1950 Belgian Grand Prix

1950 Belgian Grand Prix
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Race details
Date	18 June 1950
Official name	Grand Prix Automobile de Belgique
Location	Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing circuit
Course length	14.120 km (8.825 miles)
Distance	35 laps, 494.2 km (308.875 miles)
Weather	Warm, dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo
Time	4:37.0
Fastest lap
Driver	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo
Time	4:34.1 on lap 18[1]
Podium
First	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo
Second	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo
Third	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
Lap leaders

The 1950 Belgian Grand Prix, formally titled the Grand Prix Automobile de Belgique,^[2] was a Formula One motor race held on 18 June 1950 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race five of seven in the 1950 World Championship of Drivers. The 35-lap race was won by Alfa Romeo driver Juan Manuel Fangio after he started from second position. His teammate Luigi Fagioli finished second and Talbot-Lago driver Louis Rosier came in third.

Report

By the time of the Belgian Grand Prix, the pace of the season was beginning to tell, with only 14 cars arriving at the Spa circuit. These included the dominant Alfa Romeos of Nino Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli. Scuderia Ferrari was down to two 125s for Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari, although Ascari had a new V12 engine to try out. The factory Talbot-Lago team had three cars for Louis Rosier, Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Philippe Étancelin (standing in for the injured Eugène Martin). The rest of the field was made up of Talbot-Lagos (notably one for Raymond Sommer), a single Alta and one Maserati for Toni Branca. This race was the final entry for Geoffrey Crossley, the sport's high costs forcing him, like many privateers, to retire after just a handful of races.

Farina and Fangio were fastest as usual in qualifying with Fagioli unable to match them. Sommer split the Ferraris in his old Talbot-Lago. The race would be a similar story. The Alfas went off on their own and Sommer battled with the two Ferraris. When the Alfa stopped for fuel, Sommer found himself in the unlikely position of being race leader. Unfortunately his engine blew up. Ascari took the lead but he had to stop for fuel and that meant that the Alfas went ahead again with Fangio leading Farina and Fagioli. Farina suffered transmission trouble in the closing laps and dropped to fourth behind the best of the surviving Talbot-Lagos being driven by Rosier. Ascari finished fifth.

Entries

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre
2	Luigi Villoresi	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 125 F1 1.5 V12s	P
4	Alberto Ascari		Ferrari	Ferrari 275	Ferrari 275 F1 3.3 V12	P
6	Raymond Sommer	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
8	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s	P
10	Juan Manuel Fangio		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s	P
12	Luigi Fagioli		Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 158	Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s	P
14	Louis Rosier	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
16	Philippe Étancelin		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
18	Yves Giraud-Cabantous		Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
20	Eugène Chaboud	Ecurie Lutetia	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
22	Pierre Levegh	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
24	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	D
26	Geoffrey Crossley	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	Alta GP	Alta 1.5 L4s	D
30	Toni Branca	Antonio Branca	Maserati	Maserati 4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	P
Sources:[3][4]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	8	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	4:37	–
2	10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	4:37	+ 0
3	12	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo	4:41	+ 4
4	2	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	4:47	+ 10
5	6	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4:47	+ 10
6	16	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4:49	+ 12
7	4	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	4:52	+ 15
8	14	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4:53	+ 16
9	18	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	4:56	+ 19
10	22	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	5:01	+ 24
11	20	Eugène Chaboud	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	5:13	+ 36
12	26	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	5:44	+ 1:07
13	30	Toni Branca	Maserati	5:45	+ 1:08
14	24	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	No time	–
Source: [5]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	10	Juan Manuel Fangio	Alfa Romeo	35	2:47:26	2	8
2	12	Luigi Fagioli	Alfa Romeo	35	+ 14	3	6
3	14	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	35	+ 2:19	8	4
4	8	Nino Farina	Alfa Romeo	35	+ 4:05	1	4^1
5	4	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	34	+ 1 Lap	7	2
6	2	Luigi Villoresi	Ferrari	33	+ 2 Laps	4
7	22	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	33	+ 2 Laps	10
8	24	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	32	+ 3 Laps	14
9	26	Geoffrey Crossley	Alta	30	+ 5 Laps	12
10	30	Toni Branca	Maserati	29	+ 6 Laps	11
Ret	20	Eugène Chaboud	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	22	Oil Pipe	13
Ret	6	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	20	Oil Pressure	5
Ret	16	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	15	Overheating	6
Ret	18	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2	Oil Pipe	9
Source:[6]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Nino Farina	22
	2	Luigi Fagioli	18
	3	Juan Manuel Fangio	17
2	4	Louis Rosier	10
1	5	Johnnie Parsons	9
Source: [7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.

References

1. "Belgium 1950 - Best Laps • STATS F1". STATS F1. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
2. Grand Prix Automobile de Belgique. Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. 1950. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
3. "1950 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Entries". manipef1.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
4. "1950 Belgian GP - Entry List". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
5. "Belgium 1950 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
6. "1950 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
7. "Belgium 1950 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.

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