1950 Paris Grand Prix

The IV Grand Prix de Paris (English: IV Paris Grand Prix) was a minor non-championship Formula One race held on the 30 April 1950. The race was the fourth edition of the Paris Grand Prix and was held over 50 laps of the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry. It was won by Georges Grignard, by a margin of four laps over Louis Gérard, in a race rife with unreliability. Sixteen drivers entered the event, only eleven started and just three finished.

The previous two winners of the event, Henri Louveau and Yves Giraud-Cabantous, received entries to the race but failed to show up. The grid of eleven cars was decided by a random draw. Raymond Sommer took the lead at the beginning of the race, with Louis Rosier and Grignard in pursuit. However, both Sommer and Rosier retired, leaving Grignard to win by a clear margin over Gérard and Marc Versini, who competed in pre-war Delages.

Background[]

The fourth Paris Grand Prix did not garner much attention from the international racing community but as it had done in the past, where it had managed to attract many of France's best racing drivers. The field was primarily made up of Talbot T26C cars. Raymond Sommer, considered to be France's top racing driver of the time, would be competing in a Talbot-Lago for the race. Among the other Talbot competitors were Louis Rosier, another up and coming French name, Pierre Levegh, Guy Mairesse, 1948 Paris GP winner Yves Giraud-Cabantous, 1949 Paris winner Philippe Étancelin, Jean Estager and Belgian Johnny Claes.

There were two Maserati 4CLT/48 cars in the hands of Jean Judet and Henri Louveau. Racing in old pre-war Delage D6's were three cars, driven by Marc Versini, Louis Gérard and Auguste Veuillet.

Despite the Paris Grand Prix being primarily a Francophone affair, there was a British entrant from John Heath's Formula Two team HWM. Racing for the team was team co-founder George Abecassis and the team's new signing, 21 year old Stirling Moss, the youngest driver on the grid.

Entry List[]

The full entry list for the 1950 Paris Grand Prix is shown below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Henri Louveau	Henri Louveau	Maserati	4CLT-48	Maserati	4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
2	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Yves-Giraud Cabantous	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
3	Philippe Étancelin	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
4	Louis Rosier	Ecurie Rosier	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
5	Pierre Levegh	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
6	Raymond Sommer	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
7	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
8	Georges Grignard	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
9	Guy Mairesse	Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
10	Jean Estager	Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago	T26C	Talbot	23CV 4.5 L6	D
11	Jean Judet	Jean Judet	Maserati	4CLT-48	Maserati	4 CL 1.5 L4s	P
12	Marc Versini	Marc Versini	Delage	D6-3LS	Delage	Delage 3.5 V6	D
14	Auguste Veuillet	Auguste Veuillet	Delage	D6-3LS	Delage	Delage 3.5 V6	D
15	Louis Gérard	Louis Gérard	Delage	D6-3LS	Delage	Delage 3.5 V6	D
16	George Abecassis	John Heath	HWM	50	Alta	Alta 2.0 L4s	D
17	Stirling Moss	John Heath	HWM	50	Alta	Alta 2.0 L4s	D

Practice[]

Heading into practice, there was disappointment for the spectators as neither winner from the previous two years, Henri Louveau and Yves Giraud-Cabantous, arrived for the event. Also withdrawing from the event were Philippe Étancelin, Johnny Claes and Jean Estager.

After a brief practice session in which no times were recorded, the cars prepared for the race. The grid was determined by a random draw before the race began.

Qualifying Draw Result[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor
1	6	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
2	4	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
3	8	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
4	5	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
5	9	Guy Maireisse	Talbot-Lago-Talbot
6	15	Louis Gerard	Delage
7	14	Auguste Veuillet	Delage
8	17	Stirling Moss	HWM-Alta
9	12	Marc Versini	Delage
10	16	George Abecassis	HWM-Alta
11	11	Jean Judet	Maserati

Race[]

Report[]

Following the withdrawal of five of the original competitors, the grid was reduced to a lone eleven competitors. The Talbot-Lago's were expected to take victory being the only modern Formula One car on the grid apart from one Maserati 4CL. The old pre-war Delage's and the Formula Two HWM's were expected to be fighting at the back.

The Ferrari works driver, Raymond Sommer, who was competing in a Talbot-Lago at Paris took the lead of the race in the early stages. Louis Rosier and Georges Grignard followed suit battling over second place. Auguste Veuillet became the first retirement on lap two when his old Delage suffered rear axle failure. The same lap saw Guy Mairesse retire his Talbot-Lago with a fuel leak.

George Abecassis then retired his HWM on the eleventh lap with engine failure. Sommer meanwhile was extending a strong lead over the rest of the field. The crowd were provided with entertainment with a battle over second place between Rosier and Grignard. The battle would be cut short, however when Rosier retired from the race on lap 21 with engine trouble.

Five laps later, the lone Maserati in the race of Jean Judet made his retirement due to a fuel leak; by now, the field had been reduced to just six participants. Sommer still held a convincing lead over Grignard and Pierre Levegh in second and third. On lap 28, Levegh pulled out with engine troubles. He was the only significant threat to the Talbot-Lago's of Sommer and Grignard leading the race. The remainder of the field were some way off the pace.

On lap 33, Stirling Moss pulled his HWM out of the race to retire. He had been battling with the Delage's of Louis Gérard and Marc Versini. The same lap, Sommer lost the opportunity to win his first Paris Grand Prix when his Talbot-Lago's engine blew.

For the remaining third of the race, only three cars remained competing and there were serious concerns that none of the cars would finish the race. However, Grignard, Gérard and Versini soldiered on to finish the event. Grignard had dominated in his Talbot-Lago, finishing four laps ahead of Gérard and five ahead of Versini. Gérard and Versini in their old outdated Delage's proved no match for newer Talbot-Lago models, however to the cars credit they were able to complete the event. The same could not be said about most of their rivals machinery.

Results[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1	8	Georges Grignard	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	50	2:05:38.8
2	15	Louis Gerard	Delage	46	+ 4 Laps
3	12	Marc Versini	Delage	45	+ 5 Laps
Ret	6	Raymond Sommer	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	33	Engine
Ret	17	Stirling Moss	HWM-Alta	33	Engine
Ret	5	Pierre Levegh	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	28	Engine
Ret	11	Jean Judet	Maserati	26	Fuel tank
Ret	4	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	21	Engine
Ret	16	George Abecassis	HWM-Alta	11	Engine
Ret	14	Auguste Veuillet	Delage	2	Rear axle
Ret	9	Guy Mairesse	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2	Fuel tank
DNA	1	Henri Louveau	Maserati		Did not arrive
DNA	2	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot		Did not arrive
DNA	3	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot		Did not arrive
DNA	7	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot		Did not arrive
DNA	10	Jean Estager	Talbot-Lago-Talbot		Did not arrive

Milestones[]

First and only Formula 1 win for Georges Grignard
Best ever finish (2nd), and only Podium in a Formula 1 race for Louis Gerard
Best ever finish (3rd) in Formula 1 and final race for Marc Versini
Final Formula 1 race for Auguste Veuillet

Notes[]

External links[]

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