diff --git a/devito/symbolics/unevaluation.py b/devito/symbolics/unevaluation.py
index 44a3273e54..38b0621d13 100644
--- a/devito/symbolics/unevaluation.py
+++ b/devito/symbolics/unevaluation.py
@@ -18,4 +18,13 @@ class Mul(sympy.Mul, UnevaluableMixin):
 
 
 class Pow(sympy.Pow, UnevaluableMixin):
-    __new__ = UnevaluableMixin.__new__
+
+    def __new__(cls, base, exp, evaluate=None, **kwargs):
+        if base == 1:
+            # Otherwise we might get trapped within vicious recursion inside
+            # SymPy each time it tries to perform a simplification via
+            # `as_numer_denom`, since the `denom` turns into a Pow itself
+            # such as `1**c`
+            return sympy.S.One
+        else:
+            return cls.__base__.__new__(cls, base, exp, evaluate=False, **kwargs)