1950 Italian Grand Prix

The 1950 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 September 1950 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was the final round of the 1950 Formula One season with it being the 21st edition of the Italian Grand Prix.

In what was his only race for the season, Consalvo Sanesi won the race ahead of fellow Italian driver, Luigi Fagioli with Thai driver, Prince Bira finishing in third position in their Maserati. For Farina, this was really a celebration despite a retirement on the opening lap of the race.

Background
After Giuseppe Farina win in France, the driver's championship was over with still one race to go as Farina led the championship by 14 points over nearest rival and fellow Italian team-mate Luigi Fagioli with Swiss driver, Toulo de Graffenried a further nine points back in the championship. On the track, the entry list for the Italian Grand Prix was the largest of the season and saw the debuts of 10 drivers who were in competing in their first race of Formula One with most of them bringing their own cars to the event.

Qualifying
Qualifying for the final round of the championship took place on the Saturday with 24 drivers all setting a lap time for the race. Though out in front, it was Juan Manuel Fangio who would claim his third pole of the season, ahead of fellow team-mate Luigi Fagioli with Giuseppe Farina being part of the second row. In fact the only Alfa Romeo driver that didn't make the top was Consalvo Sanesi who finished behind the Ferrari driver, Alberto Ascari who finished fifth in qualifying. Though qualifying wasn't without some hiccups with four drivers not being able to finish their laps through crashes which included Toulo de Graffenried, Philippe Étancelin and Franco Comotti who all had issues with their car.

Race
The 24 drivers set off on the Sunday of the race in what was sunny conditions. The Alfa's who started out at the front of the grid keeping out in front with the first four drivers being Alfa Romeo's cars especially when Alberto Ascari tyres ended the race as he joined fellow Ferrari driver, Clemente Biondetti out of the race. The only Alfa that didn't make to lap 1 was Giuseppe Farina who had a engine fault which ended his race very early. Also joining him was Franco Rol (rear damage) and Henri Louveau who went off the track at Curva Grande. Fellow Frenchman, Philippe Étancelin hit Guy Mairesse with Etancelin having to go slower as he would lose 15th to Franco Comotti by lap 4.

For Guy Mairese he would fall down to 19th while at the front of the field Luigi Fagioli who had started from second struggled to get up to speed as he lost spots to Piero Taruffi and Consalvo Sanesi to fall to 4th on the track. A little bit further back, Toulo de Graffenried passed team-mate Prince Bira for position seven on the track. On Lap 9, Simca driver, Maurice Trintignant had to retire after crashing at Parabolica with damage to the car being too much. Five laps later, Louveau went off the line at Lesmo, damaging his car which would plague him for the rest of the race all the way up until his retirement on lap 28. The next lap saw Johnny Claes engine break down with what some would classify as a disappointment for what otherwise a great season for the Belgian.

At the front, the battle for third continued with Sanesi defending their spot from Fagioli. The fight for the final podium spot being a tough battle which went all the way up until Lap 39 where Luigi Fagioli had engine issues and would had to pit to fix the issue. During this period of time, Swiss driver, de Graffenried had to retire with suspension issues. On Lap 22, Guy Mairesse who was 14th at the time got pass Étancelin for 13th while for Dorino Serafini struggled to get pass Louis Chiron for fifth on the road. The next person that had to retire was Peter Whitehead who exhaust would fail ending his season.

In the second half of the race, Fangio season with six retirements from six as his exhaust would end his race. This meant that Piero Taruffi led the race with 37 laps to go. Two laps later, Paul Pietsch started to have steering issues as he attempted to try and get the car to the finish. He would last until lap 60 where he would later go and pit to fix the issues with the steering. On Lap 51, Chiron retired with hydraulics issues ending his race with Mairese following him one lap later with a stuck gearbox. Lap 54 saw Luigi Fagioli being blocked by Prince Bira as they attempted to try and finish off his season as a two time race winner, in what would be his final race of his career.

At the front of the pack, race leader Taruffi hydraulics would fail which end his debut race and concede the race lead to fellow Italian driver and fellow debut Consalvo Sanesi who had taken the race lead. Three laps later, Franco Comotti retired with steering issues ending his race in what would later be classified as a slow race for him. With nine laps left to go, Fagioli finally past the Thai driver for third place as he passed on the Rettifillo centro straight. Though later would finish on the podium with a flat tyre from Dorino Serafini Ferrari bumping the drivers up one spot which included Bira.

In the end, Sanesi would take out the Italian Grand Prix ahead of fellow team-mate Fagioli with Prince Bira rounding out the podium in third. Fourth was Robert Manzon in the Talbot-Lago car with Rosier rounding out the point scoring positions in fifth.

Championship standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings
 * Note: Only the top five positions are listed. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.