1931 Monaco Grand Prix

Monte Carlo

The 1931 Monaco Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Circuit de Monaco on 19 April 1931.

With 16 Bugattis in a field of 23 cars, the event was close to being a single-make race. Among the 16 were four factory-team Type 51s driven by the Monegasque Louis Chiron, the Italian Achille Varzi and the French Albert Divo and Guy Bouriat. The real challenge came from the Maserati 8C 2500's driven by René Dreyfus, the Italian Luigi Fagioli and Clemente Bondietti. Rudolf Caracciola with his huge Mercedes SSKL (Super Sport Short Light-Weight) was uncompetitive as his larger car performed poorly around the tight Monaco track.

The race was between the blue cars from Molsheim and the red ones from Modena. When the start flag dropped it was Rene Dreyfus in his red Maserati who led into St. Devote, only to be passed by 'Williams' on the hill to the Casino, but his lead was short-lived as the Brit was sidelined by a broken valve spring, and his race was over. Achille Varzi and Caracciola started closing on Dreyfus and Varzi managed to overtake the Frenchman on the 7th lap. Caracciola struggled with a slipping clutch that gave in on lap 53.

Starting slowly, Louis Chiron eventually displayed his talents; gaining back ground with a new lap record time. He caught up with all his opponents and left them behind. Chiron, a native of Monaco, finished the race some 5 minutes ahead of Luigi Fagioli.

Jean Bugatti could not control his joy and jumped over the parapet of the bleachers and fell into Louis Chiron's arms. For the Monegasque, this Monaco Grand Prix victory really confirmed his reputation.

Louis Chiron's victory at Monaco would be the last for a Monegasque for 93 years until Charles Leclerc won the 81st edition of the event.

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	1	2	3	4	5	6	Ret	7	8	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNA	DNA	DNA
22	MCO Louis Chiron	Bugatti T51	100	3:39:09.2	11
52	ITA Luigi Fagioli	Maserati 26M	100	+3:55.4	14
26	ITA Achille Varzi	Bugatti T51	100	+4:04.0	10
20	FRA Guy Bouriat	Bugatti T51	98	+2 laps	20
46	ITA Goffredo Zehender	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 GS	97	+3 laps	13
38	FRA André Boillot	Peugeot 174S	96	+4 laps	8
50	FRA René Dreyfus	Maserati 26M	91	Magneto	1
48	ITA Clemente Biondetti	Maserati 26M	91	+9 laps	9
12	GBR Clifton Penn-Hughes	Bugatti T35	89	+11 laps	15
30	POL Stanislas Czaykowski	Bugatti T35B	85	+15 laps	21
24	FRA Albert Divo	Bugatti T51	66	Engine	6
10	GBR Earl Howe	Bugatti T51	62	Oil pipe/engine	17
56	CHE Hans Stuber	Bugatti T35C	59	Drive shaft	2
16	DEU Bernhard Ackerl	Bugatti T37A	55	Transmission	3
8	DEU Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz SSKL	53	Clutch/engine	5
18	CHL Juan Zanelli	Bugatti T35B	47	Piston	19
4	DEU Hermann zu Leiningen	Bugatti T35C	31	Gearbox	22
6	DEU Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen	Bugatti T35B	28	Transmission	12
2	DEU Ernst-Günther Burggaller	Bugatti T35B	26	Engine	18
32	FRA Marcel Lehoux	Bugatti T35B	15	Transmission	7
54	CHE Carlo Pedrazzini	Maserati 26B	13	Ignition	23
28	FRA Philippe Étancelin	Bugatti T35C	6	Piston	16
34	GBR William Grover-Williams	Bugatti T35C	5	Valve	4
14	GBR Henry Birkin	Maserati 26M
36	RUS Boris Ivanowski	Mercedes-Benz SSK
40	ITA Luigi Arcangeli	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750
42	ITA Baconin Borzacchini	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750
44	ITA Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300
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