- The Infamous Ferrari Calamity At The 1957 Monaco GP

The top ten f1 racers of the 1950s

The 50s Yielded 24 Different Race Winners, From Fangio to McLaren, Names Eternalised In The Sport

1y ago
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Anyone else self-isolating? Well, its the perfect time to brush up on your history of Formula One.

The 1950s marked the birth of Formula One. On the thirteenth of May, Formula One was born, with its first race being run at Silverstone (a much different layout to today), with none other than Giuseppe “Nino” Farina taking home the first win. It was a monumental moment in the history of sport, and seventy years later, and over 1,000 races later, Formula One still goes strong (relatively), however nothing will ever quite top the madness of the 1950s.

1. Juan Manuel Fangio (ARG)

Could there be anyone else at the top of the rankings? With five world championship titles to his name, Fangio is still a name that many consider as the greatest racer ever to have competed in Formula One. In his meagre fifty-one starts in F1, he won close to half of his starts, 24 (46.5%), the highest winning-ratio of any driver on the grid. Fangio also achieved a feat which has never been replicated before, winning a drivers championship with four different teams - Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Mercedes. A true legend.

2. Stirling Moss (GBR)

Stirling Moss could have had a very different history in Formula One. The British legend finished second in the drivers championship four times consecutively between 1955 and 1958, and third three times consecutively between ‘59 and ‘61 upon his retirement, agonisingly missing out to fellow Brit Mike Hawthorn in 1958 by just one point. Without a doubt the greatest driver of all time never to have won an F1 World Championship, but Moss respected and admired his rivals earning him the reputation of being a gentleman of the sport, holding strong relationships with most of the drivers on the grid. The first British legend, and still to this day one of the best.

3. Alberto Ascari (ITA)

Ascari is of course eternalised in having a chicane at Monza named after him, but the Italian has a lot more to him than just having a corner named after him. The Italian was the first double world champion in the sport, racing with Ferrari from 1950 to 1953, becoming the first Ferrari World Champion in ‘52. Ascari first captured the hearts of the Tifosi when he won the Italian GP in 1951, but in 1952 he achieved a feat which is incomprehensible: He won every race he competed in. Ascari didn’t compete in the season opener, but from Spa to Monza, he won all six races, and recorded a fastest lap in each of the races, scoring the maximum number of points a driver could earn since only the best four of eight scores counted towards the World Championship. What’s even more impressive was that this continued into the season of ‘53, where he won the first three races of the season, five in total, winning thirteen races in the space of eighteen races, a feat which even Hamilton nor Schumacher has been able to top. After switching to Lancia for ‘54 and ‘55, the seasons were plagued with reliability problems (Ascari moved from Ferrari due to a dispute in pay), with Ascari famously crashing into the harbour in Monaco that season. Just days after, he went to Monza to watch his good friend Eugenio Castellotti race some sports cars, and decided he should try a few laps as well. Ascari was notoriously superstitious, stating to his children once not to get too close to him due to the dangers of F1 in the 1950s. Ascari took to the circuit, but without his famously ‘lucky’ blue helmet. Ascari skidded off the track on his third lap and somersaulted, dying from his injuries. It was that corner which was named after him.

4. Giuseppe "Nino" Farina (ITA)

The first ever Formula One World Champion. The first ever race winner of Formula One. Farina’s name has been eternalised in the history of the sport. Farina raced for Alfa Romeo along with Fangio, with the duo developing a racing rivalry from the get-go at Silverstone. The Italian and the Argentine fought strenuously for the title, winning three races each, but Farina’s consistency led him to being crowned the first ever World Champion of the sport, with the Italian being renowned for his ‘straight-arm’ driving style. He was 44 when he won his one and only title. Farina won at Spa the following year, unable to compete with Fangio’s dominance, causing him to switch to Ferrari in 1952, of where Farina would finish his career in 1956. The Italian finished second in the championship to team-mate Ascari despite not claiming a win (thanks to Farina finishing second four times, each one to Ascari). His final win came at the 1953 German Grand Prix and he retired at the end of the 1955 season. Though Farina ‘only’ claimed five wins in his thirty-three starts, the Italian claimed nine second places, holding one of the highest podium finish ratios in the sport. Farina was killed in 1966 in a road accident in Chambery, France whilst on his way to watch the French Grand Prix.

5. Mike Hawthorn (GBR)

The first ever British World Champion, Hawthorn competed in the sport from 1952 to 1958, taking part in five of those season with Ferrari. Hawthorn immediately claimed wins in ‘53 and ‘54 to cememnt himself as a possible contender for a future title, with him being 25 at the time of the 1954 season. 1955, ‘56, and ‘57 didn’t yield successful results for the Brit, claiming three podiums and no wins. But in 1958, Hawthorn had a strong end to the season, finishing second five times in the final six races, but won the title only thanks to the kindness and sportsmanship of fellow Brit Moss who intervened on Hawthorn’s behalf after he had been disqualified for bump starting his stalled car downhill in the opposite direction. Hawthorn’s points were reinstated from the Estoril GP, and thanks to those points, Hawthorn was able to win the championship. After the death of his close friend and fellow racer Peter Collins in 1958, Hawthorn announced his immediate retirement from the sport, however he was only killed months later in a car accident on the A3 at the tender age of 29.

6. Tony Brooks (GBR)

Tony Brooks was originally going to follow his father's profession and become a dentist. Thank god he didn't. Brooks raced in F1 from 1956 to 1961. Racing with Vanwall in 1957 and 1958, Brooks claimed his first ever win at his home race at Aintree, and in 1958, Brooks finished third in the championship, albeit a distant one. The highlight of his career came with his one-season wonder with Ferrari in 1959, claiming wins at France and Britain, finishing just four points behind the championship winner Brabham.

7. Jack Brabham (AUS)

Jack Brabham's career in Formula One began in 1955 and lasted fifteen seasons, and whilst the greatest Australian racer of all time made his name in the sixties, Brabham certainly took the world by storm in 1959, when he won the tenth F1 championship. Racing with Cooper, Brabham had only scored three points in his three years in Formula One, however with the British outfit he was able to beat out Tony Brooks of Ferrari in a tight championship fight, claiming two wins, his first ever coming at Monaco in 1959. Brabham's career would skyrocket in the 1960s, however he was made in the 1950s.

8. Peter Collins (GBR)

The Brit that should have been a World Champion. Collins, who began his career in 1952, until it tragically ended in 1958, starting in F1 at the age of twenty-one. Though Collins began in 1952, his career didn't really start until 1956 when he joined the Ferrari works team. After finishing second at Silverstone with two races to go in the season, Collins led Fangio by one point, and was looking good for becoming Britain's first ever WC in F1, until mechanical problems in Germany cost him dearly, with a second place at the finale in Monza not enough to claim the title. In the 1958 season, Collins was once again in contention for the title, looking to make the season a three-horse race between himself, Moss and Hawthorn - Collins was chasing Tony Brooks’ Vanwall during the 1958 German Grand Prix when he ran wide and struck a ditch, dying instantly of his injuries at the age of 26.

9. Maurice Trintignant (FRA)

Many F1 history buffs may not know about Maurice Trintignant, however the Frenchman had one of the longest careers in F1 history (at least at the time), competing in fifteen seasons from 1950 to 1964 - the Kimi Raikkonen of the era. He took part in 84 grand prix's, and whilst he didn’t quite find the success of his peers such as Fangio or Moss at the time, he did manage to take home two grand prix wins in 1955 and 1958 respectively, both at the Monaco GP. Though he has never been a F1 World Champion, Trintignant will mostly be remembered for being steadily consistent and having one of the longest careers in early F1.

10. Bruce McLaren (NZL)

Bruce McLaren may only have raced in the 50s for two years, however the legendary Kiwi racer broke multiple records in his two years of F1. In his two years, he only raced in nine races, three of them resulting in mechanical retirements, however McLaren showcased the raw speed he had that was setting him up to be the next dominant force in the sport. A first ever podium at Silverstone solidified that claim, and in the final race of the 1959 season, held at Sebring, McLaren took home his first ever win in the class, and became the youngest race winner ever in the sport, a record that would only be broken by Emerson Fittipaldi more than a decade later.

Special Mentions

- José Frolián González, Luigi Musso, Luigi Fagioli, Jean Behra, Eugenio Castellotti

Who do you think was the GOAT of the 1950s @tribe? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Comments (50)

  • Three of them died at the wheel. It's hard to comprehend considering comparing our decade of motorsport to theirs.

      1 year ago
    • It is hard to understand, they were putting their lives on the line in the pursuit of the speed.

        1 year ago
  • That header image though of Monaco...

      1 year ago
  • Stirling Moss - the greatest champion that never was.

      1 year ago
  • So many great Brits on the list. Those were the days.

      1 year ago
  • I love all the other drivers, but Fangio just defines facts. GOAT of the sport.

      1 year ago
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