On 18th July 1953, the British Grand Prix was held at Silverstone. There was a great sense of excitement for the home crowd as Englishman Mike Hawthorn had won the previous race and so much was expected of the local boy and rising star. Once again, Silverstone was the scene of yet another all-Italian battle between Ferrari and Maserati.
The Maranello marque turned up with a quartet of works cars, all 500s, for Hawthorn, Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi and Giuseppe Farina. There was also a privateer in the shape of the Ecurie Rosier car for Louis Rosier. In qualifying, Ascari dashed the crowd’s hopes of seeing Hawthorn in front, as he beat him by a second to take Ferrari’s fourteenth ever pole. The Englishman was on the front row, but ahead of him was the Argentinian Jose Froilan Gonzalez in a Maserati. However, the most disappointing showing of the day came from Juan Manuel Fangio who was down on the second row.
However, at the start, the champion from Balcare passed the entire front row, but in order to achieve this he overshot the first corner by a long way. Therefore the first to emerge from the tricky right hander was Ascari, who never relinquished the lead. The battle was closer and more exciting behind with Hawthorn and Gonzalez dueling for a long time before the Englishman spun. Villoresi had to retire and so, joining the winner Ascari on the podium were Fangio and Farina. It was Ferrari’s fifteenth win.
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