1951 French Grand Prix

The 1951 French Grand Prix was the fourth race of the 1951 Formula One World Championship and was held at Reims-Gueux on July 1st 1951. Toulo de Graffenried took his maiden World Championship victory ahead of Maurice Trintignant and Giuseppe Farina. The race was notable for a violent accident involving Franco Rol. His career was initially thought to have been ended in the accident, but he eventually returned to racing three years later.

Background

Following the death of Luigi Fagioli, the Formula One paddock was reluctant to continue the season. The teams and governing body never considered considered cancelling the French Grand Prix in Reims-Gueux, but a handful of drivers decided not to make the trip, notably Hans Stuck, Jacques Swaters, and Fagioli's close friend Consalvo Sanesi. This left a shorter entry list, with only 29 drivers taking part.

Race weekend

Qualifying

With 28 grid spots available to 29 drivers, only one driver would fail to qualify. It turned out to be a fairly forgettable session, with Ferrari teammates Toulo de Graffenried and Peter Whitehead taking the first two positions, ahead of the Gordinis of Bettenhausen and Manzon and the Alfa Romeos of Fangio and Farina. The greatest disappointment came from Scuderia Maremmana, who followed von Brauchitsch's points in Spa with a complete failure to be competitive in qualifying at Reims. The sole driver who failed to qualify was local hopeful Aldo Gordini.

Race

De Graffenried had a very good start and still led at the end of lap 1 without putting a foot wrong. Manzon also got a very good start, even better than de Graffenried, and duly took second place, with Whitehead now third ahead of Bettenhausen and Fangio. Another driver who made the perfect start was André Simon, who was still 14th, but was very threatening. Bettenhausen then passed Whitehead for third position, leaving the Englishman squabbling over fourth with Fangio, with Farina and Rol a short way back. Fangio then launched an attack to move up to third place, while Manzon dropped back, as Bettenhausen was the only one who managed to respond quickly enough, keeping his second place. Manzon also dropped behind Whitehead, down to fifth and fighting with Farina, who had let Rol behind him after a very quick lap.

Bettenhausen then set about catching de Graffenried, who was already in a commanding lead, tracking him down in just one lap, finishing lap 4 just behind the Swiss, with Whitehead and Fangio side by side around half a second behind, with Manzon one second behind then, closely followed by Farina, the others being already left behind the top six. However, despite Bettenhausen's best attempts, de Graffenried kept the lead, actually extending the gap, while the gaps separating the rest of the top six just got smaller and smaller. Instead, it was Whitehead who bridged the gap between Toulo and the chasing pack, followed equally closely by Manzon, then Bettenhausen and Farina, with Fangio having fallen back somewhat. De Graffenried wasn't about to let his lead slip away. He wanted his first win badly. Bettenhausen, meanwhile, was falling behind and getting caught by Johnny Claes, having a good race for a change. Dorino Serafini was the first man to retire on lap 7, when his car gave up the ghost in the village of Gueux. He was fighting for 11th with Maurice Trintignant at the time of his retirement.

The Ferraris then inexplicably slowed, leaving a golden opportunity for the other drivers. Farina took advantage of this, setting the fastest lap of the race and also taking the race lead in the process, therefore leading after a fifth of the race. De Graffenried kept second place, with Whitehead and Manzon side by side for third place. Fangio was just behind in fifth, rounding out the points. A bit further behind was Johnny Claes, sensing the opportunity for some attrition-aided points, with Bettenhausen just behind him, having just been passed. Trintignant, who had been setting some extremely quick laps, Gonzalez and Simon closed off the top ten.

Farina then set about improving his lead, this being a relatively easy task, with de Graffenried, Fangio, Manzon and Whitehead all fighting hard over second place. On lap 14, Toulo decided that he had had enough and started to hunt down Farina, who had a lead of several seconds already. He was followed by Manzon, trying to hang on to a potential podium finish. Bettenhausen also retired from the race, after a promising start to the race then saw him lose place after place and end up seventh. Maybe he was trying too hard to make up some places, all we can tell is that the car gave up on him.

Whitehead was now falling behind and on the verge of being passed by Trintignant and Claes. Fangio was also catching up, now around a second behind Manzon. On the next lap, Fangio had fallen behind, while Whitehead escaped from Trintignant and Claes, both getting closer to each other. However, for Fangio, this was only temporary, and he took third from Manzon, taking advantage of a mistake by the Frenchman on lap 18. Fangio was on fire at this point, and was now chasing down de Graffenried. The Swiss responded by setting his personal fastest lap, getting closer and closer to Farina in the process.

However, the leading two would only be able to stay on the pace for so long, and both started to slow down, while Fangio was still very strong. Manzon also managed to keep a reasonable distance between Fangio and himself, also leaving Whitehead in his wake. The Englishman was having trouble staying on the pace, and Trintignant and Claes were getting closer and closer. André Simon then retired from the race. After a good start that saw him into the top ten for a short time, he was in twelfth when his car stopped by the side of the road.

At the halfway point, Farina still led, but de Graffenried was now closer than ever. Fangio would have been right there with them, but made a mistake on lap 25 and was a bit further behind. Manzon was still a solid fourth, with Whitehead in fifth position. Trintignant was sixth and getting closer to Whitehead, with Claes just a bit further behind the Frenchman. Stirling Moss, Franco Rol and B. Bira round out the top ten. Gonzalez, Pilette, Chiron, Grignard, von Brauchitsch, Villoresi, Chaboud, Giraud-Cabantous, Ascari and Taruffi made up the positions 11-20. The order was finished by, in that order, Landi, Biondetti, Bracco and Gérard. Hampshire was on the side of the road at Thillois, his engine on fire. He was in second-last before retiring.

De Graffenried retook the lead on lap 27, but Farina wasn't going to let go. Indeed, he took the lead again on the next lap after outbraking Toulo at Thillois. Manzon was falling off the pace at this point, Whitehead was now breathing down his neck, and he eventually passed him on lap 29. However, after Fagioli's fatal accident at Spa two weeks previously, no one wished for what happened next. Franco Rol was running a decent race in ninth position when he inexplicably span off at la Garenne. The rear end of the car impacted the ditch on the side of the track at full speed. The car was sent cartwheeling across the fields, catching fire in mid-air and throwing Franco out, landing about 100m away from the track. Franco was taken to the hospital with a broken arm and leg, cracked ribs, a fractured skull and third degree burns on his hands.

But the race went on, and Manzon took fourth again from Whitehead, but the battle between the two allowed Trintignant to join in the fun. Moss, who was 8th at that point, also retired from the race. His gearbox was having trouble, and he came into the pits for his mechanics to take a look, but to no avail, and he was forced to retire. Fangio was now having difficulties and getting cought by Manzon, Whitehead and Trintignant. Trintignant finally passed Whitehead on lap 32, while Manzon passed Fangio to take third place. On the next lap, de Graffenried took advantage of a mistake by Farina to retake the lead. On lap 35, Farina took the lead again, while Fangio moved back into third place, but not by overtaking Manzon. The Frenchman's Gordini lay by the side of the road with a ruptured oil line. Race over.

Fangio's third place was quickly under threat from Trintignant, and both were side by side starting lap 37, while at the very front, Farina and de Graffenried were in the same position. De Graffenried won the battle, but the war was by no means won. It looked that way in the battle for third however, as Trintignant managed to overtake Fangio, and looked like he's got the pace to steal third. Meanwhile, Claes and Whitehead were scrabbling over the last points place, with Whitehead still ahead by a few seconds. Piero Taruffi then retired from the race with a mechanical failure. The Metcalf was running in 16th place. At this point, de Graffenried was pulling away and had pretty much won the race, while Farina was running the risk of getting caught and passed by Trintignant.

On lap 42, Giovanni Bracco also retired, when he span at Gueux. He span straight through the straw bales, where, luckily, the spectators managed to get out of harm's way, and stalled the engine, ending his race. Also, Claes finally passed Whitehead to move into the points, sensing the revenge for Monaco, where he was caught out at the last minute. However, Whitehead wasn't over yet, and when Claes span at Thillois, Peter passed him again.

In front of them, Trintignant caught Farina on lap 45, and they crossed the line side by side. At this point, Fangio is also running the risk of being passed by Whitehead and Claes. Claes, meanwhile, was getting closer and closer to Whitehead, but was running out of time to make a pass for fifth. Trintignant and Farina were still in epic battle, side by side every time they crossed the line. Two top drivers in similar cars were making for a great show. The show ended when Farina made a mistake at la Garenne, allowing Trintignant to pull away into a safe second place. Claes was unable to get close enough to Whitehead to score points, while Whitehead came close to passing Fangio for fourth position, but failed.

Classification

Race

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