Formula 1

About the season

The rulebook was overhauled for 1952: with too few competitive 4.5-litre F1 cars left on the grid, championship rounds were run to Formula Two, 2-litre regulations instead, which let far more manufacturers field a competitive car. Alfa Romeo, despite having won the championship in both 1950 and 1951, could not afford to fund a new car and chose to walk away from racing on top rather than risk being dethroned by the rising Ferrari. BRM had prepared fearsome sixteen-cylinder V16 cars for the season but withdrew them before an April race in Turin, leaving Ferrari as effectively the only serious contender left standing. Alberto Ascari won every round he entered that season. Alberto Ascari won the 1952 Drivers' Championship with 36 points (Ferrari), 12 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 8 completed races this season, there were 89 retirements. 3 different drivers won a race this season. Alberto Ascari took the most race wins, 6 in total. Taruffi won the season-opening race, the Swiss Grand Prix. The season's biggest upset win came from Ruttman at the Indianapolis 500, starting from grid position 7. The most dominant win of the season came at the Indianapolis 500, with a margin of 242.3 seconds. The closest finish of the season came at the German Grand Prix, with a gap of just 14.1 seconds. Claes made the biggest gain of the season at the German Grand Prix, from grid position 32 to finishing 10 (up 22 places). The German Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 18 drivers failing to finish. Ascari won the Italian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.