Italian GP 1950

Italian GP, 1950

There was a two-month break after the French GP before the final round of the World Championship at Monza. In that time the Alfa Romeo domination had continued in non-championship races at Bari, Geneva, Pescara and in the International Trophy at Silverstone. The Ferraris had been beaten in Holland by Talbot Lago and then Gigi Villoresi suffered serious injuries in Geneva and so was out of action for the Italian GP.

The new 4.5-liter Ferrari 375 appeared in the hands of Dorino Serafini and Alberto Ascari. The Alfas were driven as usual by Giuseppe Farina, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli although there were two other 158s for Piero Taruffi and Consalvo Sanesi.

The rest of the field was made up of the usual Talbot Lagos and Maseratis although the factory Talbot team was not there. There were a couple of Simca-Gordinis for Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon and a curious Ferrari-Jaguar driven by Clemente Biondetti.

Practice saw Fangio beating Ascari's Ferrari with the front row completed by Farina and an impressive Sanesi. The second row of the 4-4-4 grid featured Fagioli, Serafini, Taruffi and Raymond Sommer in the first Talbot Lago. Although eighth on the grid Sommer was 10secs a lap slower than Fangio.

The race saw the first serious challenge to Alfa Romeo in a World Championship event with Ascari battling with Fangio and Farina. After 21 laps Ascari retired with an overheating engine and Fangio went out soon afterwards with a gearbox problem. He later took over Taruffi's car but this also retired.

Ascari took over Serafini's Ferrari and managed to take second place ahead of Fagioli. The World Championship ended with victory for Farina, three points clear of Fangio.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
10 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo 158 80 2h51m17.400s  
2= 48 Dorino Serafini Ferrari 375   
2= 48 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 375 80 2h52m36.000s   
36 Luigi Fagioli Alfa Romeo 158 80 2h52m53.000s  
58 Louis Rosier Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 75  13 
24 Philippe Etancelin Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 75  16 
38 Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati 4CLT/48 72  17 
Peter Whitehead Ferrari 125 72  18 
50 David Murray Maserati 4CLT/48 56 Gearbox 24 
32 Cuth Harrison ERA B 51 Radiator 21 
12 Raymond Sommer Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 48 Gearbox 
40 Guy Mairesse Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 42  11 
Franco Rol Maserati 4CLT/48 39  
r= 60 Piero Taruffi Alfa Romeo 158   
r= 60 Juan-Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 158 34 Engine  
56 Pierre Levegh Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 29  20 
18 Juan-Manuel Fangio Alfa Romeo 158 23 Gearbox 
Johnny Claes Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C 22 Overheating 22 
16 Alberto Ascari Ferrari 375 21 Engine 
22 Clemente Biondetti Ferrari-Jaguar 166S 17 Engine 25 
64 Henri Louveau Talbot Lago-Talbot T26C-GS 16  14 
62 Gianfranco Comotti Maserati Milano 4CLT/50 15  26 
Louis Chiron Maserati 4CLT/48 13 Engine 19 
42 Maurice Trintignant Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 13 Mechanical 12 
46 Consalvo Sanesi Alfa Romeo 158 11 Engine 
44 Robert Manzon Simca Gordini-Gordini T15 Transmission 10 
30 Prince Bira Maserati 4CLT/48 Engine 15 
28 Paul Pietsch Maserati 4CLT/48 Engine 27 
ns 52 Felice Bonetto Milano-Maserati    23