Formula 1

About the season

The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the very first round of the new World Championship; the Royal Family attended, some 200,000 spectators packed the circuit, and the race officially carried the title "Grand Prix d'Europe" - the first time that honor had gone to a track outside Italy or France. The grid skewed remarkably old: the average age of the drivers was 39, and race winner Giuseppe Farina crossed the line first at 43. The supercharged, pre-war-designed Alfa Romeo 158 "Alfetta" proved essentially unbeatable, winning every championship round it entered. The Indianapolis 500 counted toward the championship points but existed in its own bubble, run under American AAA rules; European manufacturers, including Alfa Romeo, simply skipped it, and Indy regulars almost never crossed over to race in Europe. Nino Farina won the 1950 Drivers' Championship with 30 points (Alfa Romeo), 3 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 7 completed races this season, there were 80 retirements. 3 different drivers won a race this season. Nino Farina took the most race wins, 3 in total. Farina won the season-opening race, the British Grand Prix. The season's biggest upset win came from Parsons at the Indianapolis 500, starting from grid position 5. Wallard made the biggest gain of the season at the Indianapolis 500, from grid position 23 to finishing 6 (up 17 places). The closest finish of the season came at the Swiss Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.400 seconds. The most dominant win of the season came at the Italian Grand Prix, with a margin of 78.6 seconds. The Italian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 21 drivers failing to finish. Farina won the Italian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.