Formula 1 Encyclopedia

For over 30 years the annual Retromobile car show has presented the world's finest old cars. This year there were many cars from both eras of Grand Prix racing, pre-F1 and F1, including the centrepiece Auto Union D-Type car that won the French Grand Prix in 1939 and Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari Formula 1 car with which he won the Canadian Grand Prix in 1978. The latter belonged to the finest single collection at the show, that of Nick Mason, the drummer of the Pink Floyd rock band.

Among the better, easier to use quick reference historical sources for Formula 1 racing is the online encyclopedia at GrandPrix.com. Laid out clearly under headings for races, drivers, constructors, circuits, people, sponsors, engines, fuel companies and tires, it is maintained and written by Joe Saward, who is not only a longtime F1 journalist, but a trained historian.

Learn about the people, teams and races of the past in Formula 1.

Unlike most of the race sites halfway around the world from the sport's traditional home in Europe, Australia had a long and rich auto-racing history before the country's first Formula 1 event took place in 1985.

When it was inaugurated in 1999, the Malaysian Grand Prix had a custom-built circuit that was the biggest, most technologically advanced in Formula 1 history. It was the first step in an unprecedented expansion by the series around the world.

When the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix took place outside Shanghai in 2004, it marked a huge success for Formula 1 as it broke into one of the final territories lacking from its world series.

When the Bahrain Grand Prix was on the Formula 1 calendar for the first time, in 2004, it was hailed with great expectations as the first of the elite series' races in the Middle East, the Gulf kingdom having beaten out such other potential regional hosts as Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.