The championship 1952 Formula 1 – the third in history – had a calendar of eight world championship races, which started in Switzerland on May 18th, ending in Monza on September 7th. After missing the opening race in Bremgarten and retiring in the next one in Indianapolis, Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari scored a three-game winning streak – Spa-Francorchamps, Rouen Les-Essarts and Silverstone who brought him to Germany al Nurburgring with the possibility of winning the world championship with two races to spare. It was the weekend of August 3 and the Milanese driver – then 34 years old – took pole position ahead of team mate Nino Farina and Maurice Trintignant’s Gordini. Given the length of the circuit (each lap lasted 10 minutes), the race consisted of 18 laps, 16 of which were safely driven by Ascari himself. With two laps to go, an oil leak forced him to stop in the pits and re-enter the track behind Farina for about ten seconds. The Lombard recovered and overtook the other single-seater of the Prancing Horse, closing the race as a winner. With the 9 points added up in Germany (1 for the fastest lap), Ascari climbed to 36, winning the first F1 world championship for him and for Ferrari. At the time, in fact, the 4 best results for the world championship were worth, and with as many successes and fast laps, the Italian reached the maximum achievable score. Two more victories came, in Zandvoort and Monza, to close a triumphant season.
Enzo Ferrariin the book ‘Pilots, what people … ‘ he talked about it like this: “The driver Alberto Ascari had a precise and decisive style, but he was the man who needed to start in the head. Ascari in the lead was difficult to overcome: I would dare to say that it was impossible to overcome him, unless the struggle in the family did not force his temper, as it happened in Monza in 1953. Ascari relegated to second position, or further back, was not the fighter I would have wanted see on certain occasions. Not because he disarmed, but because when he had to chase and had to overcome the antagonist, he evidently suffered not from an inferiority complex, but from a nervousness that did not allow him to express his class. For Ascari, the opposite of the norm was valid: usually, in fact, the rider who is in first position is worried about keeping it, he can get distracted in controlling the situation behind him, he studies his pace, he is often uncertain whether to push or no; Alberto, on the other hand, felt safe just when he played the hare; in those moments his style became superb, and his car impregnable. With Ferrari he became world champion in 1952 and 1953. He died in Monza on May 26, 1955 and I would say that his accident can be referred to as the typical accident of motor sport: that event, in which the truth about what happened remains obscure, because the man-machine harmony is abruptly changed by a sudden and imponderable moment of disorder ”.
📅 03.08.52 – 03.08.22
A day to remember for us and Alberto Ascari ❤️
Celebrating 70 years from the very first F1 World Championship won by a Ferrari driver 🏆#beFerrari 🔴 pic.twitter.com/FoUYQ8IZRa
– Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 3, 2022
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