1954 Italian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Italian Grand Prix
Track: Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Weather: dry

Juan Manuel Fangio won his 13th F1 World Championship race at the 1954 Italian F1 GP, setting a new career F1 wins record. The Mercedes driver started from pole position and won on the Monza circuit for the first time. It was his 6th win of the season and the 4th win for the Mercedes F1 team in the championship era.

Monza, 5 September 1954: Fangio's record thirteenth, Mercedes four-from-four

The 1954 Italian Grand Prix at Monza was the eighth round of the season and the third Mercedes-Benz win in four European outings. Juan Manuel Fangio took pole position in the open-wheel W196 and led from the flag to a thirteenth career F1 World Championship victory, a new outright record, surpassing the twelve-win mark Alberto Ascari had set across 1952 and 1953. The XXV Gran Premio d'Italia ran across 80 laps of Monza's 6.300-kilometre layout, 504 kilometres in total.

Mercedes-Benz brought three open-wheel W196s for Fangio, Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann. Ferrari fielded a strong squad of 625s and 553 ("Squalo") variants for José Froilán González, Mike Hawthorn, Maurice Trintignant, Robert Manzon, Umberto Maglioli and a special entry for Alberto Ascari, whose Lancia D50 was still under development. Maserati's works team carried Luigi Villoresi, Sergio Mantovani, Roberto Mieres and the 1953 Italian GP debutant Luigi Musso, with Stirling Moss again in his privately-entered 250F. Peter Collins was back in a Vanwall, and the Gordini works squad of Behra, Bucci and Wacker completed the field.

Qualifying: Fangio on pole, Ascari close

Fangio took pole in the Mercedes, with Alberto Ascari second on the grid in his guest Ferrari outing, the new Lancia D50 still some weeks from its debut. Stirling Moss qualified third in his privateer Maserati, Karl Kling fourth in the second Mercedes, González fifth in his Ferrari 553. Villoresi was sixth, Hawthorn seventh, Herrmann eighth.

The race: Fangio's record-breaking afternoon

Fangio took the lead at the start. González set the race's fastest lap on the second tour, 2:00.8, the sixth and final fastest lap of his championship career, but his Ferrari 553 broke its gearbox on lap sixteen, ending his afternoon prematurely. Manzon's Ferrari engine went on the same lap. Robert Behra's Gordini engine had already failed on lap two; Bucci's Gordini transmission on lap thirteen.

The race's middle stretch claimed Roberto Mieres's Maserati suspension on lap thirty-four, Karl Kling's Mercedes in an accident on lap thirty-six, Luigi Villoresi's Maserati clutch on lap forty-two and Alberto Ascari's Ferrari engine on lap forty-eight, the Italian's only Italian Grand Prix outing in his guest-Ferrari season ending without points.

At the front, Fangio took the chequered flag in 2:47:47.9 with Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari one lap behind in second. Umberto Maglioli's Ferrari, taken over by González after the Argentine's own car retired, finished third for Maglioli's first F1 World Championship podium. Hans Herrmann's Mercedes was fourth at three laps adrift, Maurice Trintignant fifth at five laps, Fred Wacker's Gordini and Peter Collins's Vanwall sixth and seventh respectively. Stirling Moss's privateer Maserati, after running near the front for much of the race, was classified tenth at nine laps adrift.

Championship fallout

Fangio's eight points lifted him to 50 in the Drivers' Championship, with the title now mathematically settled. The final round at Pedralbes on 24 October would be the first F1 World Championship outing for the long-awaited Lancia D50, with Alberto Ascari finally at the wheel.

Classification 1954 Italian F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Grid	Pts
1	16	Juan-Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	2:47:47.900	80	1	8
2	40	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	+1 lap	79	7	6
3	38	Umberto Maglioli José-Froilán González	Ferrari	+-76 laps	78 78	13 13	2 3
4	12	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	+3 laps	77	8	3
5	30	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	+5 laps	75	11	2
6	42	Fred Wacker	Gordini	+5 laps	75	18	0
7	10	Peter Collins	Vanwall	+5 laps	75	16	0
8	26	Louis Rosier	Maserati	+6 laps	74	20	0
9	18	Sergio Mantovani	Maserati	+6 laps	74	9	0
10	28	Stirling Moss	Maserati	+9 laps	71	3	0
11	8	Jorge Daponte	Maserati	+10 laps	70	19	0
DNF	34	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	Engine	48	2	0
DNF	22	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	Clutch	42	6	0
DNF	14	Karl Kling	Mercedes	Accident	36	4	0
DNF	24	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	Suspension	34	10	0
DNF	20	Luigi Musso	Maserati	Transmission	32	14	0
DNF	32	José-Froilán González	Ferrari	Gearbox	16	5	0
DNF	6	Robert Manzon	Ferrari	Engine	16	15	0
DNF	46	Clemar Bucci	Gordini	Transmission	13	17	0
DNF	44	Jean Behra	Gordini	Engine	2	12	0
DNQ	20	Giovanni de Riu	Maserati	Did Not Qualify	0	21	0

Fastest lap: 2:00.800 min by José Froilán González (Ferrari 553) in lap 2

✅ Check out 1954 F1 Championship Standings
✅ Check out 1954 F1 Teams & Drivers

✅ Check out All Time F1 Drivers Rankings
✅ Check out All Time F1 Driver Records
✅ Check out All Time F1 Teams Rankings

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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