The 1950 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1950 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England. It was the first round of the 1950 World Drivers Championship and the fifth race of the season. The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by Giuseppe Farina for the Alfa Romeo team after starting from pole position. Luigi Fagioli finished second in another Alfa Romeo, and Reg Parnell third in a third Alfa Romeo.

The race followed the 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). It was the first World Championship Formula One race in the modern era.

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 King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Earl & Lady Mountbatten of Burma.

The Alfa Romeo factory team arrived at the circuit with four 158s (for Fangio, Farina, Fagioli & Parnell). Ferrari decided not to take part but there were a handful of Maseratis, one of them a factory car for Louis Chiron. Talbot-Lago sent over two factory cars to be driven by Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Eugène Martin. The rest of the field was made up of local machinery, which included ERA and Alta.

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. Felice Bonetto was the only driver who did not take part in qualifying and would not take part in the race. 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.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
1	Juan Manuel Fangio	SA Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo L8s
2	Giuseppe Farina	SA Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo L8s
3	Luigi Fagioli	SA Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo L8s
4	Reg Parnell	SA Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo L8s
5	David Murray	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati L4s
6	David Hampshire	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati L4s
8	Leslie Johnson	Taso Mathieson	ERA	ERA E	ERA L6s
9	Peter Walker	Private	ERA	ERA E	ERA L6s
10	Joe Fry	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CL	Maserati L4s
11	Cuth Harrison	Private	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s
12	Bob Gerard	Private	ERA	ERA B/C	ERA L6s
14	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq SA	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot L6
15	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
16	Philippe Étancelin	Private	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
17	Eugène Martin	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq SA	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot L6
18	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
19	Louis Chiron	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati L4s
20	Toulo de Graffenried	Enrico Platé	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati L4s
21	Prince Bira	Enrico Platé	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT-48	Maserati L4s
22	Felice Bonetto	Scuderia Milano	Maserati	Maserati Milano 4CLT-50	Maserati L4s
23	Joe Kelly	Private	Alta	Alta GP	Alta L4s
24	Geoff Crossley	Private	Alta	Alta GP	Alta L4s

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	Geoff 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	2:08.2	+ 17.4
DNA	22	Felice Bonetto	Maserati	-	-

Starting Grid Positions

1st Row	4 Pos.		3 Pos.		2 Pos.		1 Pos.
	Parnell Alfa Romeo 1:52.2		Fangio Alfa Romeo 1:51.2		Fagioli Alfa Romeo 1:51.0		Farina Alfa Romeo 1:50.8
2nd Row		7 Pos.		6 Pos.		5 Pos.
		Martin Talbot-Lago 1:55.4		Cabantous Talbot-Lago 1:53.4		Bira Maserati 1:52.6
3rd Row	11 Pos.		10 Pos.		9 Pos.		8 Pos.
	Chiron Maserati 1:56.6		Walker ERA 1:56.6		Rosier Talbot-Lago 1:56.0		Graffenried Maserati 1:55.8
4th Row		14 Pos.		13 Pos.		12 Pos.
		Étancelin Talbot-Lago 1:57.8		Gerard ERA 1:57.4		Johnson ERA 1:57.4
5th Row	18 Pos.		17 Pos.		16 Pos.		15 Pos.
	Murray Maserati 2:05.6		Crossley Alta 2:02.6		Hampshire Maserati 2:01.0		Harrison ERA 1:58.4
6th Row		21 Pos.		20 Pos.		19 Pos.
		Claes Talbot-Lago 2:08.2		Fry Maserati 2:07.0		Kelly Alta 2:06.2

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	Geoff Crossley	Alta	43	Transition	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

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

Notes

• Drivers: 22 competing, 21 qualified for race, 11 classified.
• Numbers: #7 and #13 not assigned.
• Race Winner: Nino Farina 2:13:23.6, average speed 146.378 km/h
• Lap Leaders:
  • Giuseppe Farina 63 laps (1-9, 16-37 and 39-70)
  • Luigi Fagioli 6 laps (10-15)
  • Juan Manuel Fangio 1 lap (38).
• Shared Drives:
  • Car #10: Joe Fry (first 45 laps) then Brian Shawe Taylor (19 laps) Total 64 laps, distance 297.536 km
  • Car #9: Peter Walker (2 laps) then Tony Rolt (3 laps) Total 5 laps, distance 23.245 km
• Race Records:
  • Drivers: First Hat Trick in World Championship history for Nino Farina: scored Pole, Fastest Lap and Victory in same race. Farina was leader for 63 of the 70 laps; and therefore failed to clinch the Grand Chelem only for the sake of not leading 7 laps.
  • Constructors: First Royal Flush in World Championship history for Alfa Romeo: scored Pole, Fastest Lap, Victory (Farina), leading the entire race with Farina, Fagioli and Fangio and placed three cars in the first three positions with Farina, Fagioli and Parnell. During qualifying sessions Alfa Romeos filled all four places on the first row.

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

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

References

Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from