Ferrari was conspicuous by its absence from the first round of the new FIA Formula 1 World Championship – the British Grand Prix in 1950.
Despite the new championship hosting its first race, old man Enzo had decided to effectively boycott the race and not bother with the expense of sending his Cavalino Rampante’s to the Northants/Bucks border for a jolly around the perimeter road of RAF Silverstone.
But for round two of the seven-race calendar, Ferrari was indeed on the grid, and on May 21st, 1950, F1’s greatest and most successful team started its first world championship grand prix.
In total, four cars were entered by the Scuderia, for Alberto Ascari, Raymond Sommer, Luigi Villoresi, and Peter Whitehead, with only Whitehead failing to take the start owing to an engine issue.
A total of 19 cars did start the race, but famously, a huge pile-up at Tabac on the opening lap took out nine of the runners, including Alfa Romeo’s Giuseppe Farina, the winner of that British GP.
Waves crashing over the sea-wall and a leaking engine had made the track treacherous as the field piled into the fast left-hander, but this was far behind pole-sitter and race leader Juan Manuel Fangio.
Later, recalling what had happened, the great Argentine would describe that coming out of the tunnel, he noticed fans were not looking at him, but at a spot further along the track – at Tabac – and realising there might be some blockage, he slowed and avoided adding himself to the list.
Fangio won the race – and completed the first grand slam in world championship history whilst he was at it – as Ascari claimed Ferrari’s first F1 world championship podium finish in second place.
The 2026 Miami Grand Prix was the 1,153rd race in the world championship, with Ferrari competing in 1,126 of them, in that time, scoring a further 838 podiums to go with Ascari’s debut P2 result, the last of these being Charles Leclerc’s third place in the Japanese GP.
