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OSCA Automobili: 1951 Formula One Season   By Jeremy McMullen

Ever since the death of Alfieri, almost everything the Maserati brothers put their hands to turned to gold, but for the sake of another. On their own, their genius would be overshadowed by external events that would cause the brothers great hardships.

After completing their contract with Adolfo Orsi, who had come in to bail out Maserati, the brothers left their name behind to start anew. The result was Officine Specializatte Costruzione Automobili (OSCA). The brothers focused mainly on building sports cars. However, they did produce a few grand prix cars during their existence. Their main focus for grand prix racing was building and supplying engines to race teams and private entrants. The customers were few. This was quite surprising given the fact their engine won its first time out with Prince Bira at the 3rd Richmond Trophy race held at the Goodwood circuit in Chichester, England.

In order to continue to exist and make cars, OSCA had to create its own team and go racing. Besides deciding to design and develop a car to take part in Formula One and non-championship grand prix events, the brothers had also been busy selling their MT4 sports car to quite a few customers. The MT4 had achieved some good results. It had been able to win some races. But also, it was able to score many wonderful top-three and top-ten finishes. However, the company could only sell so many cars. They would have to go racing to give them a chance at earning some more prize money. As a result, OSCA Automobili was born.

OSCA Automobili was founded merely for the purpose of participating in grand prix races. In fact, the team's first race of 1951 was the Mille Miglia, which took place at the end of April. There were numerous MT4s taking part in the 1,000 mile race. OSCA entered one MT4 in the race and it was driven by the pairing of Bordoni and Serbelloni. The pairing would end up coming in second in their class behind the pairing of Fagioli and Borghi, also driving an OSCA MT4. Bordoni and Serbelloni finished the 1,000 miles second in class and tenth overall.

While the car company was still preparing its grand prix car for competition, OSCA Automobili took part in another sports car race in August. The race was the sports car grand prix race at Senigallia, Italy and was held on a 5.77 mile road course made up of roads that made their way through the streets of Senigallia and the surrounding countryside. The route included three notable straights, none as long as the main straight that ran along the coast.

To race in the event, the team turned the wheel over to one of its drivers that had taken part in the Mille Miglia. Franco Bordoni took his place behind the wheel and would start the race third on the grid. Giulio Cabianca took the victory in an OSCA MT4 completing the fifteen lap race in just under one hour. Second place was OSCA's driver Bordoni. He trailed Giulio by twenty-one seconds. Four of the top-five finishers were driving OSCA MT4s.

OSCA Automobili had been able to achieve some great success in sports car events during the 1951 season. As the Formula One season turned toward Monza and the Italian Grand Prix, OSCA's 4500G was ready to take part in what was the seventh round of the championship that year. Having not taken part in any race to that point of the season, OSCA was going out to give their business a good name and to help themselves continue to do business.

The team arrived at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, which took place toward the middle part of September. Truly untested in qualifying or race conditions, Franco Rol piloted the 4500G to an eighteenth starting spot. While he qualified down in the order, Franco would be helped before the race even began when both Reg Parnell and Ken Richardson were prohibited from starting the race. Both of BRM's drivers had qualified in front of Rol.

As the 80 lap event got underway, so too did the notorious attrition. Seven cars were out of the race before ten laps had been completed. Before the race was over, four more cars would drop out of the high-speed event, including Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina. With competitors dropping like flies all-around, Franco pulled back on the reigns of his V12 machine and nursed it to a ninth place finish. Franco was the last car running on the track and finished over 12 laps down to Alberto Ascari who beat Jose Froilan Gonzalez by almost twenty-five seconds. Farina, driving Bonetto's Alfa Romeo, ended up rounding out the podium finishing third.

Although the car was untested, the ninth place result was a good achievement by the team. How unfortunate the 4500G wasn't ready to take part in the entire season. Given the entire grand prix season, it is not too much to think the Maserati brothers could have had an even greater showing. The ninth place finish at the Italian Grand Prix would be the last event OSCA Automobili would take part, in either sports cars or grand prix in 1951.

OSCA Automobili would continue to take part in sports car and grand prix races for the next few years until the company was sold in 1957. Despite the fact it was their ability that put Maserati on the map as a car manufacturer, the interest and success didn't go with the brothers when they tried to go it on their own again. OSCA Automobili ran a limited race schedule due to rising costs associated with racing. Without the funding to mount a serious effort, OSCA Automobili is perhaps one of the more interesting stories in Formula One lore. Despite the Maserati name, of course in disguise, OSCA Automobili would never become what the brothers had left behind.
Italy Drivers  F1 Drivers From Italy 
Michele Alboreto

Giovanna Amati

Marco Apicella

Alberto Ascari

Luca Badoer

Giancarlo Baghetti

Mauro Baldi

Lorenzo Bandini

Fabrizio Barbazza

Paolo Barilla

Giorgio Bassi

Enrico Bertaggia

Guerino Bertocchi

Clemente Biondetti

Felice Bonetto

Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla

Vittorio Brambilla

Gianfranco Brancatelli

Gianmaria 'Gimmi' Bruni

Roberto Bussinello

Giulio Cabianca

Alessandro 'Alex' Caffi

Ivan Franco Capelli

Piero Carini

Eugenio Castellotti

Alberto Colombo

Gianfranco 'Franco' Comotti

Andrea Lodovico de Adamich

Elio de Angelis

Andrea de Cesaris

Maria Teresa de Filippis

Giovanni de Riu

Piero Drogo

Piero Dusio

Corrado Fabi

Carlo Giovanni Facetti

Luigi Fagioli

Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina

Giancarlo Fisichella

Carlo 'Gimax' Franchi

Giorgio Francia

Giuseppe 'Beppe' Gabbiani

Giovanni Giuseppe Gilberto 'Nanni' Galli

Gerino Gerini

Piercarlo Ghinzani

Piercarlo Ghinzani

Bruno Giacomelli

Antonio Giovinazzi

Ignazio Giunti

Claudio Langes

Nicola Larini

Giovanni Lavaggi

Lamberto Leoni

Roberto Lippi

Vitantonio 'Tonio' Liuzzi

Maria Grazia 'Lella' Lombardi

Umberto Maglioli

Sergio Mantovani

Pierluigi Martini

Arturo Francesco 'Little Art' Merzario

Stefano Modena

Andrea Montermini

Gianni Morbidelli

Gino Munaron

Luigi Musso

Alessandro 'Sandro' Nannini

Emanuele Naspetti

Massimo Natili

Nello Pagani

Riccardo Paletti

Giorgio Pantano

Massimiliano 'Max' Papis

Riccardo Gabriele Patrese

Cesare Perdisa

Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi

Luigi Piotti

Renato Pirocchi

Emanuele Pirro

Ernesto Prinoth

Franco Rol

Giacomo 'Geki' Russo

Consalvo Sanesi

Ludovico Scarfiotti

Giorgio Scarlatti

Domenico Schiattarella

Piero Scotti

Teodoro 'Dorino' Serafini

Vincenzo Sospiri

Prince Gaetano Starrabba di Giardinelli

Siegfried Stohr

Luigi Taramazzo

Gabriele Tarquini

Piero Taruffi

Alfonso Thiele

Jarno Trulli

Nino Vaccarella

Luigi Villoresi

Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi

Renzo Zorzi

Formula One World Drivers' Champions
1950 G. Farina

1951 J. Fangio

1952 A. Ascari

1953 A. Ascari

1954 J. Fangio

1955 J. Fangio

1956 J. Fangio

1957 J. Fangio

1958 M. Hawthorn

1959 S. Brabham

1960 S. Brabham

1961 P. Hill, Jr

1962 N. Hill

1963 J. Clark, Jr.

1964 J. Surtees

1965 J. Clark, Jr.

1966 S. Brabham

1967 D. Hulme

1968 N. Hill

1969 S. Stewart

1970 K. Rindt

1971 S. Stewart

1972 E. Fittipaldi

1973 S. Stewart

1974 E. Fittipaldi

1975 A. Lauda

1976 J. Hunt

1977 A. Lauda

1978 M. Andretti

1979 J. Scheckter

1980 A. Jones

1981 N. Piquet

1982 K. Rosberg

1983 N. Piquet

1984 A. Lauda

1985 A. Prost

1986 A. Prost

1987 N. Piquet

1988 A. Senna

1989 A. Prost

1990 A. Senna

1991 A. Senna

1992 N. Mansell

1993 A. Prost

1994 M. Schumacher

1995 M. Schumacher

1996 D. Hill

1997 J. Villeneuve

1998 M. Hakkinen

1999 M. Hakkinen

2000 M. Schumacher

2001 M. Schumacher

2002 M. Schumacher

2003 M. Schumacher

2004 M. Schumacher

2005 F. Alonso

2006 F. Alonso

2007 K. Raikkonen

2008 L. Hamilton

2009 J. Button

2010 S. Vettel

2011 S. Vettel

2012 S. Vettel

2013 S. Vettel

2014 L. Hamilton

2015 L. Hamilton

2016 N. Rosberg

2017 L. Hamilton

2018 L. Hamilton

2019 L. Hamilton

2020 L. Hamilton

2021 M. Verstappen

2022 M. Verstappen

2023 M. Verstappen

Italy OSCA Automobili

YearConstructorEngineChassisDrivers
1959Cooper OSCA 2.0 L4T43 Formula 1 image Alejandro de Tomaso 
1958OSCA OSCA 372 1.5 L4F2 Formula 1 image Giulio Cabianca

Formula 1 image Luigi Piotti 
1953OSCA OSCA 2000 2.0 L6OSCA 20 Formula 1 image Élie Marcel Bayol 
1951OSCA 4500 4.5 V124500G Formula 1 image Franco Rol