The 1950 edition of the British Grand Prix was the fifth edition of the Grand Prix with it also being the third time that Silverstone Circuit held since the first race was held in 1948.[6] It was also the designated European Grand Prix for the year, which was the 11th time that title had been held since the first one back in 1923.[7] Before the first Grand Prix, four non-championship races were held all across Europe with Juan Manuel Fangio winning the races in Pau and San Remo with the other two races being won by Reg Parnell and Georges Grignard.
24 drivers were entered for the first race with them competing in 22 different cars. The numbers 7 and 13 were not assigned.[9] The biggest absence was the Scuderia Ferrari who would not compete in the opening race with Enzo Ferrari not sending any cars to Britain with the team debuting at the next round in Monaco, due to the small amount of appearance money the organisers were willing to pay him to participate.[10][11] This meant that Alfa Romeo with four drivers Farina, Fangio, Fagioli, and British driver, Reg Parnell.[9] Their main competition was the Maseratis, of Scuderia Ambrosiana and their drivers, David Hampshire and David Murray. Enrico Platé also entered two Maserati's with Prince Bira of Siam and Baron Toulo de Graffenried with the pair not being able to practice on Thursday. Felice Bonetto also entered a Maserati but would not arrive for the race.[12]
^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.[15]
^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.[16]
^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.[16]
Qualifying took place on Friday and saw the Alfa Romeos end up on the front row of the grid as Farina claimed the first pole position in the history of Formula One with a time of 1:50.8. Fagioli and Fangio and Parnell would fill the remaining spots on the front row of the grid. Prince Bira was the fastest non-Alfa, 1.8 seconds back with the two Talbot's cars filling in the second row.[18]
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, while Cabantous got a poor start and lost 4 positions. In the early laps, they switched around between themselves several times to keep everyone amused. Fangio retired with engine troubles caused by a broken oil pipe 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 the viewer 10 laps earlier. Nino 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 of 64 laps, a distance of 297.536 km. Peter Walker drove car #9 for 2 laps, then Tony Rolt drove for an additional 3 laps, totaling 5 laps, a distance of 23.245 km. Nino Farina achieved the fastest lap of the race, with a 1:50.6 on Lap 2.[1]
Nino Farina
