1951 Formula 1 
1951 Italian Grand Prix : 1951 Italian Grand Prix: Promising Result Left Unfilfilled
By
In 1957, at the Italian Grand Prix, Andre Simon, almost as usual, would share a drive with Ottorino Volonterio and would finish his final Formula One grand prix in 11th place. And while the fact Simon would have to share his drive with another would not be all that surprising to many, it would be a far cry from what many believed would be the case after the 1951 Italian Grand Prix.Andre Simon had made an impressive debut at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans, which gained the attention of Amedee Gordini. Moved by his performance in the French classic, which would see Simon set the fastest lap of the race and nearly miss beating the lap record that had been set back in 1939, Gordini would hire Simon full-time with his Formula 2 team along with such drivers as Maurice Trintignant, Jean Behra and Robert Manzon.Heading into the 1950 season, Simca-Gordini was still a strong contender in Formula 2 with its Gordini Type 15 chassis. This would allow Simon to take the victory in the 1st Circuit de Medoc, as well as, no fewer than six 2nd place finishes and other top five and top three results over the course of the season. But that was in Formula 2. And, compared to the Alfa Romeo 159 and the Ferrari 375 that would come online in 1951, the Gordini T15 could not compare. But, the money was in the higher classes, and that meant Formula One.In order to maximize the starting money Gordini could get to help finance his team he would have two simple approaches heading into the 1951 season. The first would be to take part in as many races possible. Then, secondly, in order to help ensure the most amount money earned in a race, Gordini would enter numerous cars at each event. The mindset was to swarm and hope that one or two would come through in the end to score a good result and earn some good prize money.There was still one big problem: Simca-Gordini would be, effectively, heading into battle with a foe far superior. Both the Alfa Romeo 159 and Ferrari 375 would have power in reserve, whereas the Gordini T15 would be stretched thin, pushing every component to its very limits.This sad reality would bear itself out as the Simca-Gordini team would have just one of its cars finish its first two World Championship races of the 1951 season. The most depressing result would come at the French Grand Prix when all four Gordini T15s would fail to finish the race while all of the Alfa Romeos and all but one of the Ferraris would make it all the way to the end.It was clear the Gordini team was overreaching a bit. But in Simon's case, it was still an opportunity to set his Formula One career on a good trajectory. And if he could get the car to go with him all the way to the end he undoubtedly believed he could do something special. And at the Italian Grand Prix he would do just that.The last Formula One World Championship had been on the 27th of July and it was the German Grand Prix. In that race, as with the whole of the season, there would be a great battle between Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio for the victory. The two would remain in touch with each other throughout the race. It would only be in the final few laps that Ascari would pull out an advantage that would eventually turn into a thirty second margin of victory.The race would very much be a changing of the guard. Jose Froilan Gonzalez had managed to score Ferrari's first Formula One victory at the British Grand Prix. However, at the German Grand Prix, were it not for the mastery of Fangio, it likely would have been a one-two-three-four sweep for Ferrari as every other Alfa Romeo would retire with either a mechanical issue or an accident.Alfa's struggles would be shared with the Simca-Gordini team. Stretched thin, the team would lose two of its car to engine failure. The only one in which Providence would shine down upon would be Robert Manzon. He would manage to nurse his T15 home to a distant 7th place finish a little more than a lap behind. And considering the length of the Nurburgring was 14 miles in length, it was more than obvious Manzon trailed by a great distance in the end.Gordini just didn't have the resources to compete with Scuderia Ferrari or Alfa Romeo, even despite the fact Alfa Romeo was pulling out at the end of the season. Still, on the 16th of September, his team would be busy preparing its three cars for the 21st Gran Premio d'Italia held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.Ever since the track opened in September of 1922, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza had been all about speed. Laid out in the flat Royal Villa of Monza, the circuit featured a layout that encouraged nearly flat-out racing. And, in many cases, the average speeds around the 3.91 mile road course would prove to be nearly as fast as when the 2.62 mile banked-oval was added to make up the 6.21 mile circuit.The 3.91 mile road course would be used for the 1951 edition of the Italian Grand Prix. In practice, Juan Manuel Fangio would lap the circuit with an average speed in excess of 124 mph and would earn the pole for the 80 lap race. Giuseppe Farina would be seven-tenths of a second slower and would start 2nd right alongside his Alfa Romeo teammate. Alberto Ascari would be nearly two seconds slower than Fangio and would start in 3rd place with Jose Froilan Gonzalez finishing the front row starting in 4th. Simon had always proven to be fast and in practice for the Italian Grand Prix he would prove it as he would be the fastest of the Gordini pilots. His best lap of 2:08.0 would be nearly fifteen seconds slower than Fangio but it would be good enough for the Frenchman to start from the third row in the 11th position overall. Simon's performance in practice had been impressive. It was just his third World Championship race, and yet, the only cars ahead of him on the grid would be much more powerful machines like the Alfa Romeo 159, Ferrari 375 or the BRM P15.If the pace of the Ferrari, Alfas and BRMs were enough, the day of the race would see incredibly hot temperatures and dry conditions greet Simon and the rest of the competitors. This meant the Gordini cars would be severely tested trying to keep in touch with the superior cars in the field. Face such a severe test, Simon would have to drive an intelligent race. And while Fangio would leap into the lead of the race ahead of Ascari and Farina, Simon would actually drop back slightly. Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon would both be on the move in the early going in their Gordinis while Simon held back.The attrition would quickly begin to take its toll as Peter Whitehead and Emmanuel de Graffenried would both depart the race after completing just one lap. Giuseppe Farina would last just 6 laps before his car's race would come undone with engine problems. As a result, Farina would take over Felice Bonetto's car for the remainder of the race. While Fangio and Ascari battled it out for the lead of the race, Simon would take things easy around the middle of the field. Andre would drive a very smart race. He was known for being fast and hard on his equipment, but on this day he would let Providence bring the race to him. He would make his way past Louis Rosier. He would continue to move forward as his Gordini teammate Trintignant began to run into trouble and would finally retire from the race after 29 laps. Then, on the same lap as when Trintignant fell out of contention, Robert Manzon's race would also come to an end. Both had pushed a little too hard early on and would pay for it before even reaching the halfway mark of the race.By the halfway mark of the race, Ascari was in the lead with Fangio having fallen out of the running. This left Gonzalez in 2nd place with Farina in 3rd with Bonetto's car. Farina would be followed by Villoresi and then Piero Taruffi. Andre Simon, just a lap or so earlier had been involved in a great battle with Louis Rosier. But by the halfway point in the race, Simon had firmly asserted himself in the 6th place position and was pulling away from Rosier.Without Fangio, Ascari would disappear into the distance and would take an easy win. Over the course of the 80 laps, Ascari would lap all but Gonzalez in 2nd place. Giuseppe Farina would manage to come through with Felice Bonetto's car to finish in the 3rd position. He would, unfortunately, just go a lap down just a few laps away from the finish.Though he would literally cross the line just five seconds behind Gonzalez, Simon would not be fortunate enough to be finishing in the 3rd position. However, he would prove, on this day, to not only be fast, but smart as well. Being mindful of the conditions, Simon would drive a controlled race and would let Providence bring the race to him. And that is exactly what would happen. Though he would finish 6 laps down to the victor, Simon would still come through the carnage of the day to finish in the 6th position. And, as with qualifying, the only ones to finish better than him in his Gordini would be either Alfa Romeos or Ferraris. His performance would be impressive for he would not only overcome the conditions, but he would also put down the threat from Louis Rosier and would turn it into a lap advantage by the end of the race.After the 6th place at the Italian Grand Prix, Andre Simon would only take part in one more World Championship race for Simca-Gordini. The following season Andre would find himself with Scuderia Ferrari driving the most dominant car of its period, the Ferrari 500 F2. Unfortunately, Simon's role with Ferrari wouldn't be all that conducive to him putting in stellar performances. Upon joining Ferrari, Simon would quickly find himself to be the odd man out. Not only would he be the only Frenchman on an all Italian driving squad, but he would find, with drivers like Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Giuseppe Farina and Piero Taruffi, he was nothing more than a glorified reserve driver always on call to hand over his car to one of the others if they suffered problems at any point in a race. Just like that, the promise that had been on display at the Italian Grand Prix in 1951 would not be able to grow and flourish, and it would affect Simon's Formula One career from then on.But on that hot day at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in September 1951, the talent and intelligence of Simon would be on full display. And as a result of his smart and controlled drive, Simon would bring Simca-Gordini home to their best result in any of the Formula One races the team contested during the 1951 season.
1951 Italian Grand Prix : 1951 Italian Grand Prix: Promising Result Left Unfilfilled By In 1957, at the Italian Grand Prix, Andre Simon, almost as usual, would share a drive with Ottorino Volonterio and would finish his final Formula One grand prix in 11th place. And while the fact Simon would have to share his drive with another would not be all that surprising to many, it would be a far cry from what many believed would be the case after the 1951 Italian Grand Prix.Andre Simon had made an impressive debut at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans, which gained the attention of Amedee Gordini. Moved by his performance in the French classic, which would see Simon set the fastest lap of the race and nearly miss beating the lap record that had been set back in 1939, Gordini would hire Simon full-time with his Formula 2 team along with such drivers as Maurice Trintignant, Jean Behra and Robert Manzon.Heading into the 1950 season, Simca-Gordini was still a strong contender in Formula 2 with its Gordini Type 15 chassis. This would allow Simon to take the victory in the 1st Circuit de Medoc, as well as, no fewer than six 2nd place finishes and other top five and top three results over the course of the season. But that was in Formula 2. And, compared to the Alfa Romeo 159 and the Ferrari 375 that would come online in 1951, the Gordini T15 could not compare. But, the money was in the higher classes, and that meant Formula One.In order to maximize the starting money Gordini could get to help finance his team he would have two simple approaches heading into the 1951 season. The first would be to take part in as many races possible. Then, secondly, in order to help ensure the most amount money earned in a race, Gordini would enter numerous cars at each event. The mindset was to swarm and hope that one or two would come through in the end to score a good result and earn some good prize money.There was still one big problem: Simca-Gordini would be, effectively, heading into battle with a foe far superior. Both the Alfa Romeo 159 and Ferrari 375 would have power in reserve, whereas the Gordini T15 would be stretched thin, pushing every component to its very limits.This sad reality would bear itself out as the Simca-Gordini team would have just one of its cars finish its first two World Championship races of the 1951 season. The most depressing result would come at the French Grand Prix when all four Gordini T15s would fail to finish the race while all of the Alfa Romeos and all but one of the Ferraris would make it all the way to the end.It was clear the Gordini team was overreaching a bit. But in Simon's case, it was still an opportunity to set his Formula One career on a good trajectory. And if he could get the car to go with him all the way to the end he undoubtedly believed he could do something special. And at the Italian Grand Prix he would do just that.The last Formula One World Championship had been on the 27th of July and it was the German Grand Prix. In that race, as with the whole of the season, there would be a great battle between Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio for the victory. The two would remain in touch with each other throughout the race. It would only be in the final few laps that Ascari would pull out an advantage that would eventually turn into a thirty second margin of victory.The race would very much be a changing of the guard. Jose Froilan Gonzalez had managed to score Ferrari's first Formula One victory at the British Grand Prix. However, at the German Grand Prix, were it not for the mastery of Fangio, it likely would have been a one-two-three-four sweep for Ferrari as every other Alfa Romeo would retire with either a mechanical issue or an accident.Alfa's struggles would be shared with the Simca-Gordini team. Stretched thin, the team would lose two of its car to engine failure. The only one in which Providence would shine down upon would be Robert Manzon. He would manage to nurse his T15 home to a distant 7th place finish a little more than a lap behind. And considering the length of the Nurburgring was 14 miles in length, it was more than obvious Manzon trailed by a great distance in the end.Gordini just didn't have the resources to compete with Scuderia Ferrari or Alfa Romeo, even despite the fact Alfa Romeo was pulling out at the end of the season. Still, on the 16th of September, his team would be busy preparing its three cars for the 21st Gran Premio d'Italia held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.Ever since the track opened in September of 1922, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza had been all about speed. Laid out in the flat Royal Villa of Monza, the circuit featured a layout that encouraged nearly flat-out racing. And, in many cases, the average speeds around the 3.91 mile road course would prove to be nearly as fast as when the 2.62 mile banked-oval was added to make up the 6.21 mile circuit.The 3.91 mile road course would be used for the 1951 edition of the Italian Grand Prix. In practice, Juan Manuel Fangio would lap the circuit with an average speed in excess of 124 mph and would earn the pole for the 80 lap race. Giuseppe Farina would be seven-tenths of a second slower and would start 2nd right alongside his Alfa Romeo teammate. Alberto Ascari would be nearly two seconds slower than Fangio and would start in 3rd place with Jose Froilan Gonzalez finishing the front row starting in 4th. Simon had always proven to be fast and in practice for the Italian Grand Prix he would prove it as he would be the fastest of the Gordini pilots. His best lap of 2:08.0 would be nearly fifteen seconds slower than Fangio but it would be good enough for the Frenchman to start from the third row in the 11th position overall. Simon's performance in practice had been impressive. It was just his third World Championship race, and yet, the only cars ahead of him on the grid would be much more powerful machines like the Alfa Romeo 159, Ferrari 375 or the BRM P15.If the pace of the Ferrari, Alfas and BRMs were enough, the day of the race would see incredibly hot temperatures and dry conditions greet Simon and the rest of the competitors. This meant the Gordini cars would be severely tested trying to keep in touch with the superior cars in the field. Face such a severe test, Simon would have to drive an intelligent race. And while Fangio would leap into the lead of the race ahead of Ascari and Farina, Simon would actually drop back slightly. Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon would both be on the move in the early going in their Gordinis while Simon held back.The attrition would quickly begin to take its toll as Peter Whitehead and Emmanuel de Graffenried would both depart the race after completing just one lap. Giuseppe Farina would last just 6 laps before his car's race would come undone with engine problems. As a result, Farina would take over Felice Bonetto's car for the remainder of the race. While Fangio and Ascari battled it out for the lead of the race, Simon would take things easy around the middle of the field. Andre would drive a very smart race. He was known for being fast and hard on his equipment, but on this day he would let Providence bring the race to him. He would make his way past Louis Rosier. He would continue to move forward as his Gordini teammate Trintignant began to run into trouble and would finally retire from the race after 29 laps. Then, on the same lap as when Trintignant fell out of contention, Robert Manzon's race would also come to an end. Both had pushed a little too hard early on and would pay for it before even reaching the halfway mark of the race.By the halfway mark of the race, Ascari was in the lead with Fangio having fallen out of the running. This left Gonzalez in 2nd place with Farina in 3rd with Bonetto's car. Farina would be followed by Villoresi and then Piero Taruffi. Andre Simon, just a lap or so earlier had been involved in a great battle with Louis Rosier. But by the halfway point in the race, Simon had firmly asserted himself in the 6th place position and was pulling away from Rosier.Without Fangio, Ascari would disappear into the distance and would take an easy win. Over the course of the 80 laps, Ascari would lap all but Gonzalez in 2nd place. Giuseppe Farina would manage to come through with Felice Bonetto's car to finish in the 3rd position. He would, unfortunately, just go a lap down just a few laps away from the finish.Though he would literally cross the line just five seconds behind Gonzalez, Simon would not be fortunate enough to be finishing in the 3rd position. However, he would prove, on this day, to not only be fast, but smart as well. Being mindful of the conditions, Simon would drive a controlled race and would let Providence bring the race to him. And that is exactly what would happen. Though he would finish 6 laps down to the victor, Simon would still come through the carnage of the day to finish in the 6th position. And, as with qualifying, the only ones to finish better than him in his Gordini would be either Alfa Romeos or Ferraris. His performance would be impressive for he would not only overcome the conditions, but he would also put down the threat from Louis Rosier and would turn it into a lap advantage by the end of the race.After the 6th place at the Italian Grand Prix, Andre Simon would only take part in one more World Championship race for Simca-Gordini. The following season Andre would find himself with Scuderia Ferrari driving the most dominant car of its period, the Ferrari 500 F2. Unfortunately, Simon's role with Ferrari wouldn't be all that conducive to him putting in stellar performances. Upon joining Ferrari, Simon would quickly find himself to be the odd man out. Not only would he be the only Frenchman on an all Italian driving squad, but he would find, with drivers like Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi, Giuseppe Farina and Piero Taruffi, he was nothing more than a glorified reserve driver always on call to hand over his car to one of the others if they suffered problems at any point in a race. Just like that, the promise that had been on display at the Italian Grand Prix in 1951 would not be able to grow and flourish, and it would affect Simon's Formula One career from then on.But on that hot day at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in September 1951, the talent and intelligence of Simon would be on full display. And as a result of his smart and controlled drive, Simon would bring Simca-Gordini home to their best result in any of the Formula One races the team contested during the 1951 season.
