1953 Formula One season

As in 1952, the 1953 Formula One season consisted of a small number of Formula One races, following the FIA's decision to once again run the World Drivers' Championship to Formula Two regulations rather than Formula One.

The 4th FIA World Drivers' Championship, which commenced on January 18, 1953, and ended on September 13 after nine races, was won by Alberto Ascari, driving for Scuderia Ferrari.

In addition to the Formula One races and the World Championship Formula Two races, numerous other Formula Two races, which did not count towards the Championship, were also held during the year.

World Championship season summary

Ferrari again dominated the championship, taking seven of the eight grands prix, although Juan Manuel Fangio's challenge in his Maserati took him to second place in the championship and a win at Monza. Ascari stretched his unbeaten run to nine grand prix before his team-mate Mike Hawthorn broke the sequence in becoming the first ever British winner in the French Grand Prix at Reims after a thrilling battle with Fangio.

Points were given to top 5 finishers (8, 6, 4, 3, 2). 1 point was given for fastest lap. Only the best four of nine scores counted towards the world championship. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps. In 1953, all World Championship events (except the Indianapolis 500) were run under Formula 2 regulations. The 1953 season was all the first truly global World Championship, with an event in Argentina. The race was marred by an accident involving Ferrari's Giuseppe Farina, who crashed into an unprotected crowd, killing nine spectators - the first deaths in Formula One.

World Championship season review

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Tyres	Report
1	Argentine Grand Prix	January 18	Autódromo Juan y Óscar Gálvez	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
2	Indianapolis 500	May 30	Indianapolis	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	F	Report
3	Dutch Grand Prix	June 7	Zandvoort	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
4	Belgian Grand Prix	June 21	Spa-Francorchamps	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
5	French Grand Prix	July 5	Reims	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	P	Report
6	British Grand Prix	July 18	Silverstone	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
7	German Grand Prix	August 2	Nürburgring	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	P	Report
8	Swiss Grand Prix	August 23	Bremgarten	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	P	Report
9	Italian Grand Prix	September 13	Monza	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	P	Report

Teams and Drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1953 FIA World Championship

1953 Driver line-ups

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Driver
Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati 2.0 L6	P	Juan Manuel Fangio
					Jose-Froilan Gonzalez
					Felice Bonetto
					Oscar Galvez
					Onofre Marimón
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Straight-4	P	Alberto Ascari
					Nino Farina
					Mike Hawthorn
					Luigi Villoresi
Baron de Graffenried	Maserati	A6GCM	Maserati Straight-6	P	Toulo de Graffenried

1953 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos. Driver ARG 500‡ NED BEL FRA GBR GER SUI ITA Pts. 1 Alberto Ascari 1* 1 1 4 1** 8† / Ret*† 1* Ret 34.5 (46.5) 2 Juan Manuel Fangio Ret NC Ret / Ret† 2* 2 2 4† / Ret† 1* 28 (29.5) 3 Nino Farina Ret 2 Ret 5 3 1 2 2 26 (32) 4 Mike Hawthorn 4 4 6 1 5 3 3 4 19 (27) 5 Luigi Villoresi 2 Ret* 2 6 Ret 8† / Ret† 6 3 17 6 José Froilán González 3 3† Ret* 3 4** 13.5 (14.5) 7 Bill Vukovich 1* 9 8 Toulo de Graffenried 5 4 7 Ret 5 Ret Ret 7 9 Felice Bonetto Ret 3† Ret 6 4 4† / Ret† Ret 6.5 10 Art Cross 2 6 11 Onofre Marimón 3 9 Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 12 Maurice Trintignant 7† 6 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 4 13 Sam Hanks 3† 2 14 Duane Carter 3† 2 15 Óscar Alfredo Gálvez 5 2 16 Jack McGrath 5 2 17 Hermann Lang 5 2 18 Fred Agabashian 4† 1.5 19 Paul Russo 4† 1.5 20 Stirling Moss 9 Ret 6 13 0 21 Jean Behra 6 Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 0 22 Roberto Mieres NC Ret 6 0 23 Jimmy Daywalt 6 0 24 Harry Schell 7† Ret 7 Ret Ret Ret 9 0 25 Louis Rosier 7 8 8 10 10 Ret 16 0 26 Ken Wharton Ret Ret 8 7 NC 0 27 Prince Bira Ret 7 Ret 11 0 28 Jacques Swaters 7 Ret 0 29 Jim Rathmann 7 0 30 Sergio Mantovani 7† 0 31 Luigi Musso 7† 0 32 Peter Collins 8 Ret 13 Ret 0 33 John Barber 8 0 34 Ernie McCoy 8 0 35 Max de Terra 8 0 36 Umberto Maglioli 8 0 37 Alan Brown 9 Ret Ret 12 0 38 Tony Bettenhausen 9 0 39 Fred Wacker 9 0 40 Peter Whitehead 9 0 41 Hans Herrmann 9 0 42 Albert Scherrer 9 0 43 Louis Chiron 15 10 0 44 Paul Frère 10 Ret 0 45 Jimmy Davies 10 0 46 Duke Nalon 11 0 47 André Pilette 11 0 48 Bob Gerard 11 0 49 Rodney Nuckey 11 0 50 Johnny Claes NC Ret† 12 Ret Ret 0 51 Carl Scarborough 12 0 52 Theo Helfrich 12 0 53 Kenneth McAlpine Ret Ret 13 NC 0 54 Manny Ayulo 13 0 55 Yves Giraud Cabantous 14 15 0 56 Hans Stuck Ret 14 0 57 Jimmy Bryan 14 0 58 Rudolf Krause 14 0 59 Bill Holland 15 0 60 Ernst Klodwig 15 0 61 Rodger Ward 16 0 62 Wolfgang Seidel 16 0 63 Walt Faulkner 17 0 — Jack Fairman Ret NC 0 — Lance Macklin Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 — Roy Salvadori Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 — Élie Bayol Ret Ret 0 — Chico Landi Ret Ret 0 — Robert Manzon Ret 0 — Carlos Menditeguy Ret 0 — Pablo Birger Ret 0 — Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Ret 0 — Marshall Teague Ret 0 — Spider Webb Ret 0 — Bob Sweikert Ret 0 — Mike Nazaruk Ret 0 — Pat Flaherty Ret 0 — Jerry Hoyt Ret 0 — Johnnie Parsons Ret 0 — Don Freeland Ret 0 — Gene Hartley Ret 0 — Chuck Stevenson Ret 0 — Cal Niday Ret 0 — Bob Scott Ret 0 — Andy Linden Ret 0 — Johnny Thomson Ret 0 — Georges Berger Ret 0 — Arthur Legat Ret 0 — Jimmy Stewart Ret 0 — Tony Rolt Ret 0 — Ian Stewart Ret 0 — Duncan Hamilton Ret 0 — Tony Crook Ret 0 — Edgar Barth Ret 0 — Oswald Karch Ret 0 — Willi Heeks Ret 0 — Theo Fitzau Ret 0 — Kurt Adolff Ret 0 — Günther Bechem Ret 0 — Ernst Loof Ret 0 — Erwin Bauer Ret 0 — Peter Hirt Ret 0 — Piero Carini Ret 0 — John Fitch Ret 0 Pos. Driver ARG 500‡ NED BEL FRA GBR GER SUI ITA Pts.

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Light blue Practiced only (PO) Friday test driver (TD) (from 2003 onwards) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

• * Fastest lap (1 point awarded)
• ** Multiple drivers set equal fastest lap times, thus sharing the 1 point.
• † Position shared between more drivers of the same car
• ‡ Several cars were shared in this race. See the race page for details.
• Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

Non-Championship race results

Formula One/Two races also held in 1953, which did not count towards the World Championship.

Race Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
III Gran Premio di Siracusa	Syracuse	March 22	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
XIV Grand Prix de Pau	Pau	April 6	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	Report
V Lavant Cup	Goodwood	April 6	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
II Aston Martin Owners Club F2 Race	Snetterton	April 18	Eric Thompson	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
III Grand Prix de Bordeaux	Bordeaux	May 3	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	Report
I Strassen-Rennen Karl-Marx-Stadt	Karl-Marx-Stadt	May 3	Rudolf Krause	BMW-Reif	Report
V BRDC International Trophy	Silverstone	May 9	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	Report
XV Eläintarhanajot	Eläintarharata	May 10	Rodney Nuckey	Cooper-Bristol	Report
VI Gran Premio di Napoli	Posillipo	May 10	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	Report
VII Ulster Trophy	Dundrod	May 16	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	Report
I Winfield JC Formula 2 Race	Charterhall	May 23	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Climax	Report
III Coronation Trophy	Crystal Palace	May 23	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
XXIII Grand Prix des Frontières	Chimay	May 24	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	Report
I Snetterton Coronation Trophy	Snetterton	May 30	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
XVII Internationales ADAC Eifelrennen	Nürburgring	May 31	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	Report
XV Grand Prix de l'Albigeois	Albi	May 31	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	Report
I Coupe de Printemps	Montlhéry	May 31	Marcel Balsa	BMW	Report
I Paul Greifzu Gedachtnisrennen	Dessau	June 7	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
II West Essex CC Race	Snetterton	June 27	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
I Midlands MECC Race	Silverstone	June 27	Tony Crook	Cooper-Alta	Report
III Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts	Rouen-les-Essarts	June 28	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	Report
IV Strassen-rennen Halle-Saale-Schleife	Halle-Saale-Schleife	July 5	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
I Crystal Palace Trophy	Crystal Palace	July 11	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
IX Internationales Avusrennen	AVUS	July 12	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	Report
II United States Air Force Trophy	Snetterton	July 25	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
V Circuit du Lac	Aix-les-Bains	July 26	Élie Bayol	OSCA	Report
I Dresden Autobahnspinne	Dresden-Hellerau	July 26	Edgar Barth	EMW	Report
I Bristol MC & LCC Race	Thruxton	August 3	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
I Mid-Cheshire MC Race	Oulton Park	August 8	Tony Rolt	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
III Grand Prix de Sables d'Olonne	Les Sables-d'Olonne	August 9	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	Report
II Newcastle Journal Trophy	Charterhall	August 15	Ken Wharton	Cooper-Bristol	Report
V Circuit de Cadours	Cadours	August 30	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	Report
V Sachsenringrennen	Sachsenring	September 6	Edgar Barth	EMW-BMW	Report
I RedeX Trophy	Snetterton	September 12	Eric Thompson	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
III Skarpnäcksloppet	Skarpnäck	September 13	Erik Lundgren	Ford	Report
I London Trophy	Crystal Palace	September 19	Stirling Moss	Cooper-Alta	Report
IV Gran Premio di Modena	Modena	September 20	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	Report
VI Madgwick Cup	Goodwood	September 26	Roy Salvadori	Connaught-Lea Francis	Report
II Bernau Autobahnschleife	Bernau	September 27	Artur Rosenhammer	EMW	Report
II Joe Fry Memorial Trophy	Castle Combe	October 3	Bob Gerard	Cooper-Bristol	Report
I Curtis Trophy	Snetterton	October 17	Bob Gerard	Cooper-Bristol	Report

Notes