1954 British Grand Prix: An Argentinean at Home in England
July 2, 2013 by Jeremy McMullen
Long before the Falklands War cooled feelings between England and Argentina, Jose Froilan Gonzalez would show himself to be right at home on English shores. Having put his name in the record books as Ferrari's first Formula One victor, Gonzalez would be back with the very same team looking to see if he could repeat the achievement.
Jose Froilan Gonzalez had struggled in Formula One throughout his debut season in 1950. His prospects seemed to be all gone by the end of the season. However, an impressive performance in his native South America would lead to a contract with Scuderia Ferrari.
Never before had the Argentine driver had the equipment even close to capable of staying with his all-out driving style. But now, with Ferrari, Gonzalez would have an opportunity he would make the most of and he would do so earning a shared 2nd place drive in his first race with the famous Maranello team. Then, in just his second race with the team, Gonzalez would be urged on to victory by Alberto Ascari and would thus take his place in Ferrari history by being the first to win a Formula One World Championship race for the preeminent marque.
Following the victory at Silverstone, Gonzalez would earn a 3rd place and two more 2nd place results against the dominant Alfa Romeo 159s. In the end, Gonzalez would finish just his second year of competition in Formula One 3rd in the Drivers' Championship standings.
More podium finishes would follow over the course of the next two seasons but the closest he would come to another victory in Formula One would come in 1952 when he signed to drive for the factory Maserati team. In his first and only race for Officine Alfieri Maserati for 1952, Gonzalez would go on to match Alberto Ascari's fastest lap time and would finish in 2nd place breaking up a possible Ferrari one-two-three.
The 1953 Formula One season would be much more successful for Gonzalez as he would earn three 3rd place results, but, the Ferrari 500 was still the dominant car during the Formula 2 era of the World Championship. If the Argentinean had any hopes of earning yet another victory it seemed he need to look to another team, one team in which he had driven for in the past.
There would be a great deal of shake-up at Scuderia Ferrari following the end of the 1953 season. Ferrari had been the dominant force in Formula One throughout the Formula 2 era, but now, it seemed as if Maserati were poised for the future while Ferrari was left on the back foot languishing a bit. The lack of clear vision would discourage Alberto Ascari and would lead to some disagreements between he and Enzo Ferrari. And so, Ascari would leave the team after earning two World Championships.
Ferrari wasn't necessarily aimless. The new Formula One regulations for 1954 would see Maserati introduce its 250F. Ferrari, on the other hand, would seem to be making do. The reality is that Ferrari had actually been ahead of the curve so far they got caught out by their own forward-thinking. The Ferrari 500 would actually evolve from a chassis and engine combination that was meant for Formula One regulations. It just happened to work out that the Formula 2 version was practically unbeatable. This would make any follow-up chassis and engine combination have a very tough act to follow. The unfortunate candidate would be the 553 known as the Super Squalo.
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The departure of Ascari from the team meant there would be a vacancy at Ferrari. Gonzalez had had success with the team before and they would welcome him back for the '54 season. Despite a 3rd place in the Argentine Grand Prix to start the year, Gonzalez's reunion with Ferrari would be filled with some difficulty. This would include his Squalo catching on fire and being destroyed after he stopped to help Mike Hawthorn out of his burning Ferrari. Then there would be a retirement in the Pau Grand Prix. By this point in time about all of the Ferrari drivers had reverted to the 625, which had been Ferrari's latest idea before the adoption of the Formula 2 regulations. Therefore, essentially, Gonzalez and the other Ferrari drivers would be driving an idea more than a couple of years old. Still, Gonzalez's return to Ferrari would quickly turn successful. There would be a victory in Bordeaux. And then came the BRDC International Trophy race. Despite taking part in his heat race in heavy rains and with one of the Super Squalos, Gonzalez would absolutely dominate his heat with a truly remarkable average speed. Switching to a 625 for the final, after a rather controversial engine seizure, Gonzalez would absolutely destroy all comers in the final leading the way and taking the victory by 36 seconds over Jean Behra. Followed up by a victory in Bari, Gonzalez's return to Ferrari was becoming quite fruitful, at least in non-championship races. The championship races were not quite as successful. Besides a 3rd place in Argentina, Gonzalez would share a 4th place ride with Mike Hawthorn in the Belgian Grand Prix, and then, would suffer a retirement in the French Grand Prix at the beginning of July. However, following the French Grand Prix, Gonzalez and Ferrari would be heading back across the English Channel to Silverstone, a place where the two had come together so beautifully just three years earlier. Since his somewhat surprising victory in the 1951 British Grand Prix, Gonzalez had only been to Silverstone for the British round of the World Championship once. That one time would be in 1953 while driving for Maserati. In that race he would start from 2nd on the grid and would finish a very distant 4th. It had been a difficult time as Ascari still very much dominated the World Championship scene. Still, the front row starting spot had proven there was just something special about Gonzalez going around the 2.9 mile Silverstone Circuit. And in 1954, Ferrari would hope that magical connection would only continue. Even heading into the event Gonzalez had to be feeling good as he had proven dominant in similar weather conditions during the International Trophy race just a few months earlier. Taking to the wheel of the 625, Gonzalez would prove there was something about Silverstone that he thoroughly enjoyed as he would post a lap time of 1:46. This would be narrowly beaten by his fellow countryman, Juan Manuel Fangio, who would lap the slightly longer circuit at an average speed of more than 100mph. Gonzalez had been the first to achieve this goal back in 1951 when the circuit was a tenth or so shorter. The complete front row for the 1954 British Grand Prix would include Fangio on pole, Gonzalez in 2nd place and Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss in 3rd and 4th respectively. Overcast and damp conditions greeted the spectators and teams as they prepared for the start of the 90 lap race. A lot of attention would be directed to Fangio and the return of Mercedes. Starting from pole, it was believed the return of the Silver Arrows would follow a similar path to that of the French Grand Prix just a couple of weeks before. Fortunately for Gonzalez and others, Fangio would have a problem with the sleek W196. At a circuit like Reims the lack of visibility in the corners wasn't so much of a problem. At Silverstone, however, that would be one problem Fangio was not entirely keen about. Unlike in 1951, Gonzalez would be fast off the line and would actually be in the lead heading through Copse for the very first time. Hawthorn would also get away well and would be ahead of Fangio. At the completion of the first lap it would be Gonzalez in the lead looking as he had when he took victory at the circuit three years earlier. Mike Hawthorn would be in 2nd place while Fangio would be struggling to settle down in 3rd place. Gonzalez would continue to power his way around the circuit in the lead of the race with Fangio finally beginning to apply some pressure to Hawthorn. Fangio's effort to do this would not be unnoticeable as each of the front corners of the Mercedes would exhibit a fair amount of damage from Fangio hitting the oil cans meant to mark the inside of the corners around the circuit. Hawthorn would continue to run in 3rd place but he would soon come under pressure from Moss in his Maserati. Throughout the first half of the race Gonzalez would be in the lead and drawing away from the rest of the field. Fangio would continue to clobber the cans until both corners of the front of the car would be missing large pieces of once-sleek bodywork. Moss would get by Hawthorn for 3rd place and would be gaining on Fangio as a result of his frustrations. Gonzalez would look absolutely indestructible. Padding his advantage with each passing lap, it would be Fangio that would come under fire from Moss, and then, his Mercedes would have even deeper issues. By the 60th lap of the race Fangio would be behind both Moss and Hawthorn as a result of gearbox troubles. While one Argentinean's pace was slowing, the other's was only getting faster. One of seven to set the same fastest lap time of the race, Gonzalez's average lap speed of nearly 90mph would be leaving everyone behind and would end up putting Fangio and Onofre Marimon, another of his countrymen and friends, more than a lap behind. It would be a sweet reunion of Gonzalez, Ferrari and Silverstone. Completing the race distance in two hours and a little more than 56 minutes, Gonzalez would destroy his competition. Late problems with Moss would give 2nd place to Hawthorn who would cross the line a minute and 10 seconds behind Gonzalez. More than a lap would be in hand over Marimon, who would end up getting by Fangio for 3rd place. The combination of Gonzalez and Ferrari at Silverstone had once again proven to be something very special. Though separated by three years, Gonzalez's two victories in the British race meant he was just the second two-time winner of the British Grand Prix. The victory would also be Ferrari's 18th victory in the World Championship, far more than any other manufacturer at the time. The victory would come in just the second race of Gonzalez's return to Ferrari. Followed up by two 2nd place results in the German and Swiss Grand Prix and a 3rd place in the Italian Grand Prix, Gonzalez's return to Ferrari would result in a 2nd place result in the Drivers' Championship standings. In Gonzalez's case, the second victory at Silverstone would prove to be his last in Formula One and that would be remarkable to think of considering the way in which he had demolished his competitors in the two races and in other non-championship events. But, while this may suggest Gonzalez's short-comings on other circuits, the fact he would score his second World Championship victory on English shores on went to prove just what a relationship this Argentine had with the English. Sources:
'Grand Prix Results: British GP, 1954', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr037.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr037.html. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
'Britain 1954', (http://statsf1.com/en/1954/grande-bretagne.aspx). StatsF1. http://statsf1.com/en/1954/grande-bretagne.aspx. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
'1954 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1954/f154.html). 1954 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1954/f154.html. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
'1954 Non-World Championship Grands Prix', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/nc/1954/1954.html). 1954 Non-World Championship Grands Prix. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/nc/1954/1954.html. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
RAC British GP at Silverstone. Video. (1954). Retrieved 26 June 2013 from http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0e5_1309540214
