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Formula 1 is the highest international motorsport competition and, possibly, the most popular and prestigious motor discipline in the world. His story would be enough to write entire books, but today we will tell you some of his most notable milestones.
The Grand Prix has its roots in motor racing, which began in France in 1894.. Initially, these were individual events, disconnected from each other and organized on dirt roads. The number of races considered Grand Prix increased throughout the early years of the 20th century, reaching 18 in 1934.
The name Formula 1 refers to a set of rules that all participants and cars must comply with, and that was originally known simply as “Formula”. Plans for a Formula 1 drivers' championship began to be considered in the late 1930s, but were set aside with the start of World War II. In 1946, with the birth of the FIA (International Automobile Federation), the project resumed, and in 1950 several Grand Prix came together to launch the first drivers' championship.
In May 1950, the first Formula 1 race was held at Silverstone. That year, only seven of the twenty races of the season counted for the title. Races out of scoring for the championship would continue until 1983, when the organization began to consider them unprofitable due to increased costs.
In the 1950s, there were self-employed drivers who bought and drove their own cars. However, the championship was dominated by the leading manufacturers before the war: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes Benz. Although Giuseppe Farina won the maiden title, the key driver in the 1950s was Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the championship in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 with five different manufacturers.
The beginnings weren't easy. In the first decade of the championship, 13 drivers died. In 1952 and 1953 the lack of participants meant that some races were held according to Formula Two regulations, with Alberto Ascari winning the championship in both years. Of the 20 brands that competed in 1950, most were soon forced to leave the market because of the cost. Only Ferrari has competed since the start.
Initially, all cars were front-engined. At the end of the 1950s, Cooper introduced a rear-engined car and by 1961 all manufacturers were already operating it. As an additional incentive for teams, The constructors' championship was introduced in 1958.
Mike Hawthorn's victory in the 1958 championship marked the beginning of an era of British rule. Between Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Denny Hulme, British and Commonwealth drivers won 10 drivers' championships and British teams won ten constructors' titles between 1962 and 1973. The iconic Racing Green Lotus British, with a revolutionary monocoque aluminum sheet chassis instead of the traditional tubular chassis design, was the dominant car, and in 1968 the team broke new frontiers by being the first to carry advertising on its cars.
However, safety remained a concern: Stewart retired on the eve of what would have been his last race after the death of his close friend and teammate François Cevert at the 1973 U.S. Grand Prix. In 1975 Fittipaldi (champion in 72 and 74) refused to start the Spanish Grand Prix, which stopped after 29 laps when a car crashed into the crowd, killing four spectators. Niki Lauda won six of the first nine races with Ferrari in 1976 before a terrible accident at the German Grand Prix left him with burns so severe that he was not expected to survive...
In terms of innovation, also in this period it was Lotus the brand that paved the way. First with the introduction in 1978 of the ground effect aerodynamics (using side skirts and low design to give the car more grip) that provided enormous aerodynamic force and a great increase in speed when cornering. And then with the development of his active suspension system, which first appeared in 1982. Thanks (in part) to the first of them, Mario Andretti He won the championship in '78. However, that year was once again marred by tragedy, as his teammate Ronnie Peterson would die after an accident in Monza. This event would mark the beginning of the end for the legendary Lotus team, which never won any championships again.
As for the management of the competition, in the early 1970s, Bernie Ecclestone reorganized the commercial rights of Formula 1, turning the sport into a global business. In 1971, he bought the Brabham team, which earned him a place in the Formula 1 Builders Association (FOCA) and in 1978 he became its president. Until then, the owners of the circuits controlled the revenues of the teams, negotiating with each one individually. Ecclestone convinced the teams of their value and the value of negotiating as a coordinated unit. In 1979 it was formed FISA (Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile) and almost immediately clashed with FOCA over revenues and regulations. The situation deteriorated to the point that FOCA threatened to organize an alternative championship and went so far as to boycott a race. The result was the 1981 Concorde Agreement, with which a certain stability was achieved. In 1987, FOCA ceded the management of television rights to the Formula One Management, under the direction of Ecclestone.
In 1983 Nelson Piquet won the second of his three titles with Ferrari, and Lauda's victory in 1984 marked the beginning of a period of dominance of McLaren, winning the title in 6 of the following 8 years with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The team's zenith came in 1988, when they won 15 of the 16 championship races.
To combat the phenomenal power of cars, certain restrictions were introduced and Turbochargers were completely banned in 1989. By the 1980s, electronic driver aids had already begun to emerge (again Lotus was at the forefront) and in the early 1990s, semiautomatic gearboxes and traction control appeared.
McLaren and Williams continued to rule the paddock in the nineties (with 8 championships between them). The rivalry between Prost and Senna ended in 1993 with the former's retirement. In 1994, Senna died in Imola.. His death marked a milestone, as it marked a significant increase in safety regulations: since then, no driver would die behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car until Bianchi's death in 2015. The FIA tried to introduce measures to slow down cars and improve safety.
The high costs of Formula 1 widened the gulf between the big four and the smaller ones. Between 1990 and 2008, 28 teams entered and exited the championship. From 1999 to 2008 the great dominator was Ferrari, winning 8 drivers' titles and 8 constructors' titles in those 10 seasons. The most dominant figure during this time was Michael Schumacher, who won 5 consecutive titles (for a total of 7 in his career).
Over the past decade, teams Red Bull and Mercedes The championships have been distributed, with 4 titles each, thanks mainly to the German Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
Due to the drop in viewership due to the low competitiveness of recent seasons (monopolized as we say by Red Bull and Mercedes), the FIA and the teams agreed to modify the technical regulations for the 2017 season.
The American company Liberty Media has controlled the Formula One Group since 2016. Bernie Ecclestone continued as CEO until January 23, 2017, when he was dismissed as CEO of the company, after 39 years at the helm of the Formula 1 business.
As for the Spanish drivers, we must highlight Fernando Alonso, world champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, and runner-up with Ferrari in 2010, 2012 and 2013. In addition, since its founding, the following Spanish drivers have participated in Formula 1: Francisco Godia (1951, 1954-1958), Juan Jover (1951), Alfonso de Portago (1956-1957), Antonio Creus (1960), Alex Soler Roig (1970-1972), Emilio de Villota (1976-1978, 1982), Emilio Zapico (1976), Adrián Campos (1987-1988), Luis Pérez Sala (1988-1989), Pedro de la Rosa (1999-2002, 2005-2006, 2010-2012), Marc Gené (1999-2000) 3-2004), Jaime Alguersuari (2009-2011) and Roberto Merhi (2015).
And, of course, Carlos Sainz, who made his debut with the Toro Rosso team at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, after winning the World Series in 2014. And in 2019 he will start his career at McLaren, after also working for the Renault team.
Carlos Sainz Karting
