This race holds records as the longest Formula One Grand Prix by total distance and produced the oldest winner in World Championship history.
Key Facts
- Race winner(s)
- Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli (shared car)
- Circuit
- Reims-Gueux
- Total race distance
- 373.961 miles
- Laps
- 77
- Circuit length
- 4.856 miles
- Championship round
- Race 4 of 8 in the 1951 World Championship
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 1951 Formula One World Championship of Drivers was underway, with Alfa Romeo fielding a dominant team. The fourth round was scheduled at the fast Reims-Gueux circuit in France, which also held the honorary title of European Grand Prix that year.
On 1 July 1951, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli shared an Alfa Romeo to win the French Grand Prix over 77 laps of the 4.856-mile Reims-Gueux circuit, covering a total distance of 373.961 miles. It was the first World Championship race credited to two drivers sharing a single car.
Fagioli's shared victory made him the oldest driver ever to win a World Championship Grand Prix, a record that remains unbroken. The race also established a still-standing record as the longest Formula One Grand Prix in total distance, and marked the World Championship debuts of Aldo Gordini, André Simon, and Onofre Marimón.