Understanding Formula 1 - The Pinacle of Motorsports
The modern era of Formula 1 dates back to 1950, when the sport of Motor Racing created a new formula for cars with engine capacities of 1500cc supercharged or 4500cc unsupercharged. The minimum length for a race was set at 300km (186 miles).
The world governing body for motor sports, The FIA (Federation International de L'Automobile), announced plans for a world championship meeting to be held that year. On the 10 April 1950, Juan Manuel Fangio won the first "International Formula One Race" in a Maserati. Later that year the Silverstone circuit in England hosted the first FIA sanctioned race for Formula One cars and as a result, the Formula One World Championship was born.
The winner of the first F1 world championship was Giuseppe Farina driving an Alfa Romeo 158. Farina won 5 races that year and bean Fangio by 3 points. In the 1951 season Giuseppe Farina left Alfa Romeo for Ferrari where he endured an intense battle for the championship with Alberto Ascari. The battle with Ascari was one that Farina lost, owing to Ascari's superior skills as a racing driver. Ascari was faster, and more precise and duly one the F1 world championship in 1952-1953 in a Ferrari 500.
Juan Manuel Fangio who won five world championships for 5 different manufacturers dominated the first decade of the F1 world championship. Fangio also achieved the feat of winning 4 consecutive championships from 1954-1957.
Great Britain today has a great history as the center of F1 engineering excellence, in fact from 1962-1973 British F1 teams dominated Formula One winning 12 world championships with drivers such as Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart from Scotland together with Graham Hill from England. The dominant British teams during that era were Cooper, Brabham, Mclaran and Lotus. Of those teams Mclaren is the only team still racing in the F1 World Championship.
The driver that stood out during this era of British dominance was Jim Clark. Clark was a very shy man who shunned the limelight; however, he would go down as one of the greatest drivers in F1 history. Clark had a controversial start to his F1 career in 1961, owing to an accident that claimed the life of his close friend Woolfgang Von Trips. This resulted in Phill Hill of the USA, winning the world championship that year. Clark went on to win The World Championship in 1963 and 1965 taking the maximum possible points in both seasons.
Clark was widely seen as the most naturally gifted driver to grace the F1 circuit - In the 1965 season he lead every lap of each race that he finished. In the opening race of the 1968 championship, Clark broke the legendary Fangio's record of most race victories. Sadly just a few months later Jim Clark was killed in an F2 race at Hockenheim in Germany - crashing into a tree in the wet.
Moving onto the 70's and 80's, formula one engineers - now known as "designers" had been working on the aerodynamics of F1 cars to make them go faster. This would be achieved with innovative front and rear wing designs that gave the cars more down force and grip, making the cars go faster together with the use of turbo charged engines.
Formula one in the 90's, produced very complex cars with driver aids such as active ride suspension - in which an onboard computer controlled the suspension of the car. However, a lot of these innovations were banned by the FIA to create safer and more exciting racing.
The 90's were dominated by the great Brazilian Ayrton Senna , winning 3 world titles all with Mclaren and Alain prost - who by the time he retired had won 4 world titles. Senna was widely seen as the greatest driver of all time, and was a worldwide sporting hero to many. He has known as the king of qualifying scoring the most pole positions ever. This feat was finally beaten by Michael Schumacher who inherited over Senna's F1 status as the dominant driver in Formula One.
It was in the 1994 season that F1 as we knew it changed forever. Senna was desperate to win the drivers title but he would have a major battle for supremacy with a young Michael Schumacher. Michael won the first two races of that season leading up to the San Marino grand prix in Italy.
prior to that race weekend no F1 driver had lost their lives on the track for over 12 years the San Marino grand prix claimed the life of two drivers including that of the three time world champion Ayrton Senna.
Senna's death shocked the whole F1 circus resulting in the FIA implementing stringent safety regulations that has now made F1 much safer for the drivers.
Michael Schumacher went on to take over Senna's mantle as the icon of F1, winning a record 7 world titles before retiring at the end of the 2006 season. He will go down as arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time. He was also the instigator of the resurgence of the Ferrari team winning 5 of his world championships with the Italian team.
Formula one now enters a new phase in its evolution and with the young talent being produced such as two times world champion, Fernando Alonso - Formula one has a bright future ahead. Have you caught the bug that compels over 350 million viewers to tune in for each F1 race - if not tune in and see what you have been missing out on!
