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Grand Prix Racing

Motor Racing virtually began with the birth of the first successful petrol engined cars back in 1885 by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.

THE PIONEERS

France were the catalysts in the creation of motor sport. The first ‘reliability’ trial was a run between Paris and Versailles organised by the French newspaper ‘Le Velocipede’ in 1887. The event however was cancelled as only one competitor showed up!

 A few years later the ACF (Automobile Club de France) organised a race between Paris to Bordeaux. The race was won by Emile Levassor in a time of 48 hours 48 minutes but he was disqualified from winning the 31,000 franc prize as his car only had 2 seats instead of the required four – unlucky Emile !

 In 1895 the Italians entered the arena with 5 competitors racing between Turin and Asti but only 3 survived the 52 mile race. The Americans also held a 2 car race in Chicago over a distance of 82 miles.

 City to city races were popular at this time but after a number of accidents during a race between Paris and Madrid in which 8 people died including Marcel Renault, the race was abandoned at Bordeaux and the French banned racing on public roads.

GORDON BENNETT

James Gordon Bennett was an American newspaper tycoon who launched a new series of races. All competitors had to adhere to a prescribed formula, which included, vehicle weight limitations and only 3 cars from each country would be allowed to race.

FIRST GRAND PRIX

The Automobile Club de L’Ouest (more famously known for organizing the Le Mans 24 Hour race) organized the first Grand Prix in 1905 over a 60 mile road circuit over a 2 day period.

 A new ‘formula’ was declared stipulating a maximum weight of 1000 kg excluding wings, lights, upholstery and tools. Each manufacturer was allowed to enter a maximum of 3 cars. The winner was a Hungarian Ferenc Szisz in a Renault AK90CV and Grand Prix racing was born!  

Bugatti 1920

1920’s

In 1921 at the French Grand Prix the Europeans (still reeling from WWI) were overwhelmed by American entries.

However, WWI did mean that the European engineers took advantage of technological innovations such as overhead camshafts and supercharged engines with Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Sunbeam leading the way.

Between 1921 and 1927 the number of Grand Prix steadily increased with races taking place in France, Italy, Spain, Britain and Belgium.

1925 saw the first attempt at a World Championship being made when organizers declared that the Belgian, French, Italian Grand Prix plus the Indianapolis 500 were championship events in a contest between manufacturers, Alfa Romeo took the first and Bugatti followed in 1927.

In 1928 the restrictions on engine size and weight were lifted and manufacturers were allowed to race under ‘formula libre’ free of any restrictions.

 This brought success for manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Maserati.

1930’s

In 1930 Alfa Romeo recruited a new company to take on their racing ambitions the name of the company - Scuderia Ferrari.

 In 1934 Mercedes Benz and Auto Union from Germany entered Grand Prix racing and they dominated the sport until outbreak of war in 1939.

1930 Turbocharged

Bentley 4.5 Litre

1940’s

No sooner had war ended in May 1945 that racing re-commenced in September of the same year with 3 races held in France.

1946 was a landmark year for the sport with the formation of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) which established new rules for Grand Prix racing and introduced the term Formula 1 for the first time.

1950’s

In 1950 FIA announced they would be linking several national Grand Prix to create a World Championship contest with a points system determining the winner.

The first race was held at Silverstone and the first championship was won by Nino Farina.

The 1950’s though was dominated by arguably one of the greatest drivers of all time Juan Manuel Fangio - who won the World Championship a total of five times.

1960’s

The 60’s was the era when British drivers dominated Grand Prix:

• Peter Collins (tragically killed at the Nurburgring)

• Jack Brabham (Britain's first World Champion in 1959 and again in 1960, 1965)

• Stirling Moss

• Graham Hill (World Champion in 1962 and 1968)

• Jim Clarke (World Champion 1963 and 1965 killed at Hockenheim in 1968)

• John Surtees (World Champion 1964 – the only man to be champion on 2 and 4 wheels)

1970’s

This decade saw the emergence of commercial pressure become the driving force behind the sport.

Jackie Stewart became one of the sports ‘greats’ when he won the World Championship 3 times before retiring. The Lotus team, were once again back to winning ways and leading the race in technical innovations such as the ‘ground effect’ Type 79 car.

1975 saw tragedy strike again with 2 x times World Champion Graham Hill killed not on the track but in a plane crash.

James Hunt continued to fly the flag for Britain taking the World Championship by 1 point in 1976.

1980’s

Frank Williams and his team proved they were the team to beat in the early 80’s and the other teams failed miserably in their attempts to catch them.

Colin Chapman founder of Lotus and perhaps the sports greatest innovator died in 1982.

One of the great duels on the track at the time, were the races between Nelson Picquet and Alain Prost.

In 1984 Prost left Renault and joined McLaren and finally became World Champion in 1985.

McLaren dominated the sport between 1984 and 1991 winning the drivers and constructors championship an amazing seven times. 1987 was the only year they missed when Nelson Picquet became champion with Nigel Mansell second again.

In 1988 of the 16 races McLaren won every one apart from Monza when Gerhard Berger won in a Ferrari much to the delight of the fanatical tifosi!

Ayrton Senna became Alain Prost's new ‘team mate’ and a memorable love hate relationship commenced between the 2 following an incident in 1989 at Suzaka, Japan when both span off.

Senna went on to become World Champion 3 times until he was killed, he is still regarded as one of the all time ‘greats’ of Grand Prix racing.

1990’s

In 1992 Nigel Mansell finally became World Champion after coming close so many times previously.

The 1990’s also saw the emergence of Michael Schumacher who won his first 2 World Championships in 1994 and 1995.

Damon Hill became World Champion in 1996 and retired soon after.

Ferrari F339

2000’s

The drivers now have become bigger than the sport and command vast sums for each race. Their lives are recorded not only in the sports pages but also across the tabloids and some now say they devote more of their time to public relations and marketing than they do driving.

Ferrari finally won their first championship in 20 years in 2000 and the Schumacher / Ferrari partnership continues to dominate Formula 1, they remain an unbeaten force to date leaving the rest of the drivers and constructors playing catch up.

DRIVER

YEAR

CONSTRUCTOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Nino Farina (Alfa Romeo)

1950

N/a

Juan Manuel Fangio (Alfa Romeo)

1951

N/a

Alberto Ascari (Ferrari)

1952

N/a

Alberto Ascari (Ferrari)

1953

N/a

Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati/Mercedes)

1954

N/a

Juan Manuel Fangio (Mercedes)

1955

N/a

Juan Manuel Fangio (Lancia/ Mercedes

1956

N/a

Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati)

1957

N/a

Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari)

1958

Vanwall

Jack Brabham (Cooper Climax)

1959

Cooper Climax

Jack Brabham (Cooper Climax)

1960

Cooper Climax

Phil Hill (Ferrari)

1961

Ferrari

Graham Hill (BRM)

1962

BRM

Jim Clark (Lotus Climax)

1963

Lotus Climax

John Surtees (Ferrari)

1964

Ferrari

Jim Clark (Lotus Climax

1965

Lotus Climax

Jack Brabham (Brabham Repco)

1966

Brabham Repco

Denny Hulme (Brabham Repco)

1967

Brabham Repco

Graham Hill (Lotus Ford)

1968

Lotus Ford

Jackie Stewart (Matra Ford)

1969

Matra Ford

Jochen Rindt

1970

Lotus Ford

Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell Ford)

1971

Tyrrell Ford

Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus Ford)

1972

Lotus Ford

Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell Ford)

1973

Lotus Ford

Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren Ford)

1974

McLaren Ford

Niki Lauda (Ferrari)

1975

Ferrari

James Hunt (McLaren Ford)

1976

Ferrari

Niki Lauda (Ferrari)

1977

Ferrari

Mario Andretti (Lotus Ford)

1978

Lotus Ford

Jody Scheckter (Ferrari)

1979

Ferrari

Alan Jones (Williams Ford)

1980

Williams Ford

Nelson Piquet (Brabham Ford)

1981

Williams Ford

Keke Rosberg (Williams Ford)

1982

Ferrari

Nelson Piquet (Brabham BMW)

1983

Ferrari

Niki Lauda (McLaren TAG)

1984

McLaren TAG

Alain Prost (McLaren TAG)

1985

McLaren TAG

Alain Prost (McLaren TAG)

1986

Williams Honda

Nelson Piquet (Williams Honda)

1987

Williams Honda

Ayrton Senna (McLaren Honda)

1988

McLaren Honda

Ayrton Senna (McLaren Honda)

1989

McLaren Honda

Ayrton Senna (McLaren Honda)

1990

McLaren Honda

Ayrton Senna (McLaren Honda)

1991

McLaren Honda

Nigel Mansell (Williams Renault)

1992

Williams Renault

Alain Prost (Williams Renault)

1993

Williams Renault

Michael Schumacher (Benetton Ford)

1994

Williams Renault

Michael Schumacher (Benetton Renault)

1995

Benetton Renault

Damon Hill (Williams Renault)

1996

Williams Renault

Jacques Villeneuve (Williams Renault)

1997

Williams Renault

Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

1998

McLaren Mercedes

Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

1999

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

2000

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

2001

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

2002

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

2003

Ferrari