Grand Prix season 1925
For the 1925 Grand Prix season , the world automobile association AIACR announced for the first time an automobile world championship, in which only automobile manufacturers could participate.
The four main races of the year, classified as Grandes Épreuves , the Indianapolis 500 in the USA and the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps , which this year held the honorary title of the European Grand Prix , the French Grand Prix, served as the races , officially Grand Prix de l ' ACF , at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry and the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza north of Milan . Due to the victories in the races in Belgium and Italy, the world championship title fell to the Italian company Alfa Romeo .
In addition, other races were held - mostly in Italy , including the Targa Florio in Sicily , the Coppa Montenero in Livorno and the Coppa Acerbo in Pescara . The San Sebastián Grand Prix in Spain was also of international importance.
Season description
The last year of the 2-liter formula was crowned by the introduction of the first automobile world championship, which, following the philosophy of the Grand Prix races at the time, was a purely company competition. Only automobile companies with their official works teams were eligible to take part, but there was no rating for the drivers. As World Championship races were the 500-mile race at Indianapolis , the first discharged Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps (same as European Grand Prix ) and the Grand Prix of France at the new circuit of Linas-Montlhéry and Italy in Monza .
With the inclusion of Indianapolis in the World Championship, a certain alignment of the racing formulas between Europe and the USA had to take place. The Americans also had a capacity limit of 2 liters, but single-seater racing monopostos have been allowed there since 1923 . From the AIACR was now in the International Formule also the elimination of co-drivers and mechanics on board the racing car required - - the International Grand Prix Formula - for 1925 - initially on a trial basis for one year. However, the vehicles still had to have two seats with a minimum width of 80 cm at the height of the cockpit. Strictly speaking, the race in Indianapolis did not exactly comply with these rules because the American single-seaters did not meet the minimum width, and there were also minor deviations in the prescribed minimum weight. However, since the American racing cars were all over 650 kg and because no significant exchange between the two worlds with their completely different types of racetracks was to be expected anyway, the AIACR did not take this fact very seriously in order to get through the overseas race To preserve the character of a real world championship. On the other hand, German companies - especially DMG , of course - were excluded from participating in the World Cup because the country was only accepted again as a full member of the AIACR in the course of the year. German cars were admitted to the Italian Grand Prix in 1923 and 1924, but the national automobile clubs in Belgium and France continued to oppose German cars taking part in their Grand Prix.
For the evaluation of the awarding of the title, a point system, which is quite opaque and unfortunate from today's point of view, with a combination of compulsory races and discarded results was selected, in which the winner of a race received one point, the second-placed two points and the third three points. All other participants who crossed the finish line were awarded four points, failures were awarded five points and missed races were awarded six points. Only the best placement of a racing car from one brand counted. In the end, the world champion was the team that had the fewest points in the addition of the three best results of the season, although both participation in the Italian Grand Prix - the Italian Automobile Club RACI was the driving force behind the introduction of the World Cup - and was mandatory for each manufacturer's home race.
Practically all teams competed with improved cars from the previous year. Alfa Romeo had further improved the successful 1924 Alfa Romeo P2 model and increased the performance of the compressor - charged eight-cylinder in-line unit from 140 to 155 hp by installing a second carburetor. Regular drivers were again Antonio Ascari and Giuseppe Campari , then there was the Italian Gastone Brilli-Peri and the American Peter DePaolo, who had a fatal accident in the French Grand Prix, was replaced by the American Peter DePaolo . The Italians' strongest opponent was again Delage , where chief designer Louis Planchon had finally given in to necessity and, together with Albert Lory , equipped the Delage Type 2 LCV twelve-cylinder with a Roots blower during the season . With over 180 HP at 7,000 revolutions, sensational values were achieved for the time. Despite the revised chassis, the drivers René Thomas , Albert Divo , Louis Wagner , Robert Benoist and Paul Torchy had problems with reliability and with getting this engine power onto the road. At Sunbeam , Henry Segrave , Giulio Masetti and Caberto Conelli had to be content with the practically unchanged six-cylinder from the previous year with an output of around 150 hp.
Ettore Bugatti, on the other hand, was still vehemently opposed to engine charging, which in his opinion was at the expense of stability. With only around 90 hp from its eight-cylinder in-line engine, the Bugatti Type 35 was clearly at a disadvantage compared to its competitors. However, Bugatti focused on selling this first freely available Grand Prix car to private drivers, for which virtues such as easy handling, good-natured driving behavior and easy maintainability were much more important. So they were not interested in a serious participation in the World Cup and more than satisfied with victories in the Premio Reale di Roma by Carlo Masetti and in the prestigious Targa Florio with Bartolomeo Costantini . In addition to these two, the two brothers Pierre and Ferdinand de Vizcaya , as well as Giulio Foresti and old master Jules Goux, took the wheel again in Grand Prix races for the Alsatian plant.
Among the other models are the Diatto , the first Grand Prix car developed by the Maserati brothers - also with a compressor-loaded eight-cylinder in-line engine of 130 hp - the design by Albert Guyot , who now uses the old Rolland-Pilain chassis with a compressor-loaded six-cylinder Equipped with a valve motor of 125 HP according to the patents of Burt-McCollum and to mention the self-made Eldridge Special by Ernest Eldridge , which, however, could at best assume outsider roles and only participated in individual races. For the same reasons, the American Duesenberg and Miller were also out of the question for the World Cup victory, whose designs were mainly adapted to the oval courses popular there.
The Indianapolis victory by Duesenberg (with Peter DePaolo and Norman Batten ) before Miller ( Dave Lewis and Bennett Hill ) only played a subordinate role in the outcome of the World Cup. The subsequent Belgian Grand Prix, which was held for the first time this year and was also chosen for the European Grand Prix this season, was completely different. After the withdrawal of Sunbeam and Bugatti, whose cars were supposedly not ready to race, the two main competitors with a total of seven cars remained with Alfa Romeo and Delage. Of the four Delages, only Divo's car was already equipped with a compressor and the race soon became a rather monotonous affair due to the Delages' poor stability. Shortly after half-time, only the two Alfas from Ascari and Campari were in the race, who then crossed the finish line in that order.
The French Grand Prix, which for the first time in its history was held on an "artificial" racecourse in Linas-Montlhéry, was a whole lot more dramatic, albeit with a tragic outcome. In addition to the rivals from Spa-Francorchamps, the Sunbeam and Bugatti teams were now at the start, a total of 14 cars. Right at the beginning, two Alfa Romeos were in the front again, but Delage driver Benoist did not let himself be shaken off until Ascari, who was in the lead, had a fatal accident in his Alfa Romeo on a wet road. The Milan team then immediately withdrew their remaining cars from the race, in which Delage, driven alternately by Benoist and Divo, crossed the finish line in front of team-mates Wagner and Torchy in second place and Masetti's Sunbeam in third place. Behind them, the entire Bugatti team came in fourth to eighth, albeit with larger intervals between 14 and 55 minutes.
With one win and one retirement each, Alfa Romeo and Delage were now tied at the top of the championship standings, but before the all-important Italian Grand Prix, the French team avoided a direct confrontation and gave away a certain victory in the race San Sebastián preferred to losing to Alfa Romeo at their home race in Monza. Since Sunbeam had not registered either and Bugatti only competed with 1.5-liter versions of their cars in the Voiturette class, which was being held at the same time, the victory for Alfa Romeo - and with it the title win - hardly seemed to be in doubt. After all, among the 16 participants, Tommy Milton and Peter Kreis were two drivers for Duesenberg who also had theoretical chances for the title after the Indianapolis victory and who, with their powerful racing cars, could keep up surprisingly well with the Alfa Romeo. Thrown back by technical problems, Milton finally finished fourth, while at the top Alfa Romeo with Brilli-Peri and the second car handed over to Giovanni Minozzi by Campari clinched a one-two victory over the constant Bugatti driver Costantini.
This made Alfa Romeo the first world champion in automotive history. To commemorate this, the brand emblem was surrounded by a laurel wreath until the 1980s.
Racing calendar
Grandes Épreuves
| date | run | route | winner | statistics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 05/30 |
 Indianapolis 500
|
Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
Peter DePaolo ( Duesenberg ) |
statistics |
| 2 | 28.06. |
 Belgian Grand Prix( European Grand Prix ) |
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps |
 Antonio Ascari ( Alfa Romeo ) |
statistics |
| 3 | 07/26 |
 ACF Grand Prix
|
Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry |
Robert Benoist / Albert Divo ( Delage ) |
statistics |
| 4th | 06.09. |
Italian Grand Prix
|
Autodromo di Monza |
Gastone Brilli-Peri ( Alfa Romeo ) |
statistics |
More races
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References
Web links
- Hans Etzrodt: GRAND PRIX WINNERS 1895-1949. www.kolumbus.fi, January 5, 2014, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- 1925 Grand Prix. (No longer available online.) Www.teamdan.com, archived from the original on February 7, 2019 ; accessed on February 17, 2020 (English).
- Hans Etzrodt: The 1925 Automobile World Championship. www.kolumbus.fi, May 7, 2013, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Sheldon, A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing : "At least anyone who could beg, borrow, or steal the necessary money could buy a race-ready machine without major modifications