Motor racing was born along with the internal combustion engine. In its infancy there were the Gordon Bennett races and the Indianapolis 500; its formative years spawned Le Mans and the Mille Miglia; but the sport came of age with the inception of the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1950.
The ingredients for an utterly compelling spectacle were already there: speed, excitement, dramatic confrontation; gladiatorial combat in which the victors took the laurels and the glory, while the losers all too often paid the ultimate price. What was missing was a pinnacle of achievement, a blue riband event. That final piece of the jigsaw was slotted into place at Silverstone, on 13 May, 1950.
Since that inaugural year, the world championship has grown exponentially. Today's F1 circus criss-crosses the globe; sponsorship and commercialism have made it a huge business enterprise; the stars of the modern era are multi-millionaires, feted like film stars.
But the essential appeal remains the same: man and machine operating on the limit in a competitive cauldron, with the imperfections of both making for spectacular sporting theatre.
Using a wealth of archive photographs, many of which have never been published before, this book tells the story behind those glorious successes. It also chronicles the many agonies, disappointments and tragedies that triumph has left in its wake.
