Bologna's Indoor F1 races- Were these the last non-Championship F1 Events?

"Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)" (thejonnyedge)
03/02/2014 at 10:29 • Filed to: FORMULA 1, HISTORY, F1 HISTORY, TARQUINI, MINARDI

Non-Championship F1 events used to be a normal part of the F1 calender through the years. Only some races were chosen to count towards the final championship standings. For example, in 1950 twenty-two races were held but only six of those counted towards the World Championship. Many people believe the final of these non-Championship F1 events held to be the 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, but a few other sources claim it was something much, much different.

Between 1988 and 1996 the Bolonga Motor Show hosted an event called the 'Trofeo Indoor Formula 1'. The event was curiously, an outdoor sprint race that was held around a short, tight, and twisty course at the motor show. At the very first event in 1988, the first teams showed up. They were; Minardi, EuroBrun, Osella, BMS Dallara, and FIRST. The latter were actually not an F1 constructor at the time and instead entered their Formula 3000 car which was 5 seconds off the pace. The competitors were arranged into three quarter finals which were to be head to head sprints around the short track and the fastest loser from those would also go through into the semi finals. The '88 event was won by Luis Perez-Sala in the Minardi after the other finalist Alex Caffi crashed, and every year (excluding 1994) the event was held up until 1996, where a young Italian by the name of Giancarlo Fisichella won driving his Benetton in the final Indoor Trophy event to be held.

The event was held in December of each year around a small track around 1.3km long and a good time was considered around 52 seconds. You won't be suprised to know that because it was held in winter, the event was often very cold and wet and these conditions combined with the tricky circuit meant the event was actually rather challenging. It wasn't uncommon for some drivers to have accidents, Jarno Trulli doing just that in 1996. As the course diagram above shows, high speeds were also reached.

In 1997 it was decided that the event would become a Formula 3000 only occasion, and this small Formula 1 event with past winners such as Rubens Barrichello, Johnny Herbet and Gabriele Tarquini was no more.

I was so interested when I heard about this event that I actually e-mailed the FIA this morning to ask them if they ever sanctioned the event in Bologna, and if they officially recognise any particular event as being the last non-Championship event run. When I asked a local F1 expert, he told me that the chances are they didn't, as the event was held in the off-season and it wasn't a traditional race. He also told me that non-Championship events were usually held during the course of a season. This all makes perfect sense to me, but it didn't stop me asking the FIA anyway and I'm looking forward to receiving some answers from them regarding this matter. In the meantime I'd like to leave you with a fantastic link to a list of drivers and teams who competed in this exciting event, in which you'll find Minardi are the most successful team ever to compete. Although none of the top teams ever competed, a number of talented and famous competitors entered this event. JJ Lehto, Michele Alboreto, Alex Zanardi to name a few. Could it also be that Fisichella and not Keke Rosberg was the last man to win a non-Championship F1 event? If I receive a reply from the FIA, I'll be sure to post another blog entry, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this story of perhaps the final non-Championship event in F1.

COMPLETE LIST OF RESULTS AND ENTRANTS OF THE TROFEO INDOOR FORMULA 1

Credits

Scott Russell at GlobalF1.net, who first wrote about this event in 2009.

f1nostaliga.blogspot.co.uk, who provided the title photo of Antonio Tamburini lining up on the start line at the 1991 event in the Andrea Moda F1 car.

DISCUSSION (11)

KnowsAboutCars > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/02/2014 at 10:37

Interesting piece of F1 trivia. Thanks for posting!

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > KnowsAboutCars
03/02/2014 at 10:43

Thank you for reading! I thought it was very interesting too, I hope everybody finds it to be a nice little bit of Sunday reading!

MFEJAL grey because who knows... > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/02/2014 at 16:02

thank you for sharing this amazing piece of information. I'm an avid reader and never knew about this event. Thank you!

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > MFEJAL grey because who knows...
03/02/2014 at 16:05

Thank you for reading! It's very interesting isn't it! If I get a reply from the FIA i'll be sure to post it on Oppo. I'm looking forward to seeing what they say, I just need to hope they reply now.

I'm really pleased you enjoyed my article so much, so thank you!

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/05/2014 at 00:21

According to my best knowledge, the last ever non-championship F1 race was the Race of Champions in 1983 (not to be confused with the one existing today that started out celebrating the 10th anniversary of WRC points to drivers' too - in 1988).

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V)
03/05/2014 at 00:22

Screw it: haven't read it through.

LoneWolfGAM > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/11/2014 at 20:57

If only F1 had a non-champion all star race again ._.

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > LoneWolfGAM
03/11/2014 at 21:02

Absolutely. If only. Wouldn't it be great! Especially a funky little event like this. Just for fun.

I never heard back from the FIA unfortunately.

LoneWolfGAM > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/12/2014 at 13:31

Thanks for the response man :) ROC could do a special event for this following the nations cup and drivers champion. Sucks the FIA didn't respond. Also sucks this event is gone. :|

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > LoneWolfGAM
03/12/2014 at 17:43

It does indeed, I might try getting in contact with them again to find out what their stance is on non-Championship events, and if you can have an official non-Championship event still.

And hey, I always try to reply to comments on my articles so if you're ever having a read of mine and leave one, I should get back to you!

LoneWolfGAM > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)
03/13/2014 at 09:44

Thanks dude. Wish the best of luck for you!