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When it all began in 1950, with the World Championship kicking off with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it was a very different sport from the one being contested as the twentieth century comes to a close.
For starters, there were fewer teams involved, with motor
manufacturers entering the cars rather than the stand-alone teams that predominate in Formula 1 today.
Alfa Romeo's drivers dominated that opening season, with Giuseppe
Farina taking the honours. In that first year, though, there was no sign of the British teams that would shape the sport in later decades.
With post-war austerity gradually easing, specialist British outfits were established to challenge the Italian teams such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati that dominated through the 1950s. Vanwall, BRM and
Cooper all gave it a good shot, with Cooper introducing many new ideas that would start the evolution of Formula 1.
It was the application of ideas rather than money that made all the
difference, with Lotus later taking up the baton
and leading the revolution.
It wasn't just the British teams that were making the headlines,
however, as British drivers started to gather the garlands, with Mike Hawthorn becoming the first British World Champion in 1958 for
Ferrari, taking over from Juan Manuel Fangio who had walked off with five titles between 1951 and 1957. Then Graham Hill started a run of British world champions in 1962, followed by Jim Clark in 1963, John Surtees in 1964 and Clark again in 1965.
Then came one factor that brought Formula 1 within the reach of a yet wider market: the Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Anyone with enough
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