History of Grand Prix Formula 1 Racing

Learn about the history of the Grand Prix Formula 1 Racing.

From Marchesini and Farina to Schumacher and Hakkinen, F1's history is live at the triumph of skill and technology. Hi! Today watchmojo.com wants you to take you through the stories of the men, the cars and the races of the past that have help develop the sport of motor racing as we know it today. At the birth of racing cars were upright and heavy and races were run on open roads from town to town that sometimes ended up causing accidents that result in fatality of both drivers and spectators. A 1200 kilometer road race in 1895 from Paris to Bordeaux and that was considered as the first motor race. Émile Levassor won this race driving his Panhard. The first race using the name Grand Prix which means big prize in French was 1901's French Grand Prix at Le Mans. Throughout the years to follow technology developed as a direct result of World War 1 and World War 2 and standards were set as most countries decided to host their own Grand Prix and nation starting racing one another. April 10th 1950 Juan Manuel Fangio won the Pro Grand Prix in a Maserati; the first contest to be labeled an international Formula 1 race. A month later Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix, the first sanctioned championship race for Formula 1 Grand Prix cars and the F1 championship was born. Today, the drivers in Formula 1 racing Grand Prix which counts towards the Formula 1 world championship; the minimum distance is 305 kilometers but no race can last longer than 2 hours.