1950 British A1 Grand Prix

The 1950 British A1 Grand Prix held at the Silverstone circuit was the inaugural Grand Prix for the newly formed A1 Grand Prix Series. The veteran, Louis Chiron took pole position for Monaco from France's Robert Manzon who had lead the free practice session.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Time	Gap
1	18	Louis Chiron	1:25.040	Leader
2	13	Robert Manzon	1:25.337	+0.297
3	27	Toulo de Graffenried	1:25.797	+0.757
4	11	Peter Whitehead	1:25.941	+0.901
5	16	Piero Taruffi	1:25.956	+0.916
6	3	Johnny Claes	1:26.003	+0.963
7	14	Paul Pietsch	1:26.152	+1.112
8	2	Tony Gaze	1:26.278	+1.238
9	12	Asser Wallenius	1:26.293	+1.253
10	4	Chico Landi	1:26.425	+1.385
11	1	José Froilán González	1:26.830	+1.790
12	9	Porfirio Rubirosa	1:26.860	+1.820
13	29	Johnnie Parsons	1:27.013	+1.973
14	10	Willy Lehmann	1:27.044	+2.004
15	19	Dries van der Lof	1:27.079	+2.039
16	8	Robert Nelleman	1:27.091	+2.051
17	33	Charles Headland	1:27.115	+2.075
18	26	Erik Lundgren	1:27.230	+2.190
19	15	Joe Kelly	1:27.248	+2.208
20	7	Eliška Junková	1:27.508	+2.468
21	5	Al Pease	1:27.786	+2.746
22	28	B. Bira	1:27.844	+2.804
23	31	Mikhail Metelev	1:28.151	+3.111
24	25	Paco Godia	1:28.284	+3.244
25	20	Jack Tutton	1:28.306	+3.266
26	23	Alex McGlashan	1:28.502	+3.462
27	30	Eitel Cantoni	1:29.010	+3.970
28	24	Ernest Geering	1:30.482	+5.442
29	17	Luis Leal Solares	1:30.704	+5.664
30	32	Attilio Cagnasso	1:32.269	+7.229
31	21	Desmond Titterington	1:34.930	+9.890
32	6	Arcesio Paz	1:37.581	+12.541
33	22	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	1:43.439	+18.399

Race

The start.

Robert Manzon made a great start for France, immediately passing Monaco's Louis Chiron round the outside of Copse to take the lead while Peter Whitehead for England took 2nd. Sadly Manzon's lead would be short lived as on lap 6 he briefly ran off the track at Maggotts loosing the lead to Whitehead. The three-way scrap for the lead would sadly be ruined when they came across Uruguay's Eitel Cantoni who had earlier had a collision with Scotland's Allan McGlashan. Whitehead managed to get through but Chiron and in particular Manzon were held up by Cantoni for several laps, falling into the clutches of Italy's Piero Taruffi and Switzerland's Emmanuel de Graffenried.

However on lap 27, Whitehead would suffer his own misfortune when he spun off at Abbey, causing him to loose the lead to Chiron. Later on lap 51 he was the unfortunate victim of the slow moving New Zealand car of Jack Tutton who was recovering to the pits after whacking the wall at Stowe. As the Kiwi turned into the pitlane entrance he appeared to loose control and slid into Whitehead just as the Englishman was passing on the outside. Whitehead was sent into the wall on the outside of Woodcote with a hard impact and was lucky to escape with only a minor ankle injury.

Jack Tutton crashes at lap 51.

Just two laps later, Manzon retired from 2nd with a gearbox failure which all but assured Chiron of becoming the first ever winner in A1 Grand Prix. Argentina's Jose Froilan Gonzalez managed to climb up to 2nd after a disappointing qualifying saw him start down in 11th. He took the fastest lap along the way. De Graffenried completed the podium in 3rd for Switzerland.

Chiron at the finish line to confirm his victory.

Other notable incidents included a sizeable shunt for Venezuela's Attilio Cagnasso at Woodcote which saw him escape with minor leg injuries. Cantoni and McGlashan had a small collision early on at Stowe, the latter rear ending the former which would ruin both's races as they struggled round with damaged cars for the rest of the race. Australia's Tony Gaze somehow managed to collide with Piero Taruffi in the pitlane when the Australian was released right in front of the Italian. Both of their races were ended. Finally Germany's Paul Pietsch had the misfortune of crashing out on the final lap at Stowe from 6th.

Race Classification

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Laps	Behind	Points
1	1	18	Louis Chiron	74	1:49:54.366	25
2	11	1	José Froilán González	74	+37.062	20
3	3	27	Toulo de Graffenried	74	+46.658	16
4	10	4	Chico Landi	74	+1:10.872	13
5	15	19	Dries van der Lof	74	+1:26.617	11
6	19	15	Joe Kelly	73	+1 lap	10
7	14	10	Willy Lehmann	73	+1 lap	9
8	20	7	Eliška Junková	73	+1 lap	8
9	6	3	Johnny Claes	73	+1 lap	7
10	22	28	B. Bira	73	+1 lap	6
11	18	26	Erik Lundgren	73	+1 lap	5
12	7	14	Paul Pietsch	72	Accident	4
13	16	8	Robert Nelleman	72	+2 laps	3
14	13	29	Johnnie Parsons	72	+2 laps	2
15	17	33	Charles Headland	72	+2 laps	1
16	9	12	Asser Wallenius	71	+3 laps
17	27	30	Eitel Cantoni	71	+3 laps
18	31	21	Desmond Titterington	70	+4 laps
19	26	23	Alex McGlashan	70	+4 laps
20	23	31	Mikhail Metelev	68	Fuel Leak
Ret	24	25	Paco Godia	64	Accident
Ret	2	13	Robert Manzon	52	Gearbox
Ret	4	11	Peter Whitehead	50	Collision Tutton
Ret	28	24	Ernest Geering	48	Accident
Ret	25	20	Jack Tutton	46	Collision Whitehead
Ret	21	5	Al Pease	35	Ignition
Ret	8	2	Tony Gaze	24	Collision Taruffi
Ret	5	16	Piero Taruffi	24	Collision Gaze
Ret	29	17	Luis Leal Solares	22	Accident
Ret	33	22	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	21	Accident
Ret	32	6	Arcesio Paz	18	Accident Damage
Ret	12	9	Porfirio Rubirosa	13	Brakes
Ret	30	32	Attilio Cagnasso	3	Accident

Fastest Lap José Froilán González 1:24.469 Lap 57

Penalty Report

Drivers receive points on their race licence if they are deemed by the stewards to be driving in an 'unsporting manner'. Points are usually given for causing avoidable collisions, pitlane infractions or impeding fastest cars while being lapped. If a driver collects 12 points throughout the season then they are given a three month ban from racing in the series. Points are reset to zero after each season. Fines can also be given.

No.	Driver	Lap	Penalty	Reason
23	Alex McGlashan	2	2 points	Causing an avoidable collision with car 30.
30	Eitel Cantoni	15	2 points	Impeding a faster car.
2	Pit Crew	24	$10,000	Unsafe Release
33	Charles Headland	27	2 points	Impeding a faster car.
8	Robert Nelleman	34	2 points	Impeding a faster car.
20	Jack Tutton	50	3 points	Causing an avoidable collision with car 11.
31	Mikhail Metelev	56	2 points	Impeding a faster car.