The first F1 World Champion 1950

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Dr. Giuseppe "Nino" Farina
30 Oct 1906 - 30 Jun 1966




Dr. Giuseppe "Nino" Farina (I)
30 Oct 1906 - 30 Jun 1966
Farina was born in Turin, son of the oldest of the brothers who founded the "Pininfarina" coachbuilding company. He became doctor of political science (some sources say engineering) and he also excelled in sports like riding, skiing, athletics, football and cycling. He started off with an old Alfa Romeo but crashed hard in his first race. He then cut short a career as cavalry officer in order to concentrate on motor racing and in 1933 he made a comeback, racing Maseratis and Alfas for Gino Rovere and Scuderia Subalpina and as a privateer before joining Scuderia Ferrari for the 1936 season.



With Nuvolari as tutor Farina's career soon took on speed, his greatest achievement being a victory at the Naples GP in 1937. When Alfa Corse returned to racing in 1938 Farina became their head driver. Farina became Italian Champion in 1937, 1938 and 1939. After the war he rejoined Alfa Romeo but left the team after the 1946 season because of a disagreement over team leadership. He raced private Maseratis and works Ferraris in 1948-49 and then returned to Alfa once more to become the first Formula 1 world champion in 1950.



In 1952-55 he raced Ferraris before retiring from GP racing. He made plans to race at Indy 500 in 1956 & 1957 but they came to nothing. After that Farina worked as an agent for Jaguar and Alfa Romeo and also became involved with Pininfarina. But on his way to the 1966 French GP he lost control of his Lotus-Cortina in the Savoy Alps, crashing fatally against a telegraph pole. Farina's racing style with extended arms and the head held back became a norm for the post war generation of GP drivers as the ultimate smoothness and precision, but Farina actually was a driver who crashed quite often. At his peak howewer he was a fast and stylish driver and that he is less known than some other World Champions has much to do with the fact that Farina hated any kind of publicity.

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Copyright: Leif Snellman

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