Nino Farina: Formula One's First Ever World Champion
On October 30, 1906, in Italy, Giuseppe Antonio “Nino” Farina was born to Giovanni, his father, an affluent bodywork outlet owner in Italy’s vehicle production industry centre, Turin. It was here also that Giovanni’s sibling would set up the coach manufacturing enterprise of Pininfarina, which later gained prominence for moulding numerous classy sports cars. Giovanni naturally hoped for his son to one day take over the reins of the family enterprise, but Nino’s initial taste of driving came when he was nine. The young Farina satiated his passion for the sporting aspect of vehicles in a little car on the fields of his father’s manufactory. At 16, Nino was treated to a ride alongside his best-loved uncle Pinin in a race. A couple of years later, his initial individual contestation culminated in a crash, setting a worrisome precedent that Nino continued to repeat throughout his accident-inclined career.
The versatile Farina was both sportive and studious. As a youngster, he was a swift runner and gained dexterity at football and skiing. Farina obtained a degree in law from the University of Turin to be titled Dottore Giuseppe Farina. Farina was then whisked away by the military service when the clouds of World War I began to gather over the European continent. Meanwhile, the Italian continued to be lured by the thrill of motor racing, and in 1932 purchased himself an Alfa Romeo, which he immediately smashed in an accident and injured himself. Wholly unfazed by the setback, Farina proceeded to compete Maseratis for the following few years, and managed to grab the attention of Enzo Ferrari, who hired his fellow countryman to race for the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo squad. Ferrari would not be disappointed and in 1938, the man from Turin took the Italian Championship title in style.
Farina returned to racing when the dust had settled on World War II, now having married the graceful and fashionable Elsa Giaretto. In 1950, Nino led a three-car Alfa Romeo squad to contest a string of Grand Prix events that were now officially scheduled by the FIA as part of the first Formula One World Championship in history. The Alfa Romeo squad comprised of the compellingly talented triple force of Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, popularly labelled as “the three Fs.” In 1950, Farina triumphed at Formula One’s inaugural championship showdown at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. He clinched further victories at the Swiss and Italian events before landing himself Formula One’s first World Championship crown.
Labelled “the Gentleman of Turin”, owing to his elite family background and the habitual decorum with which he carried himself, Farina was sometimes attacked for being headstrong and slightly highbrow. Yet the resourceful Farina was not without compassion; when Fangio was severely hurt at the 1952 Italian Grand Prix, the race victor Farina hastened to his colleague’s bedside in the hospital and bestowed him with the winner’s wreath. Even behind the driving wheel, Farina carried himself with a grace that was distinctive, a manner soon embraced by several of his contemporaries including Fangio and Stirling Moss. Yet the Italian’s sleek approach contradicted the strain his cars came under regularly – Enzo Ferrari once remarked that his bold and determined protégé raced so recklessly that it made him anxious about Nino’s fate. Fangio agreed with the Ferrari boss, stating it was only divine intervention that kept his daredevil fellow safe every time he raced.
Farina’s ever increasing count of injuries made him turn to large doses of drugs to keep him racing, yet the wounds eventually got the better of the unsinkable Italian, forcing his retreat from the sport in 1955. Farina then embarked on setting up a thriving Alfa Romeo dealership. Yet the Italian’s passion for Formula One had by no means diminished, nor had his belief in his driving acumen. On June 30, 1966, when Farina was driving from Turin for Reims to witness the year’s French Grand Prix, his car veered off a tricky corner on the Alps, killing Formula One’s first World Champion.
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