Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina won the inaugural F1 Grand Prix held at Silverstone in 1950 and in winning two further races that season, became the first F1 world drivers’ champion. He is somewhat over-shadowed by the achievements and fame of his driving contemporaries Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari. However, he raced with great courage and with a seeming disregard for his safety. Farina had a very distinct straight arm driving style that was adopted by many drivers.

Nationality & DoB -DoD   Italian, 30-10-1906 -  30-06-1966
Team  Alfa Romeo, Ferrari
Active years 1950-1955
Championships 1 (1950)
Races 34 (33 starts)
Wins 5
Podiums 20
Pole Positions 5
Fastest Laps 5
First Race 1950 British Grand Prix
First Win 1950 British Grand Prix
Last Win 1953 German Grand Prix
Last Race 1955 Italian Grand Prix

Nino Farina had a privilege upbringing; his family were pioneers in the early development of the motor industry in Italy. His uncle, Pinin Farina founded the now famous automotive company Pininfarina that is responsible for designing many famous Italian sportscars.

The young Farina was both academic and sporting, he received a doctorate  in Law at the University of  Turin and was a first class footballer and skier. He was inspired to race by his uncle, and competed in his first solo event at 19, he crashed his car, an occurrence that was to be a common feature throughout his career.   

Farina entered the military, but continued to race, firstly in an Alfa Romeo and then for a couple of years Maserati. He continued to crash frequently, but demonstrated enough skill to be recruited by Enzo Ferrari to drive for the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo team. His driving skills improved and he became the Italian Drivers' Champion three years in a row (1937–1939). The War years interrupted Farina’s driving career, serving in the Italian army in a tank regiment; he was able to return to racing in 1948. Nevertheless, those missed years would have probably been his peak time.

Marriage just after the war to a glamorous woman who disapproved of her husband indulging in such a dangerous sport did not discourage his passions, indeed he was racing just days after his wedding. In 1948 Farina won the Monaco Grand Prix, driving a privately owned Maserati, and in 1950 when the FIA announced the augural Formula One Championship Farina was appointed team leader of the prestigious three car Alfa Romeo team.

The Alfa Romeo car of the 1950 season was the phenomenal Tipo 158 Alfetta, and it seemed certain that an Alfa driver would win the championship, however, Farina who was 44 years old, had two illustrious teammates, the 39-year-old Juan Manuel Fangio and the older and highly experienced Luigi Fagioli (52). The Three were collectively known as, ‘the three F’s’ and it was a considerable achievement that Farina would triumph over his teammates to claim victory in the inaugural F1 race, the 1950 British GP at Silverstone, and then go on to win the Championship, by winning two more of the seven race series, in Italy and Switzerland. [Fangio also won three races in 1950 and was second in the Championship, with Luigi Fagioli finishing in third]. To be the first to win the championship was a fabulous achievement, and whilst others later overshadow his career, the record remains.

Farina had a disappointing 1951 season, his Alfa Romeo teammate Juan Manual Fangio winning the championship, and with just one season win, the Belgian GP he was to finish in fourth place in the championship. Alberto Ascari (Ferrari) finished in second and Jose Froilan Gonzalez (Ferrari) third.

Giuseppe Farina moved to Ferrari in 1952, but once again, he was partnering an incredible driver, Alberto Ascari. Ascari won the championship in 1952, with Farina second. Ascari won again in 1953 with Farina finishing in third; nevertheless, he did win his first race with Ferrari, the German GP at the Nurburgring, it was to be his last F1 victory.

Farina’s five career Grand Prix wins, may in today’s term, seem somewhat meagre for a world champion and a first class driver, however, in the 1950’s there were far fewer F1 races than today, and often the drivers would be competing in other motorsports events. Farina won the 1953 Spa 24 Hours endurance race, teaming up with Mike Hawthorn. He also won a round of the World Sports Car Championship in 1994, but was badly burnt in a sports car crash in Monza that ensured although he raced in 1955, he did so with the help of pain killing drugs. Farina retired from F1 at the end of the ’55 season.

It is hard to assess a sportsman out of his era. Certainly, Farina is remembered as a character of F1, his driving style copied by many, but there was also a darker side. Farina exhibited a disregard for his safety and the safety of fellow drivers; he was involved in accidents that resulted in the death of Marcel Lehoux in the 1936 Grand Prix de Deauville and László Hartmann at Tripoli in 1938. Nevertheless, pre-war racing was notoriously dangerous and all the drivers knew well the risks that accompanied the sport. Perhaps a quote from Enzo Ferrari gives us an insight into the character of the man, he said, Farina is, “A man of steel, inside and out. But I could never help feeling apprehensive about him. He was like a high-strung thoroughbred, capable of committing the most astonishing follies. As a consequence he was a regular inmate of the hospital wards”.

He was said to be well mannered, but also a snob, arrogant and aloof, but at the same time he was quick to visit Fangio in hospital after Fangio who came from humble origins was nearly killed in the 1952 Italian GP. [Farina, presented Fangio with the victory wreath he (Farina) had won that day].

In retirement, Farina became a successful Alfa Romeo dealer, and he continued to support Formula 1, and it was when driving in the Alps near Chambery to the 1966 French GP that Farina lost control of his road car and was killed.

For all fans of F1, Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina is special, not the best champion, but the first Champion, setting a bench mark for others.
 

Share This on : Add Comments

Leave a comment