That first win!

The 1951 British Grand Prix was held at Silverstone, a track that Froilán Gonzalez had never raced before. And he rather stunned everyone by taking pole position, by a clear second (!) over none other than Fangio.

The great Argentinian remembers: “Ah, Silverstone ’51. There were four cars on the front row: myself, Fangio, Farina and Ascari. At the drivers’ meeting they had warned us: the first one who jumped the start would get a one minute penalty. We were all so frightened that none of us moved, and all three cars on the second row, went straight past us!”

Froilàn continues: “I was fifth after two corners, but by lap 2 I was back in the lead and Fangio, who’d lost even more places, got into second place. Then it was a fight with him all the way.” 

Gonzalez explains: “Fangio’s Alfa had higher fuel consumption than my Ferrari 375, and I had a lot of fuel on board. Ferrari were signalling every lap for me to come in, but I knew I was ok, because I still had not used the reserve tank. Of course, there was no way I could tell them  – no radio in those days.”

“And that was a hell of race! It was my first win, the first for the Englebert tyres, and the first, of course, for Ferrari.”