1953 Dutch Grand Prix
The 1953 Dutch Grand Prix was the second race of the 1953 Formula One World Championship and was held at Zandvoort on June 7th 1953. Maurice Trintignant won the race, the first victory for both him and Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing, putting both into the championship lead. Robert Manzon and Trintignant's teammate Tony Bettenhausen also finished on the podium.
Background
Ferrari started the season strongly in Monaco, by getting all three factory cars in the top six in qualifying and winning the race with Reg Parnell, who scored his third career victory. JAMR was at the front from the start of the season and looked ever likely to take their maiden victory. This time, 41 drivers made their way to Zandvoort for the second race of the season.
In a last-minute announcement, Peter Collins was announced to be driving the third factory Gordini at Zandvoort and other races of the season. This move was the result of ART's interim team owner also owning Anglo Racing Engineering, for whom Collins would still drive on occasion. At Zandvoort, Collind has been hastily replaced by the American Fred Wacker, fresh from his third place at the Grand Prix des Frontières. He made his World Championship début.
Henry Reatherson decided not to make the trip to Zandvoort, instead choosing to wait until the closer Belgian Grand Prix. Macklin still made the trip though, taking the opportunity to fulfill his agreement with Balkan Eagle to drive for them when available.
Balkan Eagle themselves retained only Rudi Fischer for this race, as Aldo Gordini also fulfilled his contract, with Maglioli and Davison only acting as backup drivers. With more experienced hands stepping in, perhaps making the race would be a reasonable objective.
Following his dismal half-season in 1952, Onofre Marimon mystifyingly returned to Maserati as second driver once more, part of a rotating scheme involving himself, Landi and Marcel Balsa.
Instead of transporting all four cars to Zandvoort, Group Ultimate benched the second 550 and Harry Schell in the process. De Graffenried was considered a valuable part of the team, and Ruttman had been given the 555 in order to attempt to repeat his success from the previous season.
The third Bentley chassis remained in Monaco along with Geoff Richardson, while the second chassis was transported to the Dutch Grand Prix along with Mike Hawthorn, who would attempt to succeed where Richardson failed.
Instead of making the costly (and often unlucky) trip to Monaco, Jacques Swaters waited until the much closer Dutch Grand Prix to start the season. Main driver André Pilette had been handed the Bentley, while one-off drivers Georges Berger and Jan Flinterman would drive the Maserati and Aston-Jaguar respectively.
Erne Racing Development also started their season at Zandvoort, deciding against the expensive Monaco Grand Prix. Mières would hope that the Maserati was more competitive than the previous season's Ferrari.
With Scuderia Aqua not taking part this weekend, Günther Bechem was free to return to EMW, letting Fritz Riess return to being team principal.
Race weekend
Pre-qualifying
It was a relatively close pre-qualifying session this time around, with the new teams gaining experience. Balkan Eagle escaped pre-qualifying for the first time in style, with all three drivers clearing the first hurdle, leaving local driver Jan Flinterman on the sidelines, while his compatriot Dries van der Lof easily made it through. Once again, Bentley and Maserati failed to make the cut, Peter Collins dominated in the factory Gordini to make qualifying proper for the first time, and Stan Jones also made it through after failing at Monaco.
Qualifying
Robert Manzon took Gordini's second consecutive pole position at Zandvoort. Alfa and Ferrari seemed pretty evenly matched in the Netherlands, while JAMR was a bit further behind than in Monaco.
Disappointingly, Pilette, Brandon and von Brauchitsch couldn't make it, while Balkan Eagle failed to make it past the second hurdle. Barth, Hampshire and Taruffi were thrilled to make the grid, while Dries van der Lof and Stan Jones astonished the paddock by lining up 11th and 12th respectively.
Race
Manzon didn't get a good launch and was passed off the line by Peter Whitehead and Dorino Serafini, with Gonzalez ending up right behind them. On the next lap, though, Manzon was through again, and so was Gonzalez, who was already in second position. Whitehead was back in third place ahead of Serafini. On the very next lap, Gonzalez was into the lead, but Juan Manuel Fangio was the man on the move, already in fourth position having started ninth!
Manzon was applying the pressure on Gonzalez though, and attempted a move at Tarzan on lap 4. José was surprised by the attempt and promptly ran wide and into the dunes, beaching the Aston on the sidelines. Game over. Manzon was back in the lead ahead of Serafini, Sanesi and Whitehead. However, apart from Manzon, the pack behind wasn't really settling, and Serafini, Sanesi, Whitehead and Fangio, as well as Bira, Parnell and, to a lesser extent, Farina were all switching positions constantly.
On lap 8, Manzon ran wide at the final corner and was caught by the pack, but easily regained his lead. The incident strung out the chasing group, with Sanesi, Serafini and Whitehead now in a distinct group, which was joined by Reg Parnell on lap 11. On the next lap, Fangio had also caught up, leaving Bira and Farina alone to battle for a lonely seventh position.
On lap 14, Manzon had another spin, this time losing the race lead to teammate Consalvo Sanesi. The Italian took advantage of this and promptly started to build a comfortable lead. Manzon kept all his chasers at bay fairly easily and set about reeling in his teammate. Well, until lap 21, when he had another moment at Gerlach, this time getting bumped to fourth place, losing out to Parnell and Whitehead. He had already managed to make up a fair part of the gap, pulling the pack with him, and Bira and Bettenhausen were now both in the mix as well.
On lap 25, Reg Parnell ran wide at Tarzan, letting Manzon and Fangio through. Whitehead, meanwhile, was right on Sanesi's tail. On lap 28, Porfirio Rubirosa's great race was ended by a suspension failure. He was in 8th position, having started in 17th. He was immediately followed on the sidelines by the rookie Peter Collins, who beached his car in the sand on the following lap. More importantly though, on the following lap, Reg Parnell's gearbox expired, leaving the championship leader pointless at Zandvoort. Giovanni Bracco also ended his race, with a brake failure at Tarzan.
After all of this, Peter Whitehead had passed Consalvo Sanesi, but on lap 33, Juan Manuel Fangio had barged his way through into the race lead, followed by defending champion Bira. In fact, Fangio's erratic driving would go against him, as he ran wide at Tarzan on lap 35, leaving Bira to take the race lead and dropping down to fourth position. On the following lap though, Bira was back in third behind Whitehead and Sanesi. Such was the nature of the fight for the lead.
On lap 40, Fangio finally backed his car into a sand dune, ending his race. Whitehead was now well in the lead. Sanesi had been losing ground quickly, and Robert Manzon was in second place by lap 43. Consalvo continued to lose time and was passed by Bira on lap 47, moving down to fourth place. Farina was through on lap 48. He also took third place from Bira on the same lap, showing how good he still is at 46 years old. He was catching Manzon as well when Sanesi decided to get his arse in gear once more, passing Bira, then Farina. On lap 55, both Sanesi and Farina passed Robert Manzon, demoting the Frenchman to fourth position.
The race order changed dramatically on the following lap, when Peter Whitehead and Giuseppe Farina simultaneously suffered from mechanical failures out of the lead and third place respectively. Sanesi inherited the lead ahead of a tightly packed group composed of Robert Manzon, B. Bira, Troy Ruttman and Tony Bettenhausen. Maurice Trintignant soon joined the group, but Troy Ruttman heartbreakingly had to leave said group when his engine detonated on lap 59. No repeat victory for the young American. He was followed on the sidelines by Dorino Serafini, who had been briefly elevated into the points.
Trintignant passed Bira for third place shortly thereafter, but with a combination of clean driving and high attrition, David Hampshire and Dries van der Lof were sixth and seventh respectively! But an other wave of retirements was to follow. On lap 68, Stan Jones' gearbox decided to stop working. He was 13th of of 14 remaining, ahead of only Edgar Barth. Dries van der Lof then retired from ninth and, most importantly, Consalvo Sanesi spun out amateurishly at Scheivlak, out of the lead no less. With eleven drivers now remaining, and only three of them having started in the top ten, the order was naturally completely shaken up. Manzon and Trintignant were fighting for the lead, Bira, Bettenhausen and the sensational David Hampshire were battling for third, while Moss was leading the charge for sixth place.
After an initially heated fight for the lead, Maurice Trintignant soon left Manzon in his dust, scoring JAMR's maiden race victory, ahead of Robert Manzon. Tony Bettenhausen came third. After a long fight with Hampshire, Bira barely took fourth, completing a JAMR 1-3-4, with David Hampshire scoring a miraculous fifth position! Alberto Ascari misses out on more points, finishing sixth ahead of Pagani. Stirling Moss span out with a few laps remaining, but ended up classified in 8th position ahead of de Graffenried, Taruffi and Barth.
Classification
Entry list
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* André Milhoux's entry was denied due to inexperience and was replaced by Günther Bechem.
Prequalifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 42 |  Peter Collins
|
Gordini | 1:46.20 | - |
| 2 | 38 |  Dries van der Lof
|
Aston Martin-Jaguar | 1:48.59 | + 2.39 |
| 3 | 29 |  Stan Jones
|
Maserati | 1:49.05 | + 2.85 |
| 4 | 31 |  Maria Teresa de Filippis
|
Bentley-O.S.C.A. | 1:49.07 | + 2.87 |
| 5 | 32 | David Hampshire
|
Aston Martin-Bentley | 1:49.45 | + 3.25 |
| 6 | 34 |  Aldo Gordini
|
Alfa Romeo-Maserati | 1:49.66 | + 3.46 |
| 7 | 12 | Lance Macklin
|
Alfa Romeo-Maserati | 1:49.77 | + 3.57 |
| 8 | 11 |  Rudi Fischer
|
Alfa Romeo-Maserati | 1:49.79 | + 3.59 |
| 9 | 24 | Jan Flinterman
|
Aston Martin-Jaguar | 1:50.28 | + 4.08 |
| 10 | 33 |  Roberto Mieres
|
Maserati | 1:50.62 | + 4.42 |
| 11 | 36 |  Günther Bechem
|
EMW-Mercedes | 1:50.99 | + 4.79 |
| 12 | 20 | Mike Hawthorn
|
Bentley | 1:51.18 | + 4.98 |
| 13 | 16 |  Paul Frère
|
Maserati | 1:51.53 | + 5.33 |
| 14 | 22 | Georges Berger
|
Maserati | 1:51.66 | + 5.46 |
| 15 | 3 |  Fred Wacker
|
Leader-Jaguar | 1:52.10 | + 5.90 |
| 16 | 17 | Onofre Marimón
|
Maserati | 1:52.65 | + 6.45 |
| 17 | 21 | Duncan Hamilton
|
Maserati | 1:52.85 | + 6.65 |
Qualifying
Race
Notes
Drivers
- First victory for Maurice Trintignant.
- First laps led for Maurice Trintignant.
- First and only pole position for Robert Manzon.
- First points for David Hampshire.
- First start for Peter Collins.
- First entry for Fred Wacker.
- Final entry for Georges Berger and Jan Flinterman.
Constructors
- First victory for Aston Martin and the Jaguar engine.
- First points for the Bentley engine.
Entrants
- First victory for Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing.
- First points for Hampshire Racing Alliance.
- First start for Asso di Fiori (under that name).
Lap leaders
- Peter Whitehead: 24 laps (1, 30-32, 36-55)
- Robert Manzon: 14 laps (2, 4-13, 71-72, 74)
- José Froilán González: 1 lap (3)
- Consalvo Sanesi: 31 laps (14-29, 56-70)
- Juan Manuel Fangio: 2 laps (33-34)
- B. Bira: 1 lap (35)
- Maurice Trintignant: 11 laps (73, 75-84)
Records broken
Drivers
- Most total career starts: Giuseppe Farina and Dorino Serafini (25)
- Most total career entries: Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Dorino Serafini and Piero Taruffi (26)
Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maurice Trintignant
|
14 |
| 2 | Reg Parnell
|
8 |
| 3 |  B. Bira
|
7 |
| 4 | Robert Manzon
|
6 |
| 5 | Tony Bettenhausen
|
4 |
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aston Martin-Jaguar
|
14 |
| 2 | Ferrari
|
8 |
| 3 | Gordini
|
6 |
| 4 | Alfa Romeo
|
4 |
| 5 |  Phoenix-Mercedes
|
2 |
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaguar - Aston Martin Racing
|
14 |
| 2 | Scuderia Ferrari
|
8 |
| 3 | Alexander Racing Team-Gordini
|
6 |
| 4 | Alfa Romeo SpA
|
4 |
| 5 | Phoenix Racing Organisation
|
2 |
- Only the top five positions are listed.
| Previous race: 1953 Monaco Grand Prix |
Alternate Formula 1 World Championship 1953 Season |
Next race: 1953 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1952 Dutch Grand Prix |
Dutch Grand Prix | Next race: 1954 Dutch Grand Prix |