1933 Monaco Grand Prix

Race winner Achille Varzi shortly after crossing the finish line

Duel over 100 rounds; Achille Varzi versus Tazio Nuvolari

The V Monaco Grand Prix ( V Grand Prix de Monaco ) took place on April 3, 1933 on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo . The race was held without a predetermined racing formula for the cars over 100 laps of 3.180 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 318.0 km. Although it was below the minimum distance of 500 km actually prescribed in the regulations of the international Grand Prix races, it was included in the circle of the official Grandes Épreuves for the first time this year .

The winner of the race, which is considered to be one of the most exciting in Grand Prix history, was the Italian Achille Varzi in a Bugatti Type 51 . During training, the German driver Rudolf Caracciola had a serious accident with his Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 type "Monza", as a result of which he was no longer able to participate in automobile races for over a year.

run

Due to the enormous public interest, the almost perfect organization and the consistently excellent cast, the Monaco Grand Prix was included in the highest category for motorsport events, the so-called Grandes Épreuves , for the first time in 1933 . As a special novelty, for the first time ever in Grand Prix history, the positions on the starting grid were assigned based on the lap times achieved in practice. The procedure soon became more and more popular in the other races.

In keeping with the importance of the race, practically all of the top drivers of the time were among the participants. After Alfa Romeo officially withdrew from Grand Prix racing, Scuderia Ferrari had now de facto been promoted to the status of a works team for the Italian car manufacturer. Since the work of the so successful last year Monopostos type Alfa Romeo Tipo B but held back, the team had stattdessenm but the older devices Alfa Romeo type "Monza" recourse, of which the engines of both cars from Tazio Nuvolari and Mario Umberto Borzacchini on 2.65 liters displacement had been drilled out. More "Monzas", but with the original engines of 2.3 liters, were used for their teammates Eugenio Siena and Carlo Felice Trossi , as well as by the two private drivers "Tim" Birkin and Philippe Étancelin as well as by the two top Pilots Louis Chiron and Rudolf Caracciola founded the new racing association Scuderia CC . However, Caracciola had a serious accident while chasing a good training time in the Tobacco Curve, in which he broke his hip, which then put him out of action for over a year.

With Achille Varzi , René Dreyfus and William Grover-Williams (as always driving under the pseudonym "W. Williams"), Bugatti sent its complete works team with its tried and tested Bugatti Type 51 2.3-liter, which is still absolutely competitive on the narrow street circuit. Grand Prix models from 1931 entered the race, as they were also used by the independent drivers Earl Francis Howe , Benoît Falchetto , Marcel Lehoux and László Hartmann .

Maserati , however, competed this year without an official works team. Instead, Luigi Fagioli , Goffredo Zehender and Raymond Sommer had nominally registered their new 3-liter racing cars privately, but as paying customers they were still looked after at the pits by factory mechanics. While Zehender und Sommer had two of the brand-new Maserati 8CM monopostos with 3-liter engines - where the roadholding proved to be in great need of improvement - Fagioli had to or was allowed to be satisfied with a two-seater model from last year, which also only had a 3 -Liter exchange engine.

In sunny, warm weather, Varzi was able to take the lead directly from the best starting position from among the 18 participants. Nuvolari was able to follow his arch-rival closely from the second row and finally passed him for the first time in the tenth lap. This opened one of the most famous duels in motorsport history, which then stretched over the entire race distance and in which there were no fewer than 21 changes in leadership between the two Italians. Even Étancelin and Borzacchini could almost have intervened in this fight, who at the beginning - together with Lehoux - had stayed directly behind the two leaders for a while and were both able to fight each other within striking distance in the middle of the race. On the 69th lap, however, Lehoux broke down with engine damage and Borzacchini was soon unable to keep up with the pace due to a drop in engine power.

The decision was not made until the last lap. Nuvolari drove into the tunnel in the lead, Varzi out first. With an engine failure, Nuvolari had to watch the blue Bugatti drive away. To save second place, Nuvolari jumped out of the car and pushed his Alfa Romeo down towards the port chicane. One of his mechanics as well as some spectators ran onto the track and helped the Italian push. In the meantime, Borzacchini and Dreyfus also drove past, so that Nuvolari came fourth across the line. Because of the unauthorized help from outside (pushing yourself was not an offense at the time), however, this place was subsequently revoked. The engine of Nuvolari's team-mate Borzacchini also went up shortly after crossing the finish line.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Chiron-Caracciola	02	Rudolf Caracciola	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor	M.
	16	Louis Chiron
Bernard Rubin	04th	Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor	D.
Earl Howe	06th	Earl Howe	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor	D.
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	08th	René Dreyfus	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor	M.
	10	Achille Varzi
	12	William Grover-Williams
Benoît Falchetto	14th	Benoît Falchetto	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Philippe Étancelin	18th	Philippe Étancelin	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Marcel Lehoux	20th	Marcel Lehoux	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Jean-Pierre Wimille	22nd	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
László Hartmann	24	László Hartmann	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Scuderia Ferrari	26th	Baconin Borzacchini	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.6L I8 compressor	E.
	28	Tazio Nuvolari
	30th	Eugenio Siena
	32	Carlo Felice Trossi
Luigi Fagioli	34	Luigi Fagioli	Maserati 8C 2300	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor	P
Raymond Summers	36	Raymond Summers	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
	38	Goffredo Zehender
Hans Stuber		Hans Stuber	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Achille Varzi	Bugatti	100		3: 27: 49.400	1	1: 59,000
02	Baconin Borzacchini	Alfa Romeo	100		+ 2: 00,000	3
03	René Dreyfus	Bugatti	99		+ 1 lap	6th
04th	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	97		+ 3 rounds	2
05	Carlo Felice Trossi	Alfa Romeo	97		+ 3 rounds	10
06th	Goffredo Zehender	Maserati	94		+ 6 rounds	11
07th	William Grover-Williams	Bugatti	90		+ 10 rounds	14th
08th	László Hartmann	Bugatti	86		+ 14 rounds	18th
-	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	99		DSQ	4th		Outside help
-	Benoît Falchetto	Bugatti	84		DNF	12		Axle break
-	Philippe Étancelin	Alfa Romeo	69		DNF	5		defective drive shaft
-	Luigi Fagioli	Maserati	61		DNF	7th		Carburetor damage and defective magneto
-	Earl Howe	Bugatti	48		DNF	13		Axle break
-	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Alfa Romeo	28		DNF	8th		Brake defect
-	Marcel Lehoux	Bugatti	25th		DNF	9		defective power transmission
-	Raymond Summers	Maserati	19th		DNF	17th		defective connecting rod
-	Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo	17th		DNF	15th		Differential damage
-	Eugenio Siena	Alfa Romeo	7th		DNF	16		Clutch damage

Web links

Commons : Monaco Grand Prix 1933  - album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• V Monaco Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed September 7, 2014 . 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: V GRAND PRIX de MONACO. www.kolumbus.fi, April 4, 2013, accessed September 7, 2014 .