1950 French Grand Prix

The 1950 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1950 at Reims-Gueux. It was the fifth round of the 1950 Formula One season with it being the 37th edition of the French Grand Prix.

After claiming the pole position, Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe Farina took out the race and also the first World Championship with one race to go. Rounding out the podium was fellow Italian drivers, Luigi Fagioli and Alberto Ascari.

Background
Heading into the fifth round of the 1950 season, Giuseppe Farina led the overall championship but after retiring in the previous race, their margin towards the chasing pact had dropped to 11 points. This was led by previous winner and fellow team-mate Luigi Fagioli with Louis Rosier who finished third, a further four points back.

Qualifying
Much like the previous races, the Alfas lead from the front of the pack with Giuseppe Farina taking the pole position in front of team mate Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli. Outside of the Alfa's, Ferrari pair of Ascari and Villoresi rouned out the top five drivers. Qualifying through didn't went out without a hitch with five not being able to finish their laps with issues to car during the qualifying. The strangest being Yves Giraud-Cabantous accident on the back straight which meant they went were out of the session.

Race
24 drivers competed in the race which saw the weather once come out to be a beautiful sunny day in France. It wasn't long until the first retirements occurred with Prince Bira, Reg Parnell and Yves Giraud-Cabantous all having to retire due to issues with the car. On the track, the big movers was Franco Rol and José Froilán González both moving up three spots as they moved to 12th and 13th respectively. For González, they would only last two more laps with an accident at Geux ending his race on lap 3. At the front of the field, Luigi Villoresi moved into third as they passed Alberto Ascari and later Juan Manuel Fangio (who also retired on lap 3) to move into third place, behind him Luigi Fagioli in the Alfa Romeo.

On Lap 5, Johnny Claes went off line to go into rough at Thilois, but was able to continue on racing. For Toulo de Graffenried and Peter Whitehead, they would collide while in 6th and 7th which at first look like would slow both drivers down, but that wasn't the case. Four laps later, Philippe Étancelin got pass Peter Whitehead to move into seventh place on track. By lap 9 the order was Farina, Fagioli, Villoresi, Ascari, Comotti as the top five. Five laps later, Franco Rol had troubles with the engine as they had to go to the first of two pits with another error six laps later.

Louis Chiron and Louis Rosier retired on lap 14 and 16 respectively with Chiron having suspension issues while Rosier had brakes issues to end their race. Three laps later, Eugène Martin passed Peter Whitehead for eighth place on track as the battle for the front as all Farina that was at the front of the field. Later in the race, the Maserati of Felice Bonetto passed Robert Manzon for 13th place as Etancellin and De Graffenried continued to battle for sixth place. Lap 37 saw Pierre Levegh going slightly off the line but would hold on to their position on track.

Lap 42 saw Robert Manzon having to retire with issues to the front of the car causing them to slow to a halt. Two more retirements occurred in lap 48 with both Luigi Villoresi and Peter Whitehead both having engine failures which ended the Ferrari's chances for those two. The following one saw a collision between Levegh and Bonetto, but it was Harry Schell who retired from the race after being caught in the two car collision as he had to retire from the race. For Bonetto, they would have to go to the pits to fix the issue and end their chance of getting points. Comotti and De Graffenried also bumping wheels during that lap with only Comotti losing time on track. This issue though would plague the rest of the race as he would retire on lap 59 with another engine issue. In the end it would be Farina that would take out not only the Grand Prix but also the World Championship with one race still to go. He would finish ahead of Fagioli, Ascari, De Graffenried and Étancelin as the top five drivers for the race.

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.