The History of Formula 1

On this day in 1924, Ken Tyrrell was born in East Horsley, Surrey. His name became part of Formula 1 history through the team he built and the people he trusted.

Tyrrell began as a racer in the lower categories before becoming one of the sport’s most recognisable team owners. His organisation grew from modest beginnings into a serious force, first through its partnership with Matra, then as a constructor in its own right.

His greatest years came with Jackie Stewart. Under Tyrrell’s direction, Stewart won three World Drivers’ Championships: 1969, 1971 and 1973. In 1971, Tyrrell also won the Constructors’ Championship, placing the team among the defining names of that era.

The Tyrrell story also carried the imagination of Formula 1. The six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, raced in 1976 and 1977, remains one of the most distinctive cars in championship history. It showed a team willing to think differently, even when the project proved difficult to sustain.

Ken Tyrrell died in 2001, but his place in Formula 1 remains clear. He was a builder of teams, a man with an eye for drivers, and one of the independent figures who helped shape the character of the sport.

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We are deeply saddened by the passing of Alex Zanardi, who has died at the age of 59.

A former Formula One driver, two-time CART champion and Paralympic gold medallist, Zanardi became one of the rare figures whose life reached far beyond sport.

He will be remembered not only for his courage, but also for his warmth, determination and the extraordinary dignity with which he faced every chapter of his life.

Our thoughts are with his family, friends and all those who found strength in his story.

Rest in peace, Alex.
1966-2026

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On 1 May 1994, Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola after an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.

Ayrton was leading the race when his Williams FW16 left the road at Tamburello. The accident took from Formula 1 a three-time World Champion, a driver whose speed, intensity and presence had already placed him among the defining figures of the sport.

Senna’s record remains part of Formula 1 history: 41 Grand Prix victories, 65 pole positions, 80 podiums, and world titles in 1988, 1990 and 1991. But numbers alone cannot explain why his memory still feels so close. Ayrton is not remembered only for what he won. He is remembered for the way he drove, the way he believed, and the way he seemed to carry every lap as something personal.

He was a deeply spiritual man, and that part of him has never felt separate from his racing. In his story, faith, fear, courage and talent often seemed to exist side by side.

Thirty-two years later, 1 May remains more than a date in the record books. It is a day of silence, memory and respect.

Ayrton Senna da Silva
21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994

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On 30 April 1994, Roland Ratzenberger lost his life during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. He was 33 years old, an Austrian driver in his first Formula 1 season, racing for Simtek.

His path to Formula 1 had been long. Ratzenberger won the Austrian, German and European Formula Ford titles in 1985, then the Formula Ford Festival in 1986, before racing in touring cars, Formula 3000 and sportscars. Important years in Japan helped carry him toward the World Championship, where his chance finally arrived in 1994.

He did not qualify for the opening race in Brazil. Two weeks later, at the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida, he made his only Formula 1 start and finished 11th. At Imola, he was trying to put the Simtek on the grid again. During Saturday qualifying, after an earlier off at Acque Minerali, the front wing of his car failed as he approached Villeneuve. The Simtek went off at very high speed and struck the barriers.

Ratzenberger’s death became part of Formula 1’s darkest weekend. One day later, Ayrton Senna was also killed. But Roland’s story deserves to be remembered on its own terms: a racer who worked for years to reach Formula 1, arrived late, and had almost no time to show what that journey had cost.

Rest in peace, Roland.

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On 15 June 1997, Michele Alboreto added one of the defining endurance results of his career at Le Mans. Driving the #7 Joest Racing TWR Porsche WSC-95, he shared overall victory with Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen after 361 laps at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

The result brought different chapters of racing history into one car. Alboreto and Johansson had been Ferrari teammates in Formula 1 in 1985 and 1986; Kristensen was making his Le Mans debut and beginning a record that would later define the event. Alboreto also put the car on pole position, while Kristensen set the fastest race lap.

For Alboreto, this victory belonged to the racing life he built after Formula 1. It showed his speed and judgement in a discipline where experience matters as much as pace. Le Mans 1997 preserved him as an outright winner at La Sarthe, and as a driver whose story continued with purpose beyond Grand Prix racing.

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On 25 April 1981, Felipe Massa was born in São Paulo, Brazil. His Formula 1 story would become one of speed, a long Ferrari chapter, and resilience across more than a decade at the top level of the sport.

Massa made his Grand Prix debut with Sauber at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. After a year as Ferrari test driver in 2003, he returned to Sauber before joining Scuderia Ferrari as a race driver in 2006. That season brought his first Formula 1 win, at the Turkish Grand Prix, and a home victory at Interlagos.

His strongest season came in 2008. Driving the Ferrari F2008, Massa won six Grands Prix and reached the final round in Brazil still fighting Lewis Hamilton for the World Championship. He won the race at Interlagos, but Hamilton’s fifth place was enough to decide the title by one point.

Massa’s F1 career later continued with Williams, where he added more podiums and remained a respected figure in the paddock. Across his Formula 1 years, he recorded 11 wins, 16 pole positions and 41 podiums.

Happy Birthday, Felipe!

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On 25 April 2001, Michele Alboreto lost his life at the Lausitzring in Germany while testing an Audi R8. He was 44, an Audi works driver, and only weeks removed from victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Alboreto’s Formula 1 story had already made him one of the most respected Italian drivers of his generation. He raced in F1 from 1981 to 1994, took five Grand Prix wins and 23 podiums, and reached his highest championship finish in 1985, when he was runner-up with Ferrari.

His name is often remembered through that Ferrari chapter, but his career was wider than Formula 1. After Grand Prix racing, Alboreto continued in sports cars and endurance racing. In 1997, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Joest Racing, sharing the car with Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen.

His final years were still an active part of his racing life, shaped by testing, preparation and competition at the highest level of endurance racing.

On this day, the world of motorsport remembers Michele Alboreto: Ferrari contender, Grand Prix winner, Le Mans winner, and a driver whose story belongs to more than one chapter of motor racing history.

Rest in peace, Michele.

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At the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso gave his home crowd a result Spanish Formula 1 had waited decades to see. Starting from pole at the Circuit de Catalunya, he won the 66-lap race for Renault and became the first Spanish driver to win the Spanish Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher finished second for Ferrari, 18.502 seconds behind, with Giancarlo Fisichella third in the second Renault. The result mattered beyond the podium. Alonso left Montmeló with a 15-point lead over Schumacher in the Drivers’ Championship, at a moment when their 2006 title fight was becoming the central story of the season.

Schumacher remained Ferrari’s reference point, a seven-time world champion still fighting for another title. Alonso was the reigning champion, winning at home while defending his crown. The moment remains part of the memory of 2006: a home victory, a title fight, and two champions meeting after the race.

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On 24 April 2005, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola became one of the defining races of Fernando Alonso’s first championship season. He won for Renault, but the result is remembered above all for the final laps, when Michael Schumacher brought the Ferrari close enough to make every corner matter.

Alonso had started second. Schumacher had started 13th on the grid after a difficult qualifying session, yet as his pace came alive, it transformed the afternoon. Kimi Räikkönen had led early for McLaren before retiring with a driveshaft problem, and Alonso inherited a race that soon became a test of control as much as speed.

In the closing phase, Schumacher was the faster driver. He had the Ferrari underneath him, the experience of seven world titles behind him, and a circuit where passing was difficult. Alonso had track position, a Renault R25 to protect, and no margin for error. For lap after lap, he placed the car exactly where it needed to be.

Alonso crossed the line just 0.215 seconds ahead of Schumacher. After the later BAR-Honda disqualifications, Alexander Wurz was classified third for McLaren Mercedes.

Imola 2005 remains a clean piece of Formula 1 memory: pressure, restraint, and two drivers at different points of their stories meeting at the edge of a changing era.

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Today marks the anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s first Formula 1 victory. At Estoril in 1985, a wet afternoon became the first complete proof of what he could do over full Grand Prix distance.

Our new THOF1 archive piece returns to the race that gave that first win its full historical significance.

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