1953 German Grand Prix

The 1953 German Grand Prix was a Formula Two motor racing event held on 2 August 1953 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It was race 7 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One regulations normally used. This race had the highest number of cars on the grid of any World Drivers' Championship race, with 34 starters.

1953 German Grand Prix
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Nürburgring layout
Race details
Date	2 August 1953
Official name	XVI Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	22.810 km (14.173 miles)
Distance	18 laps, 410.580 km (255.123 miles)
Weather	Sunny, mild, dry
Pole position
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	9:59.8
Fastest lap
Driver	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time	9:56.0 on lap 12
Podium
First	Nino Farina	Ferrari
Second	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Third	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Lap leaders

This race was won by Nino Farina in a Ferrari, just over 1 minute ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio. This was Farina's last victory in Formula One.

Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari clinched his second consecutive World Drivers' Championship as neither Mike Hawthorn nor Juan Manuel Fangio won the race and now couldn't beat his points total with two races left.

Four East German drivers partook in this race; these four drivers were the only ever drivers to race under an East German licence. This race was the last time any driver competed under an East German licence: Theo Fitzau, Ernst Klodwig and Rudolf Krause would never race in Formula One again, while Edgar Barth would race again under a West German licence.

During his tour of Europe that saw Japan's 19-year old Crown Prince Akihito visit the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, he also attended the German Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	1	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	9:59.8	—
2	5	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	10:03.7	+ 3.9
3	2	Nino Farina	Ferrari	10:04.1	+ 4.3
4	3	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	10:12.6	+ 12.8
5	10	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	10:21.7	+ 21.9
6	4	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	10:22.8	+ 23.0
7	7	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	10:40.8	+ 41.0
8	8	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	10:41.0	+ 41.2
9	9	Jean Behra	Gordini	10:45.5	+ 45.7
10	11	Harry Schell	Gordini	10:46.2	+ 46.4
11	17	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	10:46.6	+ 46.8
12	19	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	10:48.3	+ 48.5
13	15	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea-Francis	10:57.5	+ 57.7
14	31	Hans Herrmann	Veritas	10:59.8	+ 1:00.0
15	14	Prince Bira	Connaught-Lea-Francis	11:02.1	+ 1:02.3
16	16	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea-Francis	11:07.3	+ 1:07.5
17	38	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	11:08.7	+ 1:08.9
18	23	Willi Heeks	Veritas	11:18.0	+ 1:18.2
19	18	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	11:18.9	+ 1:19.1
20	40	Rodney Nuckey	Cooper-Bristol	11:22.1	+ 1:22.3
21	28	Theo Fitzau	AFM-BMW	11:23.4	+ 1:23.6
22	20	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	11:27.4	+ 1:27.6
23	21	Hans Stuck	AFM-Bristol	11:37.2	+ 1:37.4
24	35	Edgar Barth	EMW	11:40.8	+ 1:41.0
25	12	Johnny Claes	Connaught-Lea-Francis	11:45.5	+ 1:45.7
26	36	Rudolf Krause	Greifzu-BMW	11:49.5	+ 1:49.7
27	34	Kurt Adolff	Ferrari	11:53.1	+ 1:53.3
28	24	Theo Helfrich	Veritas	11:56.3	+ 1:56.5
29	22	Wolfgang Seidel	Veritas	11:59.3	+ 1:59.5
30	41	Günther Bechem	AFM-BMW	12:13.3	+ 2:13.5
31	30	Ernst Loof	Veritas	12:16.8	+ 2:17.0
32	37	Ernst Klodwig	Heck-BMW	12:24.6	+ 2:24.8
33	32	Erwin Bauer	Veritas	No time	—
34	26	Oswald Karch	Veritas	No time	—
35	39	Helm Glöckler	Cooper-Bristol	No time	—
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Nino Farina	Ferrari	18	3:02:25.0	3	8
2	5	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	18	+ 1:04.0	2	6
3	3	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	18	+ 1:43.6	4	4
4	7	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	18	+ 8:48.6	7	3
5	17	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	17	+ 1 Lap	11	2
6	19	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	17	+ 1 Lap	12
7	18	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	17	+ 1 Lap	19
8	1	Alberto Ascari Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	17	+ 1 Lap	1
9	31	Hans Herrmann	Veritas	17	+ 1 Lap	14
10	20	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	17	+ 1 Lap	22
11	40	Rodney Nuckey	Cooper-Bristol	16	+ 2 Laps	20
12	24	Theo Helfrich	Veritas	16	+ 2 Laps	28
13	16	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea-Francis	16	+ 2 Laps	16
14	36	Rudolf Krause	Greifzu-BMW	16	+ 2 Laps	26
15	37	Ernst Klodwig	Heck-BMW	15	+ 3 Laps	32
16	22	Wolfgang Seidel	Veritas	14	+ 4 Laps	29
Ret	4	Luigi Villoresi Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	15	Engine	6	1
Ret	38	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	15	Engine	17
Ret	8	Onofre Marimón	Maserati	13	Suspension	8
Ret	35	Edgar Barth	EMW	12	Exhaust	24
Ret	12	Johnny Claes	Connaught-Lea-Francis	12	Engine	25
Ret	26	Oswald Karch	Veritas	10	Engine	34
Ret	23	Willi Heeks	Veritas	8	Transmission	18
Ret	9	Jean Behra	Gordini	7	Gearbox	9
Ret	11	Harry Schell	Gordini	6	Engine	10
Ret	14	Prince Bira	Connaught-Lea-Francis	6	Suspension	15
Ret	28	Theo Fitzau	AFM-BMW	3	Engine	21
Ret	34	Kurt Adolff	Ferrari	3	Transmission	27
Ret	41	Günther Bechem	AFM-BMW	2	Engine	30
Ret	10	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	1	Differential	5
Ret	15	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea-Francis	1	Engine	13
Ret	32	Erwin Bauer	Veritas	1	Engine	33
Ret	21	Hans Stuck	AFM-Bristol	0	Engine	23
Ret	30	Ernst Loof	Veritas	0	Fuel Pump	31
DNS	39	Helm Glöckler	Cooper-Bristol	0	Engine
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drives

• : (Ascari and Villoresi switched cars)
  • Car #1: Ascari (9 laps) then Villoresi (8 laps)
  • Car #4: Villoresi (10 laps) then Ascari (5 laps)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Alberto Ascari	33.5 (37.5)
4	2	Nino Farina	20
2	3	Juan Manuel Fangio	19
2	4	Mike Hawthorn	18 (20)
2	5	José Froilán González	13.5 (14.5)
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.