The 1946 Turin Grand Prix (formally known as the III Gran Premio del Valentino) was a Grand Prix motor 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.

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.

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.

Technical regulations The race was run to the 1947 Grand Prix Formula technical regulations, which allowed for either 1500cc supercharged engines or 4500cc naturally-aspirated engines. The regulations, while not in force, had been proposed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) as late as March 1946 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). 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. 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.

Lotteria della Solidarietà Nazionale A unique aspect of this event was its association with the Lotteria della Solidarietà Nazionale (National Solidarity Lottery). A large number of tickets were sold to the public across Italy. From these, twenty winning tickets were drawn and paired with the twenty fastest drivers in practice. The ticket holder paired with the winning driver earned a jackpot of 25 million Lira. The second and third-place pairings won 5 million and 3.85 million Lira respectively, and all twenty drawn ticket holders were guaranteed a consolation prize of 250,000 Lira.

Qualifying Qualifying took place over the course of the two practice sessions on 30–31 August 1946. Because of the event's association with the Lotteria della Solidarietà Nazionale, only the top twenty qualifiers formed the starting grid.

Qualifying classification PosNoDriverTeamCarTime18 Giuseppe FarinaAlfa CorseAlfa Romeo 1582:18.6252 Jean-Pierre WimilleAlfa CorseAlfa Romeo 1582:19.0354 Carlo Felice TrossiAlfa CorseAlfa Romeo 1582:20.6446 Achille VarziAlfa CorseAlfa Romeo 1582:20.8522 Consalvo SanesiAlfa CorseAlfa Romeo 1582:22.4648 Tazio NuvolariScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:24.6756 Louis ChironEcurie AutosportMaserati 4CL2:28.2816 Giorgio PelassaScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:28.8924 Raymond SommerScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:29.61058 Franco CorteseScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:30.61128 Arialdo RuggieriScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:30.81240 Enrico PlatéScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:31.41342 Reg ParnellPrivate entryERA C2:31.81444 Guido BarbieriPrivate entryMaserati 4CL2:33.21550 Peter WhiteheadPrivate entryERA E2:34.21636 Henri LouveauScuderia MilanoMaserati 4CL2:35.0174 Discoride LanzaEcurie TricoloreMaserati 4CM2:36.61864 Emilio RomanoPrivate entryMaserati 4CL2:36.61918 Leslie BrookePrivate entryERA B2:38.22010 Eugène ChaboudEcurie FranceDelahaye 135S2:39.2DNQ2 "Raph"Ecurie Naphtra CourseMaserati 6CM2:39.4DNQ68 Ciro Basadonna†Ecurie AutosportMaserati 4CL2:44.2DNQ34 Piero DusioCompagnia Industriale Sportiva ItaliaCisitalia D462:45.4DNQ6 Harry SchellEcurie Lucy O'Reilly SchellMaserati 6CM2:46.8DNQ26 Piero TaruffiCompagnia Industriale Sportiva ItaliaCisitalia D462:48.6DNQ12 Georges GrignardEcurie FranceDelahaye 1352:49.2DNQ62 Luigi "Gigi" PlatéPrivate entryTalbot-Darracq 7003:00.2DNA14 Secondo CorsiPrivate entryMaserati -DNA20 Toulo de GraffenriedEcurie AutosportMaserati 4CL -DNA30 Roger WormserPrivate entryMaserati 6CM -DNA32 Ciro BasadonnaEcurie AutosportMaserati 4CL -DNA60 Gianni CattinaPrivate entryMaserati -DNA66 Giacomo PalmieriPrivate entryMaserati 4CL -DNA70 Eric VerkadeEcurie AutosportMaserati 4CL -Sources: Notes

† – 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. 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. 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.

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.

Race classification PosNoDriverTeamCarLapsTime/RetiredGrid 1 46 Achille Varzi Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 60 2:35:45.84 2 52 Jean-Pierre Wimille Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 60 +0.82 3 22 Raymond Sommer Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 58 +2 Laps9 4 10 Eugène Chaboud Ecurie France Delahaye 135S 55 +5 Laps20 5 26 Enrico Platé Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 55 +5 Laps12 6 54 Carlo Felice Trossi Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 51 +9 Laps3 7 56 Louis Chiron Ecurie Autosport Maserati 4CL 50 +10 Laps7 8 18 Leslie Brooke Private entry ERA B 50 +10 Laps19 9 4 Discoride Lanza Ecurie Naphtra Course Maserati 4CM 48 +12 Laps17 Ret 44 Christian Kautz† Private entry Maserati 4CL 32 Engine14 Ret 50 Peter Whitehead Private entry ERA E 30 Gearbox15 Ret 36 Henri Louveau Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 25 Collision16 Ret 40 Franco Cortese Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 16 Magneto10 Ret 28 Arialdo Ruggieri Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 11 Supercharger11 Ret 48 Tazio Nuvolari Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 9 Lost wheel6 Ret 16 Giorgio Pelassa Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CL 8 Lost wheel8 Ret 24 Consalvo Sanesi Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 6 Ignition5 Ret 64 Emilio Romano Private entry Maserati 4CL 2 Ignition18 Ret 42 Reg Parnell Private entry ERA C 1 Gearbox13 Ret 8 Giuseppe Farina Alfa Corse Alfa Romeo 158 0 Differential 1Sources:

Notes

† – Alternative Driver, car originally entered by Guido Barbieri

References