Belgian Grand Prix 1925

Race winner Antonio Ascari

Race start

The 1st Belgian Grand Prix took place on June 28, 1925 on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps , a classic street circuit on public roads.

The race also had the AIACR honorary title Grand Prix of Europe and was a race for the first automobile world championship, it was held over 54 laps of 14.98 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 809.06 km. Eligible were works teams from automobile companies whose racing cars complied with the provisions of the international racing formula (displacement limitation to 2 liters, minimum weight 650 kg, two-seater with a body width of at least 80 cm). It was the first Grand Prix race in which no second person was allowed to be a mechanic on board the car. In addition, a racing distance of at least 800 km was specified in the Grand Prix formula.

The winner was Antonio Ascari in an Alfa Romeo P2 .

run

After the withdrawal of the Bugatti and Sunbeam teams , who had declared their cars not "ready to race", a small but high-quality field of seven participants remained. With the three Alfa Romeo P2s from Antonio Ascari , Giuseppe Campari and Gastone Brilli-Peri and four Delage Type 2 LCVs with René Thomas , Robert Benoist , Albert Divo and Paul Torchy at the wheel, the two strongest teams with the best designs of the last two years were represented by the 2 liter formula. However, so far only Divo's car at Delage was already equipped with a compressor, for fear of negative effects on the stability. But while Ascari and Campari took the lead right from the start and didn’t relinquish it until the end of the race, it was characteristic of the three compressorless cars that broke down after a few laps with technical problems in the race. Only Divo was able to hold onto position three ahead of Brilli-Peri, until the Alfa driver and shortly after halfway through the race the last Delage had to give up the race. After that, the two Alfa Romeo drivers who were now only left in the race were able to complete the last 25 laps in peace, before finally, after a total time of just under seven hours, Ascari was the first to cross over with a lead of over 20 minutes. His teammate had to complete the last two laps all by himself.

Legend has it that Alfa Romeo chief designer Vittorio Jano reacted to the pro-French audience by taking a meal in front of the boxes in a demonstratively relaxed manner, for which a table and chairs were set up there.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Automobiles Delage	01	René Thomas	Delage 2 LCV	Delage 2.0L V12
	05	Robert Benoist
	09	Albert Divo
	12	Paul Torchy
SA Ital. Ing.Nicola Romeo	02	Antonio Ascari	Alfa Romeo P2	Alfa Romeo 2.0L I8 compressor	P
	06th	Giuseppe Campari
	10	Gastone Brilli-Peri
Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq Motors	03	Henry Segrave	Sunbeam GP	Sunbeam 2.0L I6 compressor
	07th	Giulio Masetti
	11	Caberto Conelli
Usines Bugatti	04th	Pierre de Vizcaya	Bugatti T35	Bugatti 2.0L I8	M.
	08th	Meo Costantini

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Antonio Ascari	Alfa Romeo	54		6: 42: 57.0 h	2	6: 51.2 min
02	Giuseppe Campari	Alfa Romeo	54		+ 21: 58.0 min	4th
-	Albert Divo	Delage	29		DNF	5		Valve damage
-	Gastone Brilli-Peri	Alfa Romeo	18th		DNF	6th		Suspension damage
-	René Thomas	Delage	6th		DNF	1		Wagon fire
-	Paul Torchy	Delage	2		DNF	7th		Ignition damage
-	Robert Benoist	Delage	2		DNF	3		Leak in the fuel tank
-	Henry Segrave	Sunbeam			DNS			Vehicle not ready to race
-	Giulio Masetti	Sunbeam			DNS			Vehicle not ready to race
-	Caberto Conelli	Sunbeam			DNS			Vehicle not ready to race
-	Pierre de Vizcaya	Bugatti			DNS			Vehicle not ready to race
-	Meo Costantini	Bugatti			DNS			Vehicle not ready to race

Web links

Commons : Belgian Grand Prix 1925  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• I Belgian Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (rundi). 
• Hans Etzrodt: The 1925 Automobile World Championship. www.kolumbus.fi, May 7, 2013, accessed on August 2, 2014 (rundi).