in 1951 in the Alfa Romeo 159) and qualified fastest with a time of 4:22.1. Behind him on second place was González who was very pleased with the improved handling of his Ferrari. Over two seconds behind him was Farina who wasn't satisfied at all with the car's set-up. Qualifying classification Race On 20 June 1954 the 14 cars lined up for the Belgian Grand Prix. Behind them a 15th car, the Maserati of Emmanuel de Graffenried was ready for the start to film authentic race footage for the upcoming movie The Racers starring Kirk Douglas. The start saw González take the lead in front of Farina while Fangio dropped back. During the first round the Maserati of Mieres caught on fire, but the driver was able to jump out of the moving car, getting away with only minor burns. Meanwhile, González' lead was only short lived; he had to retire after lap 1 with engine failure (as well as Swaters and two laps later Marimón). Farina led Hawthorn and Fangio, who managed to pull in front on lap 3. At lap 10 Fangio lost the lead due to a broken visor strap that forced him into the pit. However, he quickly recovered and retook the lead. Farina had to retire with engine failure on lap 14, which left Fangio quite unchallenged with Hawthorn over a minute behind in second. Hawthorn, who had not quite recovered from an accident at Syracuse, was slowing down during the following laps and therefore the Ferrari Team flagged him into the pits and had the car taken over by González, after a collapsed Hawthorn had to be lifted out of his car. Trintignant was therefore in second place. González soon discovered the reason for Hawthorn passing out: a broken exhaust pipe was allowing fumes in the cockpit, so the Argentinian pulled into the pits to have it fixed, losing a whole lap in the process. Meanwhile, Fangio was sitting in a comfortable lead and rode to his second victory of the season, as well as recording the fastest lap of the race. Only seven cars were able to finish. The retirements had put Trintignant in second and Moss (who scored his first podium in a World Championship race) in his privately entered Maserati in third. After his long pit stop González managed to recover and finished fourth in front of Pilette, Bira and Mantovani.