F1 releases colourised footage of first race to celebrate 75th anniversary

Formula 1 has released restored and colourised footage of the very first world championship race to commemorate the anniversary of the series’ birth.

Today, 13 May at 3pm UK time, marks exactly 75 years since the start of the first ever F1 world championship race at Silverstone.

A total of 21 cars entered the race, which was won by Nino Farina, who led an Alfa Romeo 1-2-3 ahead of Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell. Among the crowd of more than 150,000 was the King and Queen — as well as Motor Sport. You can read our original 1950 British Grand Prix report in the Archive

Farina would go on to win two more races that year to become Formula 1’s first world champion.

To celebrate the anniversary, a team of experts at Formula 1 have brought the race footage back to life using a variety of techniques to colourise and enhance the footage.

“Using advanced AI software, reference imagery, and manual painting techniques, the process painstakingly implants the original colours of the scene onto the moving imagery, bringing to life the people and surroundings of that day,” Formula 1 said in a statement explaining the restoration process.

“Specific elements such as the sky, grass, cars, and faces are electronically painted manually to truly bring the scene to life, using images of the cars and subjects, and F1 archive footage, to ensure accuracy.”