1950 F1 Championship Standings

The championship was dominated by the Alfa Romeo cars, with Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina winning three Grands Prix and Juan Manuel Fangio dominating the other three European rounds. Ultimately, Farina’s fourth place at Belgium was the difference in a closely-fought World Championship. Alfa Romeo’s Luigi Fagioli finished third and was the driver with the most podiums in the season, though he did not win a single event.

Only the four best results of the six races counted for the World Drivers’ Championship and the points-allocation was established with an 8-6-4-3-2 format for the first five finishers and one point for the driver with the Fastest Lap of the race, regardless if that driver finished the race or not.

The Battle of The Alfettas

Farina dominated the first-ever Grand Prix, held at Silverstone. Then, the Italian crashed at Monaco as Fangio reigned supreme and Ferrari made its World Championship debut with a second-place from Alberto Ascari in the 125 F1 with a V12 supercharged engine. The Indy 500 was celebrated on 30 May 1950 without participation from the European drivers and Johnnie Parsons took the win.

Engine woes for Pole-sitter Fangio meant Farina won the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten on 4 June 1950. Fangio struck back at Belgium after winning from second on the grid on the 14.120-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps.

Then, the Argentine maestro won again in France. Fangio qualified almost two seconds ahead of everyone at Reims-Gueux and then won with a 25-second gap over Fagioli and three laps ahead of the third-placed Peter Whitehead, driving a Ferrari. Fuel pump failure for Farina meant Fangio led the championship heading to the final showdown at Monza with two points over Fagioli and four over ‘Nino’.

Farina needed a series of results to win the crown at his home country. The Italian driver needed at least third place to have a chance if Fangio had a difficult afternoon. The worst possible result that could’ve given the title to the Italian racer was third place with the Fastest Lap of the race. Fangio was in a good spot since he could’ve earned the championship even without scoring any points.

Championship Climax at Monza

For the race at the 6.300-kilometre Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Fangio qualified on Pole two tenths ahead of Ferrari’s first superstar in the World Championship, Ascari. Farina was third, 1.6 seconds off of Fangio’s lap.

Farina took the lead at the start and lost it briefly on lap 14 to Ascari, who was driving the Ferrari 375 with the new 4.5-litre V12 engine without a supercharger. Fangio, on the other hand, had gearbox issue in his car and borrowed Piero Taruffi’s Alfetta, only to retire again with engine issues.

Farina won comfortably ahead of the Ferrari driven by Dorino Serafini and Ascari. Ascari’s car had reliability issues, but he managed to get a podium place at home for Ferrari after finishing in Serafini’s own 375. It was Serafini’s only Grand Prix and he finished second. In third place was Fagioli in one of the other Alfa Romeos.

‘Nino’ Farina, the “Gentleman of Turin”, became the first World Drivers’ Champion in history and 70 years later, he is still the only driver to seal the Formula 1 championship in his home race.

The first Formula 1 season will be remembered forever, due to the utter dominance of the Alfettas, the battle between Farina and Fangio and because it gave way to the mega-sport the Formula 1 championship is today.

The beginning of a great sport, the origin of golden history.