French GP 1950

French GP, 1950

There was a two-week break after the Belgian Grand Prix before the teams gathered for the French GP at Reims for the sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Once again the Alfa Romeo factory team ran Giuseppe Farina, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli against the two Ferrari drivers Gigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari.

For the first time both Ferrari drivers had the new V12 engine and, realizing that they were not going to be successful, they withdrew after practice, leaving Peter Whitehead in his private car as the only Ferrari in the field. There were the usual Talbot Lagos and Maseratis to act as the supporting cast and a single Simca-Gordini for Robert Manzon.

Fangio was considerably quicker than Farina and Fagioli while Philippe Etancelin and Yves Giraud-Cabantous shared the second row in their Talbot Lagos. The race was much as expected with the Alfas completely dominant. Farina led early on but suffered fuel problems which dropped him to the back of the field. He raced back to third place before being forced to retire.

This left Fangio to win by 20secs with Fagioli second and Whitehead third - three laps behind. Manzon was the first French finisher in the Simca-Gordini. The Maseratis and the Talbot Lagos were desperately unreliable.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 6 Juan-Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 158 64 2h57m52.800s  1 
2 4 Luigi Fagioli Alfa Romeo 158 64 2h58m18.500s  3 
3 14 Peter Whitehead Ferrari 125 61  19 
4 44 Robert Manzon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 61  13 
5= 16 Philippe Etancelin Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA   4 
5= 16 Eugene Chaboud Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 59   
6= 26 Charles Pozzi Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C   16 
6= 26 Louis Rosier Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 56   
7r 2 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo 158 55 Fuel Pump 2 
8 18 Yves Giraud-Cabantous Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 52  5 
r 22 Pierre Levegh Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 37 Engine 9 
r 40 Felice Bonetto Maserati Milano 4CLT/50 15 Engine 11 
r 42 Johnny Claes Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 12 Overheating 15 
r 20 Louis Rosier Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-DA 11 Overheating 6 
r 32 Reg Parnell Maserati 4CLT/48 10 Engine 12 
r 28 Franco Rol Maserati 4CLT/48 7 Engine 7 
r 30 Louis Chiron Maserati 4CLT/48 7 Engine 14 
r 34 David Hampshire Maserati 4CLT/48 6 Engine 18 
r 12 Raymond Sommer Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-GS 5 Engine 17 
r 36 Froilan Gonzalez Maserati 4CLT/48 4 Engine 8 
ns 24 Eugene Chaboud Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C  Shared With Etancelin Instead 10 
ns 8 Luigi Villoresi Ferrari 175/275  Drove In Different Race 22 
ns 10 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 175/275  Drove In Different Race 23