1932 Grand Prix season

	Date	Name[5]	Circuit	Race Regulations	Weather	Race Distance	Winner's Time	Winning driver	Winning constructor	Fastest lap	Report
	30 May	XX International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis	AAA	fine	500 miles	4h 48m	Fred Frame	Stevens-Miller-Hartz	not recorded	Report
	10 Jul	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps[6]					cancelled
	25 Sep	Spanish Grand Prix	Lasarte					cancelled

A grey background indicates the race was not held this year. Sources: [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

Alfa Romeo's lead designer, Vittorio Jano, had seen the 1931 Tipo A as an interim model and in 1932 he produced what many consider his masterpiece – the Tipo B. It is also commonly known as the ‘P3’, as it was seen as a worthy successor to Alfa's dominant P2 model of the mid-20s. The engine was based on the race-proven winner in the 8C 2300, with a longer stroke and bored out to 2654cc, churning out a total of 215 brake horsepower. It was fitted with two superchargers, one for each bank of four cylinders. Aluminium blocks kept the engine very light, and the whole vehicle was designed with weight in mind. A new suspension format, with the differential mounted behind the gearbox driving the rear suspension through twin driveshafts. This improved the weight distribution, giving better handling, and allowed the driver to sit lower between the driveshafts. Like the Type A, it was a monoposto (single-seater) design, with a narrow frontage, echoing the American Millers of the 1920s. Six cars were built with three sets of spare parts. Unveiled for the championship at its home Grand Prix, it won on debut. Over the next 2½ years, the car would take part in 26 races, winning 22, while achieving a 92% finish-ratio from the 62 race-starts.[47][48]

Alfa Romeo P3

In 1927 Alfieri Maserati had a serious accident racing in Sicily that resulted in him losing a kidney. Issues with his remaining kidney necessitated an operation in March. However, complications occurred and he died during the procedure; he was just 44. The surviving brothers resolved to carry on. The eldest, Bindo, returned from Isotta Fraschini to become president; Ettore stayed on in operations, while the youngest, Ernesto retired from racing to take on the technical side.[49] Several projects were already well underway at Alfieri's death: the successor to the twin-engine V4 was the new Type V5. The engines were bored out to a total capacity now of 4905cc. Although very fast, it proved overly complex and unreliable to get regular race results. A hard year ended badly when works driver Amedeo Ruggieri crashed fatally while driving a V5 trying to make a one-hour speed record attempt at Montlhéry.[49] The two works 8C-2800 grand prix cars were upgraded by being fitted with new 3-litre engines.

Bugatti’s Type 51 had been instantly competitive on debut the previous year. Although on the high-speed circuits, the Alfa Romeo Monzas had their measure, in twisty circuits the Bugatti's good handling shone through. So Ettore Bugatti chose to sit on his laurels and not do any significant development on his car.[50] In August, he was honoured by France being awarded the Légion d’Honneur.[51] The other French manufacturers chose instead to focus on attaining speed and endurance records. In April, George Eyston drove an 8-litre sleeve-valve Panhard at Montlhéry, setting a new 1-hour speed record, averaging 212.45 kph.[50] This followed a little 1452cc Citroën C6 setting a raft of endurance records at the same circuit, running non-stop for 54 days, covering 130,000km.[51]

There were also several Italian drivers who developed their own special models. Wealthy gentleman-driver Conte Luigi Premoli worked with engineer Egidio Galimberti to put a 3-litre Maserati engine and grill onto the chassis, gearbox and suspension of the Type 35 Bugatti. The engine's power output of 220 horsepower compared favourably to the 180 bhp of the Bugatti, while keeping the size and nimbleness of the latter. Hence called the PBM (“Premoli Bugatti Maserati”) Speziale, Premoli unfortunately had a serious accident in it on its debut race at the Coppa Ciano and it was not raced again until the following year.[52] In a similar vein, Clemente Biondetti mounted the 2.5-litre Maserati engine from a Tipo 26M onto a Bugatti chassis. On paper, this version put out 185 bhp, and Biondetti ran it in a number of races over the new few seasons, in the Italian Drivers' Championship.[53]

The economic crisis in Germany was still severe. After a couple of years of leniency from the board, Mercedes-Benz now fully withdrew from motor-racing, releasing top driver Rudolf Caracciola to be picked up by Alfa Romeo much to the dismay of German fans.[54] Meanwhile, many small and medium size car-companies were going bankrupt, unable to compete against the American mass-production lines of Ford and Opel (sold to General Motors). It was only with the intervention of the Saxony state government that their local factories were rescued saving 8000 jobs. Thus it was that the four Saxon companies of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer merged to become Auto Union AG. Former Austro-Daimler and Mercedes Technical Director Dr Ferdinand Porsche joined the new company as their lead engineer.[55] In a year of political upheaval in Germany, the company directors of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union had no joy petitioning the government for funds.[56] In the end, it was the lead drivers, Stuck and von Brauchitsch (nephew of the commander of the army) making personal appeals (on behalf of Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz respectively) to minority party leader Adolf Hitler that got success. A strong fan of the automobile, Hitler promised both companies subsidies when his party came into power.[57][58]

Manufacturer	Model[59][60][61]	Engine	Power Output	Max. Speed (km/h)	Dry Weight (kg)
Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo Tipo B	Alfa Romeo 2.65L S8 twin-supercharged	215 bhp	230	700
Alfa Romeo	8C-2300 “Monza”	Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 supercharged	180 bhp[62]	210	920
Bugatti	Type 51	Bugatti 2.3L S8 supercharged	180 bhp	230	750
Bugatti	Type 54	Bugatti 5.0L S8 supercharged	300 bhp	240	930
Maserati	8C-2800	Maserati 2.8L S8 supercharged	205 bhp	225	820
Maserati	Tipo V5	Maserati 4.9L twin-8 supercharged	330 bhp	250	1050
Mercedes-Benz	SSKL	Mercedes-Benz 7.1L S6 part-supercharged	310 bhp	230	1400
Bugatti	Type 51A	Bugatti 1492cc S8 supercharged	135 bhp	200	750
Maserati	4CM	Maserati 1.1L S4

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Driver	Rounds
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 54 Type 51	Bugatti 5.0L S8 s/c Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	Marcel Lehoux	A, B, C; 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 51	Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	René Dreyfus	A, B, C; 7, 12
Private Entrant	Bugatti Bugatti Bugatti Alfa Romeo	Type 54 Type 51 Type 37 8C-2300	Bugatti 5.0L S8 s/c Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c Bugatti 1.5L S4 s/c Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 s/c	Jean-Pierre Wimille	[A], B; 1, 6, [12]
Private Entrant	Maserati Bugatti	Type 26M Type 39A	Maserati 2.5L S8 Bugatti 1.5L S4	Conte Luigi Castelbarco	A; 1, 3, 8
Private Entrant	Bugatti	MB Spéciale[76]	Maserati 2.5L S8 s/c	Clemente Biondetti	[A]; 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11
Private Entrant	Maserati Bugatti	Tipo 26M BMP Speziale[77]	Maserati 2.5L S8 s/c Maserati 3.0L S8 s/c	Conte Luigi Premoli	A; 8
Private Entrant	Mercedes-Benz	SSKL	Mercedes-Benz 7.1L S6 s/c	Hans Stuck	[A], [C]; 5, 7
Private Entrant	Bugatti Bugatti Delage	Type 54 Type 51 15 S8	Bugatti 5.0L S8 s/c Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c Delage 1.5L S8 s/c	Earl Howe	B, Cv; 2, 5v, 9, 11
	Bugatti MG	Type 54 Midget Type C	Bugatti 5.0L S8 s/c MG 750cc S4	Hugh Hamilton	B*, Cv
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	8C 2300	Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 s/c	Philippe Étancelin	B; 1, 2, 6
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 51	Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	Jean Gaupillat	B; [1], 6, 12
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	8C 2300	Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 s/c	Conte Goffredo Zehender	B; 2, [3], 6, 12
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 51	Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	William Grover-Williams	B; 2, 5
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo FG Lombard	[[Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spéciale	Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 s/c Lombard 1.1L S4	Dr Pierre Félix	B, Cv; 6, 11, 12
				Jean Pesato	B*
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 51 Type 35B	Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	Benoît Falchetto	[B]; 6, 12
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 35C Type 51	Bugatti 2.0L S8 s/c Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	Max Fourny	B; [12]
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	8C 2300	Alfa Romeo 2.3L S8 s/c	Raymond Sommer	[B]; 12
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 37A	Bugatti 1.5L S4 s/c	Anne-Cécile Rose-Itier	Cv; 1, 3, 6, 9, 10v
Private Entrant	Amilcar	MCO	Amilcar 1.1L S6 s/c	José Scaron	Cv; 1, [3], 6
Private Entrant	Bugatti Bugatti	Type 37A Type 35B	Bugatti 1.5L S4 s/c Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	László Hartmann	Cv; 5, 7, 10v
Private Entrant	DKW	Stromlinienwagon	DKW 780cc S2 2-stroke	Gerhard Macher	Cv; 5v, 7v, 10v
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	6C 1500	Alfa Romeo 1.5L S6 s/c	Henri Täumer	Cv; 5v, 7
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 51	Bugatti 2.3L S8 s/c	Count Stanisław Czaykowski	1, 2, 3, 6
Private Entrant	Maserati	Tipo 26M	Maserati 2.5L S8 s/c	Jean de Maleplane	1, 6, 11, 12
Private Entrant	Maserati	Tipo 26	Maserati 1.5L S8 s/c	Pierre Veyron	1, 6, 10v
Private Entrant	Mercedes-Benz	SSKL	Mercedes-Benz 7.1L S6 s/c	Manfred von Brauchitsch	5, 7, 9, [10], [11]
Private Entrant	Bugatti	Type 35C	Bugatti 2.0L S8 s/c	Guy Moll	6, 12

Note: * indicates only raced in the event as a relief driver,
“♠“ Works driver raced as a privateer in that race,
“v” indicates the driver ran in the Voiturette class,
Those in brackets show, although entered, the driver did not race
“†” driver killed during this racing season