Formula 1

About the season

At the 1951 British Grand Prix, José Froilán González scored Ferrari's first-ever World Championship race win at Silverstone - and along the way delivered both the team's and his own first pole position. Fuel strategy decided the race: the thirsty Alfa Romeos needed two pit stops, while the more efficient Ferrari 375 needed only one, letting González pull clear to win by 51 seconds. Inside Alfa Romeo, the pecking order had already shifted: by 1951 teammate Fangio was consistently the faster of the two Alfa drivers, even though Farina was the reigning champion. Juan Fangio won the 1951 Drivers' Championship with 31 points (Alfa Romeo), 6 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 8 completed races this season, there were 89 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Juan Fangio took the most race wins, 3 in total. Fangio won the season-opening race, the Swiss Grand Prix. Linden made the biggest gain of the season at the Indianapolis 500, from grid position 31 to finishing 4 (up 27 places). The Indianapolis 500 saw the most retirements of the season, with 25 drivers failing to finish. The most dominant win of the season came at the Belgian Grand Prix, with a margin of 171.0 seconds. The season's biggest upset win came from Fangio at the French Grand Prix, starting from grid position 7. The closest finish of the season came at the Italian Grand Prix, with a gap of just 24.6 seconds. Fangio won the Spanish Grand Prix, the final race of the season.