Presentation of 1953 season

In 1953, the International Automobile Federation extended the Formula 2 technical regulations for the World Championship, enabling manufacturers to better prepare for the 1954 season, in which the Formula 1 regulations began to operate again. Given the upcoming changes, most teams did not design new Formula 2 cars and put last year's cars in the 1953 championship. The scoring system also remained unchanged: 8-6-4-3-2, the results of the 4 best Grand Prix were counted, while the drivers of the same team had the right to change cars during the race, dividing the points among themselves. The championship calendar included the Grand Prix of Argentina, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Teams

Scuderia Ferrari

Last season was a triumph for Scuderia Ferrari: the team won their first championship title with an overwhelming advantage over all rivals, having managed to win all the World Championship Grands Prix. Considering that the technical requirements for the cars remained the same this season, Scuderia with their magnificent Ferrari 500 cars could seriously count on a repeat of the previous season and was rightfully considered the favorite of this championship. At the same time, the line-up of the drivers underwent some changes: the new world champion Alberto Ascari, the 1950 world champion Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi retained their places in the team, while instead of Piero Taruffi, Enzo Ferrari invited a young talented Englishman Mike Hawthorn.

Ferrari 500

34-year-old Italian, 1952 world champion, son of the famous 1920s racer Antonio Ascari, who tragically died in the Grand Prix races in 1925. Last season was truly the year of Alberto: the Italian won six of the seven Grand Prix of the championship, won five pole positions, received two Grand Slams and won his first championship title. Considering the complete superiority over all rivals last year, Alberto was considered the main contender for the title this season.

Alberto Ascari

46-year-old Italian nicknamed "Nino", the first Formula 1 world champion. Last season, Nino became the vice-champion, losing only to Ascari, but this year can hardly be called a success for him, since the Italian failed to win a single victory for the first time. It will probably be even more difficult for him to succeed this season, because now he will have to fight not only with his teammates, but also with Maserati drivers.

Giuseppe Farina

44-year-old Italian, nicknamed "Gi-Gi", friend and mentor of Alberto Ascari, who took 5th place in the 1951 World championship. Luigi was forced to miss almost the entire last season due to injuries sustained in a road accident at the very beginning of the year. However, returning to the wheel in the last two Grands Prix in Netherlands and Italy, Gi-Gi proved that he did not lose his former speed and finished both races on the podium. In Italy, Luigi especially distinguished himself by arranging an amazing duel with Ascari, which lasted almost 20 laps. Having extended his contract with Ferrari for another season, Luigi will once again drive the best car in the championship, which gives him a great opportunity to spend his best season in his career.

Luigi Villoresi

24-year-old Englishman, who took 5th place in the 1952 World championship. Having made his debut in the World Championship last year at the wheel of Cooper, Mike immediately showed his skills, earning points in the debut race. Moreover, in the UK, Hawthorn climbed the podium for the first time, in Netherlands he started from the first row of the starting field, and at the end of the championship, the Englishman took a high 5th place, losing only to Ferrari drivers. Impressed by the success of the Briton, Enzo Ferrari invited him to his team, and now Mike has the opportunity to demonstrate all his skills behind the wheel of the best car of the championship.

Mike Hawthorn

Officine Alfieri Maserati

The past year turned out to be difficult for Maserati, as the Modena team had to spend most of the season on refining their A6GCM car, while the situation was further aggravated by the injury of the team's leading driver Juan Manuel Fangio, which he received in Monza before the start of the championship and forced him to miss the entire season. Nevertheless, Maserati managed to shine in the last Grand Prix of the championship in Italy, when Gonzalez on an updated car was able to impose a serious struggle on Ferrari and take 2nd place at the finish. This performance, as well as the return of Fangio to the ranks, gave a good reason to hope that the team from Modena would become the main competitor of Ferrari this season. In addition to Fangio, the team's drivers, as last year, were Jose-Froilan Gonzalez and Felice Bonetto.

Maserati A6GCM

42-year-old Argentine driver, 1951 world champion. At the beginning of last season, Juan Manuel had an accident in Monza, as a result of which the Argentine almost lost his life and seriously injured his neck. Fortunately, the doctors managed to put the Argentine on his feet, but the season was lost for him. Nevertheless, Fangio seems to have managed to fully recover, and given the good speed of the new Maserati, the Argentine will surely become one of Ascari's main rivals in the fight for the title.

Juan-Manuel Fangio

30-year-old Argentine, nicknamed the "Pampas Bull" for his obesity, who took the 3rd place in the 1951 World championship. Having joined Maserati last year following his friend and mentor Fangio, the Argentine was forced to miss almost the entire season and took part only in the last Grand Prix of the championship in Italy. However, this single race was enough for him to demonstrate his amazing skills: the Argentinean led half the distance and lost the lead only after refueling, becoming, in fact, the only driver for the entire season who managed to impose a serious fight on Ascari. This year, Jose-Froilan will spend a full season at Maserati, which promises to be interesting for him, because he will not only have to fight with the invincible Ferraris, but also try not to go into the shadow of his mentor.

Jose-Froilan Gonzalez

49-year-old Italian, nicknamed "Pirate" for his appearance and constant pipe, who took 7th place in the 1951 World championship. Last season, Felice replaced the injured Juan Manuel Fangio in Maserati and held two races in Germany and Italy. At the stage in Monza, the Italian especially distinguished himself by staging a real battle with the Ferrari drivers, and managed to earn two points, which convinced the Maserati management to extend the contract with "Pirate" for this season.

Felice Bonetto

Equipe Gordini

Last season, Amadeus Gordini's team made a loud statement for the first time, becoming the second team of the championship and losing only to Ferrari. In many ways, this success of the "Sorcerer" was due to the transition of the World Championship to the technical regulations of Formula 2, in which the Gordinis were traditionally strong. At the same time, the Gordini T16 car created by the "Sorcerer" turned out to be very light, which made it possible to compensate for the lack of engine power and allowed the team's drivers to regularly fight for points, as well as to climb the podium twice. However, in the coming season, it will be much more difficult for the team to repeat last year's success, since now it will have to fight not only with Ferrari, but also with Maserati, which performed well in the last race of the championship. The team's drivers, as before, were Robert Manzon, Jean Behra and Maurice Trintignant, who will perform on the former Gordini T16 cars.

Gordini T16

36-year-old Frenchman, who took 6th place in the 1952 World championship. Last season, Robert, having got a decent car at his disposal for the first time, managed to prove his skills by climbing the podium in Belgium and finishing in points several times. At the same time, the Frenchman turned out to be much more stable than his teammates and, having scored 9 points, took 6th place in the overall standings. This season, Robert will be driving the same Gordini T16, which allowed him to hope for continued successful performances.

Robert Manzon

32-year-old Frenchman, who took 9th place in the 1952 World championship. The last championship was Jean's debut, and he managed to impress everyone by taking 3rd place in his first race. However, in Belgium and France, the Frenchman lost important points due to his collisions with Taruffi, and this clearly indicated a lack of experience. As a result, according to overall standings, Jean took only 9th place, losing to his teammate Manzon. This season, the Frenchman hoped to avoid past mistakes and become the best driver of the French team.

Jean Behra

35-year-old Frenchman, who took 12th place in the 1952 World championship. Last season, Maurice finally managed to finish in the World Championship races for the first time, and he earned the first two points, taking 5th place in France. However, numerous technical problems again affected the Frenchman's performances, and as a result, the two points earned in France remained the only ones for the entire season. Nevertheless, Maurice was clearly faster than his teammates in the second half of the championship, which gave hope for good performances of the Frenchman in the new season.

Maurice Trintignant

HW Motors

Last season, this small British team held its first full-fledged World Championship and managed to earn the first points, taking 5th place in Belgium. However, the HWM cars proved to be not very reliable, and the limited budget of the team did not allow making serious changes to the design of the cars. Besides, the Alta engine was inferior in power to competitors, and in Italy, on the Monza high-speed straights, both team drivers failed to even qualify. Therefore, for the new season, chief designer John Heath slightly upgraded the car, changing the nose of the car and the radiator grille in order to improve engine cooling. The main drivers of the team became Peter Collins and Lance Macklin again, while the team, as in the previous season, planned to enter a third car, making it available to local drivers.

HWM 53

21-year-old Englishman, who became a World Championship debutant last year. All last season, Peter tried to squeeze the maximum out of his HWM, but he never managed to earn points, because the car lacked neither speed nor reliability. Nevertheless, the Englishman managed to show his skills in France, where he struggled with Hawthorn for quite a long time and eventually took 6th place at the finish. This season, the Englishman hoped to use the experience gained to finally bring his car to a productive finish.

Peter Collins

33-year-old Englishman, who also made his World Championship debut last year. In the past season, Lance was regularly inferior in speed to his partner Collins, and his only advantage was that he got to the finish line much more often. Given the increased competition for the upcoming season, it was hard for Lance to hope to earn points, so the main goal for him this year will be to keep up with his teammate.

Lance Macklin

Connaught Engineering

The past season was a debut for the team, and in the very first Grand Prix held in Great Britain, Connaught cars proved to be excellent, allowing two of the team's drivers to finish in the points. However, the team failed to build on the success, and two more races in the Netherlands and Italy were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the good news was that in Italy Stirling Moss joined the team, who, after the race, extended his contract with Connaught for this season. The Englishman's teammates were Kenneth McAlpine, who had already driven for Connaught in the previous season, as well as the team's new driver Roy Salvadori. The drivers will perform, as in the previous season, on Connaught A cars.

Connaught A

Stirling Moss

23-year-old Englishman, a rising star in British motorsport. Stirling had his first full world championship last year, starting the season with the HWM team. However, after the first race, the Englishman moved to the ERA team, and this was a big mistake on his part. In addition to the obvious lack of speed, the ERA cars suffered severe engine reliability problems, resulting in Stirling retiring in all three races held due to power unit failures. Disappointed with the ERA, Stirling joined Connaught for the last Grand Prix of the season, his third team change of the season. In the race, he looked better than his teammates, but here another breakdown lay in wait for him, and thus Stirling never managed to reach the finish line in any Grand Prix of the championship! Nevertheless, Connaught clearly outperformed ERA both in terms of speed and reliability, so the Englishman extended his contract with the team, hoping for more successful performances this season.

32-year-old Englishman, from a wealthy family, became the main sponsor of the Connaught team and made his World Championship debut last year driving one of the team's cars. Having spent two Grand Prix, Kenneth did not show himself in any way, but, given his financial support, the team extended his contract for this season as well.

Kenneth McAlpine

31-year-old Englishman, who made his debut last season in the World Championship. Having entered just one British Grand Prix in a privately owned Ferrari 500, Roy had a pretty good race and managed to finish 8th. At the same time, the performance of the Englishman seemed convincing enough for the management of Connaught, and Roy received an invitation to spend the entire upcoming season in the British team, which he gladly accepted.

Roy Salvadori

Cooper Car Co.

The British team, founded in 1947 by Charles and John Cooper, became famous for its successful performances in Formula 3. For the 1952 season, the team built the Cooper T20 Formula Two cars for the first time and made them available to private drivers rather than risk fielding their own team. However, these cars were extremely successful, allowing Alan Brown to score points in his debut race, and Mike Hawthorn to take the podium in the British Grand Prix and take 5th place in the overall standings. Encouraged by the success of their cars, the Coopers decided in 1953 to enter the World Championship with their own team. For the new season, Cooper T20 was redesigned with a lighter frame and new brakes and was renamed Cooper T23. Alan Brown became the main driver of the team.

Cooper T23

33-year-old Englishman who took 12th place in the 1952 World championship. Last season, Alan made his World Championship debut in a private Cooper and managed to score points in his debut race, finishing 5th in Switzerland. In Belgium, Alan also looked good and finished 6th, however, the points received in the first race remained the only ones for Brown for the entire season. However, thanks to these performances, the Englishman impressed the Coopers, so Alan will spend this season in their factory team.

Alan Brown

Enrico Plate

Swiss private team created by former mechanic and racing driver Enrico Plate. The past season again did not justify Enrico's hopes, and the team did not manage to score a single point for the entire season. The main role in this was played by the outdated Maserati 4CLT, on which Enrico installed an engine of his own design. Realizing that the team would not survive another failure, Enrico decided to purchase a new Maserati A6GCM car for the new season, sacrificing one of the drivers, Harry Schell. Thus, in the upcoming season, the team will be represented by only one driver - Tulo de Graffenried.

39-year-old Swiss aristocrat from an ancient family who took 12th place in the 1951 World championship. Last season, a frankly weak car did not allow the Swiss to compete for points, and his best finish was 6th in his native Switzerland. Moreover, at Monza the car was so bad that for the first time Tulo could not even qualify. The need for change was clear, and for the new season, Enrico Plate purchased the latest Maserati car, which is likely to allow the Swiss to compete at a high level again .

Baron Emmanuel Tulo de Graffenried

Private drivers

47-year-old Frenchman, who took 4th place in the 1950 World championship. Last season, due to changes in the technical regulations, Louis switched from his good old Talbot to the new Ferrari 500, however, despite the fact that the drivers on the same Ferrari cars have won all the Grand Prix of the World Championship, the Frenchman could not even score a single point and his best finish was 10th in Italy. However, Rosier was determined to continue racing on Ferrari 500, in the hope that the experience gained would allow him to achieve greater success.

Louis Rosier

37-year-old Englishman, who took 10th place in the 1952 World championship. Ken made his World Championship debut last season driving the Frazer-Nash and succeeded in his first Grand Prix, finishing 4th in Switzerland. However, the next two races were less successful for the Englishman: in Belgium, Ken had an accident, and in the Netherlands, a wheel flew off his car. In the last race of the season, Wharton drove a Cooper and finished 9th, thus taking 10th place in the overall standings. This season, the Englishman will continue to perform at the Cooper, hoping for continued successful performances.

Ken Wharton