Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Entries 24 drivers were entered for the first race with them competing in 22 different cars. The numbers 7 and 13 were not assigned. The biggest absence was the Scuderia Ferrari who wouldn't compete in the opening race with Enzo Ferrari not sending any cars to Britain with the team debuting at the next round in Monaco. This meant that Alfa Romeo with four drivers for Farina, Fangio, Fagioli and British driver, Reg Parnell. Their main competition was the Maseratis, of Scuderia Ambrosiana and their drivers, David Hampshire and David Murray. Enrico Platé also entered two Maserati's with Prince Bira of Siam and Baron Toulo de Graffenried with the pair not being able to practice on Thursday. Felice Bonetto also entered in a Maserati but wouldn't arrive for the race. Talbot-Lago sent over two factory cars in the traditional French pale blue colour to be driven by Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Eugène Martin. Other private Talbots were entered by Louis Rosier, Philippe Etancelin and Belgian Johnny Claes, in a yellow car. The rest of the field was made up of local machinery, which included four E.R.A.s and two Altas, in British racing green. – Luigi Fagioli qualified and drove all 70 laps of the race in the #3 Alfa Romeo. Gianbattista Guidotti, named substitute driver for the car, was not used at the Grand Prix. – Peter Walker qualified and drove 2 laps of the race in the #9 ERA. Tony Rolt took over the car for 3 laps of the race. – Joe Fry qualified and drove 45 laps of the race in the #10 Maserati. Brian Shawe-Taylor took over the car for 19 laps of the race. – Entry cancelled prior to event. Qualifying Qualifying took place on the Friday and saw the Alfa Romeo's ended up on the front row of the grid as Farina claim the first pole position in the history of Formula One with a time of 1:50.8. Fagioli and Fangio and Parnell would fill the remaining spots on the front row of the grid. Prince Bira was the fastest non-Alfa, 1.8 seconds back with the two Talbot's cars filling in the second row. Qualifying classification Race On 13 May, 21 drivers from 9 countries were represented at the old Silverstone airport, 4 from France, 2 from Italy, 1 each from Belgium, Ireland, Monaco, Argentina, Thailand and Switzerland. The UK was