Ferrari’s first F1 victory 70 years ago | FormulaPassion.it

At the twelfth race in the history of Formula 1, the British Grand Prix 1951, Ferrari took the first of 238 victories in the premier category of motoring. Crossing the finish line as a winner was July 14 it was José Froilan Gonzalez, then a 30 year old Argentine driver nicknamed ‘El Cabezon’ because of the size of his head. After an unsatisfactory 1950, Enzo Ferrari focused on Gonzalez (who had made his debut with the Varzi team’s Maserati) to get his first success in F1, so much so that he promised him a berlinetta as a gift for his first victory. Despite a Red with older chassis and engine than teammates Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi, ‘El Cabezon’ still managed to take pole position ahead of the two Alfa Romeos of Juan Manuel Fangio and Nino Farina.

F1 | British GP 1951, Qualifying

At the start of the race, Felice Bonetto in an Alfa Romeo takes the lead, but soon has to give way to the two contenders, Froilan Gonzalez in a Ferrari and Juan Manuel Fangio in an Alfa Romeo. On lap 10 he is ahead of Fangio, Gonzalez at 39th. ‘El Cabezon’ then enters the pits to leave his car in Ascari, who had retired, but the Italian encouraged the Argentine to continue his excellent race. So Gonzalez got back on track and cleared Fangio by 51 seconds at the finishing line of the 90 laps at Silverstone.

F1 | Classification GP Great Britain 1951

“When in ’51 Gonzalez in a Ferrari, for the first time against us directly [con l’Alfa Romeo, ndr], he left behind the 159 and the entire Alfa team, I cried for joy, but I mixed tears of enthusiasm with tears of pain, because on that day I thought: “I killed my mother”“, He declared Enzo Ferrari, remembering that first world success of the Maranello cars. From the book “My terrible joys”, Drake also drew a picture of Froilan Gonzalez, who then won only one more GP in F1, again at Silverstone in 1954: “He was a compatriot of Fangio, but there was no affinity between the two, indeed, in a sense Gonzalez was his opposite. The Cabezon, as everyone called it, was just the opposite of Fangio’s continuity, of regularity. He alternated very happy periods of unusual speeds, even unknown ones, with alarming pauses. When he was in the lead, he slowed down until he was inexplicably overtaken, when he was chasing he was a wrecking ball. He was therefore the opposite of Ascari in this respect“.

Enzo Ferrari struggled to understand Gonzalez: “I confess that I never understood why this man represented such an extraordinary sine wave in racing behavior. Nor did I ever understand why he ran to get so tired, to sweat so much, to worry so much. However, I must conclude that he was a courageous, strong-willed, generous driver. I cannot forget that he offered Ferrari magnificent satisfactions, both at Silverstone, when he managed to beat the Alfa Romeo and Mercedes teams for the first time, and in Argentina, when he defeated Mercedes twice in a row, and at Le Mans, in a thrilling 24 Hours“. The 1951 world championship went to Juan Manuel Fangio (Alfa Romeo) with 31 points, 6 more than Alberto Ascari (Ferrari) and 7 more than Froilan Gonzalez (Ferrari). Enzo Ferrari had to wait a year for his first victory in the drivers’ championship, with Alberto Ascari becoming champion in 1952.