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I want to set the record straight on a number of inaccuracies that the FIA, motorsport publications and the media have been feeding you about Formula 1.

Regardless of what you have read, 2010 was the 30th season of the Formula One World Championship. The 1950 to 1980 seasons were technically a different championship and Indy 500 results/stats 1950 to 1960 have nothing do with F1 or Grand Prix racing at all. This isn't anything to do with bias, or interpretation or a crazy conspiracy theory that I've convinced myself is true, nor have I got it wrong. It's to do with hard facts.

Here's a prime example of utter wrongness on Formula 1's official site:

A comprehensive article written by myself can be found here explaining the situation:
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/?p=556

However if you don't like reading, here's a summary:

[spoiler]- The World Championship was called the FIA World Championship for Drivers. Nothing in the rules (or the title) stipulated that F1 cars had to be entered into the races and this was the case up to 1981. Read the rules of the era and you'll see "MAXIMUM Engine capacity", meaning, providing the weights and dimensions were right, you could run F2 or even F3 cars in Grand Prix.

- Beginning in the early-1920s, the FIA (or AIACR as they were originally known) released a list once a year of what they considered to be the most long established, historically important and internationally recognised races and called them Grandes Épreuves (meaning "Big/Important Events"). The chosen Grandes Épreuves of 1950 were all included on the World Championship calendar that year. Grandes Épreuves didn't have to be Grand Prix races and they didn't even have to be a race run under F1 rules.

- The Indianapolis 500 was originally appointed America's Grande Épreuve way back in 1923 and - noticing that all World Championship races in 1950 were held in Europe - someone in the AAA (the governing body that sanctioned the Indy 500) said they had to include the Indy 500, one of the world's "biggest motor racing events", in order to be a true World Championship. Between 1952 and 1960, Grand Prix and Indy car rules barely overlapped, so while Grand Prix cars could be entered, they would have been completely outclassed and Indy roadsters couldn't be entered in F1 races at all, they were completely ineligible. 4 of the 11 Indy 500s were held so close to Grand Prix, it was physically impossible to enter all races in the season.

So, considering the 1950-1960 championships consisted of Grande Épreuve and not F1 races and the Indy 500 was not a Grand Prix and Indy cars could not be entered into F1 races and F1 cars were totally unsuitable for Indy, you CANNOT VALIDLY QUOTE INDY 500 STATISTICS IN THE CONTEXT OF FORMULA 1 OR GRAND PRIX RACING AT ALL. This just isn't open for interpretation!

- F1 was NOT run under F2 rules in 1952 and 1953, it's akin to saying "a football match held under rugby rules" - totally contradictory! Alberto Ascari was never a double Formula 1 world champion because there was no F1 championship. The 1952 and 1953 World Championship for Drivers was run under Formula 2 rules only. Quote statistics from the 1950 and 1954 championships in the same context, but not anything after 1980![/spoiler]

Comments, questions and discussion is/are very much welcome.

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The Fastlane (formerly Crasherama.dk) - Motorsport Discussion and Crashes since 2003
The Crash Photos Database - A fully searchable database of motorsport crashes from 1896-2020 (currently WIP)

Nice article, Paul. It tells the story how the sports slowly evolved to something that we have today, in terms of branding of course.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

^^ don't read it then? Interesting bit of general information I though. Thanks for the article!

Educated people.

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The Fastlane (formerly Crasherama.dk) - Motorsport Discussion and Crashes since 2003
The Crash Photos Database - A fully searchable database of motorsport crashes from 1896-2020 (currently WIP)

Pretty interesting read. I will still regard the pre 1981 as F1 world champions though, just under another name. Technically you could say thats wrong, but i see World championship for drivers and F1 the same status.

It's not nerdy anoraks nitpicking with interpretations of a name, it's the Formula 1 crowd and the media conveniently making stuff up so dumb people can "understand" it.

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The Fastlane (formerly Crasherama.dk) - Motorsport Discussion and Crashes since 2003
The Crash Photos Database - A fully searchable database of motorsport crashes from 1896-2020 (currently WIP)

There's a big argument for simplicity and not confusing your fans though.

It took you 5 pages and goodness knows how many words to cover that, and while that would make a great read for the hardcore in a magazine like Motorsport, the media has to deal with casual fans who'll turn off at the first mention of a slightly dry history lesson.

When things are renamed they usually are re-named retroactively too, note NASCAR calling its past champions by whatever sponsorship name the Cup series is holding previously. It might get purists backs up calling Richard Petty a winner of 200 Sprint Cup races, etc but its just easier for newer fans.
Saying "Richard Petty won 200 Winston Cup races but in 2004 the Winston Cup became the Nextel Cup and then in 2006 it became the sprint cup" is needless words that the casual fan will gloss over and could be quite crucial when it comes to word limits, etc.

While its a fascinating little titbit to know I think you've embellished a minor issue into a huge controversy where none exists.
The media aren't lying to you, its not some great conspiracy to put one over on the F1 fans, its just simplifying for ease of access to newer fans.
But if you want to feel all superior that you know this and the majority don't be my guest...
The world championship we follow was started in 1950, yes it was renamed a couple of times but in the end that's just semantics...

I already knew about the name change stuff, but I just really ignored it as a rebranding exercise etc. Maybe I'm too easily won over, but so be it. I may be wrong, but I prefer simple wrong to complicated right.

It's nothing to do with superiority at all, I just like the information to be out there, carefully written with no contradictions and with everything explained, for people to read and understand if they want to understand and if they want to ignore it, that's their decision.

Up until relatively recently, I always saw it as a black and white thing - as though the FIA came along, said "Let's have a world championship, we'll call it Formula 1, we'll have a race in Britain and call it the British GP, a race in France called the French GP" etc. I think that's similar to how most fans "understand" it these days.


I mean, if you want to debate it - in a literal sense, it wasn't just a name change. The FIA, by law, terminated the "old" championship and created a "new" one. Those were the words used by the FIA themselves in their own 1981 rulebook.

FIA was the overall governing body. The CSI, who organised the championship originally in 1950, became FISA and was run by Jean-Marie Balestre. Then we had FOCA, the body representing all Grand Prix teams, run by Max 'Spank Me' Mosley and Bernie 'Have My Watch It's A Hublot' Ecclestone. FOCA fell out with FISA and two calendars were released for 1981 - one for the new FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and one for the FOCA World Professional Drivers' Championship, which Balestre declared a "pirate" series.

By legally terminating the old series, Bernie and his gang had no choice but to either give in and sign up to the "new" FIA series or face the massive legal ramifications of defying the FIA and the end of our favourite world class motorsport series.

EDIT: I am going to revise the article slightly to reflect the above...

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The Fastlane (formerly Crasherama.dk) - Motorsport Discussion and Crashes since 2003
The Crash Photos Database - A fully searchable database of motorsport crashes from 1896-2020 (currently WIP)