Farina Claims Crown: First F1 Champion Born

Giuseppe Farina crossed the finish line at Monza on September 3, 1950, and became the first Formula One world champion. The math that got him there was brutal. He won three of the season's seven races, but the championship was decided on a points system where only a driver's four best results counted. He beat Juan Manuel Fangio by three points. Farina was forty-four years old, ancient by motorsport standards, and he drove with a distinctive upright posture, arms extended straight to the wheel, that looked elegant and terrified his mechanics in equal measure. Born in Turin in 1906 into a family that built coach bodies for Fiat, he earned a doctorate in political science before turning to racing, beginning his career in the mid-1930s. He drove for Alfa Romeo's works team alongside Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, and the three men dominated the inaugural 1950 championship in their Alfa Romeo 158s, nicknamed "Alfettas." The car was a prewar design that had been hidden in a cheese factory during the German occupation of Italy. Farina's driving style was aggressive even by the standards of an era when drivers raced without seatbelts, helmets were leather, and fatalities were routine. He suffered multiple serious injuries throughout his career, including burns and broken bones, and he competed in pain for most of his later seasons. He retired from racing in 1955 and died in a road accident in 1966, driving to the French Grand Prix as a spectator. The sport he helped inaugurate has since become a global industry worth over three billion dollars annually.