The Formula 1 World Championship was born 75 years ago, on May 13, 1950
Five years after the end of the Second World War, the inaugural round of the first ever Formula 1 World Championship is held at Silverstone, in front of a large crowd and prestigious guests.
Senna, Fangio, Spa, Monaco, Ferrari, Schumacher, Suzuka, Prost, Hamilton, Monza, McLaren, Lauda, Silverstone, Lotus, Mercedes, Stewart, Clark, Renault… These few legendary names, circuits, or teams might never have entered the pantheon of global motorsport if the first race in Formula 1 history had not taken place.
Seventy-five years ago, on May 13, 1950, Formula 1, a sport that has become one of the most followed in the world over the years, was born. Witnessing major technological innovations, legendary duels, and intensely suspenseful races, Formula 1 has never stopped growing and fascinating after seven and a half decades. Despite crises and dramas, the top category of motorsport has always managed to reinvent itself to remain at the forefront of motorsports.
It all began on a Saturday in the spring of 1950. At the Silverstone airbase, where Royal Air Force planes took off a few years earlier during the Second World War, 21 drivers met to become the first in history to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship. Why a Saturday? Because at the time, the British strictly observed Sunday rest.
Located 20 kilometers south of Northampton in the heart of the English countryside, the Silverstone airfield hosts the first Grand Prix in the history of Formula 1 in front of no less than 200,000 people. Among them, King George VI, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, did not hesitate to attend.
On the starting grid, it is the formidable Alfa Romeo 158s that launch from the first four positions with, behind the wheel, those known as the « 3F », Giuseppe Farina, Luigi Fagioli, and Juan Manuel Fangio, as well as local Reg Parnell. In addition to the Italian manufacturer, Talbot-Lago, ERA, Alta, and Maserati present with several single-seaters. Absent, Scuderia Ferrari opted to compete in a more lucrative race in Mons, Belgium. The grand history of the Prancing Horse in F1 will therefore only begin eight days later in Monaco.
The race boils down to a walk in the park for the cars of the brand born in Milan forty years earlier. Farina and Fagioli exchange the lead several times, and Alfa Romeo is heading straight for a quadruple victory. That was without accounting for a hay bale that Fangio hits, causing his oil line to break and forcing him to retire eight laps from the finish.
After completing the scheduled 70 laps in 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 23 seconds at an average speed of 146.378 km/h, Farina becomes the first winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix within the framework of the World Championship. He triumphs ahead of his teammates Fagioli and Parnell. A few months later, the Italian will become the first F1 world champion in history.
Seventy-five years later, on the eve of another technological revolution that will see the arrival of sustainable fuels and even greater electrification in 2026, Formula 1 continues to write its prestigious and grandiose history…
