INTRODUCTION
IT ALL STARTS WITH A NAME: FORMULA 1

But where did that name come from?

The world racing championship that now encompasses twenty (and counting) annual races across five continents was originally defined by the type of car allowed to compete.

Formula 1 (F1) racing as we know it today started in the European racing scene between the first and second world wars. In that interwar period, the races served to showcase some of the biggest manufacturers of the day, featuring the fastest and most powerful prototype machinery.

World War II put racing on a temporary hiatus. When that conflict ended, motorsport’s governing body tentatively set out a number of categories—formulae—based on the cars already in existence. This meant that many of the first F1 cars had been around since the late 1930s and had somehow escaped being melted down for munitions during the war.

The world championship for drivers began in 1950, followed by one for manufacturers in 1958. In the decades that followed, the sport has changed almost beyond recognition. The races have become slightly shorter, the cars massively more complex, and the rules more prescriptive and tightly enforced. No aspect of the sport’s operation has escaped the reach of commercial thinking.

When Britain’s King George VI watched the field roar away at the first World Championship Formula 1 Race at Silverstone in May 1950, gasoline was still rationed in his dominion and the circuit itself was a redundant airfield bounded by old oil drums. Today, contemporary Grands Prix are tightly choreographed television spectacles, set in multimillion-dollar facilities, and waving the flag for some of the world’s most prestigious brands.

The years between the first Grand Prix and today’s events brought growing pains, controversies, civil wars, glory, and, sadly, death. When the starting lights go out on a Grand Prix Sunday, every part of the spectacle has been shaped by lessons learned—often the hard way—over seven decades of rip-roaring action.