1952 Formula One season

The French Grand Prix was moved from Reims-Gueux to Rouen-Les-Essarts for a year.

The Dutch Grand Prix hosted its first World Championship Grand Prix in 1952, the race was held at Circuit Zandvoort on 17 August.

The Spanish Grand Prix was scheduled to be held on 26 October but it was cancelled for monetary reasons.[2]

For the second successive season, the championship's opening round was the Swiss Grand Prix, held at the Bremgarten Circuit in Bern. Ferrari's lead driver Ascari was absent due to his participation in the Indianapolis 500, so it was left to his teammates Nino Farina and Piero Taruffi to secure the first two places on the grid. Farina led from the start until he retired with magneto failure, leaving Taruffi to win his only championship Grand Prix and take the extra point for the fastest lap. Farina took over the car of his other teammate, Andre Simon, and was battling debutant Jean Behra for second place before both experienced mechanical trouble, Farina again unable to continue. It was, therefore, privateer Rudi Fischer who completed a Ferrari 1–2, with Jean Behra in third for Gordini. Ken Wharton finished fourth driving a Frazer-Nash, the manufacturer's only ever points finish.

As usual, the Indianapolis 500 had little bearing on the championship result, although regular Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari did compete, retiring after 40 laps. The race was dominated by Bill Vukovich, who led 150 laps before retiring. It was left to Troy Ruttman to win the race from Jim Rathmann and Sam Hanks.

Ascari returned to Ferrari for round 3 of the championship at Spa-Francorchamps, with Maserati still absent as they developed their A6GCM. The Ferrari cars dominated the weekend, with Ascari taking pole, the race win, and the fastest lap while leading every lap bar one. He was followed home by teammate Nino Farina, and Robert Manzon finished in third for Gordini. Jean Behra again impressed as he led the opening lap before falling behind the Ferrari juggernaut and eventually retiring after an incident with the third Ferrari of Piero Taruffi.

Scuderia Ferrari dominated once again at Rouen, taking all three podium places. Ascari led all the way from pole position to assume the championship lead and achieve his fourth career victory, drawing him level with his teammate Nino Farina who finished second. Piero Taruffi finished third after falling behind the Gordinis of Robert Manzon and Jean Behra at the start. Manzon was the highest Non-Ferrari finisher ahead of his teammate Maurice Trintignant, who drove an older model.

Although Ascari again dominated, it wasn't plain sailing for his teammates as Ferrari eventually dominated as they had done throughout the year. The Italian's third consecutive victory strengthened his eventually successful championship challenge as his main competitor, Nino Farina, failed to score despite taking pole position. The third Ferrari of Piero Taruffi dropped down to ninth at the start but eventually recovered to take second place, while a pitstop for new spark plugs meant Farina finished in the sixth position. It was a triumphant day for British cars and drivers, with Mike Hawthorn taking his first podium driving a Cooper-Bristol, while British cars and drivers occupied the other points-paying positions.

The belated arrival of the Maserati factory team failed to stop the dominance of Ferrari, with Ascari clinching his first World Title and equalling the injured Juan Manuel Fangio's win record. It was his fourth consecutive victory of the season, again leading every race lap from pole position. He briefly lost the race lead to Farina after pitting for oil, but this is not reflected in the lap charts as he caught and passed his teammate before they crossed the line at the end of the lap. Farina finished second, and privateer Ferrari driver Rudi Fischer finished third ahead of the works car of Taruffi to ensure a Ferrari 1-2-3-4. Jean Behra scored the final points for Gordini just ahead of another Ferrari car, this time driven by Roger Laurent.

Ascari started from pole position and led from start to finish, taking the fastest lap as well, winning his fifth consecutive Grand Prix and earning his second consecutive Grand Slam, and the third his season and career. In addition, with his victory, Ascari overtook Fangio as the winningest Formula One Driver, although the Argentinian would eventually reclaim the record at the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix. Further down the order, Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Villoresi, also driving for Ferrari, completed the podium, resulting in an Italian 1-2-3 and a 1-2-3 for the Scuderia. As a result, Ascari extended his championship points total to 36, extending his lead to 12 points over second-placed Farina.

The 80-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari after he started from pole position. José Froilán González finished second for the Maserati team and Ascari's teammate Luigi Villoresi came in third.

Alberto Ascari won the championship driving a Ferrari 500

Points were awarded to the top five finishers in each race on an 8–6–4–3–2 basis. One point was awarded for the fastest lap. Points for shared drives were divided equally between the drivers, regardless of who had driven more laps. Only the best four of eight scores counted towards the World Championship.

Pos. Driver SUI 500 BEL FRA GBR GER NED ITA Pts. 1 Alberto Ascari Ret 1PF 1PF 1F 1PF (1PF) (1PF) 36 (53.5) 2 Giuseppe Farina RetP† 2 2 6P 2 2 (4) 24 (27) 3 Piero Taruffi 1F Ret 3 2 4 7 22 4 Rudi Fischer 2 11† 13 3 Ret 10 = Mike Hawthorn 4 Ret 3 4 NC 10 6 [4] Robert Manzon Ret 3 4 Ret Ret 5 14 9 7 Troy Ruttman 1 8 = Luigi Villoresi 3 3 8 9 José Froilán González 2F* 6.5 10 Jim Rathmann 2 6 = Jean Behra 3 Ret 7 5 Ret Ret 6 12 Sam Hanks 3 4 13 Ken Wharton 4 Ret Ret 9 3 = Dennis Poore 4 12 3 = Duane Carter 4 3 16 Alan Brown 5 6 22 15 2 = Maurice Trintignant DNS 5 Ret Ret 6 Ret 2 = Paul Frère 5 Ret Ret 2 = Felice Bonetto DSQ 5 2 = Art Cross 5 2 = Eric Thompson 5 2 22 Bill Vukovich 17F 1 — Roger Laurent 12 6 0 — Toulo de Graffenried 6 Ret† 19 DNQ 0 — Peter Collins Ret Ret 6 Ret DNS DNQ 0 — André Simon Ret† 6 0 — Jimmy Bryan 6 0 — Peter Hirt 7 11† Ret 0 — Charles de Tornaco 7 Ret DNQ 0 — Duncan Hamilton Ret 7 0 — Jimmy Reece 7 0 — Reg Parnell 7 0 — Fritz Riess 7 0 — Lance Macklin Ret 11 9 15 8 DNQ 0 — Eric Brandon 8 9 20 13 0 — Chico Landi 9† 8 0 — Johnny Claes 8 Ret 14 10 DNQ 0 — Toni Ulmen Ret 8 0 — George Connor 8 0 — Philippe Étancelin 8 0 — Roy Salvadori 8 0 — Ken Downing 9 Ret 0 — Cliff Griffith 9 0 — Helmut Niedermayr 9 0 — Jan Flinterman 9† 0 — Birabongse Bhanudej Ret 10 Ret 11 0 — Louis Rosier Ret Ret Ret 10 0 — Peter Whitehead Ret 10 DNQ 0 — Johnnie Parsons 10 0 — Yves Giraud-Cabantous 10 0 — Eitel Cantoni Ret Ret 11 0 — Jack McGrath 11 0 — Hans Klenk 11 0 — Jim Rigsby 12 0 — Franco Comotti 12 0 — Graham Whitehead 12 0 — Ernst Klodwig 12 0 — Joe James 13 0 — Arthur Legat 13 0 — Bill Schindler 14 0 — Robert O'Brien 14 0 — Tony Gaze 15 Ret Ret DNQ 0 — George Fonder 15 0 — Kenneth McAlpine 16 Ret 0 — Eddie Johnson 16 0 — Harry Schell Ret Ret† 17 0 — Gino Bianco 18 Ret Ret Ret 0 — Chuck Stevenson 18 0 — Henry Banks 19 0 — Manny Ayulo 20 0 — Johnny McDowell 21 0 — Tony Crook 21 0 — Dries van der Lof NC 0 — Stirling Moss Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 — Piero Carini Ret Ret 0 — Bill Aston DNS Ret DNQ 0 — Hans Stuck Ret DNQ 0 — George Abecassis Ret 0 — Max de Terra Ret 0 — Spider Webb Ret 0 — Rodger Ward Ret 0 — Tony Bettenhausen Ret 0 — Duke Nalon Ret 0 — Fred Agabashian RetP 0 — Bob Sweikert Ret 0 — Gene Hartley Ret 0 — Bob Scott Ret 0 — Chet Miller Ret 0 — Bobby Ball Ret 0 — Andy Linden Ret 0 — Robin Montgomerie-Charrington Ret 0 — David Murray Ret 0 — Willi Heeks Ret 0 — Adolf Brudes Ret 0 — Marcel Balsa Ret 0 — Günther Bechem Ret 0 — Rudolf Krause Ret 0 — Rudolf Schoeller Ret 0 — Paul Pietsch Ret 0 — Theo Helfrich Ret 0 — Josef Peters Ret 0 — Franco Rol Ret 0 — Élie Bayol Ret 0 — Willi Krakau DNS 0 — Ludwig Fischer DNS 0 — Harry Merkel DNS 0 — Alberto Crespo DNQ 0 — Piero Dusio DNQ 0 Pos. Driver SUI 500 BEL FRA GBR GER NED ITA Pts.

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Did not enter (empty cell) Annotation Meaning P Pole position F Fastest lap

• † Position shared between more drivers of the same car
• * Point for fastest lap shared between different drivers.
• Only the best four results counted towards the championship. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

Note - a blue background denotes a round of the East German Championship.

Race name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
I Rostock Osthafenkurs	Rostock	20 April	Paul Greifzu	BMW-Eigenbau	Report
I Bernau Autobahnschleife	Bernau	4 May	Rudolf Krause	BMW-Reif	Report
I Dessau Autobahnspinne	Dessau	11 May	Fritz Riess	Veritas-Meteor	Report
III Leipzig Stadtparkrennen	Leipzig	2 June	Edgar Barth	IFA-Kollektiv	Report
III Strassen-Rennen Halle-Saale-Schleife	Halle-Saale-Schleife	8 June	Edgar Barth	IFA-Kollektiv	Report
I Strassen-rennen Leipzig	Leipzig	17 August	Hans Stuck	AFM-BMW	Report
V DMV Grenzlandringrennen	Grenzlandring	31 August	Toni Ulmen	Veritas	Report
IV Sachsenringrennen	Sachsenring	7 September	Edgar Barth	EMW-BMW	Report

The table below shows the points awarded for each race. Only East German drivers were eligible for points.

Place	Driver	Entrant	Car	ROS	LEI	HAL	SAC	Total
1	Edgar Barth	IFA Rennkollektiv	DAMW-BMW 328	3	6	6	6	21
2	Ernst Klodwig	BSG Motor	Heck-BMW 328	2	4		4	10
3	Jürgen Perdus	IFA Renkollektiv	DAMW-BMW 328	4		3		7
4	Paul Greifzu	BSG Motor	Reif-BMW 328	6				6
5	Rudolf Krause	SV Wismut	Reif-BMW 328			4		4
6	Heinz Melkus		ARO-Veritas-Alfa Romeo			2		2
8	Werner Jäger		EMW 340-BMW 328			1		1