F1 history for true fans

Gilles Villeneuve – Grand Prix legend

2011-01-31T13:12:00.000-08:00

He is remembered as one of the bravest driver in Formula One history. When Enzo Ferrari first noticed a driving talent of the young Canadian, he said that Villeneuve reminds him on Tazio Nuvolari - Italian driver who before World War II was a symbol for courage on the race track. Gilles Villeneuve has quickly become a favorite driver of the old man from Maranelo. Also, he quickly arrived in his team.

Gilles Villeneuve was born on January 18th, 1950, in small town called Richelieu, in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada. He married Joann Barthe when he was only 20 years old. He started to race early, driving the Ford Mustang in local drag racing events. In Formula One, he arrived in 1977 driving a McLaren at the British Grand Prix. The following year he became a member of the team from Maranelo where he stayed until the end of his career and his life.

During six years in Formula One, Villeneuve scored six wins and he never became champion. In 1979 he finished second in the championship, just four points behind his teammate Jodi Scheckter. Although Scheckter was more successful, Villeneuve was the star of the team and one of the biggest stars in Formula One during that decade. It can be said that the young Canadian replace Niki Lauda at the place of Ferrari's main driver. His famous duel with Rene Arnoux at the end of the Grand Prix of France in 1979, many fans of Formula 1 are considered as the best duel of all time.

The audience thought that Villeneuve was the bravest driver in Formula One, and they loved him. But not just the audience. Niki Lauda once said, "He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1."

Unfortunately, beginning of the eighties brought the tragedy. On May 8th, 1982, during the final qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, Villeneuve suffered a fatal accident. Once again, fans of Formula One have left without their favorite driver, and without the driver who was the bravest of the race track. Talking about the loved ones he lost, Enzo Ferrari once said "I look behind and I see the face of this great man - Gilles Villeneuve.”

The legend of Gilles Villeneuve continued its life more than ten years later. In 1995, Jacques Villeneuve, Gilles's son, won the Indy 500 race and the CART championship. The following year he came in Formula One, and in 1997 he became F1 world champion, becoming the part of F1 history just like his father.

Jim Clark – smiling hero of Grand Prix racing

2011-01-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

They say that he always raced to win. They all loved his driving, his courage, and his smile. He was the greatest driver of his time. Only few drivers have been so dominant in Formula One.

James Clark junior, was born on March 4th, 1936, at Kilmany House Farm in Scotland. He was the fifth child in the family. He had four older sisters. He got a driver's license when he was 17 years old after which he started to drive local Rallies at the age of 20, about 1956. It was just a hobby to a young boy from a farm. But not for long time. His friends convince him to continue his career of a racing driver.

In 1958 he drove a race at Brands Hatch, where he impressed Colin Chapman - founder of Lotus team. The two of them soon became friends, and Clark came in Lotus. In that time no one could imagine that two of them will write the history of Formula One and the entire automotive world. One of the most brilliant constructors - Chapman, the talented and brave driver - Clark, marked the whole next decade.

In early sixties Colin Chapman invented self-supporting car body and independent suspension for each wheel. That has resulted whith a great progress for the cars of that time. Thanks to that Lotus team became better than the competition. In 1963 Jim Clark became the Formula One world champion. Two years later, in 1965, he was the best once again. That year, Clark also became the first driver from Europe who won the famous Indy 500 race. During his career at Lotus, he and his team-mate Graham Hill – also twice world champion, became great friends.

On April 7th, 1968, at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany, during an F2 race Clark's Lotus had a tire failure, and Clark suffered a fatal accident. Formula One has lost its greatest hero of that time. His smile, and his courage behind the wheel became only the nice memories. Colin Chapman said that he had lost his best friend.

During his career, Clark has started in 72 races in Formula One, scoring 25 wins and 33 poles. He died at the age of 32, leaving the fans to speculate whether he would become the best driver of all time, maybe even greater than Fangio. Certainly he has marked an era. Team Lotus has continued to compete for more than two decades after Clarke's death, and it became one of the greatest teams in Formula One history. It gave many great drivers, but Clark remained the greatest.

Juan Manuel Fangio – great legend of Grand Prix history

2011-01-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

Some of his rivals called him "Maestro". Five decades his name meant nothing less than "the best driver of all time". Some still think that he is the best. His name was Juan Manuel Fangio. He was the idol of many drivers who later became champions, but for decades none of them became that great as he was.

He spent seven seasonsin Formula One, during which he has won five world championship titles. He started at 51 Formula One race and won 23 of them. He has also scored 27 poles.

He was born on June 24, 1911, in Balarce in Argentina, in family of Italian descent. When he was eleven years old he started working as a mechanic. He worked that job for next forty years. Occasionally, he drove races in South America. Those were long distance races and he drove them in primitive self-prepared cars. He he went racing in Europe when he was 38.

In the first Formula One championship, he was second. The best was the Italian driver Giuseppe Nino Farina, Fangio's teammate in Alfa Romeo team. In 1951, Fangio has won his first world championship driving the Alfa Romeo. Next year during race in Monza he had a serious accident in the second lap. The result of the accident was broken neck.

He able to return to Formula One, and in 1954 he has won his second title as a Ferrari driver. The following two seasons he spent in a Mercedes team, and he became champion two more times. In 1958 he has won his final championshim driving the Maserati. That year he was kidnapped in

Cuba

by members of Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement. They wanted to draw attention on their cause, but soon they released him because of his charm.

Enzo Ferrari criticized him in late fifties. He said that Fangio was wining because he was driving the best cars. Fangio's fellow driver Stirling Moss responded to that: "Because he was the best bloody driver! The cheapest method of becoming a successful Grand Prix team was to sign up Fangio." Argentinian was also known for having good relations with his mechanics.

After the 1958 season he retired. He died in 1995 in Buenos Aires, and he was buried in his hometown Balarce. In 2003 Michael Schumacher has won his sixth title. Although Fangio's record was broken, many fans of Formula One still considered Juan Manuel Fangio for the best driver of all time, what he maybe is. Certainly, he marked the first decade of Formula One.

F1 history in 2000's - when Formula 1 was a one man show

2011-01-15T03:56:00.001-08:00

"The terror of one man over the others" - this is the best way to describe the beginning of the twenty-first century in Formula 1. German driver Michael Schumacher (on the left), from the Ferrari team, has won all the championships from year 2000 to the year 2004.

At that time Schumacher has broken almost every record in Formula One. During his career he has won an incredible seven world champion titles, he has scored over 90 victories and nearly 70 poles. Most of that he has accomplished in those years. Fans can not agree who was the best driver F1 history, but one thing is certain - Schumacher is the most successful.

Watching Formula One in those years, was watching how one man wins, and the only uncertain thing was who is going to be second. There were only a few drivers who were good rivals to Schumacher, especially when Mika Häkkinen retired at the beginning of the decade. Among them were the Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen from McLaren and Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya from Williams team. Montoya never became a champion, but he was very brave in duels. The most interesting thing in Formula 1 during that time was the duels between Schumacher and Montoya.

However, the secret of Schumacher's success was Ferrari’s car. It was definitely the best car at that time. In 2005, Renault team made the best car and that was the end of the Schumacher's era. That year and in 2006 the best driver was Fernando Alonso from Renault team. In 2005 he became the youngest world champion. In 2006 Schumacher left Formula One.

The second half of the decade was marked by very young drivers. In 2008, the youngest world champion became Lewis Hamilton, the young British driver from McLaren, even if it was his second year in Formula One. Hamilton became the first black man in F1 history who came into that sport and became champion. At the end of the decade another young driver became the youngest world champion. It was Sebastian Vettel, the German driver from Red Bull team.

At the end of the decade - year 2010 Michael Schumacher's returned to F1 as a driver of the Mercedes. Also, the same year there appeared a new team called Lotus. However this was not the same team which left Formula 1 in the nineties. In the next decade, the fans will be able to enjoy in the competition of several talented young drivers and great legend such as Michael Schumacher.

PS. If you want to read good reportage (on Serbian: dobra reportaža ) about F1 on Serbian language, then click here.

F1 history in the 90's - Grand Pirx world has lost its favorite driver

2011-01-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

End of the eighties and early nineties in Grand Prix world was marked by Ayrton Senna, McLaren’s driver, who is according to the many fans of Formula 1 the best driver of all time in that sport. Senna had won his second and third world champion titles in 1990 and 1991. At that time he was a legend that walked the earth. The audience loved him like no any other driver in F1 history.

In the early nineties Sennas competition were the Williams team drivers - Nigel Mansell who won the championship in 1992, and Alian Prost who was the best in the year 1993. In 1994, Sena has also become a Williams’s driver. The best driver in the best team, everyone would think. But no one imagined that the year 1994 was going to be the year of the greatest tragedy in the history of Formula One, at least according to the audience.

Ayrton Senna died in a terrible accident on the Grand Prix of San Marino at Imola track on May 1st. Sadness and disbelief have affected the racing world. The biggest hero of the audience was killed on the race track. The cause of the accident has never been revealed with certainty, but it is assumed that the car had a defective wheel. However, many fans of Formula 1 are still feeling sad beacuse of the death of their greatest hero.

After the death of Senna, Formula 1 continued its journey. The mid-nineties were marked by several new talented drivers. Michael Schumacher came into Formula One in 1992 and won the two titles in 1994 and 1995 driving for the Benetton team. His rival from those years, the British driver Damon Hill - son of former champion from the sixties Graham Hill, won the title in 1996, and Jacques Villeneuve - the son of Gilles Villeneuve was the best in the year 1997. Also in the early nineties Lotus team stepped down from Formula One.

In the second half of the nineties, Michael Schumacher moved to Ferrari, and Meklaren team found a new talented driver - Mika Hakkinen from Finland. The second half of that decade in Formula One was marked by those two drivers. Hakkinen was better in 1998 and 1999 when he won the two titles. However, Schumacher was better in 2000. It was the beginning of the greatest domination of one driver in whole F1 history, and it lasted half of the next decade.

The eighties - the era of turbo engines in F1 history

2011-01-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

The eighties were the decade in F1 history 1 in which the sport got a new major teams and drivers, in which some of the greatest legends died, and the age of new technical innovations of which the most important were turbocharged engines.

Beginning of the decade was marked by the rise of a new great driver and new great team. Nelson Piquet, the Brazilian driver, have won two World Championships in 1981 and 1983 driving for Brabham team, owned at the time by Bernie Ecclestone. There is an interesting fact that at the end of the seventies the first job of Nelson Piquet in Formula One was to wash the parts of the cars for the Brabham team.

A new great team that also rise at the beginning of the decade was the Williams, which was owned by Englishman Frank Williams. In the early eighties the drivers of that team have won two titles of world champions, and that way they marked the beginning of the rise of a new major team, that will be important to the future of Formula 1.

The middle part of the eighties in F1 history and the middle part of the turbo era was marked by the McLaren team. In 1984, Niki Lauda, who was the McLaren's driver at the time, had won his third world championship. Next two years a new talented young driver from

France

named Alain Prost have won two titles while driving for McLaren. At that time the turbo engines were totally dominant and the teams which did not have them on their cars didn’t have any chances to win the races.

The second half of the decade was marked by four major drivers and two great teams. Those were McLaren's drivers - Alain Prost and young Brazilian driver named Ayrton Senna . On the other hand, their competitors were the Williams team drivers - Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell from England. Senna quickly became the favorite of the audience because of his incredible talent and great courage on the race track. He had won his first title in 1988. The last years of the eighties will be remembered as the time of great rivalry between Senna and Prost. They even pushed each other off the track to win championship titles.

In that decade, the racing world has lost two great men. Gilles Villeneuve was killed in 1982 in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on the track in Zolder. And on August 14th 1988 Enzo Ferrari – founder of the Ferrari team died of natural causes at the age of 90 years old.

F1 history in the 70's - golden years of motor racing

2011-01-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

“The decade of incredible speed, great drivers, the courage that is equal to that described in the novels about knights, and unfortunately decade of heavy losses” - that is perhaps the best way to describe F1 history in the seventies.

Beginning of the decade was marked by the young driver from

Scotland

- Jackie Stewart. He had a great talent for driving, and he achieved excellent results driving for Matra and Tyrrell. He won three world championship titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973. Unfortunately, because of the deaths of many drivers at the time, he retired too soon when he was only 34 years old. That left experts and the audience to speculate whether he might have been the greatest driver of all time that he continued to drive.

Half of the seventies were marked by two talented and great drivers - Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi who have won titles in 1972 and 1974 driving for Lotus and McLaren, and Niki Lauda from Austria. He became the champion in 1975 and 1977 driving for the Ferrari team. Even today, many people believe that Lauda is one of the best drivers in motor racing history.

In 1976 at the Nurburgring track in Germany Lauda had the greatest accident in his career when his car was caught by fire after the accident. From the car in flames he was saved by the British driver James Hunt from McLaren. Before the last race of the year, only Lauda and Hunt had a chance to become champions. Lauda decided not to drive that race, apparently because of bad weather. Yet many people believe that he left the title to the Hunt who saved his life.

The second half of the decade was marked by more good drivers. Among them we should mention Mario Andretti, driver from the United States who have won the championship in 1978 with Lotus, competing against team mate Roni Petersen from Sweden. Unfortunately, Petersen was killed that year in a crash at the start of the race in Monza. Also, in Ferrari teem in the late seventies came a talented young Canadian named Gilles Villeneuve. He was incredibly brave on the race track, which made him a favorite driver of Enzo Ferrari.

As it was said earlier in this article, the seventies were marked by the deaths of many drivers. Certainly one of the most intriguing was the death of German driver Jochen Rindt, who was killed during the qualifications for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1970. Since he was the leader of the championship at the time he died, he became the only driver in F1 history who has become a world champion after his death.

When the youth write F1 history - young lions of the Grand Prix world

2011-01-13T05:14:00.000-08:00

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, three drivers have become the youngest world champions in F1 history, which before, nobody has managed for 33 years. That raises the question, is Formula 1 becoming the sport for the incredible young people, and could someone who is about 25 or 26 years old debut in this championship today.

Results do not lie. In in 1972 driver named Emerson Fittipaldi from Brazil, became the youngest world champion with less than 26 years. After that, 33 years of Grand Prix racing, many great and good drivers appeared, but none of them have won the title so young.

Then in 2005 Fernando Alonso became the champion with a little more than 24 years old. Anyone would think that this is a remarkable achievement, but then in 2008 a British driver Lewis Hamilton became the youngest champion with a little less than 24 years old. The two youngest world champions in such a short time, it may not surprise many, but then in year 2010 youngest champion title went to Sebastian Vettel from

Germany

This is a moment in the history of Formula 1, when the drivers in their early twenties decide the champion's crown.

What led to this? Perhaps the popularity, money and sponsors which Formula One has. Do not forget, that Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel almost immediately appeared in strong teams. Youthful hunger for winning and proving, gave the audience interesting years of racing, but at what cost. JuanManuel Fangio have won the first of his five titles when he was 40 years old. Of course, in that time the cars were slower and physical effort for drivers was lower. But he came to the sport as a mature and developed personality. Can that be said for a driver who began driving go-kart at age five, and went to the biggest automotive event in the world when they were 20 years old. Time will show.

It will also show how this might affect the sport. In the meantime, we can say that the seasons of Formula 1 in which the young drivers were competing for the title of world champion were among the most interesting years in F1 history.

On this site you can find interesting reportage about F1 history, onley it's on Serbian.

F1 history during the 60's - technical progress of Grand Prix racing

2011-01-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

Sixties brought the Grand Prix world large technical progress. Formula 1 cars from the early fifties, which still look like the cars that raced before the war, for two decades have changed completely. At the end of sixsties, cars have already begun to resemble some of today's Formula 1 cars.

Sixties also brought a few new major champions. Among them, the two greatest were Jim Clark and Graham Hill. As already reported, in late fifties a number of British teams started to came to Formula 1. One of the largest and most important for that time to the F1 history was Lotus. Its founder, Colin Chapman, English engineer, gave the sport and the whole car world something that has forever changed it - self-supporting body. On that way, the ride became much smoother, because the construction of each wheel was placed on the body for itself.

This revolutionary technical design of Lotus, brought its driver Jim Clark (on the right) two World titles in 1963 and 1965. In 1965 Clark became the first driver from Europe who has won at Indy 500 - the famous American race, which was still a part of the F1 calendar at that time. If you can say that a driver marked the decade, then it was Clark. They said that he was always driving to win, and that he never calculated the race. Even the great Fangio once said that Clark was bigger driver than he was. Unfortunately, his racing career and his life ended in disaster in 1968 at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany. The world has lost a great champion that day.

In addition to Clark, it should be mentioned and Graham Hill, who has won two World Championships in years 1962 and 1968, and who is currently the only driver in f1 history who has won three the most prestigious races - Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours Le Mans. It should also be said, that in the mid-sixties, driver from New Zealand, Bruce McLaren founded the McLaren racing team. McLaren and Lotus, as it turned out, were going to be some of the greatest teams in Formula One for decades.

In the second half of the decade, Jack Brabham became the only driver who won the championship title with his own team. That was in year 1966, and one year later, his driver Denny Hulme from New Zealand, have won another championship title for the Brabham team. Jack Brabham was the first team owner who use spoilers on his car, so that car would get the air pressure from above.

At the end of that decade in F1 history full of technical progress and the great drivers, appeared the young driver from Scotland - Jackie Stewart, who have won his first title in year 1969, and showing great talent for driving, he indicated what is going to be in the decade to come.

F1 history in the 50's - And there was Formula 1

2011-01-12T13:21:00.001-08:00

When the racing world finally stepped on its feet after World War II, several major racing teams, who even then were the great rivals for decades, decided to form a unique racing championship - Formula one. This event changed the world of racing, and general automotive world, which was known until then.

It gave the unthinkable and revolutionary technical discoveries about the cars, and turned the drivers into the biggest sports stars and heroes for which everyone knew. The championship has become an event equal to World Soccer Championships or Olympic Games.

The first decade of contest was marked by teams that dominated the racing world in Europe before the war - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Mercedes. First Formula 1 championship in 1950 had eight races. The first race was driven on the track named Silverstone in England on 13th May. Italian driver Giuseppe Nino Farina, driving for the Alfa Romeo, won first driver title in F1 history, ahead of his teammate Juan Manuel Fangio from Argentina. The following year, Fangio have won the title with Alfa Romeo. Next two years, the best was Italian driver Alberto Ascari with Ferrari, after which the crew of Alfa Romeo decided to retired prematurely from the competition. The reason was that they were outperformed by the Ferrari - a team that was formerly part of the Alfa Romeo racing team.

After the Alfa Romeo give up, from 1954 to 1957 Fangio has won four World Championships, driving for Mercedes, Lancia, Ferrari and Maserati. Although accidents and injuries he sustained in the first years of his career in Formula One, he won five titles and became the first great champion of the sport. His name remains synonym for the top drivers a few decades after his career in Formula One was over.

End of the fifties for Formula One was marked by English driver and constructor John Cooper and Australian driver Jack Brabham. Cooper was the first constructor who put the car engine from bihinde of the car. That proved to be revolutionary because it that way maney on power that was lost in transmission to the rear wheels was saved. Beacuse of that, Jack Brabham, Copers driver, won two titles in last two years of the decade. Domination of Team Cooper indicated the dominance of the upcoming teams from England, which has opposed just by the Ferrari, beacuse Maserati and Mercedes retired from Formula One.

The first decade of F1 history, gave the first great champion, the first large teams and the first major casualties. One of the losses was the death of Alberto Ascari, who died during the testing of the Ferrari in 1955. However, Formula 1 has reached incredible popularity already in the first ten years of its existence, and what was seen in these years, was only a prelude to stories which came later.