The first F1 race: 1946 Turin Grand Prix

When World War II ended in 1945 the appetite for a return of championship motorsport returned almost immediately, and the FIA got straight to work commissioning a new set of regulations that would govern a premier series of single-seater racing.

An ‘International Formula’ was drawn up in the Spring of 1946, with the intention of introducing the rules for worldwide competition in 1947. Initially, these regulations had no official designation, Formula A, Formula I and Formula 1 were all suggested, while Voiturettes were renamed Formula B, Formula II or Formula 2. It wasn’t until Formula 3 was internationally recognised in 1950 that Formula 1 was officially named.

In its original form, F1 as it would become known, was a formula centred on engine capacity. Much of the regulation that governed pre-war competition remained in place for the early years, since most of the available machinery had been built in the 1930s, but engine eligibility had been tightened up to ensure a better balance between different types of cars.

F1 events would be opened up for non-supercharged 4.5-litre Grand Prix cars and supercharged 1.5-litre ‘Voiturettes’, and while plans for an official Championship were ongoing, the racing got underway almost immediately.

But the landscape had changed since the European Drivers’ Championships that were dominated by the Germans before the outbreak of war, and it was the Italians that were best placed to get back up to speed. Alfa Romeo and Maserati were keen to get their toys back out to play, and they weren’t prepared to wait for the rest of the world to get their act together.

So, plans were put in place for the first Grand Prix on Italian soil since the end of the war, and it would take place on a temporary street circuit around Valentino Park in Turin.

Alfa brought a squad of five 158s to compete alongside a host of Maseratis. A selection of 4CLs, 4CMs and 6CMs were all on the entry list, run either by Scuderia Milano or by private owners. Twenty places were opened up for the starting grid and three British representatives managed to qualify in their ERAs, while a single Delahaye, the only naturally-aspirated car in the field, proved the extent of France’s involvement in this experimental event.

Although not an officially sanctioned F1 race, this was the first time the new regulations were put to use, and it signalled what was to come over subsequent years. Achile Varzi qualified on pole position in his Alfa Romeo 158 as the Alfas locked out the first four positions on the grid with Carlo Felice Trossi, Jean-Piere Wimille and Giuseppe Farina. Giorgio Pelassa, Louis Chiron and Tazio Nuvolari, meanwhile, put up a stern challenge behind in a trio of Maserati 4CLs.

Farina suffered a transmission failure right at the start, but Wimille and Varzi were able to pull out a significant advantage at the front as rain began to fall. Raymond Sommer’s Maserati 4CL was the closest challenger to the leading Alfas, and the Delahaye of Eugene Chaboud made good time to climb to fourth by the end.

After 60 laps and a little more than two and a half hours, it was Varzi who came home to take the chequered flag, reportedly after his Alfa Corse team implemented team orders to request Wimille allow his Italian team-mate through. The pair finished only 0.8 seconds apart, two laps ahead of Sommer.

F1 evolved quickly in the aftermath of the Turin Grand Prix, with follow up events taking place at a similarly unofficial Swedish Winter Grand Prix in 1947, won by Reg Parnell in an ERA, and the 1947 Pau Grand Prix, which is widely considered the first ‘official’ F1 Grand Prix on 4^th April that same year.

The Grand Prix season continued to expand through the rest of the decade, before the Formula 1 World Championship was inaugurated in 1950. After 75 years, the sport looks very different to how it did then, but the DNA of that day in Turin remains present when the lights go out on a Sunday afternoon.

Images courtesy of Getty images.