STORY OF THE DAY— Raymond Sommer and Ferrari’s First Formula 1 Car: The Ferrari 125 F1 was the first Formula One car built by Ferrari and began racing in 1948, two years before the official World Championship was created. This example represents the car driven by Raymond Sommer in the Grand Prix of Turin on September 5, 1948, where he finished third. It belongs to the fascinating pre-championship period, when Ferrari was already beginning to establish itself in top-level Grand Prix racing.

The 125 F1 occupies a special place in Ferrari history. Powered by a supercharged 1.5-litre V12, it was the car with which the young Maranello marque first entered Formula 1 competition. The model continued to evolve through 1948 and 1949 and remained part of Ferrari’s early Grand Prix development up to the team’s debut in the official Formula One World Championship at Monaco in 1950, another important chapter represented in this collection.

Raymond Sommer was one of the great figures of the golden age of motor racing before the Second World War. Born in Mouzon, France, in 1906, he began racing in the early 1930s and quickly earned a reputation as both a fast and determined driver. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1932, driving for around twenty hours alone after his teammate Luigi Chinetti retired ill, and won again in 1933 alongside Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo. Sommer was one of the stars of pre-war racing and, after serving in the French Resistance during the war, returned to competition in 1948 to race once more at the highest level.

His career came to a tragic end in September 1950 at the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix in Cadours, France, when a steering failure caused his car to overturn. Instantly killed, Sommer became one of the many heroic but vulnerable champions of that dangerous era. This Ferrari 125 F1 therefore represents not only the beginning of Ferrari’s Formula 1 story, but also a tribute to one of the most accomplished and courageous drivers of the period.