The 1946 Turin Grand Prix (formally known as the III Gran Premio del Valentino) was a Grand Prixmotor race held on 1 September 1946 on a temporary street circuit at Valentino Park in Turin, Italy. It was the first time the event had been held since the end of the Second World War and is also popularly considered to be the first ever Formula One Grand Prix, as the race regulations anticipated the official introduction of the new International Grand Prix Formula on 1 January 1947, which was to be renamed Formula A and later Formula 1.
The race was attended by 120,000–200,000 spectators.[1][2]
Background
The 1946 Turin Grand Prix was the first Grand Prix to be held in Italy in the post-war era. Given the recentness of the Second World War, the vast majority of the cars on the grid were pre-war voiturette-class racing cars. With the absence of the German manufacturers that dominated the pre-war Grand Prix circuit, the field was instead dominated by the rivalry between fellow Italian manufacturers Alfa Romeo and Maserati.[1]
The Grand Prix was also the motor racing debut of Turin-based Cisitalia, who, despite not qualifying for the race itself, would go on to win the accompanying Coppa Brezzi at the same venue the following Tuesday, with founder Piero Dusio behind the wheel.[3]
Technical regulations
The race was run to the 1947 Grand Prix Formula technical regulations, which allowed for either 1500ccsupercharged engines or 4500cc naturally-aspirated engines.[4] The regulations, while not in force, had been proposed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) as late as March 1946[5] and was approved by the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) on 24 June 1946, in the same meeting that officially changed their name to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).[6] These regulations would remain unchanged throughout the inaugural season of the Formula One World Championship in 1950.
It was widely regarded by contemporary sources that the race would be a test of the new regulations.[4] All the cars that qualified for the race met the 1500cc supercharged specification except for Eugène Chaboud's Delahaye, which ran a 3500cc naturally-aspirated engine in the 4500cc class.[1]
Qualifying
Qualifying took place over the course of the two practice sessions on 30–31 August 1946. Due to a deal with Lotteria della Solidarietà Nazionale, in which 20 lottery tickets would be issued, with the accompanying winning driver earning the ticket-holder the jackpot of one million Lira, the 20 fastest drivers would qualify for the race.[4]
† – Alternative Driver, car originally entered by Louis Chiron
Race
Almost instantly after the start of the race, polesitter Farina experienced an irreparable transmission failure, while Whitehead managed to get into the lead before problems with his supercharger led to him dropping down the order. This left the Alfas to break away from the pack. Maserati's challenge was not aided by team leader Nuvolari, who, seeming to be suffering from suspension problems from the start, lost one of his rear wheels on lap 10. Thankfully, he managed to bring the car to a stop without further incident, though the wheel itself ended up in the Po. The race, typical for the time, was one of high attrition; half of the field had retired by the mid-point when the rain began.[1] In the end, the front-runners consisted of Wimille in first and Varzi in second, but still in hot pursuit. It seemed as though Wimille would be able to keep the lead until the end of the race, until lap 50 when the Alfa Romeo team held out a pit board for Wimille reading "1. Varzi; 2. Wimille", dictating the desired finishing order. Wimille then allowed Varzi past to give him the victory.[10][11]Sommer crossed the line two laps down to take third, and the crowd was very impressed with Chaboud's drive, having started last and finishing fourth, albeit five laps down to the leaders.[1]
While Maserati would go on to win the majority of Grands Prix in 1946, the dominance of Alfa Romeo under the new formula regulations would prove itself consistent as the team would go on to dominate the following years, ultimately resulting in their car winning the first two seasons of the Formula One Championship in an equally dominant fashion.
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Jean-Pierre Wimille 
