Here is the famous Alberto Ascari in his Ferrari 500F2 in the pits at the Nürburgring before practice for the 1953 German Grand Prix which was held on August 2nd. He seems to be looking carefully at Günther Molter’s camera. Beyond Ascari one can make out the blond Mike Hawthorn. Ferrari had brought four cars to Germany and Jacques Swaters from Brussels also was there with his privately owned 500F2. In addition to Ascari and Hawthorn, the other Scuderia Ferrari drivers were Giuseppe Farina and Ascari’s old friend Luigi Villoresi. The Ferraris were opposed by five Maserati A6GCMs, three works Gordinis, four British Connaughts, and a mass of Cooper and local Veritas entries.
In practice Ascari was the only driver to break through 10 minutes. At the start he went off and disappeared in the lead until a wheel came off, leading to a fight between Hawthorn and Juan Manual Fangio’s Maserati. However, Farina who had been cruising in fourth place seemed to be encouraged by seeing Ascari in the pits and passed his rivals seemingly with ease to take the win almost a minute ahead of Fangio with Hawthorn third.
Photo by Günther Molter ©The Klemantaski Collection – http://www.klemcoll.com
Klemantaski Collection 