1951 Brazilian A1 Grand Prix

The 1951 Brazilian A1 Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1951 A1 Grand Prix season and the first to be held in both Brazil and South America. Juan Manuel Fangio took pole for Argentina.

Classification

Pre Qualifying

Since the Salvador Street Circuit didn't have room for the full 36 car grid, a one hour pre qualifying session was held on Friday morning in which all nations that finished the 1950 season outside of the top 20 would have to take part in. Only the fastest six would be allowed to proceed.

Pos	No.	Driver	Time	Gap
1	27	Erik Lundgren	1:18.147	Leader
2	28	David Murray	1:18.268	+0.121
3	21	Jack Niell	1:18.298	+0.151
4	34	Fernando Mascarenhas	1:18.391	+0.244
5	26	Alberto Uria	1:18.405	+0.258
6	25	Asser Wallenius	1:18.624	+0.477
Failed to Qualify
7	22	Paco Godia	1:18.792	+0.645
8	35	Manfredo Lippmann	1:18.969	+0.822
9	23	Desmond Titterington	1:19.046	+0.899
10	30	Mikhail Metelev	1:19.197	+1.050
11	24	Al Pease	1:19.259	+1.112
12	31	Arcesio Paz	1:19.975	+1.828
13	29	Ramón López	1:20.031	+1.884
14	36	Raúl Jaras	1:20.573	+2.426
15	32	Luis Leal Solares	1:21.322	+3.175
16	33	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	1:24.533	+6.386

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Time	Gap
1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	1:17.660	Leader
2	13	Porfirio Rubirosa	1:18.266	+0.606
3	1	Luigi Villoresi	1:18.330	+0.670
4	8	Peter Whitehead	1:18.399	+0.739
5	3	Robert Manzon	1:18.520	+0.860
6	19	Arthur Mackenzie	1:18.667	+1.007
7	7	Hans Stuck	1:18.681	+1.021
8	11	Tony Gaze	1:18.683	+1.023
9	21	Jack Niell	1:18.731	+1.071
10	28	David Murray	1:18.770	+1.110
11	10	Joe Kelly	1:19.014	+1.354
12	34	Fernando Mascarenhas	1:19.018	+1.358
13	15	Robert Nelleman	1:19.100	+1.440
14	25	Asser Wallenius	1:19.153	+1.493
15	26	Alberto Uria	1:19.198	+1.538
16	16	Edgar Barth	1:19.210	+1.550
17	27	Erik Lundgren	1:19.266	+1.606
18	12	Dries van der Lof	1:19.286	+1.626
19	20	Jack Tutton	1:19.308	+1.648
20	6	Chico Landi	1:19.431	+1.771
21	9	B. Bira	1:19.529	+1.869
22	18	Johnny Claes	1:19.636	+1.976
23	5	Louis Chiron	1:19.756	+2.096
24	4	Toulo de Graffenried	1:19.759	+2.099
25	17	Johnnie Parsons	1:20.071	+2.411
26	14	Eliška Junková	1:20.748	+3.088

Race

Lap Chart of the 1951 Brazilian Grand Prix.

While most stubbornly decided to stick with a three stop strategy in spite of the fact that fully fresh tyres here gave as many as five seconds over fully worn ones, Parsons, Niell, Bira and Kelly did four stops, the first of which was around lap 15 meaning that they had around 25 laps of having fresher tyres than everyone else. Only Parsons managed to use that advantage to its full potential by making sure that he always stopped at different points to the leaders while Niell and Bira foolishly made the rest of their stops in sequence with the more conservative strategies meaning they lost their advantage for the rest of the race. Kelly had his race ruined first when he hit the wall which together with a stop for repairs cost him a lap, then he dropped back further when he spun.

Finally there was an alternate three stop strategy which de Graffenried, Uria, Junkova, Chiron and Stuck were on, the latter two of course had their races ruined before they could work properly. This involved making their pitstops about ten laps sooner than everyone else on the three stop strategies which gave them ten laps of fresher tyres and allowing them to gain back all the time they lost from the pitstop but came with the disadvantage of slower pace once the others made their their stops. De Graffenried started out the final stint just behind Villoresi but by the time the finish came he had lost thirty seconds and was almost caught by Rubirosa.

The only crash all race was that of Erik Lundgren on lap 10 when he tried to pass Tony Gaze around the outside of a tight left hander only to whack the edge of a tyre barrier, causing enough damage to force him out of the race.

Race Results

Lap 1, with Fangio already disappearing out of sight.

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Laps	Behind	Points
1	1	2	Juan Manuel Fangio	110	2:21:15.065	25
2	3	1	Luigi Villoresi	110	+22.601	20
3	24	4	Toulo de Graffenried	110	+52.704	16
4	2	13	Porfirio Rubirosa	110	+56.114	13
5	5	3	Robert Manzon	110	+57.769	11
6	25	17	Johnnie Parsons	110	+1:02.088	10
7	4	8	Peter Whitehead	110	+1:05.333	9
8	8	11	Tony Gaze	110	+1:11.165	8
9	14	26	Alberto Uria	110	+1:12.002	7
10	9	21	Jack Niell	110	+1:13.350	6
11	6	19	Arthur Mackenzie	110	+1:21.777	5
12	12	34	Fernando Mascarenhas	109	+1 lap	4
13	15	15	Robert Nelleman	109	+1 lap	3
14	21	9	B. Bira	109	+1 lap	2
15	19	20	Jack Tutton	109	+1 lap	1
16	20	6	Chico Landi	109	+1 lap
17	16	16	Edgar Barth	109	+1 lap
18	26	14	Eliška Junková	109	+1 lap
19	18	12	Dries van der Lof	109	+1 lap
20	13	25	Asser Wallenius	109	+1 lap
21	22	18	Johnny Claes	109	+1 lap
22	23	5	Louis Chiron	109	+1 lap
23	11	10	Joe Kelly	108	+2 laps
Ret	10	28	David Murray	86	Camshaft
Ret	7	7	Hans Stuck	40	Engine
Ret	17	27	Erik Lundgren	10	Accident

Fastest Lap Luigi Villoresi Lap 45 1:19.031

Penalty Report

No penalties were given after the race.

Reject of the Race

ROTR - Erik Lundgren, ambitious overtaking attempt ends with a Sweden shaped dent in the tyres.