1-193-418 - National Motor Museum/Heritage Images

Giuseppe Farina and Alfa Romeo 159, French Grand Prix, Rheims, 1951. A qualified doctor of engineering, Farina won the first official Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship in 1950, winning three Grands Prix in the process, driving for Alfa Romeo. His career began in 1934 and he notched up a number of victories in Grands Prix either side of WWII. He switched to Ferrari in 1952, where he remained until the end of his career, which came in 1955 after he had suffered bad crashes at Monza and in the Mille Miglia. In 1966 Farina was killed in a road accident in the Alps while driving to the French Grand Prix.