The famous four-way battle of the 1953 Italian Grand Prix

It was the final race of the season, and also the last ever World Championship race that was run to Formula 2 regulations. Local teams Ferrari and Maserati were both keen to assert dominance and threw their all the event; pre-event testing revealed Ferrari’s all-new Tipo 500, while Maserati had upgraded its A6GCM with revised bodywork and suspension. 

Come official practice, there were no fewer than seven Ferraris on the entry list. All teams began early aside from Maserati, which arrived at Monza later in the day. Ascari qualified for pole position, a full second faster than second-place team-mate Farina. For the race, Felice Bonetto was given the new Maserati with Fangio in the older version. 

Twenty-eight cars got away from the 30-strong grid, and it was initially Marimón who took the lead, but just two seconds covered those first four cars lap after lap. While they circulated closely they broke away from the rest of the field at a pace that appeared, to seasoned spectators, unsustainable. They were in such a metronomic rhythm that each lap was identical, the Ferraris and Maseratis both changing gear in sync as they passed the pitlane. 

Motor Sport’s reporter at the race wrote: “So regular was this battle that time after time as they passed the pits the two Ferrari drivers would change into top at exactly the same moment, while the two Maserati drivers did the same a few yards farther on, as though the two gear-levers were coupled together.”

On lap 39, just before half race distance, the order was Ascari, Farina, Fangio, Marimón. Of the following ten laps, Ascari led for six, Fangio was in front for two as was Farina. As the 80 laps counted down victory could have gone to any of the quartet.

Things continued in that hotly contested vein until Marimón had to pit with a damaged radiator. He lost six minutes while mechanics attended to the car, leaving Fangio as the sole Maserati driver to challenge the two Ferraris until his team-mate was able to get back in contact. In the final 20 laps Ascari began to retain the lead for ever longer stints, but his rivals were never far away.

By the time the last lap arrived they were still within touching distance of one another. The result came down to a final corner fight, the precise events of which remain unrecorded. With no television cameras in those days, the most reliable source we have is the eye-witness account from Motor Sport, but their reporter didn’t have a direct line of sight to exactly what occured.

What we do know is that Ascari and Marimón took to the grass. It’s believed that Ascari spun on oil and Marimón had to take avoiding action. The Ferrari had damage to the rear; the Maserati on the front, suggesting there was contact between the two cars. The upshot of the melee was that Fangio crossed the line 200 yards ahead of the recovering pack. 

In all the excitement, the chequered flag wasn’t shown to the leaders, so Fangio and Farina completed another lap at full race pace — pace that turned out to be sustainable after all. Those final corner antics may have been a slight distraction from Fangio’s win, but it did nothing to undermine such a hard-fought victory.

The events at Monza delivered a famous home win for Maserati and its A6GCM, and more of the marque’s successes over the past century will be celebrated at the 2026 Goodwood Revival, where you can also see the rivalry between Maserati and Ferrari recommence in our own ‘Battle of Modena’ in this year’s Lavant Cup. If it’s anything like this Grand Prix, then it’s sure to be spectacular.

Tickets for the 2026 Goodwood Revival are now on sale. If you’re not already part of the GRRC, you can sign up to the Fellowship today and save ten per cent on your 2026 tickets and grandstand passes, as well as enjoying a whole host of other on-event perks.  

Images courtesy of Getty Images.