1. Giuseppe Farina immediately impressed, finishing runner-up at the Mille Miglia driving an Alfa Romeo 8C.
47 Facts About Giuseppe Farina
1. 2.
Giuseppe Farina took his maiden Grand Prix win at the Naples Grand Prix in 1937, winning three consecutive Italian Championships until 1939, the latter two with Alfa Corse.
3.
Giuseppe Farina earned notoriety for his involvement in the fatal accidents of Marcel Lehoux and Laszlo Hartmann in 1936 and 1938, respectively.
4.
Giuseppe Farina won the Tripoli Grand Prix in 1939, his last victory before World War II.
5.
Amongst four major victories in 1948, Giuseppe Farina won the Monaco Grand Prix.
6.
Giuseppe Farina signed for Alfa Romeo in 1950, making his Formula One debut at the series-opening British Grand Prix, which he won ahead of Luigi Fagioli.
7.
Amidst a title charge by teammate Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina took further wins at the Swiss and Italian Grands Prix, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion.
8.
Giuseppe Farina joined Ascari at Ferrari in 1952, but was unable to hinder his dominance over the next two seasons.
9.
Giuseppe Farina took his final victory in Formula One at the German Grand Prix in 1953.
10.
Amongst five race wins, five pole positions, five fastest laps and 20 podiums, Giuseppe Farina won 11 non-championship races in Formula One.
11.
Giuseppe Farina withdrew from the 1957 Indianapolis 500, after the death of teammate Keith Andrews during practice.
12.
In sportscar racing, Giuseppe Farina won the Nurburgring 1000 km, the 24 Hours of Spa and the 12 Hours of Casablanca, all in 1953 with Ferrari and the former two as part of the inaugural World Sportscar Championship.
13.
On his way to spectate the 1966 French Grand Prix, Giuseppe Farina died after he lost control of his Lotus Cortina in the French Alps.
14.
Giuseppe Farina began driving a two-cylinder Temperino, at the age of just nine.
15.
Giuseppe Farina became a Doctor of Political Science ; he excelled at skiing, football and athletics.
16.
Giuseppe Farina cut short a career as a cavalry officer with the Italian army to fulfil a different ambition: motor racing.
17.
Giuseppe Farina raced in the US, driving for Alfa Romeo in the American Automobile Association-sanctioned Vanderbilt Cups of 1936 and 1937.
18.
Giuseppe Farina became a Grand Prix winner when he won the 1937 Grand Prix of Naples.
19.
Lehoux was thrown out, suffered a fractured skull and died in hospital, while Giuseppe Farina escaped with minor injuries.
20.
Giuseppe Farina survived without major injuries, but Hartmann died the following day.
21.
In 1938, the official Alfa Romeo team, Alfa Corse, returned to motorsport and Giuseppe Farina was a member.
22.
Giuseppe Farina came back to the sport in 1948 with a privately entered Maserati and a works Ferrari.
23.
Three days after their high society wedding, Giuseppe Farina flew to Argentina where he drove his Maserati 8CL to victory in the Gran Premio Internacional del General San Martin.
24.
Giuseppe Farina won the Lausanne Grand Prix and then was re-signed by Alfa Corse.
25.
In 1950, Giuseppe Farina returned to Alfa Romeo for the inaugural FIA World Championship of Drivers.
26.
The next race, at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, saw Fangio beat Fagioli, with Giuseppe Farina finishing in fourth with transmission problems.
27.
At this stage, Giuseppe Farina still led the championship on points: Giuseppe Farina 22; Fagioli 18; Fangio 17.
28.
When Fangio won the 1950 French Grand Prix, Giuseppe Farina finished outside of the points in seventh.
29.
Giuseppe Farina continued with Alfa Romeo for the 1951 season but was beaten by Fangio, who secured the title for the Milanese marque.
30.
Giuseppe Farina finished the season in fourth place, with his only world championship victory coming in the 1951 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
31.
Giuseppe Farina switched back to Ferrari in 1952, when Grand Prix racing switched to Formula 2 specification, but had to take second place to team leader Ascari.
32.
Giuseppe Farina won the non-championship Gran Premio di Napoli and Monza Grand Prix.
33.
Giuseppe Farina was involved in a large accident at the first race of the season, the Argentine Grand Prix: President Juan Peron had allowed free access to the race, which meant that the drivers had to race with hordes of spectators lining the circuit, and a young boy ran across the track while Farina was committed to a fast corner, the Curva Nor Este.
34.
Giuseppe Farina was forced to take evasive action and swerved into the spectators standing on the exit of the corner, killing seven and injuring many others.
35.
Giuseppe Farina took up the challenge against the works Maserati of Fangio and Mike Hawthorn when Ascari's car lost a wheel.
36.
Giuseppe Farina nevertheless took a string of podium finishes, gaining third place in the World Championship.
37.
Giuseppe Farina triumphed in the Daily Express Trophy race at Silverstone in another one-off race in the Thinwall Special.
38.
Just seven weeks later, and with his right arm still in plaster, Giuseppe Farina raced in the 1954 Belgian Grand Prix.
39.
Giuseppe Farina was leading before the end of the first lap, dicing with Fangio's Maserati, until the ignition failed on his Ferrari.
40.
Giuseppe Farina was back with Ferrari for the start of the 1955 season in Argentina, taking morphine injections to ease the pain.
41.
Giuseppe Farina pitted due to exhaustion, with his Ferrari 625 being taken over by the team's spare driver, Maglioli.
42.
When Jose Froilan Gonzalez pitted, a revived Giuseppe Farina was sent out in his place.
43.
Ferrari withdrew the car from the event, and Giuseppe Farina did not start his final Grand Prix.
44.
Giuseppe Farina attempted to qualify for one World Drivers' Championship race at Indianapolis, failing to make the 1956 race.
45.
Giuseppe Farina elected to race a conventional Offenhauser-powered car in 1957, but he had difficulty getting the car up to speed, experiencing handling issues.
46.
On his way to the 1966 French Grand Prix, Giuseppe Farina lost control of his Lotus Cortina in the Savoy Alps, near Aiguebelle, hit a telegraph pole and was killed instantly.
47.
Giuseppe Farina had been on his way to both watch the race and to take part in filming as the adviser and driving double of the French actor Yves Montand, who played an ex-World Champion in the film Grand Prix.