Italian Grand Prix

Monza, 16 Sep 1951

All cars are 1.5-litre s/c F1 or 4.5-litre F1^† unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Simca-Gordini T15 [0011-GC] (André Simon): Works car 1949-53, driven by Pollet 1951-53, Simon 1951, and Behra, Bira and Schell 1952. Converted to T15S sports as chassis 16S in 1952. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Talbot T26C-DA [110 053] (Louis Rosier): Built in 1950 using parts from '110 003' and raced for the works by Martin, Chaboud and Giraud-Cabantous in 1950 then by Rosier as a private entry in 1951. Driven by Trintignant for Ecurie Rosier in 1952, then Giraud-Cabantous 1952-53. Owned by Marceau Hauret 1955 and Houdayer (Paris) 1981. Raced from 1987-2000 by François d'Huart (Belgium) as '100105'.
3. Talbot T26C [110 009] (Yves Giraud-Cabantous): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 009' was Raymond Sommer's 1949 car and then passed to Yves Giraud-Cabantous for 1950. Driven by Giraud-Cabantous and Pierre Meyrat 1951 and next seen with Louis Girardot 1953-56 and then possibly via Serge Pozzoli to Fritz Schlumpf 1957. In Musée de l'Automobile in Mulhouse 2001, possibly numbered 110002.
4. Simca-Gordini T15 [0012-GC] (Jean Behra): Works car 1949 to early 1952. Driven by Trintignant (and possibly Fangio) 1951. Rebuilt 1952 as sportscar 17S and raced at Le Mans with 2.3-litre 6-cyl engine. In Musée de Gérier 1983. More recent history unknown.
5. Simca-Gordini T15 [0014-GC] (Robert Manzon): Completed late 1949 and run by works for Manzon in 1950 and 1951, including in F1 events with supercharged engine. Rebuilt 1952 as sportscar 0019 and raced by Bordoni in Mille Miglia with 2.3-litre 6-cyl engine. In Musée Nationale 1983 but apparently not by 1993. More recent history unknown.
6. Talbot T26C [110 001] (Louis Chiron): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 001' was raced by Louis Rosier from 1948 to 1950 and then under the Ecurie Rosier banner by Pozzi in 1950; by Henri Louveau and Louis Chiron in 1951; and by Giraud-Cabantous, Chaboud and Mairesse in 1952. It was acquired by the Musée Henri Malatre at Rochetaillé, France, in 1956 and was still on display in 1990.
7. Talbot T26C [110 005] (Pierre Bouillin ("Levegh")): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 005' was raced by 'Levegh' from 1948 to 1951 and by Grignard once in 1951. Retained by the works until it was sold to Otto Zipper in the US in 1957. Then to the Briggs Cunningham museum via two other US owners to Tony Wang 1988.
8. Talbot T26C [110 006] (Jacques Swaters): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 006' was raced by Georges Grignard in 1948, by Giraud-Cabantous in 1949, Pozzi and Levegh in 1950 and by Jean Blanc in one 1951 hillclimb. Then to Ecurie Belgique in 1951 and retained to 1952. Reappeared in US ownership in 1964 and then via two further US owners to Dean Butler in 1998. Retained 2003. This car was on display at the 2006 Brussels Retro Festival honouring Ecurie Francorchamps.
9. Talbot T26C-DA [110 052] (Johnny Claes): Built in 1950 using parts from '110 012' and raced for the works by Giraud-Cabantous, Sommer and, in Argentina, Gonzalez. To Claes for 1951 and then Ecurie Belgique (Claes and Pilette) 1952. Some differences of opinion over its ownership in the 1950s but then via UK and German owners until 1987. Next seen with Peter Mullin (USA) in 2001. Raced by Mullin at 2007 Monterey Historics.
10. Ferrari 375/50 ['2'] (Chico Landi): One of the pair of Ferrari 375s introduced at the 1950 Italian GP and marked 'GP/50/1'. Believed to be Ascari's car at Monza and then used by Ascari at the first two races of 1951. Then became the team's muletto and used by Gonzales to win the British GP and by Ascari to win at the Nürburgring. Last seen when raced by Chico Landi at the Italian GP. The car stamped '2' that was later owned by Rosier appears to be a late-51 375, not this 1950 car. Subsequent history unknown.
11. BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 1] (Reg Parnell): Raced by Ray Sommer 1950, Reg Parnell 1950-53, Fangio 1952-53 and Gonzalez 1952. Retired after the 1953 season but retained by Owen Organisation as an exhibition car. Bought by Dan Marguiles for a Greek consortium at Christie's Motorfair auction in October 1981. Subsquently sold to the National Motor Museum Trust. Retained 2007.
12. BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 2] (Ken Richardson): Raced by Peter Walker 1950-51, Ken Wharton 1952-54, Gonzalez 1952-53, Moss and Reg Parnell 1952 and by Ron Flockhart once in 1954. Damaged during Wharton's win at Glover Trophy, Goodwood Apr 1954, stripped and scrapped.
13. Simca-Gordini T15 [0012-GC] (Maurice Trintignant): Works car 1949 to early 1952. Driven by Trintignant (and possibly Fangio) 1951. Rebuilt 1952 as sportscar 17S and raced at Le Mans with 2.3-litre 6-cyl engine. In Musée de Gérier 1983. More recent history unknown.
14. Ferrari 500/625 [500-1] (Chico Landi): The prototype for Ferrari's 1952 F2 car was first tried out at the Pescara GP in Sep 1951 where it was fitted with a 2.5-litre version of the F2 engine and driven by Piero Taruffi. The car was also at Monza during practice for the Italian GP where Chico Landi was expected to drive it. However, he preferred to use the team's muletto Ferrari 375/50.
15. BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 2] (Hans Stuck): Raced by Peter Walker 1950-51, Ken Wharton 1952-54, Gonzalez 1952-53, Moss and Reg Parnell 1952 and by Ron Flockhart once in 1954. Damaged during Wharton's win at Glover Trophy, Goodwood Apr 1954, stripped and scrapped.

Formula 1 events 1948-1953

The results published here were compiled by David McKinney and Adam Ferrington from a range of sources including Autocourse, Motor Sport and Autosport, as well as the F1 Register's A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing Volume 5 covering 1950 and 1951. Individual car identities were then meticulously checked against their enormous libraries of books and photographs, notably Talbot-Lago de Course by Pierre Abeillon, Les Gordini by Robert Jarraud, Gordini – Un Sorcier, Une Equipe by Christian Huet and The History of English Racing Automobiles by David Weguelin.

David has also contributed extensively from his notes on car identities compiled over 40 years of research, Michael Müller has contributed immaculately researched histories of all the 1948-1950 Ferrari 125s, and Doug Nye, both through his books and his personal assistance on HWM, has also been of great help.

Please note that since David's sad death in 2014, Adam and Allen have agreed that these pages will remain unaltered from now on, as a lasting testimony to David's expertise.

Individual sources for this event

As well as the sources mentioned elsewhere, it is important to specifically credit Christian Huet's “Gordini: Un sorcier, une équipe” (ISBN: 2950043208 / 2-9500432-0-8) for one essential piece of information in these results. Huet describes (p220) that Trintignant was unwell before the race and handed over his drive to Jean Behra after the second practice session. It appears that the organisers were unaware of the swap because all results of this race show Trintignant, not Behra. However, Huet's story is preferred here.