F1 at 75: The historic tracks that held the sport’s first world championship season

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Happy birthday, Formula One.

Seventy-five years ago, 21 cars lined up at Silverstone Circuit in the UK for the first F1 world championship race — the British Grand Prix. Giuseppe Antonio ‘Nino’ Farina, who competed as one of the three drivers for Alfa Romeo, won the inaugural grand prix and later the first drivers’ championship.

Much has changed since that day in May 1950. Nearly 780 drivers have competed in the F1 world championship, and 34 have won the title. The constructors’ championship, which didn’t begin until 1958, has changed over the years, and a race win wasn’t worth 25 points until 2010. The cars and teams have evolved, and the calendar length has more than tripled, featuring a mix of street circuits and permanent tracks. Advancements have been made in driver safety, such as the introduction of halo and biometric gloves in 2018.

Now, the 2025 season is one of the closest in terms of car performance in recent years, and it is the last campaign of the current set of regulations before new engines and 100% sustainable fuel are introduced in 2026. The current season has been chock-full of action, with McLaren holding a strong lead in the championships, three cars being disqualified in one race weekend, two shocking driver swaps, and a team principal resigning just six races in.

There are still 18 grands prix to go, but before F1 heads to Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, let’s look back on the first world championship season and the historic tracks that made up the seven-round calendar 75 years ago.

Round 1: British Grand Prix

Date: May 13, 1950

Location: Silverstone Circuit

Winner: Nino Farina

(Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS; NurPhoto)

Silverstone Circuit has lived many lives and is one of the numerous British ex-airfields to be converted into a motor racing track. Prior to becoming a beloved track on F1’s calendar, it was a Royal Air Force base during World War II, opening in 1943. It served as a base for Wellington bombers, and when the war ended in 1945, the UK had a surplus of airfields. After work to convert the area to a suitable racing circuit, the Royal Automobile Club hosted the first British Grand Prix in Oct. 1948.

Among the estimated 100,000-plus in attendance for the first world championship F1 grand prix were King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Lord and Lady Mountbatten, watching as Farina won and set the fastest lap after securing pole position earlier in the weekend. This is the only time a reigning monarch attended a British Grand Prix.

Another interesting element of the 1950 British GP is that Ferrari did not participate. Instead, the famed team made its first world championship appearance a week later at Monaco. Alfa Romeo was the anticipated favorite and fielded four cars at Silverstone, including the one used by Farina.

While there have been a few layout changes over the years, the character of Silverstone Circuit remains, with new names of corners and straights being added to pay homage to its heritage and culture. The current layout features high-speed corners and passing opportunities, a track prime for action.

Silverstone has changed over the years, with the most recent significant alterations debuting in 2010. The previous Abbey Chicane became a righthander, and Farm Curve was created. Other new corners, such as the Loop and Aintree, as well as the Wellington Straight, were added while Brooklands and Luffield remained. This change allowed for a new section with three grandstands, called the Arena, to be added alongside a completely new paddock and pits area. And, in 2020, the pit straight was named the Hamilton Straight after the British driver won his seventh world championship.

A number of changes also came during the 1990s, some of which were for safety reasons following the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994. Runoff space was increased at Copse, and Stowe was made slower. Changes were added to other portions of the track that no longer exist, such as a chicane added at Abbey, with Priory turned earlier.

Round 2: Monaco Grand Prix

Date: May 21, 1950

Location: Circuit de Monaco

Winner: Juan Manuel Fangio

(Bettmann; Getty Images)

When fans think of F1, the Monaco Grand Prix and the iconic Circuit de Monaco come to mind for many. The narrow street circuit requires pinpoint accuracy as the cars navigate past historic and famous buildings, the well-known hairpin, and race by plenty of yachts in the harbor.

Drivers were racing through the principality’s streets long before the F1 world championship began. Antony Noghés, a Monaco resident and cigarette manufacturer, proposed the first course, and Prince Louis II saw the benefits motor racing would bring to Monaco, such as increased tourism. William Grover Williams won the first grand prix in April 1929, and the circuit began establishing itself in the following years. The war did force cancellations in 1939, but it returned in 1948. The death of Prince Louis II led to the race not being held a year later, but Monaco was round two of the F1 world championship calendar in 1950.

Monaco didn’t always have a consistent place on the calendar, as it was left off in 1951 (partly due to budget concerns) and from 1952 to 1954. It returned in 1955 and has been on the slate since, except for the pandemic-shortened season in 2020.

It is a street circuit, so there’s little room for error. Some drivers, including Alberto Ascari, the 1952 and 1953 world champion, have ended up in the harbor, and fans have seen many costly crashes into the barriers. Metal barriers were placed at certain points around the track for the first time in 1969, and other permanent safety changes came over the years to slow the cars down. These include tweaks made to the Rascasse and Ste Dévote corners in 1976 and how land was reclaimed from the harbor to create more space for runoff in other locations.

The addition of the swimming pool section in the 1970s drastically changed the layout, as four corners were built around the pool, and the Nouvelle Chicane came in 1986. But the most recent Monaco track change occurred in 2015 when Tabac was reprofiled.

Monaco has faced criticism due to a lack of overtaking because of the track’s tight confines, impacted by how the cars have evolved over the years. The FIA, motorsport’s governing body, has made a rule change ahead of this year’s grand prix to make the contest a mandatory two-stop race.

Round 3: Indianapolis 500

Date: May 30, 1950

Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Winner: Johnnie Parsons

(PhotoQuest; Don Emmert/AFP)

The idea of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came from Europe. Indiana businessman Carl G. Fisher visited the United Kingdom’s Brooklands track, which only deepened his desire to bring a circuit to his home state. The initial proposed circuit was an oval around three to five miles long, and the original purpose was for it to be a testing track for local automobile manufacturers. Fisher once said, “Indianapolis is going to be the world’s greatest center of horseless carriage manufacturing, what could be more logical than building the world’s greatest racetrack right here?”

In 1908, Fisher convinced James A. Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank W. Wheeler to partner with him to create the track. According to the IMS organization, Fisher’s initial desire was for a five-mile oval; however, the plan became “a 3-mile, rectangular-shaped oval, with a 2-mile road course inside that, when linked to the oval, would create a 5-mile lap.”

New York civil engineer P.T. Andrews oversaw the project and discovered that a three-mile oval would be possible, but the outside being right near the property boundary would mean that grandstands wouldn’t be. The track was shortened to two-and-a-half miles, and the road course abandoned. In 1909, IMS was finished, and motorcycle racing began in August of that year.

But early races with bikes and cars showed that change was needed, as concerns arose about the track surface. Multiple people died due to different incidents, and the track owners decided to pave it with bricks, less than a month after the first car racing took place. Thus, the nickname ‘The Brickyard’ was born.

IMS reopened for testing in December 1909, and racing returned the following year. The first Indianapolis 500 took place in 1911, becoming one of the most prestigious racing events on the global motorsports calendar.

Naturally, like several tracks on F1’s 1950 calendar, the world wars interrupted racing. During WWI, IMS served as a refueling spot and a military aviation repair location, and racing only returned in 1919. Tragedy did continue at IMS, though, as speeds increased and safety concerns escalated. From 1931 to 1935, 15 deaths occurred, triggering further repaving. A significant fire then occurred in 1941, and when WWII unfolded, all racing was halted.

IMS subsequently fell into disrepair, and the track was put up for sale. Wilbur Shaw, a three-time Indy 500 winner, searched for an investor who would allow public racing. He found one in businessman Tony Hulman and when the Speedway was bought in 1945, it marked the beginning of an ownership dynasty within the Hulman-George family that’d last until 2019, when Roger Penske acquired the track.

The Indy 500 returned in 1946 and was part of F1’s calendar for several years, starting in 1950. But it ran under different regulations and left the world championship calendar during the 1960s. IMS underwent significant changes by the time F1 returned in 2000. An infield road course that included the oval’s Turn 1 was created. But the last F1 race at IMS was in 2007. Two years prior, teams running with Michelin tires had to withdraw after completing the warmup lap because the compounds were disintegrating. Only six cars competed, and Michael Schumacher won a farcical race.

Round 4: Swiss Grand Prix

Date: June 4, 1950

Location: Bremgarten

Winner: Nino Farina

(Getty Images/Google Street View)

Another lost gem. Nestled in the forest between Bern and the River Wohlensee in Switzerland was Bremgarten, another track known for its danger.

This circuit started out hosting motorcycle events in 1931, and racing cars didn’t reach the track until 1934. But much tragedy occurred over the subsequent years. British driver Hugh Hamilton died during that 1934 race, and in 1948, when rain fell during practice, Achille Varzi’s car flipped and killed the Italian driver when it skidded on the wet track surface. Christian Kautz also passed away that weekend following a separate accident.

This permanent road course was 7.28 km (4.524 miles) long and was more a collection of high-speed corners – not a straight in sight. Bremgarten was the home of the Swiss Grand Prix for the first five seasons of F1’s world championship. Nino Farina may have won the 1950 edition, but Juan Manuel Fangio was the only repeat Swiss GP winner in that five-season stretch, taking the victory in 1951 and 1954.

All racing was halted in Switzerland in 1955, as the country banned motorsport following the 24 Hours of Le Mans disaster that year. A total of 83 people died and more than 100 were injured when Mercedes racer Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd. One motorsport category was eventually allowed to compete in the country: Formula E. The electric championship held two races in 2018 and 2019 in Zurich and Bern, within the partial lifting of the ban in 2015, but each event faced substantial local opposition and has not been repeated.

Round 5: Belgian Grand Prix

Date: June 18, 1950

Location: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Winner: Juan Manuel Fangio

(GP Library/Universal Images Group; Peter Fox – Formula 1)

Motor racing in Spa-Francorchamps dates back over a century as the sport became popular in Belgium following World War I. The first race was in 1922, and it featured motorcycles. It wasn’t until 1924 that the now-famous 24 Hours of Spa took place for the first time, a year after Le Mans’ debut in France. And it was in 1925 that the first international single-seaters race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps took place, with only seven cars competing.

Like many tracks across Europe, Spa-Francorchamps, a lengthy track through the Ardennes Forest, needed repairs after World War II, and the changes increased the circuit’s speed. Safety concerns were prevalent in those early years, as numerous people died in crashes. Jackie Stewart led the eventual call for safer conditions, and the drivers boycotted the 1969 F1 race when improvements weren’t made. Racing did return the following year, but F1 eventually left.

The circuit was redeveloped in 1979, and the pinnacle of motorsport returned in the 1980s. The length was cut in half, from 14.9km (8.26 miles) to 7.004km (4.35 miles), and the Kemmel Straight was created, along with the modern-day layout that includes Eau Rouge and Raidillon (two sections used at Spa since 1930). F1 returned in the 1980s, but Spa’s F1 future came into question again at the end of 2005 when then-F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone called for improvements. But funds were limited, and the track promoter went bankrupt.

The local government stepped in to provide the necessary funds for the redevelopment project. The F1 pit facilities were rebuilt, and several changes were made to the circuit, such as remodeling the ‘bus stop’ chicane (where buses used to stop when this part of the old course was still a public road) and extending the straight to La Source (Turn 1). But safety concerns remain even today, as numerous serious crashes have happened at the Eau Rouge and Raidillon sequence. Shortly after that portion is where Anthoine Hubert died in a 2019 Formula 2 race, while Formula Regional European racer Dilano van ‘t Hoff is the most recent driver to have died in a crash at Spa – his death occurring in 2023.

Round 6: French Grand Prix

Date: July 2, 1950

Location: Circuit de Reims-Gueux

Winner: Juan Manuel Fangio

(AFP; Google Street View)

In the Champagne region of France lies one of Europe’s traditional road circuits, formed in a triangular shape, but it hasn’t held racing since the 1970s, after the Reims event closed. It may have been a temporary circuit that used country roads, but the pit facilities and grandstands were permanent — and are still standing today.

Motor racing began here in 1926 when the Grand Prix de la Marne moved from Circuit de Beine-Nauroy to Circuit de Reims-Gueux. The initial layout of Reims-Gueux featured long straights and hairpin turns, and other racing categories competed at the circuit, such as the 12-hour endurance sports car race. Track width was eventually widened at certain sections over the years, changing the circuit length right before the 1932 French GP from 7.816 km (4.857 miles) to 7.826 km (4.863 miles).

World War II halted all racing at the track until 1947. F1 cars didn’t arrive at Circuit de Reims-Gueux until a year later, when temporary grandstands became established fixtures. After the 1950 grand prix, it was evident renovations were needed to keep up with F1’s evolving technology. Two different layout alterations took place, one bypassing Gueux in 1952 (which shortened the track) and a purpose-built section that lengthened the track again to 8.302 km (5.159 miles).

But racing soon left Reims. The last F1 race was in 1966, sports cars departed in 1969, and motorcycle racing continued only for three more years before the track was closed in 1972 due to financial difficulties and competition with other French circuits.

Round 7: Italian Grand Prix

Date: September 3, 1950

Location: Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Winner: Nino Farina

(Heritage Images/Hulton Archive; Peter Fox – Formula 1)

F1’s Temple of Speed, ‘La Pista Magica’ (the magic track). Its nicknames have stood the test of time.

Autodromo Nazionale Monza was just the third purpose-built circuit in the world, following Brooklands and Indianapolis, when it was finished in 1922. It was built after World War I, though complications occurred during construction.

Conservationists halted the project because of the number of trees being cut down in the park that houses the track, and following negotiations in Rome, construction resumed (though with a modified circuit layout to limit the number of lost trees). The circuit officially opened in Sept. 1922 and hosted the Italian Grand Prix (long before the formal world championship for top level formula racing was organized, or even its European predecessor) a week later.

But six years on, disaster struck Monza. Emilio Materassi crashed into a grandstand during the 1928 grand prix – killing himself and 28 spectators. As the years passed, more deaths and injuries occurred, including ‘Black Sunday’ in 1933, when three drivers died. Safety and track changes followed. The last race on the original layout – which combined the track familiar to modern fans with a high-speed banked oval – took place in 1938, and radical alterations were planned.

But World War II halted the remodeling entirely. The track’s buildings were repurposed to store war materials and house animals from the Milan Zoo, and once the war was over, a complete restoration was needed. This took place in 1948.

It took two months not only to return the circuit to its original functional state but also to make the changes planned a decade earlier, such as getting rid of two elevated curves. The Italian GP returned in 1948, but as F1 cars evolved, it became evident that the raised curves elsewhere on the track had become an issue. The final F1 race that used the steep banking was in 1961, where Wolfgang von Trips crashed into the crowd, killing himself and 11 spectators.

Speed-limiting chicanes were introduced in the 1970s, and the layout familiar to F1 fans today has become the main Monza variation. But after the dark weekend at Imola in 1994, further changes were made to reduce speed in certain portions, and runoff areas were expanded.

This news was originally published on this post .

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