Early racers were heavy and unwieldy, driving on roads that were little more than tarred sand or wood. The first Grand Prix was the 1901 French Grand Prix at Le Man's which was over 700 miles, and won with an average speed of 63 mph.
Over the years Grand Prix racing was developed into a structured series road circuits that built a massive following. During World War 1 when racing had halted in Europe, many drivers came to the US to compete in the Indianapolis 500. The first Grand Prix victory by an American car came in the 1921 French Grand Prix at Le Mans by Jimmy Murphy driving a Deusnberg. It would be many years until there would be another.
Finally after the Italian domination of the 20's, and the German donimation of the 30's, World War 2 came and went. Originally called Formula A, it was soon changed to Formula 1, and sanctioned races for cars with an engine displacement of 1,500cc supercharged or 4,500cc unsupercharged. The first F1 World Championship was held in 1950.
F1 has progressed through develpments that have shaped racing and personal automobiles alike. Over the years F1 has introduced aerodynamic styling to enable massive downforce, turbocharged engines for speed, and active suspensions to turn on a dime. While many of these innovations were later owtlawed, F1 remains today a product of those developments.
An F1 car today is now more fighter jet than automobile. With a form-fitting cockpit, and aerodynamics suiting an aircraft, F1 cars are designed and built for speed and handling. Powered by 3.0-liter 900+ hp V-10's, these cars are capable of speeds in excess of 225mph.
The 19 race 2005 F1 schedule has just been announced.
- 3/6/05: Melbourne, Australia
- 3/20/05: Sepang, Malaysia
- 4/3/05: Sakhir, Bahrain
- 4/17/05: Magny-Cours, France
- 4/24/05: Imola, San Marino
- 5/8/05: Barcelona, Spain
- 5/22/05: Monaco
- ?/??/05: Nurburgring, Europe
- 6/12/05: Montreal, Canada
- 6/??/05: Indianapolis, USA
- 7/3/05: Silverstone, UK
- 7/17/05: Hockenheim, Germany
- 7/31/05: Hungaroring, Hungary
- 8/21/05: Istanbul, Turkey
- 9/4/05: Monza, Italy
- 9/11/05: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
- 9/25/05: Interlagos, Brazil
- 10/9/05: Suzuka, Japan
- 10/?/05: Shanghai, China
