The Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship this summer – a significant landmark in the history of motor racing’s premier category. But the series that began at Silverstone in May 1950 is not the only World Championship to hit a big anniversary this year…
The 75th F1 celebrations will include a Prologue category to doff the proverbial cap to what was known as the Manufacturers’ World Championship, the very first for Grand Prix cars held precisely a century ago, featuring cars that raced in the series that ran for only three seasons, and the subsequent European Drivers’ Championship held throughout the 1930s.
That first attempt at establishing a global championship proved underwhelming and it faded long before the decade was done. Both were sanctioned by the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR), the forerunner to the FIA – and as the tale of the inaugural World Championship relates, turmoil, politics and controversy were integral to Grand Prix racing a century ago as much as they are today.
The first constructors’ world champion is Vanwall, in 1958 – right? Yes, in F1 terms – but no, not when it comes to Grand Prix racing. That honour falls to Alfa Romeo, which claimed the inglorious first title in 1925. It mattered, to the great Italian car maker if no one else. The laurel wreath that adorned its cloverleaf badge until 1972 was an addition in the wake of that achievement.
The groundwork for the Manufacturers’ World Championship was laid in 1923 when influential French magazine L’Auto suggested the idea of a global series. But the regulations that were subsequently put forward ultimately proved its undoing. And it seems, much like Ferrari carrying heavy influence in the later F1 era, Alfa was the dominant force behind its direction of travel. It proposed a series of five races, each of a minimum distance of 800km, run for Grand Prix cars complying to what was the current 2-litre formula – which just happened to perfectly suit its potent P2 model powered by an in-line eight-cylinder engine.
Motorsport was burgeoning in the mid-1920s, with races major and minor playing out all over mainland Europe, and at Brooklands in Britain. But for the Manufacturers’ World Championship (note, it wasn’t for drivers), just five rounds were proposed. As in the 1950s, there was an effort to encourage inclusivity with the large American automotive market, and the honour of the first round was awarded to the Indianapolis 500.
The other races listed were the Grand Prix d’Europe, which in 1925 would be held at Spa-Francorchamps, the Grand Prix de l’ACF in France, and the British and Italian Grands Prix. Except Brooklands declined its invitation to host, in the face of ongoing disputes over the noise factor at the Surrey speedbowl. Some things don’t change.
So, four rounds, not five – one of which the European manufacturers would ignore. As for the points allocation, it jars now and perhaps did then, too. The best three scores would be counted, with points only awarded to each manufacturer based on their best finisher. And the scoring system was counterintuitive: the winner would be awarded one point, the runner-up two, third place three and so on. So, the manufacturer with the fewest points on the board at the end of the season would be champion.
Scheduling the Indy 500 as the opening round means the first manufacturer to win a World Championship Grand Prix is American – in the form of Duesenberg. The entry at the Brickyard in 1925 was select but of decent quality, and dominated by slim Millers. It was Duesenberg which prevailed, thanks to the strenuous efforts of Pete DePaolo.
Mid-race, blistered hands led him to hand over to relief driver Norman Batten, before resuming to chase down the novel front-wheel-drive Miller of Dave Lewis, who was also relieved before the finish, by Bennett Hill. The only European entry was a Fiat driven by Pietro Bordino, who was classified tenth.
The first European round was the Spa Grand Prix that featured just seven entries (it doesn’t exactly sound like a thriller). The four works Delages were out by lap six of 54, leaving just two of the Alfa Romeos to make the finish, Antonio Ascari leading home Giuseppe Campari – by nearly 22 minutes. A tale that Alfa’s drivers took a mid-race break for lunch is said to be apocryphal.
A stronger 14-car field featuring Sunbeam and Bugatti showed up for the third round on the newly constructed Montlhéry course not far from Paris. Once again, the V12 Delages had no answer to the Alfa Romeos as Ascari pushed on into an early and convincing lead. A late decision to run the race in an anticlockwise direction had been criticised as dangerous, but not by Ascari, who pressed on regardless.
Thirty years before his double-World Champion son, Alberto, would die at the wheel of a racing car while testing at Monza, Ascari Sr. made a small error with terrible consequences. His Alfa was pitched into a roll that proved fatal. Alfa Corse subsequently withdrew, leaving Robert Benoist and Albert Divo to share victory for Delage. But inevitably the tragedy of Ascari, Europe’s best-known Grand Prix driver of the day, clouded the occasion.
At least a showdown was set to enliven the championship for the final round at Monza in September, yes? No. Delage cocked a snook and, avoiding perhaps inevitable humiliation on Alfa’s hallowed home ground, stayed away – preferring to take the easy pickings of the San Sebastián Grand Prix in Spain a couple of weeks later.
Duesenberg chose to travel, heading across the Atlantic for a serious bid and setting up a Europe vs America narrative for the season climax. But the US car maker had lost its star driver; Indy winner DePaolo defected to Alfa Corse for this race, in place of the fallen Ascari.
The supercharged Duesenberg, carrying some modifications to at least show willingness to match Europe’s 2-litre Grand Prix formula, would be well-suited to Monza’s bowled sections. Tommy Milton and Pete Kreis led the American charge, the latter streaking into an early lead – only to spin out. Milton led on occasion, too, but a long stop to repair an oil pipe limited him to a fourth-placed finish.
Meanwhile, Alfa claimed its laurel wreath. Campari was not at his best, battered by a crash in practice, and DePaolo was acclimatising to a new and very different car, so the superbly named Gastone Brilli-Peri secured the win and the title. Alfa Corse kept its points tally down to seven, with Duesenberg on 11 and Bugatti on 13.
An expansion to six rounds in 1926 included a Spanish Grand Prix in Lasarte, while Brooklands had overcome its local troubles to host the inaugural RAC Grand Prix. Was this the first ‘British Grand Prix’? That’s the general claim, as seen in period race reports. But pedants have pointed out ‘British’ was never in the official title (the pre-F1 World Championship 1949 Silverstone race was the first to formally carry the ‘British Grand Prix’ moniker).
The World Championship’s sophomore season was undermined before it began by the withdrawal from motor racing of Alfa Romeo, which cited high development costs for its decision. Following that blow, the AIACR adjusted to the new 1.5-litre formula. Louis Delage publicly recognised and sympathised with Alfa’s plight. These Grand Prix cars were expensive to make, with little obvious link to road-going automobiles – another familiar trope. But still, he remained committed to the season – only for Bugatti’s Type 35, racing in modified 1.5-litre Type 39A guise, to claim the title honours with three victories and a second place.
But the last World Championship (for now) would be Delage’s. Its brand-new twin-supercharged engine left Bugatti with no answer. As today, Grand Prix motor racing was a development arms race and nothing remained the same for long. The sharp and sonorous 15-S-8 swept the board with four clear victories for Benoist – although then as now, domination is never a good thing for the health of a series.
The World Manufacturers’ Championship dwindled in 1928, with just one race complying to the regs of a deluded AIACR. A World Title wasn’t awarded and the concept of a glorious global series allying European Grand Prix racing to America’s oval scene was quietly forgotten.
A new European Drivers’ Championship run to Formula Libre regulations kicked off a bright new era – but that’s another story. For now, the World Championship was a busted flush. Still, it existed, it happened and we haven’t forgotten. Just check out the glorious cars that raced for its crown when you get to the Festival of Speed, as proof.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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