User:WilliamF1two/F1 lineups

1950

I: British Grand Prix

Alfa Romeo SpA

Alfa Romeo begin 1950 with a four-car team, although it is believed that this will shrink to three for most of the races this season. The team is led by Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, who has had great success in state-funded Masertis since he arrived in Europe in the summer of 1948. He joins Alfa Romeo this year, and has already won the non-championship San Remo Grand Prix on his debut for the team.

The second car will be driven by veteran Italian Giuseppe Farina, who returns to the team he left in 1946 after successful stints with Ferrari and Scuderia Milano. With wins both before and after the war, he and Fangio will make a formidable team.

Although now advancing in years, pre-war legend Luigi Fagioli returned to Grand Prix racing in 1948, and he will be Alfa's third regular driver this year. Driving the fourth car for this race only will be local man Reg Parnell, who has had a spattering of success in the last few years with Maseratis, both at home and abroad, either privately entered or under the Scuderia Ambrosiana banner.

Automobiles Talbot-Darracq

Talbot are also running a four-car team in this race, led by Yves Giraud-Cabantous, who is promoted to the works team having campaigned Talbots under the Ecurie France banner since the war. He is joined by Louis Rosier, making a rare works appearance amid more frequent, and very successful, races for his own Ecurie Rosier team.

The third car is run for one of France's brightest pre-war lights, Philippe Étancelin, who has also had a spattering of post-war success in both works and private Talbots. The all-French line-up is completed by the little-known Eugène Martin, making a rare appearance outside of France.

Officine Alfieri Maserati

Only one works car has made the trip across the channel for the legendary Italian marque, and it will be driven by Monegasque veteran and pre-war legend Louis Chiron. Chiron joins Maserati this year, having mostly driven for Ecurie France since the war.

Scuderia Ambrosiana

The Milanese team run two Maseratis here at Silverstone, both for local drivers. Scot David Murray joins the team this year, having first made his name on the European circuit in private Maseratis during 1949, while David Hampshire is in his second year with the team, after a spattering of success in private ERAs since the war.

Enrico Platé

Two more Maseratis are run by Swiss driver Enrico Platé, who has himself just retired from Grand Prix racing. His lead car is driven by Baron Toulo de Graffenried, who has had great success since joining the team in 1947, including winning the 1949 British Grand Prix.

As if to "one-up" de Graffenried's Baronetcy, his teammate is a royal: Prince Birabongse of Thailand. Better known on the Grand Prix circuit as B. Bira, the prince first raced for Platé a year later in 1948, and will be hoping to replicate some of his teammate's success this year.

Private entries

There is a host of private ERAs present here at Silverstone. Taso Mathieson, himself a former racer, is running a car for Leslie Johnson, while Peter Walker, who is signed to the absent BRM team, will share his car with Tony Rolt. There are also private cars driven by Cuth Harrison and the well-respected Bob Gerard.

The British privateer field is completed by the Joe Fry-owned Maserati, which he will drive alongside Brian Shawe-Taylor, and a pair of Altas, driven by Irishman Joe Kelly and keen amateur Geoffrey Crossley.

The final car in the field is the Talbot-Lago run by Johnny Claes under the Ecurie Belge banner. Former jazz trumpeter Claes has made quite an impact on the European circuit in the past 12 months in his bright yellow Talbot, and will be looking for more early success here.