farina's second consecutive second-place finish took him to third in the standings, one point adrift of Taruffi. Indianapolis 500 winner Troy Ruttman was a further four points behind in fourth, one point ahead of Gordini driver Robert Manzon.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
2	Robert Manzon	Equipe Gordini	Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 20 2.0 L6	E
4	Jean Behra		Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 20 2.0 L6	E
6	Prince Bira		Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini 20 2.0 L6	E
8	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4	P
10	Nino Farina		Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4	P
12	Piero Taruffi1		Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4	P
14	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4	D
16	Toulo de Graffenried2	Enrico Platé	Maserati-Platé	Maserati 4CLT-48	Platé 2.0 L4	P
18	Harry Schell		Maserati-Platé	Maserati 4CLT-48	Platé 2.0 L4	P
20	Lance Macklin	HW Motors	HWM-Alta	HWM 52	Alta F2 2.0 L4	D
22	Peter Collins		HWM-Alta	HWM 52	Alta F2 2.0 L4	D
24	Yves Giraud-Cabantous		HWM-Alta	HWM 52	Alta F2 2.0 L4	D
26	Peter Whitehead	Peter Whitehead	Alta	Alta	Alta F2 2.0 L4	D
28	Philippe Étancelin3	Escuderia Bandeirantes	Maserati	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati A6G 2.0 L6	P
30	Chico Landi4		Maserati	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati A6G 2.0 L6	P
32	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Gordini 1500 1.5 L4	E
34	Rudi Fischer5	Ecurie Espadon	Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Type 500 2.0 L4	P
36				Ferrari 212	Ferrari 166 2.0 V12
38	Franco Comotti6	Scuderia Marzotto	Ferrari	Ferrari 166F2-50	Ferrari 166 2.0 V12	P
40	Piero Carini6		Ferrari	Ferrari 166F2-50	Ferrari 166 2.0 V12	P
42	Mike Hawthorn6	Archie Bryde	Cooper-Bristol	Cooper T20	Bristol BS1 2.0 L6	D
44	Maurice Trintignant	Equipe Gordini	Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Gordini 1500 1.5 L4	E
Sources:

^1 — Piero Taruffi qualified and drove the entire race in the #12 Ferrari. Luigi Villoresi, who was also entered in the same car, was unable to participate due to injury.

^2 — Toulo de Graffenried qualified and drove 26 laps of the race in the #16 Maserati. Harry Schell, whose own vehicle had already retired, took over the car for a further 8 laps before again being forced to retire.

^3 — Philippe Étancelin qualified and drove the entire race in the #28 Maserati. Eitel Cantoni was also entered in the car, but took no part in the Grand Prix after being fired.

^4 — Chico Landi withdrew from the event prior to practice.

^5 — Rudi Fischer qualified and drove 37 laps of the race in the #36 Ferrari. He was initially due to drive the #34 Ferrari 500, but engine problems in practice meant that he instead participated in a 212. Peter Hirt took over the car for the remainder of the race. Rudolf Schoeller, named substitute driver for the car, was not used during the Grand Prix.

^6 — Vittorio Marzotto, Sergio Sighinolfi and Reg Parnell were the designated substitute drivers for cars #38, #40 and #42, respectively. None of the three was used during the Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	8	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	2:14.8	–
2	10	Nino Farina	Ferrari	2:16.2	+ 1.4
3	12	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	2:17.1	+ 2.3
4	4	Jean Behra	Gordini	2:19.3	+ 4.5
5	2	Robert Manzon	Gordini	2:20.4	+ 5.6
6	44	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini-Gordini	2:21.6	+ 6.8
7	22	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	2:21.9	+ 7.1
8	6	Prince Bira	Gordini	2:23.0	+ 8.2
9	14	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	2:27.0	+ 12.2
10	24	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	HWM-Alta	2:27.5	+ 12.7
11	16	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	2:28.6	+ 13.8
12	18	Harry Schell	Maserati	2:29.0	+ 14.2
13	26	Peter Whitehead	Alta	2:29.5	+ 14.7
14	20	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	2:30.9	+ 16.1
15	42	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper-Bristol	2:32.0	+ 17.2
16	28	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	2:33.7	+ 18.9
17	36	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	2:34.6	+ 19.8
18	38	Franco Comotti	Ferrari	2:36.0	+ 21.2
19	40	Piero Carini	Ferrari	2:37.7	+ 22.9
20	32	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini-Gordini	2:39.6	+ 24.8

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	77	3:02:42.6	1	91
2	10	Nino Farina	Ferrari	76	+ 1 lap	2	6
3	12	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	75	+ 2 laps	3	4
4	2	Robert Manzon	Gordini	74	+ 3 laps	5	3
5	44	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini-Gordini	72	+ 5 laps	6	2
6	22	Peter Collins	HWM-Alta	70	+ 7 laps	8
7	4	Jean Behra	Gordini	70	+ 7 laps	4
8	28	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	70	+ 7 laps	18
9	20	Lance Macklin	HWM-Alta	70	+ 7 laps	14
10	24	Yves Giraud Cabantous	HWM-Alta	68	+ 9 laps	10
11	36	Rudi Fischer Peter Hirt	Ferrari	66	+ 11 laps	17
12	38	Franco Comotti	Ferrari	63	+ 14 laps	16
Ret	6	Prince Bira	Gordini	56	Axle	7
Ret	42	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper-Bristol	51	Ignition	15
Ret	16	Toulo de Graffenried Harry Schell	Maserati	34	Brakes	12
Ret	26	Peter Whitehead	Alta	17	Clutch	13
Ret	14	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	17	Engine	9
Ret	32	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini-Gordini	15	Engine	20
Ret	18	Harry Schell	Maserati	7	Gearbox	11
Ret	40	Piero Carini	Ferrari	2	Engine	19
DNS	34	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	0	Engine
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives

• Car #34: Fischer (33 laps) then Hirt (33 laps)
• Car #16: de Graffenried (20 laps) then Schell (14 laps)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Alberto Ascari	18
1	2	Piero Taruffi	13
1	3	Nino Farina	12
1	4	Troy Ruttman	8
3	5	Robert Manzon	7
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.