1946 Turin Grand Prix
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Turin, Italy
| 1946 Turin Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 1 September 1946 | ||
| Official name | III Gran Premio del Valentino | ||
| Location |
Valentino Park Turin, Italy | ||
| Course | Street circuit | ||
| Course length | 4.489 km (2.789 miles) | ||
| Distance | 60 laps, 269.926 km (167.724 miles) | ||
| Weather | Light rain from lap 30, turning to heavy rain before the finish[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Alfa Romeo | ||
| Time | 2:18.6 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Jean-Pierre Wimille | Alfa Romeo | |
| Time | 2:22.1 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Alfa Romeo | ||
| Second | Alfa Romeo | ||
| Third | Maserati | ||
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.
Technical regulations
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]
The race was run to the 1947 Grand Prix Formula technical regulations, which allowed for either 1500cc supercharged 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]
