A sum of firsts

The British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 14 July 1951 at the Silverstone circuit in England. It was race 5 of 8 (what a difference with the current 22+ races in todays F1 calendar), in the 1951 World Championship of Drivers and was contested over 90 laps.

José Froilán González (Ferrari) was one second quicker than fellow Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati) in qualifying, achieving the first pole position of his career. It was also the first pole position for the Scuderia Ferrari, and the first in the World Championship (created just one year before, and excluding the Indy 500 races) not scored by an Alfa Romeo.

After two hours and forty-two minutes racing, González took his own and Ferrari’s first victory (picture above) in the F1 World Championship by 51 seconds over Fangio’s Maserati. It was the first World Championship race, since its creation, not to be won by an Alfa Romeo. Luigi Villoresi became the second Ferrari driver on the podium after he finished in third place, two laps behind.

Battle of Argentinians: José Froilán González (Ferrari) leads Juan Manuel Fangio (Alfa Romeo) at the 1951 British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone (picture below).