1951 German A1 Grand Prix

The 1951 German A1 Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1951 season. Stirling Moss took his and England's maiden victory after the race was red flagged after 12 laps following Edgar Barth's fatal accident.

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Time	Gap
1	3	Maurice Trintignant	7:18.592	Leader
2	8	Stirling Moss	7:20.240	+1.648
3	18	André Pilette	7:22.207	+3.615
4	13	Porfirio Rubirosa	7:22.504	+3.912
5	17	Harry Schell	7:23.480	+4.888
6	19	Arthur Mackenzie	7:24.556	+5.964
7	9	B. Bira	7:24.650	+6.058
8	23	Desmond Titterington	7:24.952	+6.360
9	16	Edgar Barth	7:26.039	+7.447
10	22	Paco Godia	7:26.066	+7.474
11	2	Marcos Ciani	7:27.504	+8.912
12	7	Hans Stuck	7:28.152	+9.560
13	4	Toulo de Graffenried	7:28.185	+9.597
14	5	Louis Chiron	7:29.646	+11.054
15	15	Robert Nelleman	7:30.502	+11.910
16	28	Jimmy Stewart	7:30.748	+12.156
17	21	Charles Headland	7:31.065	+12.473
18	26	Eitel Cantoni	7:31.242	+12.650
19	20	Jack Tutton	7:31.981	+13.389
20	27	Erik Lundgren	7:32.701	+14.109
21	34	Fernando Mascarenhas	7:33.594	+15.002
22	1	Piero Taruffi	7:34.157	+15.565
23	11	Tony Gaze	7:34.669	+16.077
24	25	Asser Wallenius	7:35.247	+16.655
25	14	Jaroslav Netušil	7:42.648	+24.056
26	31	Arcesio Paz	7:43.125	+24.533
27	36	Raúl Jaras	7:52.495	+33.903
28	32	Corana Illescas	8:46.524	+1:27.932
29	6	Chico Landi	No Time
30	24	Hal Robson	No Time
31	10	Cecil Vard	No Time
32	35	Manfredo Lippmann	No Time
33	12	Dries van der Lof	No Time
34	30	Mikhail Metelev	No Time
35	29	Ramón López	No Time
36	33	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	No Time

Race Highlights

Trintignant maintained his lead over Moss for the opening three laps until a gearbox failure forced him into the garage, putting him three laps down. Moss was left to run away to an easy victory. Mackenzie managed to finish second, by far South Africa's best result, he had been challenged by de Graffenried before the Swiss driver was held up by first Jaras then Illescas. Then he went off on lap 11, damaging his car and forcing an extra pitstop, dropping him to fifth. The race was called after 12 of the 14 scheduled laps when both Trintignant and Barth slid off on oil left on the track, both hitting the fence hard and being pitched into a series of barrel rolls. Trintignant escaped with only a fractured left ankle while Barth had to be extracted and airlifted to Cologne hospital, still unconscious with serious neck and head injuries.

Other incidents involved, Albizuri sliding off on the first lap and collecting Lopez with him, then later the same lap Illescas spun right in front of Lippmann who was unable to avoid him. Illescas managed to continue on but Lippmann was out once he had struggled back to the pits.

Lap 6 saw a large crash for Bira who backed his car into the fence and barrel rolled, though he escaped serious injury.

Race Classification

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Laps	Behind	Points
1	2	8	Stirling Moss	12	1:48:23.563	25
2	6	19	Arthur Mackenzie	12	+47.326	20
3	22	1	Piero Taruffi	12	+1:00.291	16
4	4	13	Porfirio Rubirosa	12	+1:45.499	13
5	13	4	Toulo de Graffenried	12	+1:49.198	11
6	10	22	Paco Godia	12	+2:20.081	10
7	12	7	Hans Stuck	12	+2:46.646	9
8	11	2	Marcos Ciani	12	+2:56.192	8
9	5	17	Harry Schell	12	+3:24.590	7
10	14	5	Louis Chiron	12	+3:24.728	6
11	9	16	Edgar Barth	12	+3:25.350	5
12	20	27	Erik Lundgren	12	+3:43.606	4
13	23	11	Tony Gaze	12	+4:04.814	3
14	17	21	Charles Headland	12	+4:14.011	2
15	3	18	André Pilette	12	+4:36.601	1
16	21	34	Fernando Mascarenhas	12	+4:44.951
17	34	30	Mikhail Metelev	12	+5:00.686
18	8	23	Desmond Titterington	12	+5:01.135
19	25	14	Jaroslav Netušil	12	+5:52.063
20	29	6	Chico Landi	12	+5:56.477
21	18	26	Eitel Cantoni	12	+6:07.121
22	16	28	Jimmy Stewart	12	+6:33.126
23	28	32	Corona Illescas	11	+1 lap
Ret	27	36	Raúl Jaras	10	Engine
Ret	24	25	Asser Wallenius	9	Puncture
NC	1	3	Maurice Trintignant	9	+3 laps
Ret	19	20	Jack Tutton	7	Puncture
Ret	7	9	B. Bira	6	Accident
Ret	26	31	Arcesio Paz	6	Transmission
Ret	31	10	Cecil Vard	4	Gearbox
Ret	30	24	Hal Robson	3	Brakes
Ret	15	15	Robert Nelleman	2	Clutch
Ret	33	12	Dries van der Lof	1	Engine
Ret	32	35	Manfredo Lippmann	1	Collision Damage, Illescas
Ret	36	33	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	0	Collision, López
Ret	35	29	Ramón López	0	Collision, Albizuri

Death of Edgar Barth

On lap 13 of the race, both Edgar Barth of East Germany and Maurice Trintignant of France slid off on oil left on the track at the Wipperman corner. Both ended up being pitched into a series of barrel rolls after hitting the outside fence with Barth's car being launched nearly ten feet into the air, unfortunately landing on it's roof right where the driver was sitting in the cockpit. The roof had partly caved in just above the drivers seat from the impact leaving the unconscious Barth trapped in the car. After fifteen minutes, Barth was finally extracted from the car and into a helicopter bound for Cologne hospital with a suspected broken neck and depressed skull fracture. Doctors did all they could but to no avail. At 5:29pm, just over two and a half hours after the crash, Edgar Barth died from his injuries.

Maurice Trintignant managed to walk away from the crash but after a trip to the circuit medical center, he was diagnosed with a fractured left ankle and was taken to hospital for further treatment. He may have to miss the Belgian Grand Prix as a result.

Barth's car flew up as high as ten feet.

The aftermath, just after the crash.

Penalty Report

Drivers receive points on their race licence if they are deemed by the stewards to be driving in an 'unsporting manner'. Points are usually given for causing avoidable collisions, pitlane infractions or impeding fastest cars while being lapped. If a driver collects 12 points throughout the season then they are given a three month ban from racing in the series. Points are reset to zero after each season. Fines can also be given.

No.	Driver	Lap	Penalty	Reason
36	Raúl Jaras	9	2 points	Impeding a faster car.
32	Corona Illescas	10	2 points	Impeding a faster car.

Reject of the Race

ROTR - Raul Jaras and Corona Illescas. Cost, de Graffenried a podium.