1950 British GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Silverstone
* Location – UK
* Corners – 9
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 2:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 1:50.600 (Giuseppe Farina)
* Lap Record (F1R) – None
* Pit Lane Length – 20 seconds
* Weather – N/A
* Temp – 15°C
* Fuel Consumption – Very Low
* Tyre Wear – None

## Qualifying 1

A surprise here that Fangio does not set a time, and thus is not eligible to compete at the weekend…and the same goes for the 5 other drivers who did not compete in the first qualifying session.

The remaining 18 drivers still all have to set a lap in the 2nd Qualifying Sessions to be eligible for the race at the weekend, and with Pietsch in the Ferrari yet again looking like the man to beat it is worth noting that only the top time in either qualifying session will be counted as the final lap time…so it's all still up for grabs!

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Paul Pietsch [F] – 1:39.740 (14)
* 2nd – Maurice Trintignant [E] – 1:39.850 (3)
* 3rd – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 1:39.900 (5)
* 4th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 1:40.190 (3)
* 5th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F-P] – 1:40.330 (8)
* 6th – Joe Fry [EP] – 1:40.700 (4)
* 7th – Harry Schell [E] – 1:41.200 (2)
* 8th – Prince Bira [EP] – 1:41.500 (3)
* 9th – Dorino Serafini [E] – 1:41.550 (1)
* 10th – Peter Whitehead [T] – 1:41.600 (1)
* 11th – Peter Walker [A] – 1:41.620 (3)
* 12th – Nello Pagani – 1:41.700 (1)
* 13th – Reg Parnell [SA] – 1:41.800 (2)
* 14th – Giuseppe Farina [AR] – 1:42.400 (7)
* 15th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [F] – 1:42.600 (2)
* 16th – Joe Kelly [A] – 1:42.700 (2)
* 17th – Franco Rol [E] – 1:43.150 (2)
* 18th – Toulo de Graffenried [SA] – 1:44.350 (1)
* 19th – Juan Manuel Fangio [AR] – NO TIME SET (0)
* 20th – Raymond Sommer [F] – NO TIME SET (0)
* 21st – Louis Chiron [T] – NO TIME SET (0)
* 22nd – Louis Rosier [T] – NO TIME SET (0)
* 23rd – Toni Branca [E] – NO TIME SET (0)
* 24th – Luigi Fagioli [E-P] – NO TIME SET (0)

## Qualifying 2

As the rain poured down and created almost monsoon-like conditions the cars were unable to go out on track for health and safety reasons. As such the organisers of the event have elected to extend the qualifying session by 1 day to ensure all drivers who competed in Q1 are able to complete the mandatory flying lap in each session.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F-P] – 1:39.140 (9)
* 2nd – Paul Pietsch [F] – 1:39.160 (9)
* 3rd – Maurice Trintignant [E] – 1:40.150 (2)
* 4th – Joe Fry [EP] – 1:40.200 (4)
* 5th – Alberto Ascari [F] – 1:40.400 (5)
* 6th – Toulo de Graffenried [SA] – 1:40.450 (3)
* 7th – Reg Parnell [SA] – 1:40.500 (4)
* 8th – Giuseppe Farina [AR] – 1:40.700 (5)
* 9th – Piero Taruffi [AR] – 1:40.900 (4)
* 10th – Peter Whitehead [T] – 1:40.900 (2)
* 11th – Joe Kelly [A] – 1:40.950 (3)
* 12th – Nello Pagani [SA] – 1:41.300 (1)
* 13th – Dorino Serafini [E] – 1:41.350 (1)
* 14th – Prince Bira [EP] – 1:41.600 (5)
* 15th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez – 1:41.880 (2)
* 16th – Franco Rol [E] – 1:42.550 (3)
* 17th – Peter Walker [A] – 1:42.870 (2)
* 18th – Harry Schell [E] – 1:53.250 (1)

## Overall Qualifying Results

A real surprise here, as Privateer Cabantous impresses to take Pole Position from form man Pietsch in the works Ferrari! Trintignant claims 3rd position ahead of Taruffi, Ascari, Fry and de Graffenried.

The 1st race of the 1950 F1R season will get under-way tomorrow!

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - The grid forms up for the 1st ever World Championship Race here, and as the starter lifts his flag the nerves and the revs build up to a climax…and then GO! The flag drops…Pietsch gets a brilliant start into the 1st corner past the privateer Cabantous, who gets past by Taruffi and Ascari too…looks like the occasion got to the young Frenchman!

The best start has to go to Kelly though, who moves up from 11th to 5th before slicing past the ailing Cabantous also! Trintignant is currently in 6th with Schell, the quick starting Walker and Parnell in close company…but further back there has been a big incident!

Serafini started quickly, but he was not ready for the 1st corner, where he almost wipes out Bira…the Thai nobleman's car has surely been damaged by that incident! De Graffenried also overshoots the 1st corner, and has to stop from coming back on to the track due to the Serafini-Bira issue. When he can emerge the luckless Whitehead is also behind him, as he elected to get right out of the power in order to avoid accruing any damage!

*Lap 7* - It quickly becomes apparent that Ascari is the man to beat, as he puts enough pressure on Taruffi that the Italian mis-judges his braking into Chapel and goes right off the circuit. Ascari then goes on to scythe past Pietsch as he claims the lead of the race for himself. Following him through is Schell of ERA, who is driving the wheels off that car in a performance that is as exciting to watch as it is brilliant!

Going in the opposite direction are not only the under-pressure Taruffi (now in 9th place) but also the fast-starting Kelly, who has dropped back from 4th to 12th place in a thrilling set of laps.

We do, however, have our 2nd retirement…though really it is not his fault this time out, as Bira has to pull off the track at Becketts due to his brake responsiveness (or lack thereof, to be more accurate!) and is thus out of the race.

*Lap 14* - Ascari still holds the lead…and with some style! The Italian has now pulled out a good 11 seconds over his nearest competitor…but will surely be pitting soon. That competitor is no longer Schell, who has had a tough few laps and dropped down to 5th overall, but rather it is none other than erstwhile Pole man Cabantous! The Privateer manages to surge past Pietsch through Becketts to take away 2nd place. Trintignant remains constant in 4th, with Parnell struggling to keep up with the top 5 as he is now almost 10 seconds off the back of the leading group.

Disaster for Alfa Romeo here though, as it seems the chassis configuration seems to be putting too much weight on the tyres…and thus messieurs Farina and Taruffi find themselves dropping like stones with tyres that are lacking any grip whatsoever!

There are a few drivers picking up the pieces rather well here though, in the shape of Whitehead, de Graffenried and Rol…they sit in 7th, 8th and 9th respectively and look in good form to move even further up the rankings and into points paying positions soon. A reminder that points will only be awarded to the top 5 finishers in the order 8-6-4-3-2, with 1 point going to fastest lap…the best 4 scores out of 6 races will count towards the championship!

*Lap 21* - Ascari pits from the lead, as Pietsch finally manages to pass Cabantous for what is now 1st place on track…his biggest issue is that Ascari is roughly 5 seconds behind having completed his 1st stop already! The others are yet further back though, with Trintignant stoically holding station in 4th and messieurs Parnell and Whitehead in 5th and 6th as it stands now.

Their promotion comes due to Schell's pit stop, which sees the American out in 9th place behind de Graffenried and the recovering Farina, who seems to be seeing some grip come back to his tyres as they reach a better stage of their lifespan. Taruffi continues to struggle though, with only the heavily fuelled Kelly, Fry and the struggling Gonzalez behind him.

*Lap 28* - Pietsch loses out to Cabantous by virtue of the Frenchman being yet to pit…but what a difference a new set of tyres make for the German! He easily closes down the gap to afford himself what is in effect a free stop in hand!!!

Ascari is still in close order in 3rd overall, though behind him the picture is somewhat murky, with Whitehead and de Graffenried in 4th and 5th but both yet to stop…6th is Schell, with Rol (also yet to pit) and the recovering Trintignant behind; the ERA man had a nightmare in the pits as one of his jack-men failed to unscrew the initial wheel nut correctly and cost him a lot of time in the process.

Farina and Parnell both drop back now, but only due to scheduled stops…they are likely to charge up the field in the coming moments of this race!

*Lap 35* - A new leader reaches the front…as due to Ascari pitting for the 2nd time and the large amount of fuel both Cabantous and Pietsch have on board it is relatively simple for Peter Whitehead in the lone Talbot to take 1st place for a brief period of time (although he is still yet to pit and will be doing so shortly).

Ascari still sits 2nd though after that stop, due to the very quick pitstop he was able to perform…behind him Cabantous and Pietsch are a little further down after struggling with the grip on their new tyres.

The gap to the rest is rather significant now, as de Graffenried leads the pack behind, which includes Rol, Schell, Trintignant and Walker. Pagani, Parnell and Fry (who seems to be having a very tough time out there) are all a little further back, with the Alfa Romeo pairing of Farina and Taruffi still finding it tough to stay on terms with the other cars out there.

*Lap 42* - Whitehead pits, but he had such a head of steam up that he only drops down to 3rd position and has no further scheduled stops to make! Ascari re-takes the lead, with Pietsch in close company…though both will surely have to stop again given their respective pace and how long since their last stops.

Cabantous has started to slip back after beginning to notice a vibration in his right rear tyre, which he has no desire to exacerbate. De Graffenried is also finding things difficult right now, as he is passed by both Walker and Pagani…though Parnell and Schell he does at least succeed in keeping behind him.

Dropping back as well are Trintignant and Rol, the former seemingly with some clutch issues and the latter with an incredibly long pit-stop that has definitely fuelled him to the finish. An Alfa Romeo update; both cars seem to be back on track lap-time wise, and it seems they are now challenging for more than just a Top 10 position, as they sit 10th and 11th and within only a few seconds of those in front of them!

*Lap 49* - Pietsch pits for the final time, which leaves Ascari as the sole leader to try and pull out enough of a gap to stay ahead of both the aforementioned German driver and Whitehead's Talbot too. Cabantous is starting to look more and more distant, but his 4th place seems solid at this stage.

Walker pits from 5th, but due to some brilliant in-laps and a quick pit too the Brit emerges in 6th place, having only lost 1 position to de Graffenried as a result of that stop.

Pagani and Parnell also both come into the pits, but have a very different experience as each drops down significantly - the former down 5 places to 11th and the latter down 6 to 14th overall. Gaining ground are Taruffi and Kelly, though both will have to stop once more, which should open up the way for Fry, Schell, Trintignant et al to move up the order once they do so.

*Lap 56* - Pietsch is back in 1st place for the first time in a long time this race…that is because Ascari has now made his final stop and is down to 3rd behind the combative Whitehead who stubbornly refuses to leave the perceived 'Top 2' alone!

Behind these three the battle for the remaining points-paying positions is far closer than before, as Cabantous (who looks likely to take the extra point for fastest lap) has been hauled in and passed by Walker of Alta, who is now beginning leave the young Frenchman to the advances of de Graffenried, as the Swiss draws to within 1 second of his prey.

The gap back to the next group is over 15 seconds, so it seems unlikely that any of Schell, Trintignant, Farina or Fry will be able to break that down…but they will surely try to as their pace is quicker than some of those ahead.

*Lap 63* - As we come into the final laps of the race Pietsch holds strong in 1st place, with Ascari about the same amount behind him. The driver struggling most right now is Whitehead, who has lost touch with the leading pair after a long time up there pushing very hard on a set of rather used tyres. And so it comes as little surprise that the Brit falls back into the clutches of countryman Walker, who could have inherited a rather unlikely podium here!

Both de Graffenried and the ailing Cabantous are within striking distance of Whitehead, who will need something special to be able to simply stay ahead of the chasing pair. Trintignant in 7th is pulling out all the stops, but is probably going have too much to do to close the gap as it is more than 15 seconds in size still.

Further back Kelly is really beginning to struggle, and his engine sounds a little off as he heads down the main straight…can that really last for the final few laps?!?

*Lap 70* - What a 1st round of the World Championship we have witnessed here! Multiple leaders, plenty of overtaking and fights right to the finish.

The victor, and with over 30 seconds in hand too, is Pietsch, who steals the headlines with a calm and consummate display of driving ability…but behind him things really kicked off in the last few laps!

Firstly Ascari - struggling badly with tyre degradation after pushing so hard earlier in the stint - spins going into Becketts and drops several positions as a result to 4th overall. His spin precipitates a similar incident for Walker, who avoids the recovering Ferrari, only to damage his front left wheel with just 3 laps remaining!

As a result the man who looked easily on for a podium is a sitting duck for Whitehead, de Graffenried and Cabantous to go by…Walker would eventually finish 6th and out of the points, though more on that later.

Whitehead manages to remain ahead of Ascari to the line to be the meat in a Ferrari sandwich on the podium, 4th is taken by the Privateer Cabantous with 5th de Graffenried. Some of the plaudits have to go to Trintignant in 7th however, who drove a remarkable recovery drive back to within about 5 seconds of a points paying position.

Behind him it was a day to forget for the Alfa Romeo pair of Farina and Taruffi, whilst a crash at Woodcote on the last lap costs Fry a top 10 place and moves Parnell into the spot he vacated.