The beginning of Formula 1, the reign of Fangio, Mercedes domination, the first British champion and a rear-engined revolution.
Formula 1 has a long and colourful history, full of memorable moments. Along the way it has produced unforgettable racing and unforgettable people. It has also witnessed numerous tragedies and lost many of its greatest drivers.
The winner of the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix, Dr Giuseppe Farina, also went on to claim the first World Championship in 1950. Farina was a veteran of pre-war racing and notoriously aggressive on the track. Many of his competitors gave him a wide berth. He had previously been involved in two controversial fatal accidents.
The car Farina drove to the title was the venerable Alfa Romeo 158, which dated from the 1930s. Competitive single-seaters were in short supply in post war Europe and the Alfa’s were the class of the field. They had survived the war by being walled up in a cheese factory.
For 1951 the 158 was developed further and designated the 159. Although the team once again claimed the World Championship, this time with Juan-Manuel Fangio, the 159 was extremely thirsty on fuel. It had been developed as far as it could and, once Froilan Gonzalez had defeated Fangio in that year’s British Grand Prix, the writing was on the wall for Alfa.
The 1952 and 1953 seasons saw utter dominance from Ferrari, and their star driver Alberto Ascari swept to consecutive titles. The championship was run under Formula 2 regulations and no-one had anything to compete with the compact and powerful Ferrari 500.
A new standard of professionalism was set in 1954 with the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz team. Having been dominant in pre-war Grand Prix racing they picked up where they had left off. Their convoy of transporters which turned up at each circuit, complete with mechanics resplendent in crisp white overalls, seemed from a different world. Fangio used their W196 to claim his second title, although grieving for his friend and countryman Onofre Marimon, who perished at the Nurburgring.
A young English driver, Stirling Moss, joined Fangio at Mercedes for 1955 and the pairing was unstoppable. They earned the nickname “The Train”, due to their habit of circulating closely together at the front, as though the two cars were joined. At Monaco that year Ascari had a lucky escape when his Lancia plunged off the circuit and into the harbour. Unfortunately he was to lose his life just a few days later, testing a friend’s Ferrari at Monza. By season’s end Mercedes were gone too, pulling out of the sport after one of their cars was involved in the Le Mans tragedy, the worst accident in motor racing history. It would be almost four decades before they returned to Formula 1.
Fangio once again showed his ability of being in the right place at the right time in 1956. Choosing to drive for Ferrari, who had acquired Lancia’s cars, he took his fourth World Championship. A curious addition to the field at Rheims that year was a new Bugatti Grand Prix car, with the engine situated behind the driver, going against contemporary thinking. Although it proved woefully slow it was a portent of things to come.
In 1957 Fangio found himself driving the exquisite Maserati 250F, a car which perfectly complimented his elegant driving style. At the Nurburgring he would use it to deliver the performance of his life. After a lengthy pit stop he rejoined in third place but a long way behind the leading Ferrari’s of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, with seemingly no chance of victory. Fangio’s subsequent charge has passed into motor racing legend. Recording lap times over 10 seconds quicker than the Ferrari’s he passed both of them to win and take his fifth title in the process. It was to be his final Formula 1 victory.
At the 1958 French Grand Prix Fangio announced his retirement from the sport. It left the way clear for two English drivers to battle for the title, Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn. Despite only winning one race, compared to Moss’s four, it was Hawthorn who took the championship by a single point. Unwittingly, Moss had contributed to his own defeat at the Portugese Grand Prix. When Hawthorn was threatened with exclusion for an infringement of the rules, Moss spoke in his defence and ensured his rival kept his points for the race. Some consolation should have come in the form of Moss’s Vanwall team winning the inaugural Constructor’s Championship, but the team withdrew from racing at season’s end following the death of their driver Stuart Lewis-Evans in the final race.
Hawthorn’s victory was a welcome piece of good news for Ferrari in what had otherwise been a dreadful couple of seasons for the Maranello team. Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso and Peter Collins had all died in Ferrari Formula 1 cars, while team member Marquis Alfonso de Portago crashed to his death during the 1957 Mille Miglia road race in an accident which also killed his co-driver and 10 bystanders. Enzo Ferrari was widely condemned in the Italian press, and even by the Vatican.
Mike Hawthorn announced his retirement following his title triumph but he was unable to enjoy it. In January 1959 the popular Englishman lost his life after crashing his Jaguar saloon on the Guildford bypass in Surrey, England.
The small British team, Cooper, redefined the rules of Formula 1 car design during 1959 with their light and nimble rear-engined racer. It had shown promising form previously in the hands of Stirling Moss. Straight talking Australian Jack Brabham used the strange looking car to take his first World Championship.
