bugatti f1 / f1 teams / f1

The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti.

The company enjoyed great success in early Grand Prix motor racing: in 1929, a privately entered Bugatti won the first ever Monaco Grand Prix. Bugatti's racing success culminated with driver Jean-Pierre Wimille winning the 24 hours of Le Mans twice (in 1937 with Robert Benoist and in 1939 with Pierre Veyron).

Bugatti cars were extremely successful in racing. The little Bugatti Type 10 swept the top four positions at its first race. The 1924 Bugatti Type 35 is one of the most successful racing cars - developed by Bugatti with master engineer and racing driver Jean Chassagne who also drove it in the car's first ever Grand Prix in 1924 Lyon.

In 1956, Bugatti entered a single car, the Bugatti Type 251, in the French Grand Prix. However, the car did not perform well and was retired from the race.

Headquarters: Molsheim, France

type 251 1956

The Bugatti Type 251 was a Formula 1 car, built by the French firm Bugatti. Only two units were produced, the first in 1955 and the second in 1956.It is the latest racing car of the prestigious brand, designed under the direction of Roland Bugatti, heir to Ettore Bugatti, and the only Formula 1 car of the French manufacturer in the history of Formula 1, created in 1946.

In 1956, a last attempt to return to high competition failed.

This attempt had as its protagonist the new Bugatti Type 251, designed by Gioacchino Colombo, equipped with a new Bugatti 8-cylinder engine in the central rear transverse line, double overhead camshaft, Weber double-body carburetor, 2500 cc and 230 hp of power; capable of reaching a top speed of 260 km/h.

He was entered in the 1956 French Grand Prix (held in Reims on 18 June 1956), with driver Maurice Trintignant at the wheel, who failed to go beyond eighteenth place in qualifying.

This will be the only Grand Prix appearance of this model.

The next racing model, the Bugatti Type 252, would be in the prototype stage. In 1963, the family that owns the Bugatti brand sold its remaining assets to the Franco-Spanish manufacturer Hispano-Suiza (a former manufacturer of prestige cars and aircraft before the war, reoriented to the aerospace industry). The only two Bugatti Type 251s built today belong to the Schlumpf Collection, preserved in the Mulhouse Automobile City.