May 13 is the anniversary of the very first Formula One race held in the UK at Silverstone back in 1950 when an estimated 200,000 spectators packed the circuit to witness 11 out of the 21 qualifying competitors finish the inaugural championship race, which was dominated by Alfa Romeo’s drivers who secured the top three podium places and was won by Italian driver Giuseppe Farina, who finished 2.6 seconds ahead of his teammate Luigi Fagioli. Farina went on to finish the year as the first official Formula One World Champion.
F1-style racing actually began with European Grand Prix championships that took place in the 1920s and 1930s but the advent of World War II put a halt to those races and it was not until 1950 that the official Formula One world championship series restarted with only seven races counting toward the championship results – the British, Swiss, Monaco, Belgium, French and Italian Grand Prix alongside the Indianapolis 500 in the United States of America. Points were to be awarded to the top five finishers of each race, and each driver’s best four results were used to determine their overall championship position.
