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1959 French GP

Grand Prix de l'ACF

Reims-Gueux

July 5, 1959

Scuderia Ugolini

Maserati 250F (2524)

No: 42

Q: 20

R: 9

C: GP

The French Grand Prix was the only race in which Carel drove a Maserati 250F. He was present at Rheims to drive his RSK in the Coupe de Vitesse when Hans Herrmann decided not to enter the Grand Prix because of the enormous heat at the circuit and because he expected to have a better chance in the Coupe de Vitesse. Herrmann probably proved right and finished second in the Formula 2 race with a Behra Porsche while Carel took over his Scuderia Ugolini Maserati for the Grand Prix.

He qualified last, although Scarlatti was behind him on the grid without setting a time. The day of the race the weather was awesomely hot. So hot in fact that the drivers where allowed to do some reconnaissance laps because the tarmac was melting and coming loose on some parts of the circuit. There wasn’t any wind and drivers drenched their seats and overalls in water before the start hoping it would bring them some comfort for the race.

During the race the casualties were many: Gregory retired from a top-three spot due to heat exhaustion and Graham Hill and Roy Salvadori had to make pit stops to replace their goggles which were shattered by flying stones and pieces of tarmac. Many radiators didn’t survive the combination of heat and stones. In the race Tony Brooks was never really challenged in his Ferrari, making it a clear start-to-finish victory.

Carel managed to steer his Maserati to the finish despite the terrible conditions and finished a respectable ninth in his first race in a Formula 1 car.

The last-minute swap between Herrmann and Carel gave the reporters quite a headache, as Motor Sport mentions Herrmann as the original driver in practice, with Carel on the grid and in the race. This actually came closer to the truth than what Autosport managed to report, as it mentions Herrmann in its race report and, to make matters worse, corrected this with both Scarlatti and Da Silva Ramos in the republished race results a week later, moving 10th-placed Fritz d'Orey a place down to 11th! Just to add to the confusion, Motor Racing had Herrmann on the grid as well, while Autocourse - not being tied to a weekly or monthly deadline, so with more time to get it right - contrived to list Da Silva Ramos for practice but with Carel on the grid...

a complete account of his races

This section features all the events that Carel ran in - it tells you all about his results and the way he scored them.