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The Alfa Romeo P2 legend - light and shade and an incredible triumphal march

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Created on November 27, 2025

Text:

Thomas Suter

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

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Centro Documentazione Museo Alfa Romeo

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Archiv

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Daniel Reinhard

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Centro Documentazione Museo Alfa Romeo

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Archiv

4

Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - One of two surviving cars

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - The car from the factory collection

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - From the factory museum in Arese

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Vittorio Jano with the P2 racing car that was to help Alfa Romeo achieve world fame - Alfa Romeo P2 1924

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The P2 engine - Alfa Romeo P2 1925 - twin carburetors increased the power output from 135 to 150 hp in the 1925 season

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - Test drives in Monza 1924 with Barri, Ramponi, Giuseppe Campari, Ingeniere Nicola Romeo, Antonio Ascari, Conte Gastone Brilli-Peri and Cannobio

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - In Monza at the 1925 Italian GP

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - Antonio Ascari at the French Grand Prix in Lyon in 1924, but the winner is Giuseppe Campari

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - Campari tests his P2 before the 1925 European Grand Prix in Spa

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - The Alfa Romeo team in 1925 with the victorious P2

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The Alfa Romeo team at the 1924 Italian Grand Prix - Alfa Romeo 1924

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Alfa Romeo P2 (1924) - European Grand Prix in Spa - with number 6 Giuseppe Campari, 10 Gastone Brilli-Peri

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Alfa Romeo Tipo P2 (1925) - in the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo Arese

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The descendants of Nicola Romeo in 1985 and an Alfa Romeo P2 from 1925

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Summary

One hundred years ago, the Alfa Romeo automobile brand, then only ten years old, achieved its first major success: the Milan-based manufacturer crowned the 1925 racing season by winning the inaugural Automobile World Championship - thanks to two victories for the Alfa Romeo P2 in a total of four races.

This article contains the following chapters

Vittorio Jano
Breaking the dominance
Alfa Romeo instead of Jetberg
Alfa Romeo P2 triumph
The Quadrifoglio Verde legend

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

One hundred years ago, Alfa Romeo, which was only ten years old at the time, achieved its first major success: the Milan-based manufacturer crowned the 1925 racing season by winning the inaugural Automobile World Championship - thanks to two victories for the Alfa Romeo P2 in a total of four races. Light and shade were close together: safety measures were unknown - Alfa Romeo works driver and favorite Antonio Ascari paid for this with his life. Until 1923/24, Giuseppe Merosi was the engineer responsible for the Milanese brand's products. Some people at Alfa Romeo were increasingly unhappy with the development of the racing cars that took place under him. They were looking for a successor to the self-taught engineer, and Merosi was already over 50 years old. Then opinions differ: it is claimed that Enzo Ferrari, then racing and sales manager at Alfa Romeo, had lured the 33-year-old engineer Vittorio Jano to Milan. Other sources, such as direct descendants of Nicola Romeo, testify that the company founder succeeded in this masterpiece. In any case, Jano's move from Turin (Fiat) to Milan (Alfa Romeo) was comparable to Adrian Newey's move from Red Bull to Aston Martin - it was like a small earthquake.

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