:''See also the 125 S, a sports racer sharing the same engine'' The 125 F1 was

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

's first

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car. It shared its engine with the 125 S sports racer which preceded it by a year, but was developed at the same time by

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...

Valerio Colotti Valerio Colotti (19 April 1925 – 19 January 2008) was an Italian automotive engineer, known for his early work with Ferrari and Maserati chassis and transmission systems. Born in Modena, Colotti joined Ferrari in 1948, working under Aurelio Lam ...

and designer,

Gioacchino Colombo Gioachino Colombo (1903–1988) was an Italian automobile engine designer. Colombo was born in Legnano. He began work as an apprentice to Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. In 1937, Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta and caught the attentio ...

. Initially the racer was called 125 GPC for Gran Premio Città or Grand Prix Compressore before the Formula One era.

Mechanical details

The 125 F1 used a

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

1.5-litre

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...

and sported a steel tube-frame chassis with longitudinal and cross members. It had a

double wishbone A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle ...

suspension with a transverse

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...

in front and a

torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

in the rear which was upgraded to a

de Dion tube De Dion rear axle A de Dion tube is a form of non-independent automobile suspension. It is a considerable improvement over the swing axle, Hotchkiss drive, or live axle. Because it plays no part in transmitting power to the drive wheels, it is ...

for 1950.

Worm and sector Recirculating ball, also known as recirculating ball and nut or worm and sector, is a steering mechanism commonly found in older automobiles, off-road vehicles, and some trucks. Most newer cars use the more economical rack and pinion steering ins ...

steering and four-wheel

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...

s were the norm for the time. The wheelbase was uprated to in the 1949 redesign. The chassis and transmission design was by Valerio Colotti. The 125 F1 was powered by Colombo's 1.5-litre (1497 cc/91 in³) V12. It had a

single overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

on each bank of cylinders with a 60° angle between the two banks. The engine had two valves per cylinder fed through one Weber 40DOC3 or 50WCF

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...

. With just a 6.5:1

compression ratio The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values. A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...

, the supercharged engine still produced at 7000 rpm. However, the Roots-type single-stage supercharger was incapable of producing the high-end power required to compete with the strong eight-cylinder

Alfa Romeo 158 The Alfa Romeo 158/159, also known as the ''Alfetta'' (''Little Alfa'' in Italian), is a Grand Prix racing car produced by Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It is one of the most successful racing cars ever; the 158 and its derivative, the 1 ...

and four-cylinder

Maserati 4CLT The Maserati 4CL and its derived sister model the Maserati 4CLT are single-seat open-wheel Grand Prix racing cars that were designed and built by Maserati. The 4CL was introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season, as a rival to the Alfa Rome ...

. Strong driving and a nimble chassis, however, allowed the company to place third in its first outing, at the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...

on 5 September 1948 and the company persevered in racing. For 1949, the engine was further modified with

dual overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

s (though still two valves per cylinder) and a two-stage supercharger. This combination gave the car better top-end performance and the resulting gave it five Grand Prix wins. Development continued the following year, but the problematic superchargers were dropped in favor of larger displacement and Lampredi's 275 engine superseded the original Colombo engine. The original chassis have been lost (used for

Ferrari 275 F1 :''See also the 340 and 375 road cars sharing the same engine'' After finding only modest success with the supercharged 125 F1 car in Formula One, Ferrari decided to switch for 1950 to the naturally aspirated 4.5-litre formula for the series. Ca ...

), but an exact replica with the original Colombo engine currently resides in

Museo Ferrari Museo Ferrari (previously known as Galleria Ferrari) is a Ferrari company museum dedicated to the Ferrari sports car marque. The museum is not purely for cars; there are also trophies, photographs and other historical objects relating to the Ital ...

in Maranello alongside newer Ferrari F1 machines. Ferrari 125 F1 engine.jpg, An early 125 F1 engine Old F1 race cars.jpg, Museo Ferrari

Racing

The 125 F1 debuted at the

on 5 September 1948. Three cars were fielded, with drivers

Prince Bira Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh ( th, พีรพงศ์ภาณุเดช; ; 15 July 191423 December 1985), better known as Prince Bira of Siam (now Thailand) or by his ''nom de course'' B. Bira, was a member of the Chakri dyna ...

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

Nino Farina Emilio Giuseppe Farina, also known as Giuseppe Antonio "Nino" Farina, (; 30 October 1906 – 30 June 1966) was an Italian racing driver and first official Formula One World Champion. He gained the title in 1950. He was the Italian Champion in ...

, and

Raymond Sommer Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950) was a French motor racing driver. He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both and , and altho ...

who placed third in the race.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Indicates shared drive with

Dorino Serafini Teodoro "Dorino" Serafini (22 July 1909 – 5 July 2000) was a motorcycle road racer and racing driver from Italy. A native of Pesaro ( Marche), he won the 1939 500cc European Championship on a Gilera. He participated in one Formula One Worl ...

References

* {{F1 cars 1952 125 F1