Ferrari Debuts at 1950 Monaco Grand Prix

Alberto Ascari in the Ferrari 125 F1 during the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix
Alberto Ascari in the Ferrari 125 F1 during the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix (photo: Ferrari SpA)

Scuderia Ferrari made its debut in the Formula 1 World Championship on May 21st, 1950, on the very same circuit that winds its way through the Principality of Monaco and which this coming Sunday, hosts the sixth round of the 2012 World Championship.

There were four Ferraris entered in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix: two 125 F1s, in the GP49 evolution, entrusted to the Italians Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi and two 125 F1s for France’s Raymond Sommer and the British driver Paul Whitehead. At the end of the race, Ascari had managed to finish second behind Fangio’s Alfa Romeo, while Sommer was fourth; Villoresi had to retire on lap 63 while Whitehead had failed to start, because of an engine problem.

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr