The 1950 Belgian Grand Prix, formally titled the Grand Prix Automobile de Belgique, 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 4 Alberto Ascari Ferrari Ferrari 275 Ferrari 275 F1 3.3 V12 6 Raymond Sommer Raymond Sommer Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 8 Nino Farina Alfa Romeo SpA Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 158 Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s 10 Juan Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 158 Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s 12 Luigi Fagioli Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 158 Alfa Romeo 158 1.5 L8s 14 Louis Rosier Automobiles Talbot-Darracq Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C-DA Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 16 Philippe Étancelin Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C-DA Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 18 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C-DA Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 20 Eugène Chaboud Ecurie Lutetia Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C-DA Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 22 Pierre Levegh Pierre Levegh Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 24 Johnny Claes Ecurie Belge Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago T26C Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 26 Geoffrey Crossley Geoffrey Crossley Alta Alta GP Alta 1.5 L4s 30 Toni Branca Antonio Branca Maserati Maserati 4CL Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s Sources:
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time 1 8 Nino Farina Alfa Romeo4:37 2 10 Juan Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 4:37 3 12 Luigi Fagioli Alfa Romeo 4:41 4 2 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari4:47 5 6 Raymond Sommer Talbot-Lago-Talbot 4:47 6 16 Philippe Étancelin Talbot-Lago-Talbot 4:49 7 4 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 4:52 8 14 Louis Rosier Talbot-Lago-Talbot 4:53 9 18 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot-Lago-Talbot 4:56 10 22 Pierre Levegh Talbot-Lago-Talbot 5:01 11 20 Eugène Chaboud Talbot-Lago-Talbot 5:13 12 26 Geoffrey Crossley Alta 5:44 13 30 Toni Branca Maserati 5:45 14 24 Johnny Claes Talbot-Lago-TalbotNo timeSource:
Race Pos No Driver ConstructorLapsTime/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 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 20 Eugène Chaboud Talbot-Lago-Talbot 22 Oil Pipe 13 6 Raymond Sommer Talbot-Lago-Talbot 20 Oil Pressure 5 16 Philippe Étancelin Talbot-Lago-Talbot 15 Overheating 6 18 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot-Lago-Talbot 2 Oil Pipe 9 Notes – 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 9Source:
References