José Froilán González
José Froilán González was an Argentine racing driver notable for scoring Ferrari's first win in a Formula One World Championship race at the 1951 British Grand Prix. He made his Formula One debut for Scuderia Achille Varzi in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, his last Grand Prix was the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix. González competed in 26 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix over nine seasons and numerous non-Championship events. In the 26 World Championship races, González scored two victories, seven second-place finishes, six third-place finishes, three pole positions, six fastest laps, 72 1⁄7 points, he won the 1951 Coppa Acerbo, in 1954 the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Maurice Trintignant, the Portuguese Grand Prix for Ferrari. González's nicknames were The Pampas El Cabezón. On 10 July 2011, during the British Grand Prix meeting, González was honoured by the Ferrari team and the FIA on the 60th anniversary of Ferrari's first Formula One World Championship race victory; as part of the celebration, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso drove González' Ferrari 375 F1 for four laps of the Silverstone track.
That day, Alonso won the British Grand Prix in his Ferrari 150° Italia. He died in Buenos Aires from respiratory failure, aged 90, after a downturn in health following a heart attack earlier in 2013. * Shared drive. ** Joint fastest lap.† González started the race in a Ferrari 553 Squalo, but took over one of his teammates' 625 during the race. Video: Tribute to Froilán González by Fernando Alonso
Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta
The Alfa Romeo 158/159 known as the Alfetta, is a Grand Prix racing car produced by Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It is one of the most successful racing cars produced- the 158 and its derivative, the 159, took 47 wins from 54 Grands Prix entered, it was developed for the pre-World War II voiturette formula and has a 1.5-litre straight-8 supercharged engine. Following World War II, the car was eligible for the new Formula One introduced in 1947. In the hands of drivers such as Nino Farina, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, it dominated the first two seasons of the World Championship of Drivers; the first version of this successful racing car, the 158, was made during 1937/1938. The main responsibility for engineering was given to Gioacchino Colombo; the car's name refers to eight cylinders. The voiturette class was for racing cars with 1.5-litre engines, standing in the same relation to the top'Grand Prix' formula as the GP2 series does to Formula One today. Alfa's 3-litre racing cars in 1938 and 1939 were the Tipo 308, 312 and 316.
The 158 debuted with the works Alfa Corse team at the Coppa Ciano Junior in August 1938 at Livorno, where Emilio Villoresi took the car's first victory. At that time the 1479.56 cc engine produced around 200 bhp at 7000 rpm. with the help of a single-stage Roots blower. More success came at the Coppa Acerbo, Coppa Ciano and Tripoli Grand Prix in May 1940. Soon World War II stopped development of the car for six years. After the war the engine was developed further to push out 254 bhp in 1946. In 1947, the Alfetta was put back into service; the new rules allowed 1500 cc supercharged and 4500 cc aspirated engines. The 158 was modified again, this time to produce over 300 bhp and was denoted as Tipo 158/47; the car made a tragic debut in the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix where Achille Varzi lost control of his car and was killed. Another loss for the team came in practice for the 1949 Buenos Aires Grand Prix, where Jean-Pierre Wimille was killed in an accident. In 1950, the 158 was eligible for the new World Championship of Drivers.
The car won every race. The Alfa Romeo team included talented drivers such as Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio, the latter of whom won the World Drivers' Championship five times. At the end of the 1950 season, a further updated version known as the 159 was produced, used for the 1951 season; this version had reworked rear suspension, the old swing axle was replaced with a De-Dion axle and the engine produced around 420 bhp at 9600 rpm. In order to achieve this power however, the simplistically designed engine had been been fitted with larger superchargers over time; this fact, combined with the rich mixture required to burn methanol in the engine resulted in poor fuel economy - the 159 achieved 1 1⁄2 miles to the gallon, compared to the Talbot-Lagos of the time, which delivered 10 miles to the gallon. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first Formula One Grand Prix not won by an Alfa because Fangio and Farina both had to stop twice to re-fuel their cars – and the Ferrari of José Froilán González did better on fuel and would go on to win the race, with Fangio second.
Still, the Alfa had the edge on performance and with wins in Switzerland and Spain, Fangio won his first of five championships that year. For their second-to-last World Championship race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Alfa Romeo introduced a new evolution version known as the 159M, the "M" standing for Maggiorata. After an unsuccessful bid by Alfa Romeo to obtain government assistance to meet development costs, the team announced their retirement from Grand Prix racing at the end of 1951. This, combined with problems for other Formula One teams lead to a decree by the FIA that all Grand Prix races counting towards the World Championship of Drivers in 1952 and 1953 would be for cars complying with Formula Two rather than Formula One; the car's last Grand Prix win came in 1953 at Italy. * The Constructors' Championship was not awarded until 1958
Italy
Italy the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 and has a temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe. Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout modern-day Italy, the most famous of which being the Indo-European Italics who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era and Carthaginians founded colonies in insular Italy and Genoa, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively; the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People.
The Roman Republic conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the peninsula, in some cases through the establishment of federations, the Republic expanded and conquered parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural and religious centre of Western civilisation, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's technology, economy and literature flourished. Italy remained the metropole of the Roman Empire; the legacy of the Roman Empire endured its fall and can be observed in the global distribution of culture, governments and the Latin script. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.
These independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy's commercial and political power waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean. Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such as the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented, it was subsequently conquered and further divided by European powers such as France and Austria.
By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy industrialised, namely in the north, acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil became a developed country.
Today, Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the sixth-largest worldwide national wealth. Its advanced economy ranks eighth-largest in the world and third in the Eurozone by nominal GDP. Italy owns the third-largest central bank gold reserve, it has a high level of human development, it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, the Schengen Area and many more; as a reflection
Alfa Romeo in Formula One
Italian motor manufacturer Alfa Romeo has participated many times in Formula One. It participates as Alfa Romeo Racing while being operated by Sauber Motorsport AG; the brand has competed in motor racing as both a constructor and engine supplier sporadically between 1950 and 1987, as a commercial partner since 2015. The company's works drivers won the first two World Drivers' Championships in the pre-war Alfetta: Nino Farina in 1950. Following these successes Alfa Romeo withdrew from Formula One. During the 1960s, although the company had no official presence in the top tier of motorsport a number of Formula One teams used independently developed Alfa Romeo engines to power their cars. In the early 1970s, Alfa provided Formula One support for their works driver Andrea de Adamich, supplying adapted versions of their 3-litre V8 engine from the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3 sports car to power Adamich's McLaren and March entries. None of these engine combinations scored championship points. In the mid-1970s, Alfa engineer Carlo Chiti designed a flat-12 engine to replace the T33 V8, which achieved some success in taking the 1975 World Sportscar Championship.
Bernie Ecclestone owner of the Brabham Formula One team, persuaded Alfa Romeo to supply this engine free for the 1976 Formula One season. Although the Brabham-Alfa Romeo's first season was modest, during the 1977 and 1978 World Championships their cars took 14 podium finishes, including two race victories for Niki Lauda; the company's sporting department, returned as the works team in 1979. This second period as a constructor was less successful than the first. Between the company's return and its withdrawal as a constructor at the end of 1985, Alfa works drivers did not win a race and the team never finished higher than sixth in the World Constructors' Championship; the team's engines were supplied to Osella from 1983 to 1987, but they scored only two World Championship points during this period. The Alfa Romeo logo returned to Formula One in 2015. In late 2017, Alfa Romeo announced that they were to become title sponsors for Sauber from 2018, had entered into a technical and commercial partnership with the team.
Alfa Romeo returned to the sport as their own team when Sauber was renamed at the beginning of 2019. Alfa Romeo had been a force in Grand Prix racing before World War II. Cars like the P2 and the P3 were winners on a regular basis until the German Mercedes and Auto Union cars came around in 1934. From 1934 to the start of World War II in 1939, Alfa won and their cars looked rather outdated and badly built compared to the high-tech Silver Arrows of Mercedes. Alfa was able to make the 158 for the 1938 season, although this car was not competitive against the Silver Arrows; when the new Formula One World Championship had come around, Alfa had dominated post-WWII racing from 1946 to 1949 – winning every Grand Prix they entered with the exception of 3. In 1950 Nino Farina won the inaugural World Championship of Drivers in a 158 with supercharger, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio won while driving an Alfetta 159; the Alfetta's engines were powerful for their capacity: in 1951 the 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp but this was at the price of a fuel consumption of 125 to 175 litres per 100 km.
In 1952, facing increased competition from their former employee, Ferrari. Alfa Romeo involvement in racing was made with a thin budget, using pre-war technology and material during the two seasons. For instance the team won two championships using only nine pre-war built engine blocks. During 1977, after some persuasion by Chiti, Alfa Romeo gave Autodelta permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf, thus named the Alfa Romeo 177, the car made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix. The partnership with Brabham had finished before the end of the season, with Bernie Ecclestone's outfit returning to Ford/Cosworth DFV engines; this second Alfa works Formula One project was never successful during its existence from the middle of 1979 until the end of 1985. During this period Alfa Romeo achieved two pole positions, Bruno Giacomelli led much of the 1980 United States Grand Prix before retiring with electrical trouble, three 3rd places, two 2nd places and one fastest lap, they endured tragedy when their driver Patrick Depailler was killed testing for the 1980 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.
In 1981 they continued to be dogged by poor reliability. After a restructuring of Autodelta, the team operations and design of the car were outsourced to Euroracing in 1982, with the works engines still being supplied by Autodelta; the team's best season was 1983 when the team switched to the turbocharged 890T V8 engine and achieved 6th place in the Constructors' Championship thanks to two second-place finishes for Andrea de Cesaris. While the turbocharged 890T proved competitive in 1983, more powerful and fuel efficient engines from BMW, Renault, TAG-Porsche and Honda, plus the FIA imposed 220-litre fuel limit with no re-fuelling allowed during pit stops during 1984, saw the decline of the Euroracing Alfa Romeo team as a
Consalvo Sanesi
Consalvo Sanesi was best known as the Alfa Romeo works' test driver in the period following World War II, but he competed in races with the Alfa Romeo Tipo 158/159 cars in the period before the Formula One World Championship came into being. He competed in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 3 September 1950. Although, on his day, his experience with the cars meant that he was one of the fastest men on the racetrack, somehow this translated into good results, he scored only 3 championship points. He found some success driving in sports car racing. On the 1953 Mille Miglia he posted the fastest stage average speed, 112.8 mph, beating greats such as Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio, but on this occasion his car let him down and he failed to finish. A year he won his class in the Carrera Panamericana. Sanesi entered an Alfa Romeo in the November 1954 Pan American race in Mexico. In the European touring car class of the event he led at one juncture with a total time of 8 hours, 29 minutes, 24 seconds.
He was overtaken by Sergio Mantovani and Mario Della Favera. A couple of days Sanesi established a 17-minute lead in his car, with the Alfa Romeo marque sweeping the first five positions of the European touring car division, he gave up front line racing following a near-death accident during the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring race, when following a crash his Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ burst into flames. Only the prompt and courageous actions of Jocko Maggiocommo, a fellow driver watching at the trackside who dived into the flames and pulled Sanesi clear, saved his life. Sanesi was paired with driver Roberto Bussinello in the event. Maggiacomo received a Gentleman of the Road award in November 1964 for his effort in rescuing Sanesi. Maggiacomo was the proprietor of Jocko's Speed Shop in New York; the commendation was presented by the Milan Automobile Club
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England; the 2018 event was the 69th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950, the 52nd time that a World Championship round had been held at Silverstone. The British race is the oldest in the Formula One calendar as the 1950 race at Silverstone was round one of the first championship season in 1950, it and the Italian Grand Prix are the only two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix that have been staged during every season that the championship has been held. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. All British Grands Prix dating back to 1926 have been held in England. Since 1948, it has been customary that the winner of the race is awarded the British Grand Prix Trophy.
The concrete Brooklands oval was built in 1907 near Weybridge in Surrey, located just outside the British capital of London. It was the first purpose-built motor racing venue, as well as one of the first airfields in the United Kingdom. Grand Prix motor racing was first established in Britain by Henry Segrave in 1926 after his winning of the 1923 French Grand Prix and the San Sebastián Grand Prix the following year, which raised interest in the sport; the first British Grand Prix was won by the French team of Louis Wagner and Robert Sénéchal driving a Delage 155B. The second British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in 1927. Several non-championship races known as the Donington Grand Prix were held at Donington Park which attracted the best European teams in 1937 and 1938, where the German Mercedes and Auto Unions dominated the proceedings. Drivers such as German Bernd Rosemeyer and Italian Tazio Nuvolari won this race. Brooklands had been damaged by the onset of World War II and the circuit was abandoned.
Most new British circuits were being built on disused Royal Air Force airfields, Silverstone, located in Northamptonshire in central England, was one of those circuits. It staged its first race, the Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix on 2 October 1948, won by Italian Luigi Villoresi in a Maserati. In 1949, the circuit was modified and made fast. In 1950, the World Championship of Drivers was introduced, the 1950 British Grand Prix was the first World Championship Formula One race held, with new regulations and 6 other races in Europe; this race was won by Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe "Nino" Farina. King George VI was among the attendees of the race; the 1951 race was exciting, as it was the first F1 race not won by an Alfa Romeo. For the 1952 event, the original pits between Abbey and Woodcote was demolished. A new pit complex was constructed between Copse corners. In 1955, the Formula One circus began to alternate between Silverstone and the Aintree circuit, located on the Grand National horse racing course near Liverpool.
Mercedes drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and home favourite Stirling Moss arrived at Aintree expecting to win. They took the lead at the start and the two drivers battled throughout, Moss passed Fangio on the 26th lap, but he didn't, Moss won his first Formula One race on home soil. Moss asked Fangio "did you let me through?" and the Argentine replied "No. You were better than me that day." Mercedes romped to the finish 1-2-3-4, with German Karl Kling and Italian Piero Taruffi finishing 3rd and 4th. The even-numbered years were at Silverstone and the odd numbered and 1962 were at Aintree. 1956 saw Fangio win in a Ferrari, 1957 returned to see Moss win again in a Vanwall. This was the first Grand Prix victory for a British-built car- Formula One would soon be made up of British teams. 1958 was when Peter Collins won in a Ferrari and Bernie Ecclestone was entered in a Connaught but his car was driven by Jack Fairman. The last race at Aintree was in 1962. 1964 saw the first Formula One race at the southern English circuit known as Brands Hatch, located in Kent, just outside London.
The track was built in the early 1950s and had been extended in 1960. Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix in odd-numbered years and Brands Hatch in even-numbered years. Like Silverstone, the circuit was popular with drivers, unlike the flat Northamptonshire circuit and Aintree, Brands Hatch had many cambered corners and lots of elevation change. Like the year before at Silverstone, Clark won the 1964 race, the next year's race. 1967 saw Clark take yet another dominant win, 1968 saw a monumental battle between Swiss Jo Siffert in a Lotus and New Zealander Chris Amon in a Ferrari.
George VI
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death on 6 February 1952. He was the first Head of the Commonwealth. Known publicly as Albert until his accession, "Bertie" among his family and close friends, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort; as the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He attended naval college as a teenager, served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1920, he was made Duke of York, he married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters and Margaret. In the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never overcame. George's elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936; however that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
British prime minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman and remain king. Edward abdicated to marry Simpson, George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During George's reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated; the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the country's constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland and established the office of President. From 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1941, respectively. Though Britain and its allies were victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of both countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948.
Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, India became a republic within the Commonwealth the following year. George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth, he was beset by smoking-related health problems in the years of his reign. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II. George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, his father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales. His mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck, his birthday, 14 December 1895, was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Consort. Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days he wrote again: "I think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her".
Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me as he will be called by that dear name, a byword for all, great and good". He was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St. Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie", his maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one". Albert was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather and elder brother, Edward, he suffered from ill health and was described as "easily frightened and somewhat prone to tears". His parents were removed from their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic families of that era, he had a stammer. Although left-handed, he was forced to write with his right hand, as was common practice at the time.
He suffered from chronic stomach problems as well as knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, the Prince of Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. Prince Albert moved up to third in line after his father and elder brother. From 1909, Albert attended Osborne, as a naval cadet. In 1911 he came bottom of the class in the final examination, but despite this he progressed to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; when his grandfather, Edward VII, died in 1910, Albert's father became King George V. Edward became Prince of Wales, with Albert second in line to the throne. Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada, he was rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913, spent three months in the Mediterranean. His fellow officers gave him the nickname "Mr. Johnson"; the First World War broke out a year after his commission. Three weeks after the outbreak of war he was medically evacuated from the ship to Aberdeen where his appendix was removed by Sir John Marnoch.
He was mentioned in despatches for his action as a turret officer aboard Collingwood i
British Grand Prix
Giuseppe Farina
Monaco Grand Prix
Juan Manuel Fangio
Indianapolis 500A
Swiss Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix
French Grand Prix
