1950 Belgian A1 Grand Prix

The 1950 Belgian A1 Grand Prix was the sixth round of the inaugural A1 Grand Prix season. Alberto Ascari took pole position for his series debut with Italy.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Time	Gap
1	16	Alberto Ascari	2:59.133	Leader
2	27	Toulo de Graffenried	2:59.954	+0.821
3	11	Reg Parnell	2:59.956	+0.823
4	18	Louis Chiron	3:00.090	+0.957
5	29	Harry Schell	3:00.380	+1.247
6	15	Joe Kelly	3:00.503	+1.370
7	2	Tony Gaze	3:00.513	+1.380
8	1	José Froilán González	3:00.603	+1.470
9	9	Porfirio Rubirosa	3:00.662	+1.529
10	13	Robert Manzon	3:00.704	+1.571
11	28	B. Bira	3:00.773	+1.640
12	3	Johnny Claes	3:00.843	+1.710
13	25	Paco Godia	3:00.863	+1.730
14	19	Dries van der Lof	3:00.940	+1.807
15	33	Jack Niell	3:01.047	+1.914
16	26	Erik Lundgren	3:02.094	+2.961
17	23	Comish Hunter	3:02.464	+3.331
18	24	Arthur Mackenzie	3:02.542	+3.409
19	21	Desmond Titterington	3:02.644	+3.511
20	20	Jack Tutton	3:02.933	+3.800
21	30	Eitel Cantoni	3:03.609	+4.476
22	17	Leo Almanza	3:08.259	+9.126
23	7	Eliška Junková	3:08.503	+9.370
24	5	Al Pease	3:10.000	+10.867
25	4	Chico Landi	3:10.204	+11.071
26	6	Gabriel Herrera	3:10.273	+11.140
27	14	Paul Pietsch	3:11.092	+11.959
28	31	Mikhail Metelev	3:47.458	+48.325
29	10	Willy Lehmann	3:55.489	+56.356
30	8	Robert Nellemann	No Time
31	12	Asser Wallenius	No Time
32	22	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	No Time
33	32	Ramón López	No Time

Race

Lap 1 through Eau Rouge.

Italy's Alberto Ascari managed to hold off an early challenge from Toulo de Graffenried in the Switzerland car during the opening lap. However the largest crash of the series history so far occurred further along lap 1 down in the midfield when France's Robert Manzon and Spain's Paco Godia both switched to the opposite side of the track at the same time coming out of the Masta corners, resulting in the Spaniard clipping the back of the French car and pitching both into the barriers at high speed. Manzon would barrell roll twice while Godia was collected by some of the cars behind including a hard hit into the passenger side door from Mexico's Leo Almanza. Altogether seven cars were out of the race as a result of the pile up while Manzon and Godia were both rushed to hospital with serious but luckily not life threatening injuries.

This wouldn't be the last of the chaos during this race as on lap two, Mikhail Metelev in the Soviet Union car ran wide and crashed out at Blanchimont and collecting Germany's Paul Pietsch in the process while Peru's Luis Albizuri would have a similar incident to Metelev just behind them. This was only the first of many incidents at Blanchimont.

Meanwhile at the front Ascari was still leading from de Graffenried, who was in a close scrap with England's Reg Parnell, Monaco's Louis Chiron, Australia's Tony Gaze and the United States' Harry Schell. In the group behind was Argentina's José Froilán González, Porfirio Rubirosa for the Dominican Republic, Belgium's Johnny Claes and Thailand's Prince Bira rounded out the top 10. However de Graffenried would be the next to go off at Blanchimont, damaging his car and forcing him to pit for repairs, eventually leading to his first retirement of the season. Rubirosa unfortunately picked up a puncture which meant that he spent most of lap three crawling around back to the pits, costing him over a lap.

Schell was next to go off at Blanchimont on lap five which dropped him down to eighth behind the next group while Chiron, Parnell and Gaze had managed to catch up to Ascari by working together in each other's slipstream. Chiron managed to get past Ascari just before the end of the lap only to loose it to Gaze in the same spot on the following lap, the Aussie making great use of the slipstream to get by both Ascari and Chiron at the same time. Parnell was the next to fall victim at Blanchimont on lap seven putting him out of the race and continuing his less than stellar stint in the England car.

Ascari and Chiron both made their first stops after lap seven along with Claes from the group behind, leaving Gaze, Gonzalez and Bira as the top three. Bira pitted the lap after while Gaze and Gonzalez came in after lap nine but Ascari's and Chiron's earlier switch to fresh tyres meant that they would retake the lead while Gonzalez even dropped behind Claes and Bira.

Lap 10 saw Bira come back in again only this time he would head straight to the garage to exit the race. Schell would be the final retirement of the race on lap 13 after again going off at Blanchimont, a disapointing end to what had started out as another promising race. This promoted South Africa's Arthur Mackenzie into sixth among the ten remaining cars.

There would be no more changes in position amongst the leaders other than Gonzalez re passing Claes for fourth place on lap 16. Ascari eventually took a fairly convincing win as his Italian team expected of him, just over fifteen seconds ahead of Chiron who has closed the gap back to the top 4 in the Nations Standings. Gaze would complete the podium having finally had a clean weekend, Gonzalez fourth to keep Argentina in the championship hunt, Claes his best result in fifth, Mackenzie likewise for South Africa in sixth. Canada's Al Pease managed to stay on the road while faster cars fell apart to finish seventh while Northern Ireland's Desmond Titterington and Uruguay's Eitel Cantoni recovered to eighth and ninth after being delayed in the first lap pile up. Rubirosa managed to make to the finish in tenth after his earlier puncture and while he easily should have been at least in the top six, he'll be glad to finally get some points for the Dominican Republic.

As for Manzon and Godia's conditions. Reports from hospital are that Manzon has suffered a broken ankles from his impact with the barrier while Godia, a broken leg from the barrier and concussion and a dislocated shoulder from the impact with Almanza. Both will be out of action for the rest of the season but doctors are confident that they both will be fully recovered by next season.

Race Classification

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Laps	Behind	Points
1	1	16	Alberto Ascari	23	1:12:45.065	25
2	4	18	Louis Chiron	23	+15.574	20
3	7	2	Tony Gaze	23	+25.647	16
4	8	1	José Froilán González	23	+36.049	13
5	12	3	Johnny Claes	23	+1:13.819	11
6	18	24	Arthur Mackenzie	23	+1:39.735	10
7	24	5	Al Pease	22	+1 lap	9
8	19	21	Desmond Tittertington	22	+1 lap	8
9	21	30	Eitel Cantoni	22	+1 lap	7
10	9	9	Porfirio Rubirosa	21	+2 laps	6
Ret	5	29	Harry Schell	12	Accident
Ret	11	28	B. Bira	10	Engine
Ret	25	4	Chico Landi	9	Engine
Ret	6	15	Joe Kelly	8	Accident
Ret	3	11	Reg Parnell	7	Accident
Ret	33	32	Ramón López	6	Gearbox
Ret	2	27	Toulo de Graffenried	5	Accident Damage
Ret	31	12	Asser Wallenius	4	Handling
Ret	20	20	Jack Tutton	4	Collision Damage
Ret	23	7	Eliška Junková	3	Collision, Nelleman, Tutton
Ret	30	8	Robert Nelleman	3	Collision, Junková, Tutton
Ret	29	10	Willy Lehmann	2	Puncture Damage
Ret	16	26	Erik Lundgren	2	Suspension
Ret	28	31	Mikhail Metelev	1	Collision, Pietsch
Ret	27	14	Paul Pietsch	1	Collision, Metelev
Ret	32	22	Luis Asteñgo Albizuri	1	Accident
Ret	14	19	Dries van der Lof	1	Collision Damage
Ret	17	23	Comish Hunter	1	Collision Damage
Ret	15	33	Jack Niell	1	Collision Damage
Ret	10	13	Robert Manzon	0	Collision, Godia, Almanza, Herrera, Niell, van der Lof, Hunter
Ret	13	25	Paco Godia	0	Collision, Manzon, Almanza, Herrera, Niell, van der Lof, Hunter
Ret	22	17	Leo Almanza	0	Collision, Godia, Manzon, Herrera, Niell, van der Lof, Hunter
Ret	26	6	Gabriel Herrera	0	Collision, Godia, Almanza, Manzon, Niell, van der Lof, Hunter

Fastest Lap Tony Gaze 3:02.507 Lap 5

Penalty Report

No penalties were given after this round.