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Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Damon Hill interview: I said to Mum ‘I think it's Daddy' and she started screaming
For Damon Hill, next week's British Grand Prix at Silverstone promises to bring back special memories. It is 31 years since the silver-goateed former racer won his home Grand Prix, an achievement even his father, legendary two-time world champion Graham Hill, never managed. But it was what happened after that race that Hill is going to try to recreate next week. '1994 was the first year EJ [Eddie Jordan] got us all up on to his flatbed truck to play rock'n'roll in the paddock,' Hill recalls, smiling. 'He came over with his brother-in-law, or his cousin, Des Large – there was a whole gang of them from Ireland.' A tradition was born that day. Hill, who as a teenager had played in a punk band called Sex Hitler and the Hormones, was on guitar, fellow drivers Johnny Herbert and Perry McCarthy assisted on vocals, Jordan himself was on drums. 'I think [David] Coulthard was on triangle,' Hill says, laughing. 'I'm going to get him up on stage. We're going to try to recapture the enthusiasm of those first few years. Although without EJ there, it's all a bit more daunting!' Hill shakes his head, remembering some of the wilder antics of the irrepressible Irishman, one of F1's great characters and a man who later became his team boss. Sadly, Jordan died in March this year after a battle with prostate cancer. 'Eddie had the energy of a nuclear power station,' Hill wrote in a touching tribute in The Telegraph. 'There will never be another like him.' Hill knows more than most about loss and grief. His entire adult life has been shaped by it. The tragic death of his father on November 29, 1975, in a light aircraft he had been piloting, along with all five of his crew, happened when Damon was just 15 years old. Unsurprisingly, it left a mass of unresolved issues. When Hill won his own world title, 21 years later, in 1996, it was one of the most popular and emotional wins in F1 history. They were the first father-son world champion combination. Murray Walker, who had known Graham well during his career, famously had to stop commentating when Damon clinched the title in Japan because he had a 'lump in his throat' (listen to his commentary below). Damon Hill takes his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship at Suzuka. Murray Walker with commentary. Japan - 1996 #F1 — F1 History (@TodayF1History) February 6, 2024 But for Hill, his 1996 triumph did not give him the closure he thought it might. When he retired a few years later, he still had to come to terms with his grief. Years of depression and therapy followed. 'You can't bring someone back from the dead,' Hill says of what he learnt in those sessions, as he sits back on a sofa in his Farnham home. We are on a video call. 'You can't undo the experience. What you have to do is defuse it. It's like an unexploded bomb. You've got to defuse it, so it doesn't go off at times when you're under stress. Because it will. 'I still get massive anxiety. If something gets slightly too worrying for me, I get this panic attack. My mum had it too. She was on edge her whole life. Because she had been waiting for that call her whole life. All her friends got 'the call', you know? Her friends whose husbands died [in motor racing accidents], they'd all got 'the call'. 'And then Dad retires. She thinks she's in the clear. Her guard is down. And then… 'Oh, here's the call'. So I've lived with that anxiety, that bolt out of the blue. And even if I speak about it now I touch wood.' The man who 'never wanted to be an F1 driver' Hill's story has been told before. His autobiography, Watching the Wheels, published in 2016, was a typically insightful and eloquent attempt to grapple with life's big questions by a man who has become an acclaimed pundit on both television and radio. But it has now been made into a documentary, too, which is why we are speaking today. Hill, a 90-minute film directed by BAFTA-nominated film-maker Alex Holmes, premieres on Sky Documentaries on July 2, the opening day of British Grand Prix weekend. 'I hope F1 fans like it,' Hill says. 'And that people who aren't interested in Formula One get something from it, too. It's a human story, ultimately.' It certainly packs an emotional punch. Right from its opening montage, in which footage of the 1994 world championship denouement in Adelaide (which as all F1 fans know is where Hill was famously denied the title after being punted out of the race by a certain Michael Schumacher) is interspersed with grainy home videos from Hill's childhood, and shots of the plane wreckage. 'My whole life people asked me, 'Do you want to be an F1 driver like your dad?'' Hill says as the opening credits roll. 'The truth is I never wanted to be one. It's almost like I was trying to get back to the start again… the place where it all went off the rails. [Because] if I could get back to the start again, maybe I could put right everything which went wrong.' What drove Hill? Undoubtedly he became an F1 driver because his father was. But would he have become one unless his father died in the way he did? Was he trying to prove himself worthy of his father? To mend himself? Mend his family? These are questions Hill has spent much of his life pondering. He is still not sure. 'Was it like some sort of Greek tragedy?' he asks. 'You know, your fate is set in stone and there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Was that it? I don't know.' He definitely felt a weight of responsibility towards his mother, Bette, and to his sisters Brigitte (18 months older than Damon) and Samantha (four years younger). They had enjoyed a privileged childhood, moving from Hampstead to a large pile in Hertfordshire when Damon was a boy. 'Motor racing was lucrative,' Hill explains in the film. 'Call it danger money. We had a taste of the high life. We were very lucky children.' Family archive footage of Damon and Brigitte playing with their father, swimming, giggling, waterskiing on sunny holidays, attests to that. 'We were all shocked by how quickly the party ended [after he died],' Hill says. 'The world moves on very quickly. Dad was obviously the attraction.' The scenes in which Hill recalls the night his father died are particularly raw. It happened six months after Graham had announced his retirement and the family had 'all breathed a huge sigh of relief', having spent years worrying they might get 'the call'. Damon was watching television with Samantha. 'I can't remember what it was, probably M*A*S*H or something.' The programme was interrupted by a newsflash about a private plane crashing on to Arkley golf course, on the approach to Elstree. Hill knew his father was making his way back to Elstree from a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, along with five passengers who comprised the core of his new Embassy Hill F1 team. He remembers a 'wave of heat coming up through my legs and then into my face'. Panic. Hill made his way to the kitchen to see his mother, who was entertaining neighbours, waiting for her husband to join them. But before he got there, the phone in the hall rang. 'I hid, because I wanted to hear what they were saying, because I was terrified,' he says. It was a reporter. Bette told them to go away. When Hill told her what he had seen on the news, and said, 'I think it's Daddy', 'she got hysterical – she just started screaming and getting very cross, saying, 'I knew it was too good to be true'.' 'Mum went to five funerals in a week' Life had changed for ever. Not only did the family have to deal with the grief of losing their father and husband, the 'life and soul of every party', someone Damon clearly adored, the aftermath was extremely messy. The plane, it turned out, was not registered properly. Graham Hill's instrument rating, proving he was qualified to fly at night and in poor visibility, had not been renewed. He had borrowed money to fund his team. The family were forced to sell everything, including the house. Hill, barely into his teens, was left with a mass of contradictory feelings; anger, sadness, even guilt. 'It was bewildering. I think I was just at that perfect age of only understanding a bit, but not being able to comprehend or process it all. Obviously there were other families involved so it was not just our grief. My mum went to five funerals in a week, one of them being her husband's. And the reason she couldn't get to the other one was because there were two funerals on the same day. 'Think about that. What was that like for my mum? What could she do? What was it like for those families having my mum there? How did they feel about my dad? You know, I have met some of the children of the other passengers occasionally. But, I mean, it's very difficult. What can you say? You do feel like saying 'Do you want an apology?' But why am I the person who should feel that? And is it even appropriate?' Hill's early years in racing, initially on motorbikes, his real passion, and later cars, are again accompanied by some wonderful home video footage. On his 11th birthday, Hill is presented with a motorbike by his dad at Brands Hatch, an occasion he remembers chiefly for being hugely embarrassed. 'I didn't want to be in the limelight, being pushed forward because you're the son of…' But the real star of the documentary is Hill's wife Georgie. Her contributions are so well-judged, so intimate, the film-makers ended up using only the interviews with her and Hill, leaving out contributions from the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn. Georgie's memories of their courtship, Hill in his racing leathers draped across his bike, are both amusing and poignant. 'On the surface he was joking around, but he was one of the saddest people I've come across in my life,' she recalls. She remembers going on a trip to a race meeting when suddenly they stopped outside a churchyard and Hill broke down in tears. It was the churchyard in Hertfordshire in which his father was buried. 'That was the first time he'd ever mentioned him to me. And that was after six months.' Georgie's recollections of Imola in 1994, when Ayrton Senna, Hill's team-mate at Williams, died in a tragic accident, are similarly insightful. Before the race, Senna walked into her room in the team motorhome to find her reading and stayed for a while. 'He was asking about Ollie [the Hills' eldest child] and talking about how happy he was with his nephews, playing with them in the sea. He's leaving and he stops and says: 'Don't worry about Damon, he's going to be fine. Williams are a great team. They're safe. They'll look after him.' He literally walked out, went to his garage, went straight to his car. And that was that.' F1 fans might be surprised the film makes no mention of Roland Ratzenberger, the Austrian driver who also lost his life during that Imola race weekend. The makers apparently decided F1 fans already know the history, and those who did not, did not need the extra detail. Producer Simon Lazenby, of Sky Sports F1, who first came up with the idea for the film when he and Damon were flying back from a race in Canada in 2018, admits cost was also a factor. The film was made on 'a tight budget, six figures rather than seven', with every minute of archive footage costing thousands. In that respect, it helps that Hill has always been a keen videographer, just like his father was. 'Dad had a Super 8, an 8mm film. And I think maybe because he did it… I don't know, I just loved capturing those moments, too. I gave the makers hours and hours of home videos to wade through, way too much in fact!' 'I am competitive. And so is Georgie' Hill's rise from novice bike rider to novice racing car driver to F1 test driver to F1 world champion is interspersed with home footage of Georgie and their expanding family. The couple have four children: Oliver, Josh, Tabitha and Rosie. Ollie was born with Down's syndrome, just when Damon was getting his F1 career under way, another key moment. Georgie remembers the hospital staff scribbling down the names of care homes that might take him. 'He wasn't even 12 hours old and they'd laid out his future for him,' she says. 'And I felt: 'Right, OK, if that's all he's worth. He's worth a lot more to us.'' Damon and Georgie are now patrons of the Down's Syndrome Association, as well as Halow, a charity based near them in Guildford which Damon co-founded. The day after we speak, Damon is racing in his annual karting event for the charity at Sandown. It is now in its 12th year. 'Halow provides a community for people with learning disabilities,' Hill says. 'It's unbelievably important. Of course, the funding has all been slashed and they're suffering like many charities.' Ollie usually lives in supported-living across the road, but he is temporarily living back in with them having recently undergone a double hip operation. Hill takes me over to say hello while he is lying on the treatment table and we have a funny conversation in which he cannot hear me because I am speaking into Hill's earpods. Their other son, Josh, was a single-seater racer for a while. Hill was understandably a little anxious when Josh first broached the idea of racing, given what it had put him through. 'Oh my God! No! That's what I thought. But what I said was, 'Oh. OK! Great!'' he wrote in his book. But he backed him all the way to European F3 before Josh quit suddenly in 2013, initially to pursue a musical career. Hill was impressed both by his son's driving skills and his decisiveness; knowing what he wanted in life. It is back to that overarching theme again. What drove Hill? In one particularly revealing bit of home video in the documentary, at a school sports day involving Josh in the early 2000s, Hill might have been interviewing himself. 'You want him to be the best don't you?' he asks Georgie. 'No, as long as he's back safely,' she counters. 'I don't want him to be competitive at all. I want him to enjoy his life.' Hill persists. 'You don't think he can enjoy his life by winning?' Georgie replies: 'I don't want him to feel he always has to be the best at something and if he hasn't won he has failed. I think that's terrible.' It is a fascinating exchange. Would Hill have been happier if he had just stayed away from it all and enjoyed his life? 'Well that's a very keen observation,' he says. 'And yeah, I mean, it is a question I constantly asked myself during my career… it's this contradiction, this paradox, the yin and yang of your being, isn't it? 'Actually in that video, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. We had just come back from living in Ireland, where everything was very laissez-faire. And then we came back to England and it was Blair's Britain, and we got to this school, I won't mention the name, and it was just push and shove! Everyone was so ambitious. But yes, I am also making a point that I am competitive. And so is Georgie, to be fair. She's a liar! She wanted Josh to win. She wants to win in every game she plays. She denies her competitiveness, but she's got a very, very strong competitive spirit.' Hill laughs. Georgie was, he admits, nervous about contributing to the film at first. 'She didn't want to talk about anything. But I think she thinks it's a good film now she's got over it. You know, it's a weepy really. With a happy ending. And she's brilliant in it. I'm going to be left behind now. She's going to go off with Tom Cruise or someone.' 'You never want to go back and revisit these experiences' It is difficult not to feel happy for Hill. At how his life has panned out. Now 64, he is almost universally loved by F1 fans, not simply because he overcame such a traumatic adolescent experience, but because he never compromised his values. He tried to do it the right way. By his own admission, he was not the most talented driver of all time. But he was one of the most decent. In a sport literally known as the 'Piranha Club', in which the protagonists are mostly alpha males, Hill was the opposite. He was introverted and withdrawn. He had to learn to stand up for himself. But he was never corrupted. It is what gives him authenticity now when he calls out the sometimes erratic behaviour of drivers such as Max Verstappen. Hill's criticism of the Dutchman and his Red Bull team may well have cost him his job at Sky Sports F1 at the end of last year. Verstappen complained about 'biased people' within the paddock and Hill was gone weeks later. 'I like to think not,' he told The Telegraph earlier this year. 'I hope not.' Before he hangs up, I ask whether the film was in some ways cathartic. Going back over his life, trying to make sense of it all. He had done it already in his book, of course. But this was someone else asking him the questions, going over home footage which had long been gathering dust. 'I mean, you never want to go back and revisit these experiences,' he says at length. 'They're painful, and they still carry the residue of the horror and the shock. But I think you'll find that people who do a lot of therapy are quite resilient, because you don't have the illusions any more. You don't have this idea of how it could be if only everything was different. You just try to come to terms with the world, rather than get the world to come to terms with you.' Hill smiles again. 'It was enjoyable [making the film], going through all the old archives, the different haircuts through the ages, the children, everything that was going on contemporaneously. Because that's real life. I mean, all these F1 drivers… we see them now, they show themselves off on their speedboats or whatever. But when they go back to their apartments, they're human like the rest of us. They all go 'What's on the telly?' F1 is this extraordinary, high-octane world, but in between, it's unbelievably normal. I used to come back after winning a race and put the bins out.'
Forbes
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Brad Pitt's ‘F1' Revving Up Big Opening Weekend Box Office
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 09: Brad Pitt, star of the upcoming Formula One based movie, Apex, and ... More Damson Idris, co-star of the upcoming Formula One based movie, Apex, walk on the grid in front of Carlos Sainz of Spain driving (55) the Ferrari SF-23 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 09, 2023 in Northampton, England. (Photo by) Brad Pitt's Formula 1 race car drama F1: The Movie is running laps around fellow newcomer M3GAN 2.0 and a batch of holdovers at the weekend box office. Directed by Top Gun: Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski, 'F1: The Movie' stars Pitt as Sonny Hayes, an aging race car driver who rejoins the Formula 1 circuit after a near-fatal crash 30 years earlier. Javier Bardem stars as a former Formula 1 teammate-turned-owner who convinces Sonny to help save his flailing team, while Kerry Condon plays a Formula 1 race car designer and Damson Idris stars as a young and arrogant driver who discounts Sonny's value because of his age. F1: The Movie is projected by Deadline to earn $55 million-plus in its opening weekend from 3,661 North American theaters. The projection falls in line with Variety's mid-week forecast for the film to open in the $50 million to $60 million range. Variety noted that F1: The Movie — which was produced by Apple Original Films and is being distributed by Warner Bros. — had a $200 million production budget before prints and advertising costs. DreamWorks and Universal Pictures' live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon is projected by Deadline to take the No. 2 spot at the weekend box office with $18.5 million in ticket sales from 4,127 North American theaters. Should that projection hold, it will boost the film's domestic take to $199.1 million. Disney and Pixar's animated feature Elio — which made Pixar history (and not in a good) way by having the worst opening weekend in the company's history — appears to be heading to a No. 3 finish at the domestic box office this weekend. Deadline projects that the film will earn $11 million to $12 million through Sunday from 3,750 North American theaters. Should the projection hold, it will up Elio's running tally to $43.4 million. Allison Williams in "M3GAN 2 0." 'M3GAN 2.0' Is In A Tight Race With '28 Years Later' For Fourth Place Universal Pictures' M3GAN 2.0, which is the sequel to the 2022 hit horror thriller M3GAN, is struggling in its opening weekend and is vying for a No. 4 finish at the domestic box office. Deadline projects that the film is looking to open with $10 million in ticket sales from 3,112 theaters against a $25 million budget before P&A. The Hollywood Reporter, which reported that M3GAN 2.0's budget was $15 million before P&A, projected a $20 million for the Blumhouse-produced movie, while Deadline said the film 'would be lucky' to make the same amount of money. Now, it appears that M3GAN 2.0 will be lucky to make half of either of the trade publications' projections. Also in the running for the No. 4 spot is Sony Pictures Entertainment's zombie thriller 28 Years Later. Deadline is projecting that the Danny Boyle-directed horror film will make $10 million from 3,440 theaters domestically. If that estimate holds, it will up the film's North American take to $50.6 million through Sunday. Note: This box office report will be updated throughout the weekend with the most current numbers as they become available. The final numbers for this weekend's box office will be released on Monday.
The Independent
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
Toto Wolff interested in signing Max Verstappen for Mercedes
Toto Wolff has signalled a surprising openness to a potentially explosive driver pairing, suggesting Max Verstappen could join George Russell at Mercedes. This comes as Russell, fresh from a victory in Canada, believes talks with the four-time world champion and Mercedes are ongoing. The British driver, who has been one of the grid's standout performers this season, indicated that the ongoing talks with Verstappen might be delaying the renewal of his own deal, which is set to expire in six months. The prospect of Verstappen and Russell as teammates is fraught with tension, given their fractious history. The pair engaged in a heated war of words following last December's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. More recently, Verstappen controversially accelerated into Russell's Mercedes during the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month, a reckless manoeuvre that leaves the Dutchman just one penalty point away from a race ban for next weekend's British Grand Prix. Such a high-stakes partnership inevitably draws comparisons to the tumultuous relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Their rivalry, while delivering three world championships for Mercedes, famously descended into chaos during their three years as teammates. But, when asked if Verstappen could be paired with Russell, Wolff said: 'I can imagine every line-up. I had Hamilton and Rosberg fighting for a world championship so everything afterwards is easy. 'There are pros and cons to having two drivers fighting each other hard. We have seen examples where they have functioned and others where they didn't.' Russell's Italian team-mate Kimi Antonelli, 18, has impressed in his rookie season. However, he is under contract for this season only, and has no guarantee of a seat with Mercedes beyond this year. He is 73 points behind Russell in the standings. Verstappen's contract at Red Bull runs until 2028, although performance clauses within his current deal could activate an early release. Pressed directly on whether he is in dialogue with Verstappen, Wolff replied: 'At the moment, clearly we need to explore what is happening in the future. 'That doesn't change what I think about George, or Kimi or the line-up that I am extremely happy with. I want to have conversations behind-closed-doors and not in town halls.' It had been suggested that Russell's Mercedes extension could coincide with his home race at Silverstone next weekend. However, it is understood that a fresh deal for Russell, who is 62 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, is not imminent. And Wolff continued: 'When it comes to the contract situation, our sport is pressure, constant pressure, whether you are inside the car or outside the car, and you just need to cope with that. George knows that. 'I feel like when you are put into a comfort zone that is more detrimental to performance. 'He has always performed to the expectations we have set and he is continuing to do so. We have not given him a car to win the world championship, and that is on us. 'But in the times when the car has been good he is winning races, he is always there and you know he will extract what is in the car. 'He needs to be top of our list because he is a winner, a Mercedes junior, and he has been with us for a long time.'
The Independent
a day ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
George Russell and Max Verstappen F1 swap would be unthinkable – but Mercedes man deserves clarity
As Formula 1 the enterprise returns to real racing on track this weekend in Austria – away from the sprinkle and stardust of movie premieres in New York and London – one of the season's standout drivers so far is in an unusual predicament. A scenario, you might say, worthy of a drama. No doubt the Box to Box producers of Netflix's Drive to Survive are rubbing their hands together. George Russell, at this present stage, can do little more. The 27-year-old, in his fourth season at Mercedes and first without Lewis Hamilton by his side, has taken to the role of 'team leader' with poise and serenity. As the Brit acknowledged to The Independent last month, he's been 'getting better and better.' Let's take the last two races. Last time out, in Canada, one of the laps of the year saw Russell clinch a memorable pole position. From there, he thwarted any challenge behind him with a composed drive out in front to victory. In a Mercedes car which has been capricious so far this season, it was arguably Russell's best weekend in F1 to date. The previous race, Russell held his nerve – and his tongue in the media pen afterwards – after being clattered into by arch-rival Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was duly punished and remains a penalty point away from a race ban, ahead of Silverstone next week. But Verstappen is lurking in Russell's background in more ways than one. Having signed a two-year deal in the summer of 2023, Russell's current contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the year. His teammate, 18-year-old prodigy Kimi Antonelli, is the golden boy of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. The Italian is going nowhere. But why the delay for Russell? The Brit is fourth in the world championship, having secured five podiums in 10 races – his best-ever start to a season. He is just 19 points off Verstappen, who has two wins to his name. Russell is executing the maximum possible points outlay on nearly every weekend. Surely, therefore, he deserves some clarity over his future? Yet speaking to Sky Sports ahead of this weekend's round 11 in Spielberg, Russell spilt the beans on the worst-kept secret in the paddock: Mercedes boss Wolff does not want to close the door on poaching Verstappen. "As Mercedes, they want to be back on top, and if you're going to be back on top, you need to make sure you've got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pit crew, and that's what Mercedes are chasing,' Russell said. "So, it's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing. But from my side, if I'm performing as I'm doing, what have I got to be concerned about? 'There are two seats in every Formula 1 team.' To an extent, Russell is correct in his view. All he can do is prove his worth every week out on track, eking as much performance out of the Mercedes W16 as possible. This weekend, he returns to a race he won last year. Next week, he returns to Silverstone, his home track, where he picked up pole position in 2024. Another set of podiums is the obvious target, behind the frontrunning pace of the McLarens. Over to you, then, Toto. The Mercedes F1 CEO, a few months ago, was adamant he was not interested in 'flirting' with the prospect of poaching Verstappen from fierce rivals Red Bull and main adversary Christian Horner. The Dutchman, for his part, insists he will be staying with Red Bull in 2026; he has a £40m-a-year contract until the end of 2028. But here's the catch for Verstappen and his world championship ambitions. Red Bull are, for the first time, launching their own power unit programme for the new set of engine and chassis regulations next year, in partnership with Ford. That brings with it an element of uncertainty. On the flip side, much like the hybrid era phase of Silver Arrows dominance, Mercedes are fancied as the favourites for next year, such is their expertise in the engine department. So, could Verstappen replace Russell? It would amount to a disloyal move on the part of Wolff, dropping his current top dog for the Dutchman, who is unquestionably a generational driver. Yet, given the vocal rivalry between the two drivers, as well as the two teams, it feels almost unthinkable. It would, simply put, feel bizarre. And what would that mean for Russell? There are no open seats for 2026 at McLaren, Ferrari or Aston Martin. Therefore, his only option for a front-of-the-pack team would be a move to Red Bull in an effective swap deal. Russell working with Horner, as opposed to against him? Again, very bizarre. The forecast for the next month, as we build towards the summer break and 'silly season', should be obvious for Wolff: sign up Russell, give your star driver the clarity he deserves, form a plan for the future, and win with your man. It is a view shared up and down the paddock. We await the next steps with intrigue.
New York Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
75 years of F1? Not quite: How the magic of 1950 gave way to an identity crisis
This article is part of our 75 Years of Speed series, an inside look at the backstories of the clubs, drivers, and people fueling Formula One. 'The demise of Formula One.' So declared the then British weekly Autosport in 1952 — just two years after the birth of the world championship. Before things disintegrated, though, it'd roared into life. The 1950 season was chaotic, glamorous, and fiercely competitive, launching a new era of global motorsport. But just as quickly as it rose, F1 faltered: For two full seasons, the world championship wasn't actually contested with F1 cars — a statistical asterisk that still raises eyebrows generations later. Advertisement In 2025, as F1 marks its 75th anniversary, it celebrates a history that in a bizarre sense almost ended before it'd truly began — a story marred by a glaring anomaly that exposed the fragility of one country's early racing ambitions. We start, fittingly, at Silverstone for the 1950 season opener, which took in that year's British Grand Prix (officially the Grand Prix d'Europe). This event is forever remembered as F1's first world championship race. Under sunny skies, where a 'party atmosphere prevailed', according to Motorsport Magazine's contemporary report, the Alfa Romeo team was resplendent. The Italian team dominated with a car that was actually 12 years old and pre-dated the Second World War. Severe traffic issues meant many spectators were late arriving at Silverstone on race day, but the grandstands were at least bedecked in bunting and Union Jack flags to cover their steel skeletons. A royal presence had ensured much pomp. Having met King George VI ahead of the start — the only time a reigning British monarch has attended a British Grand Prix — along with the rest of the 21 starting drivers, Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina led away from the four-car, all-Alfa, front row. Differently colored engine cowls helped the crowd of 150,000 differentiate the Alfa drivers as they swapped positions through the race's early stages. Motorsport declared: 'It was obvious that the Alfa Romeo team had been instructed how to finish. Farina first, Luigi Fagioli second, (Juan Manuel) Fangio third and (British home hero, Reg) Parnell fourth. But to appear to be racing to please the crowd.' While their distant opponents hit trouble, the Alfas roared around Silverstone. Their only down note was Fangio spinning off and hitting a straw bale in the closing stages. His 158 sounded sick after being fired back up at Stowe corner, and he soon retired with a broken engine connecting rod. But this meant the British fans who then spent four hours getting out of the track's car parks could at least reflect on Parnell's celebratory wreath-winning result, as he finished third behind Farina and Fagioli. Advertisement Just a week later, round two was staged in glamorous Monaco, where the Ferrari team took part this time. Enzo Ferrari had refused to come to Silverstone in a dispute over small appearance fees for the teams and with only £1,000 (then around $2,800) in prize money on offer for winning. This time, Fangio won for Alfa after a bizarre incident on the first lap. A huge wave had sloshed over the harbor wall at the Tabac corner and soaked the track just as the race was getting underway, one street over. Fangio skillfully navigated his way through, but Farina spun and crashed out, along with Fagioli. The next time by, with the track up ahead strewn with wreckage, Fangio 'was aware of something different with the crowd' — as he told motor racing journalist Nigel Roebuck in 1978. Fangio had realized that 'instead of seeing their faces, I was seeing the backs of their heads.' It was a subtle but chilling signal that something was wrong up ahead — the crowd had turned to watch the unfolding disaster, not the approaching cars. In this rarity for a race leader, the legendary Argentine understood there was danger up ahead and hit the brakes. Just in time. He went on to score his first F1 world championship win. The Indianapolis 500 featured next on the newly formed schedule, as it did for the world championship's first 11 years, but this event was not run to F1 car regulations. Johnnie Parsons won in 1950, while most of the European grand prix stars stayed away. Farina was down on the entry list, but didn't turn up. Round four, the Swiss GP at the fearsomely fast, tree-lined Bremgarten track, 'frankly, as a race it was not interesting,' declared Motorsport. This was because Ferrari — particularly its national Italian star, Alberto Ascari — had looked threatening in practice and during the early race laps. However, the race then simmered down to another Alfa domination. Farina won, but Fangio retired late on again, with another mechanical issue. Such misfortune swung Farina's way at the next two rounds — in Belgium and France — allowing Fangio to win both events. Fangio capitalized on Farina's fuel and reliability woes in Belgium and France to bring the title fight to a dramatic showdown at Monza. At Spa, Farina dropped to fourth with oil pressure issues. At Reims, a faulty fuel pump cost him dearly despite a spirited charge back through the field. Advertisement This set the stage for a three-way fight for the first F1 world title at the Monza season finale. Farina's recent mechanical maladies meant Fangio led the standings by two points — but from Fagioli, whose post-Monaco consistency had brought him into contention. Farina stared down a four-point deficit, having been nine clear of Fangio amongst the nightmare Silverstone traffic. But reliability decided Fangio's fate that year, as he retired with a seized gearbox after 23 of the Italian GP's 80 laps, having dropped back quickly from pole. Farina — in a new Alfa (the 159 derived from the 158 'Alfetta') that had 'increased power,' according to F1 historian Roger Smith, dominated from Ascari and in doing so claimed the first F1 world title. He'd taken over another Ferrari (this was allowed and possible back then), with Fagioli third and ultimately there overall in the inaugural world championship's points standings, behind his illustrious teammates. The 1951 season was another Alfa triumph for its powerful, ageing cars. But there were big differences in the world championship's sophomore campaign. While the racing on track reached new heights, trouble was brewing off it. Behind the scenes, engine rules were shifting, manufacturers were retreating, and political maneuvering began to unravel the very concept of F1. Fangio, this time, took the title — the first of his five. This would stand as a record for 46 years, until it was first overhauled by Michael Schumacher in 2003 and then by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. And Ferrari, boosted by its 4.5-liter unsupercharged V12 engine, which delivered much better fuel efficiency than the 1.5-liter straight-eight supercharged Alfa, finally provided fierce competition. Fuel issues plagued Alfa's year, with its engine's weaknesses either forcing it to run its cars heavily or just make more stops than Ferrari. Advertisement The Scuderia finally exploited this to take its first world championship F1 win in the 1951 British GP, with Jose Froilan Gonzalez, another Argentine. Eponymous team owner Enzo Ferrari — a former Alfa driver and team manager — wrote to his rival and declared: 'Today, I killed my mother.' In the Spanish GP finale, Ferrari's miscalculation on wheel and tire size led to ruinous early pit stops. Fangio romped home at Pedralbes to seal the title from Ascari by six points. Alfa and Ferrari locked in battle, while Mercedes worked on its post-war return to motorsport in the background, having dominated as a Nazi propaganda machine in the 1930s. British hopes were also high for a powerful V16 car from British Racing Motors (BRM), which had stunned crowds with its shocking engine note wherever it appeared to this point. An F1 glory age was surely unfurling. Until it was stopped in its tracks — the BRM to blame. 'The harm that has been done to British national prestige by this unhappy venture is incalculable,' Autosport would state in 1952, typically hyperbolically for the editorials of the era. The 1950 and 1951 seasons had been run according to the original set of F1 rules laid down by motorsport's governing body in 1947. These regulations, from the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI), had decreed that cars with engines like Alfa Romeo's or Ferrari's would compete against each other. Aerodynamics were at this stage not the defining feature of car performance and weight was unlimited. But those car design rules needed updating, and the FIA signed off a new set of F1 regulations in October 1951. The existing formula was extended to cover only 1952 and 1953, with smaller engines mandated from 1954 onwards. Motorsport magazine described this as 'against the desires of Germany and Great Britain.' Advertisement This meant two things. For Mercedes, it delayed a long-planned comeback. For BRM, it rendered its ambitious car soon-to-be-obsolete before it had even proven itself. Mercedes had been quietly working on a new car using the first engine rules, dubbed the W195. The German marque had finally returned to racing action in Argentina in 1951 with some of its pre-war models, but had been humbled by newer Ferraris. Legendary Mercedes team boss Alfred Neubauer had hoped the new F1 project would be ready to compete in 1951 and then challenge for the championship in 1952. But only if the existing rules were going to stay in place for longer. With major change now coming in 1954, Mercedes didn't deem extra investment worthwhile. It ultimately opted to make its grand return to top-line grand prix racing that year instead, with what would become the famous W196, following a campaign in the 1952 sports car season. Mercedes' management had also been spooked by rumors that Alfa was about to quit the world championship after Fangio's 1951 title. This was with the knowledge that the 158, like the BRM V16, would also soon be barred from entering F1 world championship races. But the new rules dealt a harsher blow to BRM. The ambitious British project had built the powerful but troublesome V16 engine, backed by widespread support from the country's motor industry. Despite high expectations, including interest from King George VI, the BRM was notoriously unreliable. Engine changes took up to 24 hours compared to three for a Ferrari, making the car practically unusable. After embarrassingly trailing five laps down at its only world championship outing — the 1951 British GP — the V16 BRM was withdrawn from key races, further damaging Britain's motorsport prestige. This included non-world championship races that were common in this era. Advertisement The withdrawal of BRM from the Valentino GP in Turin in 1952 proved decisive for the F1 world championship that year. Race organizers elsewhere, disappointed by BRM's absence from what should've been a fight with Ferrari's F1 car in Turin, opted not to have races for F1 cars atop their bills — including many that were slated to host world championship races. Alfa Romeo had by this stage officially withdrawn from the 1952 season as the coming new rules would make its car obsolete, too. Ferrari was now so strong, Mercedes was not yet ready, and the BRM consistently disappointed. As motorsport historian Giovanni Lurani noted in History of the Racing Car, F1 had, 'to all intents and purposes, collapsed.' Left with little choice, the FIA decreed Formula Two cars would instead contest the 1952 and 1953 world championships — marking two seasons that remain statistically anomalous to this day. It was a decision made out of necessity, as F2 cars were cheaper and more plentiful. The smaller engines on these machines anticipated the coming 1954 F1 regulations and the hope was that races could proceed without Ferrari's F1 car strength completely eroding competitive interest. Nevertheless, Ferrari thrived in this temporary anomaly, with Ascari claiming both the 1952 and 1953 titles in its brilliant F2 machinery, winning 11 of the 17 races across those years. British motorsport wasn't entirely humiliated, however. Smaller teams such as HWM and Cooper seized opportunities under F2 rules, and Mike Hawthorn's promising fourth-place finish in the 1952 world championship led directly to his landmark deal with Ferrari in 1953, where he won that year's French Grand Prix. British Racing Motors would eventually find redemption. But in the words of Smith, its V16 entry was initially, 'an over-ambitious endeavour with cumbersome organization.' 'The project was doomed to failure,' Smith wrote in his book Formula 1: All the Races, 'the car featuring an enormously powerful 1.5-litre V16 engine using two-stage Rolls-Royce centrifugal superchargers. But its narrow power band, delivering some 430 bhp through narrow tires, made it very difficult to drive, let alone drive swiftly.' Advertisement For the BRM, the 1954 rules effectively made its grand project obsolete at a stroke. But it still could've gathered glory in the meantime — and make all its earlier effort worthwhile. This was seen as critical for both Britain and the burgeoning world championship. After the Second World War, Britain was broke. Its $3.75billion Anglo-American loan from the United States in 1946 (worth over $30billion today) meant its economy was on life support. Export sales were prized and the fame of motor racing success could help. Against this backdrop, Autosport declared in a June 1954 editorial that 'what makes Grand Prix racing so invaluable from a prestige point of view; it is a most important method of advertising the excellence of a national automobile industry's products.' But the BRM project just wasn't coming together, despite such patriotic backing and even the King's attention at Silverstone in 1950. He'd shown a special interest in the V16 machine after the first demonstration run for the car, which wasn't race-ready at that stage, at that event. The V16 BRM's 1951 British Grand Prix embarrassment had been in an otherwise engaging race that had shown most strikingly how vulnerable the pre-war Alfas had become against the surging Ferraris. Alfa then initially being only vaguely prepared to enter shorter races led to the nervousness of race organizers across Europe regarding the 1952 world championship being run to F1 rules. In contrast to today's centrally-powered F1/FIA arrangement, in the world championship's infancy, race organizers could essentially invite who and what they liked. France went first, with its series of races — including the 1952 GP at Rouen — confirmed for smaller Formula Two cars only in January 1952, as a result of the expected Ferrari F1 domination. An Autosport reader, SG Miron of Banbury, decried this as the first step in grand prix racing being 'completely destroyed!' In 1952, the Dutch GP at Zandvoort was to be the first world championship race in the Netherlands. But it then declared it would invite F2 cars and not F1 machines. Yet the Belgian and British races held out for the top category. And then came the hammer blow to such hopes. Advertisement BRM had been expected to put on a strong showing at the Valentino GP in Turin. This alone was enough to motivate Ferrari to enter the event. Instead, BRM pulled out. Its official statement claimed 'the (V16) cars were not ready' after a bespoke test at Monza that had featured a young Stirling Moss. But Autosport explained it differently. Hoping to convince Fangio to join the struggling project — as he'd been left without a world championship drive for 1952 with Alfa's withdrawal — 'priority' was given to this endeavour instead. 'The prospect of a BRM-Ferrari duel excited continental racing circles and organizers of Europe's main races looked to the Turin race to give them some sort of lead as to whether or not it would be worthwhile staging pukka F1 events during 1952,' read Autosport's report of the saga. But the prospect of F1 competition completely capitulating to Ferrari cars before the 1952 world champion season had even begun pervaded as a result of the Turin affair. In that April race, Ferrari's cars had, after all, subsequently finished two laps clear of the BRM-less field. Just as the 1952 world title contest was about to commence, with the Swiss GP again at Bremgarten on May 18, the FIA made its choice. With the British GP also finally 'falling into line with the rest of the 1952 GPs,' according to Autosport, it was decreed that F2 cars would contest the entire world championship. And then 1953 as well. British motorsport ultimately wasn't totally shamed, thanks to the F2 rules era efforts of its teams that produced such cars, plus those of drivers including Hawthorn and Moss. He would go on to race for Mercedes once it replaced Ferrari as the dominant power in 1954. BRM later scored a first F1 world championship win at the 1959 Dutch GP and even claimed a world title double with Graham Hill in 1962. Formula One didn't die. But in 1952 and 1953, it wasn't really Formula One either — and the debate over those two seasons still lingers, buried under 75 years of stats. The 75 Years of Speed series is part of a partnership with Shell. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. 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