The was a
Formula One race held on
May 13 , 1950 at
Silverstone Circuit . Designated
Grand Prix Of Europe for 1950, this very first round of
1950 Grand Prix Formula One Season was attended by
King George ,
Queen Elizabeth ,
Princess Margaret , and
Earl &
Lady Mountbatten .
Before this first race, in
April , was disputed other four Grand Prix not valid in Formula One season, in
Pau and
Sanremo (winning by
Juan Manuel Fangio ),
Richmond (won by
Reg Parnell ) and
Paris , won by
Georges Grignard , who decide not took part at this first season.
The Alfa Romeo factory team arrived at circuit with four 158s (Fangio, Farina, Fagioli & Parnell).
Ferrari decided not to take part but there were a handful of
Maserati 's, one a factory car for
Louis Chiron and
Talbot-Lago sent over two factory cars to be driven by
Yves Giraud-Cabantous and
Eugene Martin . The rest of the field was made up of local machinery, which included
ERA 's and
Alta 's.
Farina was fastest in qualifying and the other three Alfa's were alongside him on the front row. The second row consisted of
Prince Bira in a Maserati and the two factory Talbot Lago's.
Felice Bonetto was the only driver who not started at qualifying and would not took part in 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 went out with engine troubles and so Farina led Fagioli home by 2.5 seconds with Parnell a distant third. The nearest challenger was Giraud-Cabantous two laps down, Bira having gone out with a fuel problem.
