There is a reason why the Goodwood Festival of Speed, inaugurated in 1993, has over the years become a popular gathering with fans of all ages and adored by so many different generations of drivers. There are not many other events in which you can breathe so much history of motorsport all together. Cars, drivers and characters who have written memorable pages of motorsport, all gathered for a few days in one place. A real magic, which also leads to excitement of motoring legends who have crossed all the most prestigious milestones in their careers, but who in the depths of their hearts still remain ‘simple’ enthusiasts.

This is the case of Mario Andretti, the hero of the two worlds of motorsport, capable of winning during his Formula 1 career at Indianapolis and getting on the podium at Le Mans. The Italian-American champion, present this year at Goodwood, was the protagonist of a highly emotional moment when he got behind the wheel of one of the Ferrari cars driven by Alberto Ascari in his career. The two-time Milanese world champion was the idol of Mario Andretti, who was 12 when the Italian won his first title. “A great personal moment for me at the Goodwood Festival was driving Alberto Ascari’s car. He was my absolute idol. I fell in love with racing watching him drive this car. This made my day happy,” – wrote the former Ferrari driver on Twitter.

Mario Andretti then did not miss the opportunity to be immortalized with two other authentic sporting monsters, such as Sir Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi. A photo already destined to become iconic and which embodies the beauty of six world titles. “Meet the friends of a lifetime in Goodwood”, the concise but very clear comment written by ‘Piedone’ accompanying the image.

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Having started from pole, Alberto Ascari made the most of a spin from Bonetto in the Maserati to move into the lead. The Italian was out in front for almost the entire race, apart from a brief interlude when team-mate Farina led during an unexpected pit stop to deal with an oil leak. Thanks to this victory, Alberto Ascari took the world title with two races to go. It was the first of the fifteen to date for Scuderia Ferrari drivers in Formula 1.

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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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True to form, Ferrari were favourites right from qualifying when the four factory 500s all secured top six places with Alberto Ascari on pole, even beating Juan Manuel Fangio by 1.6 seconds and Giuseppe Farina by 1.9.

The track presented an unexpected problem: the surface had recently been relaid, but the job was done in a hurry without much care and as a result it broke up with gravel flying dangerously at the drivers. Alberto Ascari complained to the organisers who did nothing but shrug their shoulders.

The Milanese driver remembered watching some American dirt track races the previous year and fitted his 500 with a protective mesh screen, a solution immediately adopted by all the other drivers.

In the race, Alberto Ascari took control from start to finish, to give Ferrari its twelfth win. Behind the victor came Giuseppe Farina which meant the Maranello marque had secured a ninth one-two finish. A clean sweep of the podium was not to be, because of a great climb up the order from Jose Froilan Gonzalez: the Argentine had to take over Felice Bonetto’s Maserati after his own had a problem and he managed to get all the way back to third, overtaking Mike Hawthorn in the Ferrari in the closing stages.

Ascari’s eight consecutive World Championship race victory (ignoring the Indianapolis 500) gave him a clear lead in the points standings. He was eight points clear of Bill Vukovich, the winner at Indianapolis, while his nearest genuine rivals for the Drivers’ Championship were his teammates Villoresi and Farina, who were in third and fourth, respectively. González and Hawthorn were level on points with Farina, eleven points adrift of Ascari.

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During practice, Johnny Claes crashed his Talbot after a brake pipe broke – and several spectators were killed.

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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.

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The front row positions on the grid were shared equally between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, with Fangio, Farina, Ascari and González posting the four fastest qualifying times. The second row consisted of the remaining works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi, alongside Felice Bonetto. Reg Parnell, in a BRM, was also supposed to be on the second row, but was unable to start due to lubrication problems.

Fangio was the initial race leader, having started from pole position, but he soon had to cede the position to Ascari. He retook the lead on lap eight before pitting for a tyre change, which dropped him to fifth. Early retirements for Farina and de Graffenried left José Froilán González in second, behind his teammate Ascari. Fangio attempted to bridge the gap to the Ferraris, but engine problems eliminated his chances. The sole remaining Alfa driver, Nino Farina, who had taken over Bonetto’s car on lap 30, inherited third place as a result of Fangio’s retirement. He was fast, but fuel leakages meant that he needed to make two further pitstops; he therefore had to settle for third. Alberto Ascari took his second, and Ferrari’s third, consecutive Championship race victory, ahead of British Grand Prix winner González. The other works Ferraris of Villoresi and Taruffi completed the points positions in what was another successful race for the Scuderia.

Alberto Ascari’s victory took him to within two points of Championship leader Fangio, while González was a further four points behind in third.

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