Silverstone Hosts First F1 Championship Grand Prix
The first race of the newly formed Formula 1 World Championship was staged at the Silverstone airfield circuit in England on May 13th, 1950. The British King and Queen were both present for the momentous occasion, as was a crowd of over 100,000 eager spectators. The two previous Grands Prix held at Silverstone in 1948 and 1949 had been won by Maserati, but Alfa Romeo were the team to beat in 1950. Rodney Walkerley described the inaugural World Championship meeting in The Motor magazine;
"Motor racing in the grand manner came to Britain on Saturday. The long line of pits, the beflagged stands, the blue and gold of the royal box where the Royal Standard floated in the wind, was a spectacle of colour and movement which I found strangely stirring and heartwarming."
Alfa were running their type 158, a pre-war design utilising a 1,500cc twin-supercharged engine. Four examples lined up on the Silverstone grid. Dr Giuseppe Farina was on pole with the other three Alfas alongside. They were driven by Luigi Fagioli, Juan-Manuel Fangio and, for this race, the English driver Reg Parnell.
In the race all three Alfa drivers led at some point. Fangio was forced into retirement, but it was the only glitch on an otherwise perfect day for the Italian team. Farina won the race from Fagioli, with Parnell finishing third. The first non-Alfa was Yves Giraud Cabantous’s Talbot-Lago, two laps behind in fourth.
Fangio Wins Eventful Monaco GP
The following race in Monte Carlo saw the first appearance of the Ferrari team at a World Championship event. Their type 125 cars were driven by Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari, son of the famous racing driver Antonio Ascari. There were three previous Monaco Grand Prix winners on the grid. Louis Chiron had won his local race as far back as 1932, driving a Bugatti. Fagioli triumphed for Mercedes-Benz in 1935 and Farina had won the 1948 event in a Maserati.
Fangio was fastest in qualifying, with Farina second and Jose Froilan Gonzalez third for Maserati. The most curious car on the grid was to be found on the last row, where the American driver Harry Schell qualified a tiny 500cc rear-engined Cooper.
The first lap of the race saw carnage at Tabac corner when a multiple pile-up occurred, caused by spray from the Mediterranean blowing onto the circuit. Both Farina and Fagioli were eliminated in the accident, while Gonzalez retired soon after it when his damaged car caught fire. Fangio proceeded to dominate the race, winning by over a lap from Ascari’s Ferrari and two laps ahead of Chiron’s Maserati.
In the first decade of the World Championship the Indianapolis 500 had a place on the calendar, although European drivers rarely ventured over. For the record Johnnie Parsons won the 1950 event which was held on a Tuesday after a long rain delay. His Kurtis-Kraft Offenhauser finished ahead of Bill Holland in second and Mauri Rose third.
1950 Formula 1 season review continues here.
Kevin Guthrie - Kevin is based in Fife, Scotland, where he works as a music teacher, professional drummer and freelance writer. At an early age he ...
