1951 Dutch A1 Grand Prix

The 1951 Dutch A1 Grand Prix was the third round of the 1951 season.

Race


To many people's surprise, Joe Kelly managed to hold on for the win and take fastest lap on the way. He was helped out though by Juan Jover and Louis Chiron holding up the more likely threats in Stirling Moss and Luigi Fagioli. Although Fagioli managed to come out of the second round of pitstops just behind Kelly, his pace in the final stint wasn't enough to seriously threaten the Irishman until the final laps when Kelly was held up by the damaged lapped car of Mikhail Metelev. Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Fangio who had dominated the opening two races for Argentina had a rather mediocre race even considering the fact that he started down in 14th. He never looked as fast as he did in previous races and neither was he helped by slow pitstops or stubborn backmarkers, the latter twice costing him a position on track.

As usual there were a few minor collisions, two of which occurred on the opening lap. Asser Wallenius who so far this season has been a magnet for early race misfortune was pushed into the fence by Metelev forcing a pitstop for repairs followed by another pitstop for a puncture. A couple of corners later, Jan Flinterman for the home Dutch team collided with Luis Albizuri causing both to have to pit. Albizuri would come out amongst the leaders a lap down and would hold up third placed Stirling Moss for a couple of laps before knocking Edgar Barth off the track costing the East German a couple of positions, then finally he would bin his car into the barriers much to the relief of the other drivers.

Lap 22 saw Juan Jover suffer a mechanical failure while still running in second, Moss who was running right behind would slide off on Jover's oil, loosing a couple of positions and a strong chance of catching Kelly for the win. Then Chico Landi ran into Jover spinning the Spaniard around while Tony Gaze went off in avoidance. Jover managed to continue after a pitstop but he was now a lap down and down on power. Later Toulo de Graffenried would trip over Jover sending both cars into the barrier and out of the race.

The first round of pitstops saw a rather serious incident in the pitlane when Landi was released by his pit crew straight into the path of Maurice Trintignant. Landi was spun around and unwittingly knocked over a mechanic from the Italian pit crew. The mechanic was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken left leg. Both cars involved suffered minor damage, enough to force an extra pitstop while the Brazilian pit crew was placed on probation for causing the incident.

Race Classification
Fastest Lap Joe Kelly 1:25.221 Lap 60

Penalty Report
Drivers receive points on their race licence if they are deemed by the stewards to be driving in an 'unsporting manner'. Points are usually given for causing avoidable collisions, pitlane infractions or impeding fastest cars while being lapped. If a driver collects 12 points throughout the season then they are given a three month ban from racing in the series. Points are reset to zero after each season. Fines can also be given.