1951 United States A1 Grand Prix

The 1951 United States A1 Grand Prix was the second round of the 1951 A1 Grand Prix season. Juan Manuel Fangio once again took pole for Argentina.

Race


It was another race that ended up being dominated by Fangio, though Villoresi managed to keep him honest over the first stint. Sadly as soon as he got within one second of Fangio the Italian suffered a transmission failure on lap 23 putting him down to the back from which he would plow straight into the back of Gabriel Herrera just a few laps later when the Colombian was slowly recovering to the pits with a puncture.

There were a number of other collisions, mainly towards the start of the race. Although everyone made it through the first lap in one piece, lap two saw three separate collisions at the turn seven hairpin. Asser Wallenius ran into the back of Hal Robson, putting the Canadian at the back of the field, while Luis Leal Solares and Manfredo Lippmann ran into Raul Jaras and Jack Tutton respectively, causing a retirement for Solaraes and forced pitstops for the rest involved.

As for the rest of the race, compared to the Brazilian Grand Prix, this was a rather tame affair. Passing on track was more difficult and most battles were sorted during the pitstops. There was also a significant lack of imagination in pit strategies too as asides from those that were out of sequence from unscheduled stops, everyone made their stops within a few laps of each other.

Luis Astengo Albizuri proved to be a nuisance much like his countryman, Henry Bradley was in last year's race. He earned two separate penalties for getting in the way of the leaders, most significantly he held up Manzon long enough for him to get passed by both Stuck and Moss.

Race Classification
Fastest Lap Luigi Villoresi Lap 4 1:59.904

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.