A Brief History of Formula One

The origin of Formula One is the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s with the formula for Formula One first being agreed in 1946 just after World War II and the first World Drivers' Championship being formalised in 1947. The first World Championship race took place in 1950. This was followed by a Championship for Constructors in 1958.

The first Formula One World Championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo during 1950, barely defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However Fangio won the title during 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 & 1957 (His record of five World Championship titles stood for 45 years until German driver Michael Schumacher took his sixth title during 2003).

The first British World Champion was Mike Hawthorn, who drove a Ferrari to the title during 1958. However, when Colin Chapman entered F1 as a chassis designer and later founder of Team Lotus, British racing green came to dominate the field for the next decade. Between Brabham, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Graham Hill, and Denny Hulme, British teams and Commonwealth drivers won twelve world championships between 1962 and 1973.

During 1968, Lotus painted Imperial Tobacco livery on their cars, thus introducing sponsorship to the sport.

Beginning during the 1970s, Bernie Ecclestone rearranged the management of Formula One's commercial rights; he is widely credited with transforming the sport into the billion-dollar business it is now. When Ecclestone bought the Brabham team during 1971 he gained a seat on the Formula One Constructors' Association and during 1978 became its President. Previously the circuit owners controlled the income of the teams and negotiated with each individually, however Ecclestone persuaded the teams to "hunt as a pack" through FOCA. He offered Formula One to circuit owners as a package which they could take or leave. In return for the package almost all are required to surrender trackside advertising.

On the track, the McLaren and Williams teams dominated the 1980s and 1990s, with Brabham also being competitive during the early part of the 1980s, winning two drivers' championships with Nelson Piquet. Powered by Porsche, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz, McLaren won sixteen championships (seven constructors', nine drivers') in that period, while Williams used engines from Ford, Honda, and Renault to also win sixteen titles (nine constructors', seven drivers'). The rivalry between racers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost became F1's central focus during 1988, and continued until Prost retired at the end of 1993. Senna died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after crashing into a wall on the exit of the notorious curve Tamburello, having taken over Prost's lead drive at Williams that year. The FIA worked to improve the sport's safety standards since that weekend, during which Roland Ratzenberger also lost his life in an accident during Saturday qualifying. No driver has died on the track at the wheel of a Formula One car since, though two track marshals have lost their lives, one at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix and the other at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

Drivers from McLaren, Williams, Renault (formerly Benetton) and Ferrari, dubbed the "Big Four", have won every World Championship from 1984 to 2008 and the constructors won from 1979 to 2008. Due to the technological advances of the 1990s, the cost of competing in Formula One increased dramatically. This increased financial burden, combined with four teams' dominance (largely funded by big car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz), caused the poorer independent teams to struggle not only to remain competitive, but to stay in business. Financial troubles forced several teams to withdraw. Since 1990, twenty-eight teams have withdrawn from Formula One. This has prompted former Jordan owner Eddie Jordan to say the days of competitive privateers are over.

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won an unprecedented five consecutive drivers' championships and six consecutive constructors' championships between 1999 and 2004. Schumacher set many new records, including those for Grand Prix wins, wins in a season (13 of 18), and most drivers' championships. Schumacher's championship streak ended on 25 September 2005 when Renault driver Fernando Alonso became Formula One's youngest champion at that time. During 2006, Renault and Alonso won both titles again. Schumacher retired at the end of 2006 after sixteen years in Formula One, but came out of retirement for the 2010 season, racing for the newly-formed Mercedes GP.

In 2008 and 2009 Honda, BMW, and Toyota all withdrew from Formula One racing within the space of a year, blaming the economic recession. This resulted in the end of manufacturer dominance within the sport. During the 2010 season Mercedes Benz re-entered the sport as a manufacturer after its purchase of Brawn GP, and split with McLaren after 15 seasons with the team. This leaves Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari as the only car manufacturers in the sport. AT&T Williams confirmed towards the end of 2009 their new engine deal with Cosworth, who also supply the wave of new teams Virgin Racing, Hispania Racing F1, and the newly formed Lotus F1 team. The exit of car manufacturers has also paved the way for teams representing their countries, with some having the funding by their respective national governments (such as Lotus), something not seen since the 1930s.