The Editor: F1 merits a royal celebration after 75 years

It’s going to be hard to miss Formula 1’s celebrations this year. Twenty twenty-five marks the 75th anniversary of the World Drivers’ Championship (as distinct from Formula 1 itself which was created four years earlier, as readers regularly remind us) and it will be doing so with all the glitz and hyperbole you would expect.

A taster of the tone was seen at the launch of the season itself which took place at London’s O2 Arena at the end of February and you can read James Elson’s report from behind the velvet rope on page 57. Such an extravaganza may divide opinion but certainly it presented an image to the world of a sport fizzing with energy, ideas and humour. Understated it was not, but we must accept that F1 has become as much about the show as the sport. And at least the sporting element this year looks like it is going to be epic as Mark Hughes explains in his season preview essay on page 50.

“It’s a good time to reflect on how far F1 has travelled over the past 75 years”

With the celebrations still ringing in our ears it seems a good time to reflect on how far F1 has travelled over the past 75 years. That first GP of the new championship took place at Silverstone in May 1950, and Motor Sport was there. You can read the full race report via our website (as well as that of the thrilling 500cc races featuring a young Stirling Moss in his Cooper). Our man noted the importance of the event was clear with the attendance of a celebrity guest – not Machine Gun Kelly as at The O2 but King George VI, the only time the monarch has attended the British GP.

“After lunch the Royal Party toured the circuit and the drivers were presented to them by Earl Howe. They eventually took their places in the Royal box, after the officials of the FIA had been presented to them. The band of the Grenadier Guards played, flags of half-a-dozen nations fluttered in the breeze… Earl Howe, sitting between the King and Queen, explained the procedure and as the flag was about to fall the King looked up from his programme and eagerly down towards the starting grid. As the cars roared away the noise and smoke took the Queen a trifle unawares.”

Amid the pyrotechnics of the F1 75 launch event it was striking that the teams acknowledged their histories. Perhaps this year’s inevitable celebrations at the British GP could be given added gravitas with the presence of George’s grandson and car enthusiast King Charles – not just to mark the anniversary of the drivers’ championship but to recognise the role of British teams, industries and ingenuity in the making of Formula 1 over the past 75 years.

Joe Dunn, editor
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