1950 Paris Grand Prix

The IV Grand Prix de Paris (English: IV Paris Grand Prix) was a minor non-championship Formula One race held on the 30 April 1950. The race was the fourth edition of the Paris Grand Prix and was held over 50 laps of the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry. It was won by Georges Grignard, by a margin of four laps over Louis Gérard, in a race rife with unreliability. Sixteen drivers entered the event, only eleven started and just three finished.
The previous two winners of the event, Henri Louveau and Yves Giraud-Cabantous, received entries to the race but failed to show up. The grid of eleven cars was decided by a random draw. Raymond Sommer took the lead at the beginning of the race, with Louis Rosier and Grignard in pursuit. However, both Sommer and Rosier retired, leaving Grignard to win by a clear margin over Gérard and Marc Versini, who competed in pre-war s.
==Background==
The fourth Paris Grand Prix did not garner much attention from the international racing community but as it had done in the past, where it had managed to attract many of France's best racing drivers. The field was primarily made up of Talbot T26C cars. Raymond Sommer, considered to be France's top racing driver of the time, would be competing in a for the race. Among the other Talbot competitors were Louis Rosier, another up and coming French name, Pierre Levegh, Guy Mairesse, 1948 Paris GP winner Yves Giraud-Cabantous, 1949 Paris winner Philippe Étancelin, Jean Estager and Belgian Johnny Claes. 
There were two Maserati 4CLT/48 cars in the hands of Jean Judet and Henri Louveau. Racing in old pre-war D6's were three cars, driven by Marc Versini, Louis Gérard and Auguste Veuillet.
Despite the Paris Grand Prix being primarily a Francophone affair, there was a British entrant from John Heath's Formula Two team . Racing for the team was team co-founder George Abecassis and the team's new signing, 21 year old Stirling Moss, the youngest driver on the grid. 
== Entry List ==
The full entry list for the is shown below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Henri Louveau 	Henri Louveau 	 	4CLT-48	 	4 CL 1.5 L4s 	
2 	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Yves-Giraud Cabantous	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
3 	Philippe Étancelin 	Philippe Étancelin 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
4 	Louis Rosier 	Ecurie Rosier 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
5 	Pierre Levegh 	Pierre Levegh 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
6 	Raymond Sommer 	Raymond Sommer 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
7 	Johnny Claes 	Ecurie Belge 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
8 	Georges Grignard 	Georges Grignard 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
9 	Guy Mairesse 	Ecurie France 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
10 	Jean Estager 	Ecurie France 	 	T26C 	 	23CV 4.5 L6 	
11 	Jean Judet 	Jean Judet 	 	4CLT-48	 	4 CL 1.5 L4s 	
12 	Marc Versini 	Marc Versini 	 	D6-3LS 	 	Delage 3.5 V6	
14 	Auguste Veuillet 	Auguste Veuillet 	 	D6-3LS 	 	Delage 3.5 V6	
15 	Louis Gérard 	Louis Gérard 	 	D6-3LS 	 	Delage 3.5 V6	
16 	George Abecassis 	John Heath 	 	50 	 	Alta 2.0 L4s 	
17 	Stirling Moss 	John Heath 	 	50 	 	Alta 2.0 L4s 	
==Practice==
Heading into practice, there was disappointment for the spectators as neither winner from the previous two years, Henri Louveau and Yves Giraud-Cabantous, arrived for the event. Also withdrawing from the event were Philippe Étancelin, Johnny Claes and Jean Estager.
After a brief practice session in which no times were recorded, the cars prepared for the race. The grid was determined by a random draw before the race began.
=== Qualifying Draw Result ===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor
1 	6 	Raymond Sommer 	
2 	4 	Louis Rosier 	
3 	8 	Georges Grignard	
4 	5 	Pierre Levegh 	
5 	9 	Guy Maireisse 	
6 	15 	Louis Gerard 	
7 	14 	Auguste Veuillet	
8 	17 	Stirling Moss 	
9 	12 	Marc Versini 	
10 	16 	George Abecassis	
11 	11 	Jean Judet 	
==Race==
=== Report ===
Following the withdrawal of five of the original competitors, the grid was reduced to a lone eleven competitors. The 's were expected to take victory being the only modern Formula One car on the grid apart from one Maserati 4CL. The old pre-war 's and the Formula Two 's were expected to be fighting at the back.
The works driver, Raymond Sommer, who was competing in a Talbot-Lago at Paris took the lead of the race in the early stages. Louis Rosier and Georges Grignard followed suit battling over second place. Auguste Veuillet became the first retirement on lap two when his old Delage suffered rear axle failure. The same lap saw Guy Mairesse retire his Talbot-Lago with a fuel leak.
George Abecassis then retired his HWM on the eleventh lap with engine failure. Sommer meanwhile was extending a strong lead over the rest of the field. The crowd were provided with entertainment with a battle over second place between Rosier and Grignard. The battle would be cut short, however when Rosier retired from the race on lap 21 with engine trouble.
Five laps later, the lone in the race of Jean Judet made his retirement due to a fuel leak; by now, the field had been reduced to just six participants. Sommer still held a convincing lead over Grignard and Pierre Levegh in second and third. On lap 28, Levegh pulled out with engine troubles. He was the only significant threat to the Talbot-Lago's of Sommer and Grignard leading the race. The remainder of the field were some way off the pace. 
On lap 33, Stirling Moss pulled his HWM out of the race to retire. He had been battling with the Delage's of Louis Gérard and Marc Versini. The same lap, Sommer lost the opportunity to win his first Paris Grand Prix when his Talbot-Lago's engine blew. 
For the remaining third of the race, only three cars remained competing and there were serious concerns that none of the cars would finish the race. However, Grignard, Gérard and Versini soldiered on to finish the event. Grignard had dominated in his Talbot-Lago, finishing four laps ahead of Gérard and five ahead of Versini. Gérard and Versini in their old outdated Delage's proved no match for newer Talbot-Lago models, however to the cars credit they were able to complete the event. The same could not be said about most of their rivals machinery.
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1 	8 	Georges Grignard 	 	50 	2:05:38.8
2 	15 	Louis Gerard 	 	46 	+ 4 Laps
3 	12 	Marc Versini 	 	45 	+ 5 Laps
Ret 	6 	Raymond Sommer 	 	33 	Engine
Ret 	17 	Stirling Moss 	 	33 	Engine
Ret 	5 	Pierre Levegh 	 	28 	Engine
Ret 	11 	Jean Judet 	 	26 	Fuel tank
Ret 	4 	Louis Rosier 	 	21 	Engine
Ret 	16 	George Abecassis 	 	11 	Engine
Ret 	14 	Auguste Veuillet 	 	2 	Rear axle
Ret 	9 	Guy Mairesse 	 	2 	Fuel tank
DNA 	1 	Henri Louveau 	 	 	Did not arrive
DNA 	2 	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	 	 	Did not arrive
DNA 	3 	Philippe Étancelin 	 	 	Did not arrive
DNA 	7 	Johnny Claes 	 	 	Did not arrive
DNA 	10 	Jean Estager 	 	 	Did not arrive
==Milestones==
* First and only Formula 1 win for Georges Grignard
* Best ever finish (2nd), and only Podium in a Formula 1 race for Louis Gerard 
* Best ever finish (3rd) in Formula 1 and final race for Marc Versini
* Final Formula 1 race for Auguste Veuillet
==Notes==
==External links==
* Results on OldRacingCars.com
* Results on Silhouet.com
* Results on STATS F1
* Results on Motorsport.com
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Non-Championship races
Category:1950 Grands Prix
Category:1950 non-championship Grands Prix
Category:Formula One races in France