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.

Race


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.



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.



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
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.