The first F1 race and the first world champion: how the championship began

When and where the first race was held

The first race of the Formula 1 World Championship took place on Saturday 13 May 1950 at Silverstone. It was the British Grand Prix, which that year also carried the title of European Grand Prix. The full results are on the page for that race.

Silverstone is a former Royal Air Force base: the British Grand Prix was first held there on 2 October 1948. The 1950 lap was shorter than in 2026: 4.649 km against 5.891 km. The race distance was 70 laps, 325 km.

King George VI watched the race with Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. According to Silverstone and Formula 1, it is the only time a reigning monarch has been to a motor race in Britain. By an estimate quoted by Formula 1, as many as 120,000 spectators gathered around the circuit.

Who won the first race

Nino Farina in an Alfa Romeo. He took pole, set the fastest lap — 1:50.6 — and won, covering the 70 laps in 2 hours 13 minutes 23.6 seconds. His team-mates Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell finished second and third, so Alfa Romeo cars filled the whole podium.

Points then went to the top five, plus one for the fastest lap — which is why Farina has nine. The fourth Alfa Romeo, Juan Manuel Fangio’s, retired after 62 of the 70 laps with a broken oil pipe.

Who was on the grid

Twenty-one cars from five makes started: four Alfa Romeos, five Talbot-Lagos, six Maseratis, four ERAs and two Altas. Ferrari did not enter the race. Their first championship race was the Monaco Grand Prix eight days later, where Alberto Ascari finished second.

The average age of the starters was almost 40. The oldest, the Frenchman Philippe Étancelin, was 53, and the youngest, the Briton Geoffrey Crossley, was 29 years and 2 days old. The field included Prince Bira of Thailand, the Swiss baron Emmanuel de Graffenried and the Belgian jazz musician Johnny Claes.

How the World Championship came about

The World Championship appeared after the Second World War, but Grand Prix racing is much older. The Automobile Club de France held its Grand Prix near Le Mans as early as June 1906, and Ferenc Szisz won it in a Renault. From 1931 to 1939 Grand Prix drivers had a European Championship of their own, until the war interrupted it.

Its champions included Tazio Nuvolari, Rudolf Caracciola and Bernd Rosemeyer, and the strongest makes were Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and Auto Union. After the war, everything had to be built up again:

1. 1946. The FIA’s sporting commission began work on a new main formula for Grands Prix — the one later called Formula I.
2. 1946. The Marquis Antonio Brivio-Sforza became Italy’s representative at the FIA, and the idea of a world championship is usually credited to him.
3. 1949. It was decided that the Formula 1 World Championship would begin in 1950.
4. 1950. The first season: seven races, opening at Silverstone.

Why the championship is called Formula 1, and where the number comes from, is explained in the article “Why is it called Formula 1?”.

Which races made up the first season

Seven: six Grands Prix in Europe and the American race, the Indianapolis 500. Alfa Romeo won all six European races — three each for Farina and Fangio.

The Indianapolis 500 counted towards the championship from 1950 to 1960, but Formula 1 drivers hardly ever raced there until Jack Brabham went in 1961.

Points went to the top five — 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2 — plus one for the fastest lap. Only a driver’s best results of the season counted: Luigi Fagioli scored 28 points in the 1950 races, but only 24 counted towards the championship. How the system changed later is explained in the article on points.

Who became the first world champion

Nino Farina, an Italian from Turin who drove for Alfa Romeo. At the end of 1950 he had 30 points, Juan Manuel Fangio 27 and Luigi Fagioli 24 — all three drove for Alfa Romeo.

The title was decided at the last race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 3 September. Fangio retired, Farina won and became the first world champion at 43 years and 308 days. Every race and the final standings are on the 1950 season page.

Over his career, from 1950 to 1955, Farina made 33 starts, won 5 races and took 5 poles. Every champion since is listed in the article “F1 champions by year”.

What else happened for the first time

The first race gave the championship its first win, first pole and first fastest lap — all three for Farina. Other firsts came later.

From 1950 to 2025 the championship held 1149 races over 76 seasons, 11 of them the Indianapolis 500. Silverstone is on the 2026 calendar too, and from 1950 to 2025 it hosted 60 championship races, including the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020. The layout of the current circuit is on the Silverstone page.

The first race of the 2026 season and all its rounds are in the calendar.