1952 Dutch GP: Ferrari 500 D2 dominates at Zandvoort with Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi. Alberto Ascari won the 1952 Dutch Grand Prix.

On 17th August 1952, Alberto Ascari won the Dutch Grand Prix. Two weeks earlier at the Nurburgring, the Italian had ensured he would take the first of his two world titles, but the will to win still burned strongly. Pole position, in the lead from the first to the ninetieth lap, fastest race lap, nothing could get in the way of Ascari’s dominance and that of the 500 F2, given that behind the newly crowned champion came his team-mates Nino Farina and Luigi Villoresi. The Ferrari trio were the only drivers to complete the full race distance, with fourth placed Mike Hawthorn and his Cooper-Bristol coming in two laps down.

The Ferraris once again dominated qualifying, with Ascari taking his fourth pole position of the season, ahead of Farina in second. Mike Hawthorn shone in practice, gaining a front-row start for his little Cooper-Bristol, relegating Villoresi’s Ferrari to the second row of the grid. Trintignant’s Gordini completed row two, while his teammates Behra and Manzon were joined on the third row by Wharton in the sole Frazer-Nash.

Hawthorn fought valiantly with the Ferraris for five laps before they resumed their usual formation. Ascari led Farina and Villoresi home in another Ferrari procession, with Hawthorn gaining fourth place, two laps behind the Ferrari trio.

This was Ascari’s fifth consecutive victory (along with a fifth consecutive fastest lap), and his seventh victory in total, breaking Fangio’s record for the most World Championship race wins. Farina’s podium finish took him to second place in the Drivers’ Championship standings, overtaking the absentee Taruffi

This race was the first Dutch Grand Prix to count for the World Championship: there would be a further 29, seven of them won by a driver at the wheel of a Ferrari.