1948 Grand Prix season
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In the 1948 Grand Prix season , four so-called Grandes Épreuves were again hosted by France and Italy with the Grand Prix of Monaco , Switzerland (the event also ran under the honorary title Grand Prix of Europe ), France and Italy . For these races, the provisions of the International Grand Prix formula already adopted by the International Automobile Federation FIA for 1947 (racing cars up to 1.5 liters displacement with a compressor or up to 4.5 liters displacement without a compressor; racing distance at least 300 km or at least) also applied three hours of racing), whereby the only change compared to the previous season was the choice of fuel for the races. With the introduction of a second official racing formula (racing cars up to 0.5 liter displacement with a compressor or up to 2 liters displacement without a compressor), designations such as Formule Internationale A and Formule Internationale B were used, from which the terms Formula 1 and Formula 2 were soon derived were.
The dominant team remained Alfa Romeo , which won all European Grandes Épreuves except for the Monaco Grand Prix . The most successful driver was again Jean-Pierre Wimille with two Grand Prix wins in France and Italy. The season also saw Scuderia Ferrari's entry into Grand Prix racing as an independent manufacturer of racing cars. German drivers and racing teams were still excluded from international motorsport.
Season report
In 1948, too, the clear hierarchy among the racing teams involved was retained in Grand Prix racing. The Alfa Romeo team, accustomed to victory , continued to concentrate on participating in only a few really top events - besides the Grand Prix in Switzerland , France and Italy, only the home race on the occasion of the reopening of the Monza racetrack - then always dominated absolutely. The once again improved Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 "Alfetta" were now with over 300 HP by about 50 HP above everything that the competition could offer, and of course the team went again with its three top drivers Jean-Pierre Wimille and Achille Varzi and Carlo Felice Trossi , as well as Consalvo Sanesi , who was established as a regular driver by the workforce , as the clear favorite for the new season.
But despite the ongoing winning streak, Alfa Romeo had dark shadows over the 1948 racing year. After the Monaco Grand Prix at the start of the season, which was included in the international racing calendar for the first time since the end of the war in 1948, had failed Varzi was fatal in training at the team's first appearance at the Swiss Grand Prix. The team around race director Gianbattista Guidotti nevertheless decided to start, so that at the end of the race, which also claimed another fatality with the Swiss Maserati driver Christian Kautz , Trossi and Wimille could cross the finish line to another double victory for Alfa Romeo. At this point, however, Trossi was already suffering from an incurable cancer, which increasingly prevented him from driving as the season progressed, so that the team was practically solely dependent on the services of Wimille for the rest of the year, the one with victories in the Grands Prix of France in Reims-Gueux , of Italy in Valentino Park in Turin and on the restored Monza race track was able to continue the series of successes.
However, whenever Alfa Romeo was not at the start, the races regularly became prey for Maserati , especially after a new Grand Prix model with a tubular frame chassis and two-stage supercharged four-cylinder supercharged engine made its debut at the San Remo race, with Alberto Ascari ahead of Luigi Villoresi promptly landed a double success. On this occasion, the 4CLT / 48 , drawn by Alberto Massimino after the final departure of the Maserati brothers, was also given the honorable surname San-Remo-Maserati . Previously also had in the absence of the Alfetta Giuseppe Farina , who after his dismissal at Alfa Romeo end of 1946 had returned after a year in Grand Prix racing, the Monaco Grand Prix with his own funded older Maserati 4CL victorious with which he had already won the Grand Prix des Nations in Lausanne shortly before . With the Scuderia Ambrosiana - as quasi unofficial factory team - new model used was then on the other hand quite successfully in the second half of the season Villoresi, the issue also includes the yet this year to the Grandes Épreuves counting Grand Prix of the British automobile club RAC as well won the traditional Gran Premio de Penya Rhin on the Circuit de Pedralbes near Barcelona. There was also another Maserati success at the opening race on the new Grand Prix circuit in Zandvoort in the Netherlands by the Siamese Prince Bira .
France had Lago-Talbot started the of the sports car models derived pre-war Grand Prix type Talbot T26C 4.5-liter six-cylinder DOHC produce -Saugmotor in small batches for private clients. With a similar vehicle, Louis Chiron had won the 1947 French Grand Prix against the assembled Maserati phalanx, but the model with only 220 hp clearly lacked power. The main advantage, on the other hand, was the low fuel consumption of the naturally aspirated engine, so that the Talbot drivers, unlike their competitors with the supercharged engines, were able to get through most of the races even without refueling. In the end, however, this was only enough for two wins in comparatively insignificant races at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry by Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Louis Rosier .
By contrast, the entry of Scuderia Ferrari as an independent manufacturer of Grand Prix racing cars had a much more permanent influence on the further course of motorsport history . At the beginning of the season, the Ferrari 166 Inter - mainly by private drivers - was initially only a moderately successful transitional model (a two-seater vehicle with a 2-liter naturally aspirated engine and free-standing wheels, which could therefore be used both as a sports car and a racing car) was used, but Ferrari's first full-fledged Grand Prix model finally appeared in time for the Italian Grand Prix. The comparatively simple 1.5-liter V12 engine of the Ferrari 125 designed by Gioacchino Colombo , unlike the racing cars from Alfa Romeo and Maserati, did not yet have a modern two-stage supercharger, and the model with its, not least, was out Weight reasons, the ultra-short wheelbase and its compact appearance are clearly at a disadvantage compared to the competition in terms of road holding. After all, Giuseppe Farina, who was signed up on an individual basis from race to race, was able to record a first Grand Prix success for the still young racing car brand at the northern Italian Lake Garda race .
The "foundation" of Formula 1 ?
In the literature, the Gran Premio del Valentino at the end of 1946 in Turin is sometimes referred to as the first race according to "Formula 1 rules". In fact, the event was already running according to the technical regulations that corresponded to those of the 1947 season (as well as 1948 to 1953 ). However, these were initially still under the traditional name of Formule Internationale or International Grand Prix Formula . Terms such as Grand Prix Formula I , Formula A or Formula 1 only became necessary to differentiate between the end of 1947, when it was decided to introduce a second official racing formula below the previous International Formula for the first time in Grand Prix history in 1948 .
Before the war , the so-called Voiturette class - racing cars with supercharged engines up to 1.5 liters capacity - had established itself as a kind of unofficial standard below the Grand Prix class, which more and more race organizers had recently followed. After these racing cars were "promoted" to the official Grand Prix category in 1947 by the new international racing formula , there was a corresponding need for a new "small" racing car class, to which the FIA finally approved for 1948 with the adoption of the new "second" International racing formula for racing cars with supercharged engines up to 0.5 liter displacement or with naturally aspirated engines up to 2 liter displacement. In this way, the national automobile clubs were now able to choose between two racing formulas for their official Grands Prix , although the classic automobile nations usually continued to use the International No. No. for their Grandes Épreuves . I held on. In fact, the introduction of Formula 2 also means the end of formula -free races . Theoretically, the race organizers were still free to choose their terms and conditions, but in practice almost all available racing cars from then on corresponded to one of the two racing formulas.
A real foundation of Formula 1 has so basically never happened, because strictly speaking it was the Formula 2 , which has been newly introduced. Instead, Formula 1 is in complete continuity with the International Formula , which can be traced back to the 750 kg formula from 1934 or, in fact, even to the very first official racing formula from 1902 . From a purely conceptual point of view, the Grand Prix de Pau at the beginning of 1948 can therefore be regarded as the first Formula 1 race - thus the first race in the previous Grand Prix class after the introduction of the Second International Racing Formula . So far, however, there is no real evidence when the term Formula 1 was actually applied to a racing event for the first time. With a similar argumentation, the Monaco Grand Prix of 1934 , the Grand Prix de l'ACF of 1906 or even the Paris – Vienna race of 1902 could be described as the origin of Formula 1 .
Next to it is just as wrong and which also frequently encountered equation of Formula 1 with the rounds of the automotive world championship , but only for the 1950 season was introduced, and passing by no means exclusively the 1950s Formula 1 races counted. The British Grand Prix of 1950 is thus the first round of the “modern” automobile world championship (a first brand world championship was held between 1925 and 1927), but by no means the first Formula 1 race in history. By the end of the 1970s, numerous other Formula 1 races were also held outside of the world championship; it was only with the Concorde Agreement of 1981 that the term Formula 1 became a protected brand name for a self-contained racing series .
Racing calendar
Grandes Épreuves
| date | run | route | winner | statistics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16.05. |
 Monaco Grand Prix
|
Circuit de Monaco |
 Giuseppe Farina ( Maserati ) |
statistics |
| 2 | 05/31 |
 Indianapolis 500
|
Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
Mauri Rose ( Deidt - Offenhauser ) |
statistics |
| 3 | 04.07. |
 Swiss Grand Prix( European Grand Prix ) |
Bremgarten circuit |
Carlo Felice Trossi ( Alfa Romeo ) |
statistics |
| 4th | 07/18 |
 French Grand Prix
|
Circuit de Reims-Gueux |
Jean-Pierre Wimille ( Alfa Romeo ) |
statistics |
| 5 | 05.09. |
Italian Grand Prix
|
Parco del Valentino |
Jean-Pierre Wimille ( Alfa Romeo ) |
statistics |
More races
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Race results
Grandes Épreuves
Monaco Grand Prix
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Giuseppe Farina
|
Maserati | 3: 18.26.9 h |
| 2 |
Louis Chiron
|
Talbot-Lago | + 35.2 s |
| 3 |
Toulo de Graffenried
|
Maserati | + 2 rounds |
For the first time after World War II , the drivers met for the Monaco Grand Prix . At the race in Monte Carlo on May 16, 1948 won Giuseppe Farina on Maserati 4CLT ahead of local hero Louis Chiron ( Talbot-Lago T26 ) in the absence of the Alfa-Romeo - factory teams .
Grand Prix of Switzerland / Europe
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Carlo Felice Trossi
|
Alfa Romeo | 1: 59.17.3 h |
| 2 |
Jean-Pierre Wimille
|
Alfa Romeo | + 0.2 s |
| 3 |
Luigi Villoresi
|
Maserati | + 2.37.3 min |
The Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten near Bern on July 4, 1948 ended in disaster: The pre-war star Achille Varzi had a fatal accident in training with his Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 , the Swiss Christian Kautz in the race. The winner was Carlo Felice Trossi, already marked by cancer, in an Alfa Romeo Tipo 158.
French Grand Prix
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jean-Pierre Wimille
|
Alfa Romeo | 3: 01.07.5 h |
| 2 |
Consalvo Sanesi
|
Alfa Romeo | + 24.5 s |
| 3 |
Alberto Ascari
|
Maserati | + 25.0 s |
At the French Grand Prix on July 18, 1948 in Reims-Gueux , the Alfas and Jean-Pierre Wimille showed their skills. The Milan factory drivers Wimille and Sanesi achieved an undisputed victory .
Italian Grand Prix
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jean-Pierre Wimille
|
Alfa Romeo | 3: 10.42.4 h |
| 2 |
Luigi Villoresi
|
Maserati | + 1 lap |
| 3 |
 Raymond Summers
|
Ferrari | + 2 rounds |
This time the Parco del Valentino in Turin was the venue for the Italian Grand Prix on September 5, 1948. Wimille celebrated the second victory in a row.
More races
Grand Prix of the RAC
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Luigi Villoresi
|
Maserati | 3: 18.03.0 h |
| 2 |
Alberto Ascari
|
Maserati | + 14.0 s |
| 3 |
Bob Gerard
|
ERA | + 2.03.0 min |
For the first time, the airport track at Silverstone hosted a major race, the Grand Prix of the Royal Automobile Club on October 2, 1948. Alfa Romeo shied away from the trip across the canal and victory went to Luigi Villoresi in a Maserati 4CLT / 48 of the Scuderia Ambrosiana . Villoresi's team-mate Alberto Ascari came in second .
Gran Premio di Monza
| space | driver | team | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jean-Pierre Wimille
|
Alfa Romeo | 2: 50, 44.4 |
| 2 |
Carlo Felice Trossi
|
Alfa Romeo | + 43.6 |
| 3 |
Consalvo Sanesi
|
Alfa Romeo | + 1.40.0 |
With the Gran Premio di Monza , the route in Monza was reopened on October 17, 1948 after the war. Alfa Romeo celebrated a quadruple victory with Wimille ahead of Trossi, Sanesi and Taruffi .
At the time, no one suspected that it was the last victory of Jean-Pierre Wimille , who died in Argentina in January 1949.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The official type designation was still 4CL as with the previous model, the designation as 4CLT / 48 was only introduced later in the literature for better differentiation, but has since become generally accepted.