1953-01-18 500 F2 (10) Alberto Ascari ARG - Buenos Aires 1
1952 World Champion Alberto Ascari won the fisrt race of the season in Argentina in 1953. Worth reading below the entire story of this race.
This was the first true ‘flyaway’ round of the world championship outside Europe. Although the Indianapolis 500 had been part of the series since its inauguration in 1950 it was not regularly contested by F1 drivers. The Automovil Club Argentino laid on a chartered flight to bring a dozen of the top drivers from Ferrari, Maserati, Gordini and Cooper across the Atlantic. Among those embarking on the 36-hour journey was reigning champion Alberto Ascari. He headed the four-car Ferrari team including 1950 champion Giuseppe Farina, Luigi Villoresi and Mike Hawthorn, the latter making his debut for the team.
The first world championship race in Fangio’s home country would also mark his return to racing after suffering back injuries at Monza the previous June.
Work on the new circuit began on the track after Fangio won the 1951 title. Built in ten months, the circuit offered multiple configurations and promised to accommodate hundreds of thousands of spectators.
To ensure they appeared, major streets and junctions in Buenos Aires were plastered with posted. Loudspeakers blasted passers-by with news of the upcoming race.
Estimates of the number of people who turned up at the track on January 18th 1953 vary from 300,000 to 400,000 – some even suggest as many as half a million people were packed into the circuit.
Hours before the race the stands were full, the crowd baking in 37C heat. And still more were trying to get in. Wire-cutters appeared and thousands poured through holes in the fences. With the stands full, they sat by the edge of the track. The police were unable to contain the growing numbers surrounding the circuit, who stood on the grass verges along the edge of the tarmac. As the 4pm start time drew near the drivers became edgy. Some wanted to postpone or abandon the start. The circuit now represented a rally stage, thick with people on either side of the track. The realisation dawned on the drivers that the alternative – not putting on a race – might provoke a riot. So they raced.
Ascari led the cars away, pursued by Fangio. But as the race began the crowd pressed forward, encroaching onto the track (see the “The Chronicle” in this article).
“Time after time I waved at them to get out of the way, but this only made them worse,” said Hawthorn afterwards. “They began standing in the roadway holding shirts and pullovers, which they snatched away at the last moment like a toreador playing a bull”.
Eleven laps later disaster struck. Farina, who had been running third, pitched his car into a spin as a figure darted out in front of him at the Curva Nor Este. The Ferrari spun off the road, toppling bodies as it cut into the crowd. News of the fatalities spread swiftly, inciting mass panic. Another boy ran in front of Brown’s Cooper and was struck down and killed. Ambulances heading to the dead and injured were involved in further crashes. The race continued, with Ascari and his pursuers passing the accident scenes every two minutes for the next two hours. Fangio retired with a transmission problem shortly after Farina’s crash. The chequered flag finally brought an end to the race after three hours. Ascari finished a lap ahead of everyone else. Gonzalez was the first Argentinian driver home in third place behind Villoresi.
Officials claimed that ten people were killed and 30 more injured. Accounts vary and some put the number of those who lost their lives as high as 30. That would make this the deadliest Grand Prix that ever took place.
