1951 German Grand Prix
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Race details
Date	29 July 1951
Official name	XIV Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring Nürburg, Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	22.810 km (14.173 miles)
Distance	20 laps, 456.20 km (283.47 miles)
Weather	Sunny, Mild, Dry
Pole position
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari
Time	9:55.8
Fastest lap
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Time	9:55.8
Podium
First	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari
Second	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Third	José Froilán González	Scuderia Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1951 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 July 1951 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It was race 6 of 8 in the 1951 World Championship of Drivers.

Report

Alfa Romeo once again fielded four cars, with local driver Paul Pietsch replacing Consalvo Sanesi, joining Fangio, Farina and Bonetto. Following on from their maiden victory at Silverstone, Ferrari also entered four drivers. Piero Taruffi rejoined their lineup, alongside Ascari, Villoresi and British Grand Prix winner José Froilán González. Ferrari continued their good form from the previous event, with Ascari and González the fastest two qualifiers. Fangio and Farina completed the front row, with Villoresi, Taruffi and Pietsch making up the second row.

Nino Farina initially took the lead, but, by the end of the first lap, had been passed by Fangio, Ascari and González. Paul Pietsch was running in fifth, but ended up at the back of the field after going off on the second lap. When Farina was forced to retire due to overheating problems, Fangio was left as the sole Alfa Romeo able to take the fight to the Ferrari drivers. Alberto Ascari took the lead on the fifth lap as a result of Fangio's first pitstop, but Fangio returned to the lead when Ascari took to the pits. As the Alfas required two pitstops, as opposed to just one for the Ferraris, Fangio needed to build a large lead in his second stint if he wanted to retain the lead after his second stop. He was unable to do so, therefore Ascari reclaimed the lead on the fifteenth lap of the race. Due to a misbehaving engine and a gearbox with only 3rd and 4th (4th being the highest gear), Fangio was unable to take advantage of an unexpected tyre change for Ascari, meaning that the Italian took his maiden World Championship race victory by over half a minute from Fangio. González completed the podium, with the remaining points positions going to the other works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi.^[1]

Ascari's victory took him to second in the Championship standings, ten points adrift of Fangio, who extended his lead from the previous race. After his second consecutive podium, José Froilán González moved up to third in the standings, level on points with Farina and Villoresi.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
71	Alberto Ascari	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
72	Luigi Villoresi		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
73	Piero Taruffi		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
74	José Froilán González		Ferrari	Ferrari 375	Ferrari Type 375 4.5 V12	P
75	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159B	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
76	Nino Farina		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159B	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
77	Felice Bonetto		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159A	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
78	Paul Pietsch		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 159	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8s	P
79	Toulo de Graffenried	Enrico Platé	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
80	Paul Pietsch1		Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
81	Maurice Trintignant	Equipe Gordini	Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
82	Robert Manzon		Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
83	André Simon		Simca-Gordini	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5 L4s	E
84	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
85	Louis Chiron		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
86	Philippe Étancelin	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
87	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
88	Duncan Hamilton	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
89	David Murray	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	D
90	Pierre Levegh	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
91	Rudi Fischer	Ecurie Espadon	Ferrari	Ferrari 212	Ferrari 212 2.5 V12	P
92	Toni Branca	Antonio Branca	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
93	Jacques Swaters	Ecurie Belgique	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
94	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
95	Prince Bira2	Ecurie Siam	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
96	Erik Lundgren2	Erik Lundgren	EL-Ford	EL Special	Ford V8	?
97	Chico Landi2	Escuderia Bandeirantes	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
Sources:[2][3]

^1 — Paul Pietsch qualified and raced in a different car, the #78 Alfa Romeo.^[4]

^2 — Prince Bira, Erik Lundgren and Chico Landi all withdrew from the event prior to practice.^[4]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	71	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	9:55.8	–
2	74	José Froilán González	Ferrari	9:57.5	+ 1.7
3	75	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	9:59.0	+ 3.2
4	76	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	10:01.1	+ 5.3
5	72	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	10:06.6	+ 10.8
6	73	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	10:12.9	+ 17.1
7	78	Paul Pietsch	Alfa Romeo	10:15.7	+ 19.9
8	91	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	10:23.8	+ 28.0
9	82	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	10:28.9	+ 33.1
10	77	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	10:46.1	+ 50.3
11	87	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	10:52.8	+ 57.0
12	83	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	10:57.5	+ 1:01.7
13	85	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:00.2	+ 1:04.4
14	81	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	11:07.5	+ 1:11.7
15	84	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:08.2	+ 1:12.4
16	79	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	11:25.6	+ 1:29.8
17	92	Toni Branca	Maserati	11:26.7	+ 1:30.9
18	94	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:33.9	+ 1:38.1
19	90	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:41.9	+ 1:46.1
20	88	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:49.3	+ 1:53.5
21	86	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	11:52.9	+ 1:57.1
22	93	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	12:09.1	+ 2:13.3
23	89	David Murray	Maserati	No time	–
Source:[5]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	71	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	20	3:23:03.3	1	8
2	75	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	20	+30.5	3	71
3	74	José Froilán González	Ferrari	20	+4:39.0	2	4
4	72	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	20	+5:50.2	5	3
5	73	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	20	+7:49.1	6	2
6	91	Rudi Fischer	Ferrari	19	+1 lap	8
7	82	Robert Manzon	Simca-Gordini	19	+1 lap	9
8	84	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	19	+1 lap	15
9	90	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	18	+2 laps	19
10	93	Jacques Swaters	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	18	+2 laps	22
11	94	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	17	+3 laps	18
Ret	87	Yves Giraud Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	17	Accident	11
Ret	81	Maurice Trintignant	Simca-Gordini	13	Engine	14
Ret	77	Felice Bonetto	Alfa Romeo	12	Magneto	10
Ret	88	Duncan Hamilton	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	12	Oil pressure	20
Ret	78	Paul Pietsch	Alfa Romeo	11	Accident	7
Ret	83	André Simon	Simca-Gordini	11	Engine	12
Ret	76	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	8	Overheating	4
Ret	86	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4	Gearbox	21
Ret	85	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	3	Ignition	13
Ret	92	Toni Branca	Maserati	3	Engine	17
Ret	79	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	2	Engine	16
Source:[6]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	27 (28)
4	2	Alberto Ascari	17
1	3	José Froilán González	15
2	4	Nino Farina	15
2	5	Luigi Villoresi	15
Source:[7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.