1950 British Grand Prix

  1950 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 7 in the 1950 Formula One season
Silverstone Circuit in 1949–1950 configuration
Date	13 May 1950
Official name	III RAC British Grand Prix XI Grand Prix d'Europe
Location	Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, England
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.649 km (2.889 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 325.430 km (202.213 mi)
Weather	Sunny, Mild, Dry
Pole position
Driver	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo
Time	1:50.8[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo
Time	1:50.6[2] on lap 2
Podium
First	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo
Second	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo
Third	Reg Parnell	Alfa Romeo
Lap leaders

The 1950 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1950 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, England. It was the first World Championship Formula One race in the modern era, as well as the fifth British Grand Prix, and the third to be held at Silverstone after motor racing resumed after World War II. It was the first round of the 1950 World Drivers' Championship and the fifth race of the season.

The 70-lap race was won by Giuseppe Farina for the Alfa Romeo team after starting from pole position timed 2:13:23.6, with an average speed of 146.378 km/h. Luigi Fagioli finished second in another Alfa Romeo, and Reg Parnell third in a third Alfa Romeo.

The race followed the non-championship Pau Grand Prix and San Remo Grand Prix (both won by Juan Manuel Fangio), the Richmond Trophy (won by Reg Parnell) and the Paris Grand Prix (won by Georges Grignard).

Report

Held on 13 May at Silverstone Circuit, and also designated as the Grand Prix of Europe for 1950, this very first World Championship round was attended by George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Earl & Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

Participants

In all, there were 22 competing, 21 qualified for race, and 11 classified. Numbers 7 and 13 were not assigned. The Alfa Romeo factory team arrived at the circuit with four 158s for Fangio, Farina, Fagioli & domestic driver Reg Parnell. Ferrari decided not to take part but there were a handful of Maseratis, one of them a factory car for Monegasque driver Louis Chiron. Scuderia Ambrosiana prepared two cars for David Hampshire and David Murray, Enrico Platé entered two drivers of aristocratic origin, Prince Bira of Siam and Baron Toulo de Graffenried. Joe Fry entered a private Maserati and Scuderia Milano entered Felice Bonetto, but he did not arrive. These cars were raced in Italian Rosso Corsa livery. Talbot-Lago sent over two factory cars in the traditional French pale blue colour to be driven by Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Eugène Martin. Other private Talbots were entered by Louis Rosier, Philippe Etancelin and Belgian Johnny Claes, in a yellow car. The rest of the field was made up of local machinery, which included four E.R.A.s and two Altas, in British racing green.

The race

Farina was fastest in qualifying and the other three Alfas were alongside him on the front row. The second row consisted of "B. Bira" in a Maserati and the two factory Talbots. In accordance with the standard at the time, the rest of the grid consisted of rows of four and three alternating, up to the sixth row. Felice Bonetto was the only driver who did not take part in qualifying and would not take part in the race. On 13 May, 21 drivers from 9 countries were represented at the old Silverstone airport, 4 from France, 2 from Italy, 1 each from Belgium, Ireland, Monaco, Argentina, Thailand and Switzerland. The UK was represented by 9 drivers. The race drew 200,000 spectators. At the start of the race, Farina took the lead with Fagioli and Fangio in pursuit. In the early laps they switched around between themselves several times to keep everyone amused. Fangio retired with engine troubles and so Farina led Fagioli home by 2.5 seconds with Parnell a distant third despite hitting a hare during the race. The nearest challenger was Giraud-Cabantous two laps down, Bira having retired with a fuel problem. Crossley and Murray duelled at the back before retiring, de Graffenried had done so on lap 34, while Chiron was demoted to the role of viewer 10 laps earlier. Giuseppe Farina led for 63 laps (1–9, 16–37 and 39–70). Luigi Fagioli led for 6 laps (10–15). Juan Manuel Fangio led for 1 lap (38). Joe Fry drove car #10 for the first 45 laps, then Brian Shawe-Taylor took over for 19 laps for a total 64 laps, distance 297.536 km. Peter Walker drove car #9 for 2 laps, then Tony Rolt drove for and additional 3 laps, totaling 5 laps, a distance of 23.245 km.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
1	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 159 LBC 1.5 L8s	P
2	Giuseppe Farina		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 159 LBC 1.5 L8s	P
3	Luigi Fagioli^1		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 159 LBC 1.5 L8s	P
4	Reg Parnell		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 159 LBC 1.5 L8s	P
5	David Murray	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	D
6	David Hampshire		Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	D
8	Leslie Johnson	T.A.S.O. Mathieson	ERA	ERA E	ERA 1.5 L6s	D
9	Peter Walker^2	Peter Walker	ERA	ERA E	ERA 1.5 L6s	D
10	Joe Fry^3	Joe Fry	Maserati	Maserati 4CL	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	D
11	Cuth Harrison	Cuth Harrison	ERA	ERA B	ERA 1.5 L6s	D
12	Bob Gerard	Bob Gerard	ERA	ERA B	ERA 1.5 L6s	D
14	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
15	Louis Rosier		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
16	Philippe Étancelin		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
17	Eugène Martin		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
18	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
19	Louis Chiron	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
20	Toulo de Graffenried	Enrico Platé	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
21	B. Bira		Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
22	Felice Bonetto	Scuderia Milano	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-50	Maserati 4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
23	Joe Kelly	Joe Kelly	Alta	Alta GP	Alta 1.5 L4s	D
24	Geoffrey Crossley	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	Alta GP	Alta 1.5 L4s	D
26	Raymond Mays^4	Raymond Mays	ERA	ERA D	ERA 1.5 L6s	D
Sources: [3][4]

^1 — Luigi Fagioli qualified and drove all 70 laps of the race in the #3 Alfa Romeo. Gianbattista Guidotti, named substitute driver for the car, was not used at the Grand Prix.^[5]

^2 — Peter Walker qualified and drove 2 laps of the race in the #9 ERA. Tony Rolt took over the car for 3 laps of the race.^[6]

^3 — Joe Fry qualified and drove 45 laps of the race in the #10 Maserati. Brian Shawe-Taylor took over the car for 19 laps of the race.^[6]

^4 — Entry cancelled prior to event.^[7]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	2	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	1:50.8	–
2	3	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo	1:51.0	+ 0.2
3	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	1:51.2	+ 0.4
4	4	Reg Parnell	Alfa Romeo	1:52.2	+ 1.4
5	21	Prince Bira	Maserati	1:52.6	+ 1.8
6	14	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:53.4	+ 2.6
7	17	Eugène Martin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:55.4	+ 4.6
8	20	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	1:55.8	+ 5.0
9	15	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:56.0	+ 5.2
10	9	Peter Walker	ERA	1:56.6	+ 5.8
11	19	Louis Chiron	Maserati	1:56.6	+ 5.8
12	8	Leslie Johnson	ERA	1:57.4	+ 6.6
13	12	Bob Gerard	ERA	1:57.4	+ 6.6
14	16	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:57.8	+ 7.0
15	11	Cuth Harrison	ERA	1:58.4	+ 7.6
16	6	David Hampshire	Maserati	2:01.0	+ 10.2
17	24	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	2:02.6	+ 11.8
18	5	David Murray	Maserati	2:05.6	+ 14.8
19	23	Joe Kelly	Alta	2:06.2	+ 15.4
20	10	Joe Fry	Maserati	2:07.0	+ 16.2
21	18	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:08.8	+ 18.0
DNA	22	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	–	–

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	2	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	70	2:13:23.6	1	9
2	3	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo	70	+ 2.6	2	6
3	4	Reg Parnell	Alfa Romeo	70	+ 52.0	4	4
4	14	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	68	+ 2 Laps	6	3
5	15	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	68	+ 2 Laps	9	2
6	12	Bob Gerard	ERA	67	+ 3 Laps	13
7	11	Cuth Harrison	ERA	67	+ 3 Laps	15
8	16	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	65	+ 5 Laps	14
9	6	David Hampshire	Maserati	64	+ 6 Laps	16
10	10	Joe Fry Brian Shawe-Taylor	Maserati	64	+ 6 Laps	20
11	18	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	64	+ 6 Laps	21
Ret	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	62	Oil Leak	3
NC	23	Joe Kelly	Alta	57	Not classified	19
Ret	21	Prince Bira	Maserati	49	Out of fuel	5
Ret	5	David Murray	Maserati	44	Engine	18
Ret	24	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	43	Transmission	17
Ret	20	Toulo de Graffenried	Maserati	36	Engine	8
Ret	19	Louis Chiron	Maserati	26	Clutch	11
Ret	17	Eugène Martin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	8	Oil pressure	7
Ret	9	Peter Walker Tony Rolt	ERA	5	Gearbox	10
Ret	8	Leslie Johnson	ERA	2	Compressor	12
Source:[8]

Fastest laps in race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Lap	Pts
1	2	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	1:50.6	–	2	1
2	14	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:53.4	+ 2.8	41
3	15	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:55.4	+ 4.8	10
4	16	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	1:57.4	+ 6.8	31
5	18	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:08.8	+ 18.2	29

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Giuseppe Farina	9
2	Luigi Fagioli	6
3	Reg Parnell	4
4	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	3
5	Louis Rosier	2

• Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.

References

1. Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 14. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
2. Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 15. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.
3. "1950 British Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
4. "1950 British GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
5. "Britain 1950 - Race entrants". statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
6. "British Grand Prix 1950 - Results". ESPN F1. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
7. "Britain 1950 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
8. "1950 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.