1948 French Grand Prix

The XXXV. French Grand Prix ( XXI Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France ) took place on July 18, 1948 on the Circuit de Reims-Gueux in France . The race belonged to the Grandes Épreuves category and was awarded according to the regulations of the International Grand Prix Formula or Formula 1 (racing cars with engines up to 1.5 liters displacement with compressor or up to 4.5 liters displacement without compressor; race distance at least 300 km or at least three hours of racing) over 64 laps of 7.816 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 500.224 km.

The winner was Jean-Pierre Wimille with an Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 "Alfetta" . With Consalvo Sanesi and Alberto Ascari in second and third place, the Alfa Romeo team achieved a triple success.

The race

After the makeshift circuit of Lyon-Parilly had proven completely unworthy of a Grand Prix race in the previous year , the French Grand Prix returned to one of its traditional venues in 1948 with the fast triangular course from Reims-Gueux .

Despite the sustained winning streak with the successful “Alfetta” model, the Alfa Romeo team appeared in a very depressed mood for the race. After the accidental death of Achille Varzi during training for the Swiss Grand Prix , Carlo Felice Trossi had to go to a clinic for treatment of his brain tumor immediately after his victory there, so that the formerly so impressive team with Jean-Pierre Wimille only had one firmly committed top rider, who had also made himself quite unpopular with the team management around Gianbattista Guidotti several times in the past by ignoring the stable orders . Consalvo Sanesi , who has now risen to become the second driver, was originally contracted to satisfy the company's own workforce by hiring a “worker” - Sanesi was an employed test driver for the group - but was never able to match his performance reach much more successful teammates. In order to at least somewhat close the gap left by Varzi and Trossi, the up-and-coming young driver Alberto Ascari was added to the team for this one race , following in the footsteps of his father, Antonio Ascari , the winner, who was much more famous at the time the Italian Grand Prix in 1924 and Belgium 1925 , both on Alfa Romeo.

At the same time, Ascari's commitment represented a significant weakening in the camp of the only halfway serious Alfa Romeo competitor so far this season, where Ascari's close friend Luigi Villoresi - who swore after the early accidental death of his brother Emilio in 1939, never for Driving Alfa Romeo - now practically all alone had to hold up the Maserati flag at the wheel of his new Maserati 4CLT / 48, which was used by Scuderia Ambrosiana as a semi-official factory team . Older Maserati models were also driven by Raymond Sommer , Emmanuel de Graffenried and Nello Pagani , but practically had no chance against the overpowering Alfetta from the outset.

Just as inferior, but at least in the meantime much more stable, the Lago-Talbot with their frugal 4.5-liter six-cylinder naturally aspirated engines, of which, in addition to the two pre-war prototypes of Ecurie France with Louis Chiron (on the “Monoplace Centrale ") And Yves Giraud-Cabantous (" Monplace Decalée ") at the wheel meanwhile no less than four current Grand Prix models of the Talbot T26C type for private drivers Philippe Étancelin , Louis Rosier , George Raphaël Béthenod de Montbressieux (aka" Georges Raph ") ) and Gianfranco Comotti - except for Rosier, all of them were Grand Prix veterans of the pre-war period.

Relatively unnoticed by the public, the Grand Prix debut of the Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio , who was still largely unknown in Europe - but who was soon to be counted among the greats of motoring - at the wheel of a significantly underpowered Simca-Gordini T11 Formula 2 -Race car. Finally, the French national racing car CTA-Arsenal showed up again for training , but was finally put aside after another embarrassing performance.

During practice, Wimille with his Alfetta was able to come close to the training record set by Hermann Lang in 1939 on the 3-liter Mercedes-Benz W154, and in the race he was completely unchallenged for the first 20 laps Team-mate Ascari in the lead. The only moment of tension was initially offered by Villoresi, who moved from his rear starting position - the Maserati teams were notorious for arriving late for the training sessions to the races - working forward across the entire field within one lap and even in the second lap left the third-placed Alfa Romeo by Sanesi behind. Soon, however, he had to pay the price for his material-demanding driving style again and from the seventh lap onwards his race basically consisted of a series of regular repair stops for his Maserati, during which the pre-war top star Tazio Nuvolari , who was also registered as a substitute driver , physically and mentally already badly drawn, took over the car for a few laps in the very last Grand Prix outing of his career.

But now more and more problems arose on the Alfa Romeo from Wimille. In the 20th lap, he had to give up his leadership position for the first time due to an unscheduled tire change, but Ascari was reminded from the pits of the stall management and let his team captain pass again a few laps later. After the scheduled refueling stops in the middle of the race, from the 36th lap onwards, Wimille had to visit the pit with a leaked radiator three more times to refill the coolant. Only with great effort did the team manage to slow Ascari as inconspicuously as possible to the audience - including a precautionary pit stop for a thorough inspection of his racing car - to such an extent that Wimille was still able to win as intended in front of a home crowd. Ascari finally bowed to the team order one more time and let Sanesi pass.

In the end, in spite of these adversities, Alfa Romeo even achieved a triple success with Comotti on his Talbot as the best-placed driver of an "external make", two laps behind the winner in fourth place, an expression of total Alfa Romeo dominance.

Remarks

↑ The first race organized as the Grand Prix de l'ACF took place in 1906. In the 1920s, however, the “big” city-to-city races of the early years between 1895 and 1903 were also awarded these titles, although the ACF was founded after the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris 1895 race. This counting method made the event from 1906 the official ninth Grand Prix de l'ACF. This numbering was after the 1968 renaming of the Grand Prix de l'ACF for Grand Prix de France continued further throughout.
↑ Value calculated, who can please add supported information?
↑ 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.

[1] The first race organized as the Grand Prix de l'ACF took place in 1906. In the 1920s, however, the “big” city-to-city races of the early years between 1895 and 1903 were also awarded these titles, although the ACF was founded after the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris 1895 race. This counting method made the event from 1906 the official ninth Grand Prix de l'ACF. This numbering was after the 1968 renaming of the Grand Prix de l'ACF for Grand Prix de France continued further throughout.

[2] Value calculated, who can please add supported information?

[3] 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.