1954 British Grand Prix

The 1954 British Grand Prix was the fifth race of the 1954 Formula One World Championship and was held in Silverstone on July 18th 1954. Consalvo Sanesi scored pole position and fastest lap, but once again failed to win the British Grand Prix. Instead, Dries van der Lof won the race, scoring his maiden Formula One victory, ahead of teammate and championship leader B. Bira. Sanesi eventually finished third.

Background

After four races, the 1952 world champion B. Bira led the championship with 18 points, not having yet won a race. No driver had yet won multiple races, with the wins going to Brabham, Manzon, Ramos and Bettenhausen. Consalvo Sanesi had not yet finished a race, in typical fashion for a Gordini driver. As usual, Silverstone had attracted a large amount of entries, 45 of them for 24 grid spots.

Redman Racing Team had decided to pull out of Formula One due to a lack of motivation, leaving Nello Pagani out of a drive.

Peter Whitehead's car had been repaired and Alfa Romeo were therefore back with three cars.

With Balkan Eagle getting deeper and deeper into their financial issues, they reverted to a single car for Fischer here. They were trying to survive on a race-by-race basis.

Loyer only entered a single car in Silverstone, for Karl Kling.

Lance Macklin's car had also been repaired and would be taking part in Silverstone.

With Aldo Gordini not entered for Balkan Eagle here, he temporarily drove for Anglo Racing Engineering in the car bearing his name.

BRUNEL returned to the paddock with a full Bentley package for British rally specialist Anne Hall, who hadn't done badly at the non-championship Pau Grand Prix.

Luigi Villoresi returned from his injury and replaced super-sub Tony Gaze, who had scored his first point in Zandvoort.

Erne Racing Development returned after skipping the Dutch round with the usual pairing of Mieres and Marimon.

The second Ambrosiana also returned after being repaired, with Bracco still driving.

Once again, RRAC rotated their line-up, with Bueb driving the Maserati.

Like Erne, Assasti Millanti returned after skipping the Dutch Grand Prix.

Ecurie Albertini had decided to skip ahead to Sebring, missing Silverstone, Bremgarten and the Nürburgring.

Warden also returned, but with two cars instead of one. Jack Fairman drove the Bentley-Jaguar while Wharton would drive a new Bentley package.

Officine Renzo brought the Ferrari to Silverstone as well, but with Marzotto taking Serafini's place.

Race weekend

Prequalifying

Some definite surprises were recorded, with Villoresi and Macklin failing to make the cut. The Maseratis were nowhere, once again, while Hampshire, Marimon, Wharton and Fischer would all be delighted at making main qualifying, especially the Balkan Eagle driver, in such difficult times.

Qualifying

No surprises were there to be had, but certainly disappointment, especially de Filippis (who had finished fifth in Zandvoort). Ecclestone would finally start a race. He had already qualified in France but had then failed to take the start after a pre-race mechanical failure. Also, a brilliant performance from David Hampshire to take 13th place on the grid.

Race

Van der Lof had a great start and took sixth place while Bettenhausen took the early lead from Sanesi and Bira. Whitehead and Brabham also had a good start, Whitehead second by lap 2. Sanesi started falling backwards. By lap 6, he was down in fifth place. Ramos and Collins were also losing ground, in ninth and tenth. Dries van der Lof continued his good start to the race by taking fifth from Sanesi on the very next lap. One more lap later, he passed Bira and Whitehead and took third position. On lap 11 though, Sanesi bounced back and climbed back up to third place, scoring the fastest lap of the race. Third place had turned into a hotly contested battle.

On lap 13, Bettenhausen lost the lead to teammate Trintignant, but took it back two laps later. Apart from a few minor battles though, the race settled down. Van der Lof took a steady third place. The race's first retirement came on lap 24, when Piero Taruffi, last after chronic gearbox issues, finally stopped at Chapel. On the next lap, van der Lof caught and passed teammate Trintignant for second place and started to close the gap to Bettenhausen. On lap 28, the drivers were reduced to 22 when Robert Manzon shoved Jack Brabham off the track for 12th position. The Australian was not too pleased about it, and neither was Troy Ruttman when he took himself out by using Harry Schell as a brake on the following lap. Two laps later, there were 20 cars remaining when Ramos suffered steering issues and retired out of 8th position.

On lap 36, after taking a hit from Ruttman, Schell was nerfed off by Giovanni Bracco, ending his race. Six laps later, it was Maurice Trintignant who was out of the race after tangling with Peter Collins. He was sent hard into the earth bank on the Hangar Straight and the car briefly caught air. Trintignant walked away unhurt. Whitehead span off on oil on lap 46, leaving 17 drivers in the race. On the next lap, it was 16 after Manfred von Brauchitsch's suspension failed, then 15 when Peter Collins had a spin out of fifth position.

On lap 48, van der Lof had caught Bettenhausen, and after a couple of laps of trying to pass, the American understood that it was of no use to him to hold the Dutchman up and let him through. Bettenhausen subsequently dropped to fourth place behind Bira and Sanesi, while David Hampshire took fifth from Farina, continuing his brilliant performance this weekend. Meanwhile, Robert Manzon threw his Gordini off the road, capping a terrible performance including more than a few touches with other drivers.

Hampshire couldn't last long ahead of Farina, and the Brit had to settle for sixth for the time being. At the back, Bernie Ecclestone's transmission failed, presumably having been malfunctioning throughout the race, as he was last by a pretty fair margin. 13 drivers were left. They were reduced to 12 on lap 70 when Toulo de Graffenried was nerfed off by Edgar Barth. The Swiss was not at all happy and waved angrily at the German for the rest of the race whenever he drove by. The final retirement was Alberto Ascari, whose gearbox exploded with three laps remaining.

Van der Lof came through and scored a commanding maiden victory, becoming the fifth different winner in five races! Bira extended his championship lead with a fourth consecutive second place. Sanesi and Bira finally finished a race, both of them in the points. David Hampshire, meanwhile, was absolutely thrilled with the final point for sixth position.

Classification

Entry list

No	Driver	Entrant	Chassis	Engine
2	André Simon	Mercedes-Benz Team Europe	Mercedes-Benz WM-2	Mercedes UM153 4.5 V10
4	Bernie Ecclestone		Mercedes-Benz WM-2	Mercedes UM153 4.5 V10
6	Johnny Claes		Mercedes-Benz WM-2	Mercedes UM153 4.5 V10
8	Piero Taruffi	/ Scuderia Anglo-Italia	Bentley Speed 4	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s
10	Maria Teresa de Filippis	Maria Teresa de Filippis	O.S.C.A. F154	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s
12	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo AR160	Alfa Romeo ARV8 1.5 V8
14	Stirling Moss		Alfa Romeo AR160	Alfa Romeo ARV8 1.5 V8
16	Peter Whitehead		Alfa Romeo AR160	Alfa Romeo ARV8 1.5 V8
18	Louis Chiron	Leader	Leader LF153	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s
20	Rudi Fischer	Balkan Eagle	Alfa Romeo AR160	Balkan Lion 1.5 L4
22	Karl Kling	Loyer Racing	Loyer LR101	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
24	Alberto Ascari	Phoenix Racing Organisation	Phoenix PRO-4	Mercedes UM153 4.5 V10
26	Tony Bettenhausen	Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
28	Dries van der Lof		Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
30	B. Bira		Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
32	Maurice Trintignant		Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
34	Lance Macklin	Reatherson Racing Developments	Bentley Speed 4	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
36	Robert Manzon	/ Alexander Racing Team-Gordini	Gordini G-953	Gordini ART-004 3.0 V6
38	Consalvo Sanesi		Gordini G-953	Gordini ART-004 3.0 V6
40	Peter Collins		Gordini G-953	Gordini ART-004 3.0 V6
42	Hernando da Silva Ramos		Gordini G-953	Gordini ART-004 3.0 V6
44	Aldo Gordini	Anglo Racing Engineering	Gordini G-953	Gordini ART-004 3.0 V6
46	Anne Hall	BRUNEL	Bentley Speed 3	Bentley 163-1 3.0 V16
48	Troy Ruttman	Asso di Fiori	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
50	Luigi Villoresi		Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
52	Harry Schell	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
54	Toulo de Graffenried		Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
56	Jack Brabham		Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
58	Roberto Mieres	Erne Racing Development	Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
60	Onofre Marimón		Aston Martin AM-04	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
62	Giovanni Bracco	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Ambrosiana A-003	Alfa Romeo ARV8 1.5 V8
64	Porfirio Rubirosa		Ambrosiana A-003	Alfa Romeo ARV8 1.5 V8
66	Ivor Bueb	Royal Racing Automobile Company	Maserati AM53	Maserati 200F 2.0 L6
68	David Hampshire	Hampshire Racing Alliance	Bentley Speed 4	Bentley 16VL-1 3.0 V16
70	Manfred von Brauchitsch	/ Scuderia Anglo-Italia	O.S.C.A. F154	Bentley 16VL-1 3.0 V16
72	Paul Frère	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati AM53	Maserati 200F 2.0 L6
74	Ron Flockhart		Maserati AM53	Maserati 200F 2.0 L6
76	John Fitch	Assasti Millanti	Leader LF153	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
78	Edgar Barth	Team Ultimate	Ultimate 002	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s
80	Jean Behra		Ultimate 002	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s
82	Geoff Richardson	Geoff Richardson	Bentley Speed 4	Bentley 16VL-1 3.0 V16
84	Jack Fairman	F.H. Warden Competition	Bentley Speed 3	Jaguar JFE-2 4.5 V12
86	Giannino Marzotto	Officine Renzo	Ferrari 555	Ferrari 555 2.5 L4
88	Ken Wharton	F.H. Warden Competition	Bentley Speed 4	Bentley 16VL-1 3.0 V16
90	José Froilán González	/ Scuderia Anglo-Italia	O.S.C.A. F154	O.S.C.A. 156s 1.5 L6s

Prequalifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	38	Consalvo Sanesi	Gordini	1:45.12	-
2	12	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	1:45.65	+ 0.53
3	68	David Hampshire	Bentley	1:49.15	+ 4.03
4	52	Harry Schell	Ferrari	1:49.34	+ 4.22
5	60	Onofre Marimón	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:49.79	+ 4.67
6	88	Ken Wharton	Bentley	1:49.99	+ 4.87
7	4	Bernie Ecclestone	Mercedes	1:50.39	+ 5.27
8	20	Rudi Fischer	Alfa Romeo-Balkan Lion	1:51.00	+ 5.88
9	44	Aldo Gordini	Gordini	1:51.08	+ 5.96
10	18	Louis Chiron	Leader-O.S.C.A.	1:51.22	+ 6.10
11	50	Luigi Villoresi	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:51.23	+ 6.11
12	34	Lance Macklin	Bentley-Jaguar	1:51.62	+ 6.50
13	82	Geoff Richardson	Bentley	1:51.71	+ 6.59
14	80	Jean Behra	Ultimate-O.S.C.A.	1:52.05	+ 6.93
15	22	Karl Kling	Loyer-Ferrari	1:52.18	+ 7.06
16	46	Anne Hall	Bentley	1:52.35	+ 7.23
17	76	John Fitch	Leader-Jaguar	1:52.87	+ 7.75
18	72	Paul Frère	Maserati	1:53.40	+ 8.28
19	74	Ron Flockhart	Maserati	1:54.50	+ 9.38
20	66	Ivor Bueb	Maserati	1:55.52	+ 10.40
21	84	Jack Fairman	Bentley-Jaguar	1:55.98	+ 10.86

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	38	Consalvo Sanesi	Gordini	1:44.83	-
2	26	Tony Bettenhausen	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:45.00	+ 0.17
3	30	B. Bira	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:45.45	+ 0.62
4	32	Maurice Trintignant	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:45.68	+ 0.85
5	16	Peter Whitehead	Alfa Romeo	1:45.71	+ 0.88
6	42	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	1:46.07	+ 1.24
7	40	Peter Collins	Gordini	1:46.32	+ 1.49
8	28	Dries van der Lof	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:46.35	+ 1.52
9	12	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	1:46.93	+ 2.10
10	36	Robert Manzon	Gordini	1:47.19	+ 2.36
11	14	Stirling Moss	Alfa Romeo	1:47.37	+ 2.54
12	56	Jack Brabham	Ferrari	1:47.77	+ 2.94
13	68	David Hampshire	Bentley	1:47.80	+ 2.97
14	64	Porfirio Rubirosa	Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo	1:48.16	+ 3.33
15	54	Toulo de Graffenried	Ferrari	1:48.25	+ 3.42
16	90	José Froilán González	O.S.C.A.	1:48.34	+ 3.51
17	8	Piero Taruffi	Bentley-O.S.C.A.	1:48.79	+ 3.96
18	52	Harry Schell	Ferrari	1:48.82	+ 3.99
19	24	Alberto Ascari	Phoenix-Mercedes	1:48.84	+ 4.01
20	62	Giovanni Bracco	Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo	1:49.04	+ 4.21
21	70	Manfred von Brauchitsch	O.S.C.A.-Bentley	1:49.30	+ 4.47
22	4	Bernie Ecclestone	Mercedes	1:49.35	+ 4.52
23	48	Troy Ruttman	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:49.45	+ 4.62
24	78	Edgar Barth	Ultimate-O.S.C.A.	1:49.57	+ 4.74
25	60	Onofre Marimón	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:50.11	+ 5.28
26	10	Maria Teresa de Filippis	O.S.C.A.	1:50.16	+ 5.33
27	86	Giannino Marzotto	Ferrari	1:50.34	+ 5.51
28	2	André Simon	Mercedes	1:50.68	+ 5.85
29	88	Ken Wharton	Bentley	1:51.36	+ 6.53
30	6	Johnny Claes	Mercedes	1:51.40	+ 6.57
31	20	Rudi Fischer	Alfa Romeo-Balkan Lion	1:51.84	+ 7.01
32	58	Roberto Mieres	Aston Martin-Jaguar	1:52.02	+ 7.19

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	28	Dries van der Lof	Aston Martin-Jaguar	75	2:26:51.67	8	9
2	30	B. Bira	Aston Martin-Jaguar	73	+ 2 laps	3	6
3	38	Consalvo Sanesi	Gordini	72	+ 3 laps	1	4
4	26	Tony Bettenhausen	Aston Martin-Jaguar	71	+ 4 laps	2	3
5	12	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	71	+ 4 laps	9	2
6	68	David Hampshire	Bentley	70	+ 5 laps	13	1
7	14	Stirling Moss	Alfa Romeo	70	+ 5 laps	11
8	64	Porfirio Rubirosa	Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo	67	+ 8 laps	14
9	62	Giovanni Bracco	Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo	67	+ 8 laps	20
10	78	Edgar Barth	Ultimate-O.S.C.A.	66	+ 9 laps	24
11	90	José Froilán González	O.S.C.A.	66	+ 9 laps	16
Ret	24	Alberto Ascari	Phoenix-Mercedes	65	Gearbox	19
Ret	54	Toulo de Graffenried	Ferrari	61	Collision	15
Ret	4	Bernie Ecclestone	Mercedes	53	Transmission	22
Ret	36	Robert Manzon	Gordini	50	Accident	10
Ret	40	Peter Collins	Gordini	46	Spin	7
Ret	16	Peter Whitehead	Alfa Romeo	44	Spin	5
Ret	70	Manfred von Brauchitsch	O.S.C.A.-Bentley	42	Suspension	21
Ret	32	Maurice Trintignant	Aston Martin-Jaguar	40	Accident	4
Ret	52	Harry Schell	Ferrari	33	Collision	18
Ret	42	Hernando da Silva Ramos	Gordini	30	Suspension	6
Ret	48	Troy Ruttman	Aston Martin-Jaguar	27	Collision	23
Ret	56	Jack Brabham	Ferrari	26	Collision	12
Ret	8	Piero Taruffi	Bentley-O.S.C.A.	23	Gearbox	17
DNQ	60	Onofre Marimón	Aston Martin-Jaguar
DNQ	10	Maria Teresa de Filippis	O.S.C.A.
DNQ	86	Giannino Marzotto	Ferrari
DNQ	2	André Simon	Mercedes
DNQ	88	Ken Wharton	Bentley
DNQ	6	Johnny Claes	Mercedes
DNQ	20	Rudi Fischer	Alfa Romeo-Balkan Lion
DNQ	58	Roberto Mieres	Aston Martin-Jaguar
DNPQ	44	Aldo Gordini	Gordini
DNPQ	18	Louis Chiron	Leader-O.S.C.A.
DNPQ	50	Luigi Villoresi	Aston Martin-Jaguar
DNPQ	34	Lance Macklin	Bentley-Jaguar
DNPQ	82	Geoff Richardson	Bentley
DNPQ	80	Jean Behra	Ultimate-O.S.C.A.
DNPQ	22	Karl Kling	Loyer-Ferrari
DNPQ	46	Anne Hall	Bentley
DNPQ	76	John Fitch	Leader-Jaguar
DNPQ	72	Paul Frère	Maserati
DNPQ	74	Ron Flockhart	Maserati
DNPQ	66	Ivor Bueb	Maserati
DNPQ	84	Jack Fairman	Bentley-Jaguar

Notes

Drivers

• First win and laps led for Dries van der Lof.
• First start for Bernie Ecclestone.
• Final entry for Rudi Fischer.
• First entry for Anne Hall and Jack Fairman.

Constructors

• First point for Bentley.

Lap leaders

• Tony Bettenhausen: 48 laps (1-12, 15-50)
• Maurice Trintignant: 2 laps (13-14)
• Dries van der Lof: 25 laps (51-75)

Records broken

Drivers

• Most total career starts: B. Bira (36).
• Most total career entries: Alberto Ascari, Maurice Trintignant and Johnny Claes (37).

Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	B. Bira	24
2	Jack Brabham	13
3	Tony Bettenhausen	12
4	Dries van der Lof	11
5	Hernando da Silva Ramos	10

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Aston Martin-Jaguar	32
2	Gordini	27
3	Ferrari	16
4	O.S.C.A.-Bentley	9
5	Ambrosiana-Alfa Romeo	7

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing	32
2	Alexander Racing Team - Gordini	27
3	Scuderia Ferrari	16
4	/ Scuderia Anglo-Italia	9
5	Scuderia Ambrosiana	7

• Only the top five positions are listed.

Previous race: 1954 Dutch Grand Prix	Alternate Formula 1 World Championship 1954 Season	Next race: 1954 Swiss Grand Prix
Previous race: 1953 British Grand Prix	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1955 British Grand Prix