The Grand Prix era: from national colours to a world championship.

From the AIACR to the FIA

The FIA traces its origin to 20 June 1904, when automobile clubs from seven countries (Germany, Austria, the United States, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Italy) founded the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus, or AIACR, in Paris. The AIACR became the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile in 1946. Its president at the time of its 120th-anniversary coverage in 2024 was Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Britannica notes that the United States has no single governing body; American sanctioning bodies connect to the FIA through ACCUS-FIA. More on today's bodies is on our governing bodies page.

Between the wars

Britannica records that the French and Italian Grands Prix returned in 1921, with the Belgian Grand Prix following in 1925, the German in 1926 and Monaco in 1929. Brooklands staged the first British Grand Prix in August 1926 and another in 1927, the year the British Racing Drivers' Club was founded (Brooklands Museum). Cars raced in national colours: blue for France, red for Italy, white for Germany and green for Britain. French and Italian makers won most Grands Prix through 1934, Britannica says, and German makers dominated the rest of the decade.

Le Mans begins, 1923

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, founded in 1906, says the 24-hour race was dreamed up at the 1922 Paris motor show by its secretary general Georges Durand, Rudge-Whitworth's French representative Émile Coquille, and engineer and journalist Charles Faroux. By the ACO's account, Faroux suggested eight hours and Durand held out for 24. The aim was to prove the reliability of production cars, which had to carry road equipment such as headlights, a horn and a rear-view mirror. The first race started in a hailstorm on 26 May 1923 on a public-road course of about 17 km that included the Mulsanne Straight. Thirty-three cars from 20 makes started and 30 finished; André Lagache and René Léonard (Chenard & Walcker) were the official winners for covering the greatest distance. The Race explains that the early editions also counted toward the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup, judged on class target distances. See endurance and Le Mans for the race today.

The Silver Arrows, 1934 to 1939

Rules announced in autumn 1932 limited Grand Prix cars to a maximum of 750 kg from 1934 (Audi). Auto Union, formed in 1932 from four Saxon makers (Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer), used racing to promote its new name. Ferdinand Porsche designed its cars with a 16-cylinder engine behind the driver, a layout Audi calls mid-engined in modern terms; Audi gives the Type C about 520 hp and 340 km/h. The Mercedes-Benz W 25 won first time out, at the Eifel race at the Nürburgring on 3 June 1934, with Manfred von Brauchitsch (Mercedes-AMG F1).

The paint story

A popular story holds that Mercedes scraped the white paint off overweight W 25s at that 1934 Eifel race. Jalopnik disputes it: the Eifel race was not run to Grand Prix weight rules, Auto Union also ran silver cars there, and the tale was shaped by team manager Alfred Neubauer's 1958 memoir. Neither version can be confirmed from the sources we read. Jalopnik, as its only source, also traces the "Silver Arrow" name to a 1932 radio broadcast about von Brauchitsch's bare-aluminium Mercedes SSKL at the AVUS; we could not confirm that elsewhere.

Champions and the end of the era

Rudolf Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) was European Champion in 1935 and 1937, the last year of the 750 kg formula. Bernd Rosemeyer won the 1936 European Championship for Auto Union, along with the German road racing and hill-climb titles (Audi). Rosemeyer was killed on 28 January 1938 trying to beat Caracciola's record of 432.7 km/h on the Frankfurt to Darmstadt autobahn. A 3-litre supercharged formula followed in 1938. Tazio Nuvolari won for Auto Union at Monza and Donington, and in Belgrade on 3 September 1939, the day Britain and France declared war.

Open-road racing alongside

Britannica describes the Mille Miglia as a race on Italian public roads held from 1927 to 1957. Bonhams records that it started and finished in Brescia with Rome at the halfway point, and that Stirling Moss won in 1955 at a record average of 98.5 mph, with journalist Denis Jenkinson navigating from pace notes. In Mexico, five Carrera Panamericana races from 1950 to 1954 marked the completion of the Pan-American Highway (Times Colonist). The Mille Miglia ended after a fatal crash in 1957, and the Carrera's five editions cost 26 lives; see safety.

The World Championship, 1950

Britannica notes that Grand Prix racing resumed in 1947. The first World Championship race was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 13 May 1950, also titled the Grand Prix d'Europe, with 21 starters and King George VI in attendance (Formula 1). Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won in an Alfa Romeo 158, ahead of teammates Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell. Pirelli records seven rounds that year, including the Indianapolis 500, with Farina clinching the first title at Monza ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio. Mercedes-Benz won the drivers' championship in 1954 and 1955 with the W 196 R and then left racing.

The first title for constructors is dated two ways. Goodwood says the first constructors' championship, then called the manufacturers' championship, was in 1958 and went to Vanwall, which won six of the nine races it entered that year, three each for Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. Britannica's overview says a championship for Formula One manufacturers began in 1955. Goodwood adds that Mike Hawthorn took the 1958 drivers' title by one point from Moss, after Moss spoke up for him against a disqualification in Portugal. Britannica says British-built cars dominated from the late 1950s.

How the cars changed

Each of these shifts is covered in more depth on our technology page.

• Engine behind the driver. Goodwood calls Jack Brabham's 1959 title car, the Cooper T51, the rear-engined machine that revolutionised Formula One. Brabham kept the title in 1960 in the T53, and later won a third in a car of his own make.
• Wings. Goodwood says Ferrari and Brabham first ran inverted wings at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix; Forix dates the first F1 wings to 1967. After wing failures at the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix, the sporting authority banned unrestricted wings at the next race, Monaco.
• Ground effect. The Lotus 78 of 1977 used the car's underside to make downforce, and the Lotus 79 carried Mario Andretti to the 1978 title (Motor Sport). Flat-bottom rules from 1983 ended that first era (Formula 1).
• Turbos. Renault raced the first turbocharged F1 car at the 1977 British Grand Prix. Its first win is placed at the French Grand Prix at Dijon on 1 July 1979 by Zwischengas and at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix by WhichCar; the Dijon date matches the wider record we read. Nelson Piquet became the first turbo champion in 1983, and turbos were replaced for 1989 by a 3.5-litre naturally aspirated formula (Goodwood).

Later F1 eras, from V10s to the 2014 hybrids and the 2026 rules, are on the technology page, and the drivers who won in them are on notable drivers.