Unlike other major worldwide sports, the playing field for F1 (and for that matter, most professional motorsports) changes at every event. Many of the tracks are equally legendary names as the drivers and cars:

• Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (Italy), dubbed as the "Temple of Speed" as it is the track with the highest average speeds on the calendar, Monza has a rich history stretching back into the 1920s. The massive banking is an equally iconic part of Monza, and was in use for F1 for a while, but after Wolfgang Von Trips' fatal crash at the track in 1961 that also saw 15 spectators killed, the banking was banned from F1 in an attempt to slow the cars down ^note  (they attempted to use the banking for the 1963 Italian GP, but the banking was very bumpy and had awful concrete surfacing which caused mechanical problems- teams protested and threatened to sit out the race unless they only used the road course, which was ultimately what happened) . Like Imola, Monza is also home to the Ferrari-supporting Tifosi crowd.
• Silverstone Racing Circuit, United Kingdom: Where the very first Formula One championship race in 1950 was held — also traditionally a very high-speed circuit, having been built from wartime airplane runways.
• Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium: originally an extremely fast and very dangerous 14km blast through the Ardennes Forest and several villages, the old Spa was feared by drivers because they would spend almost the entire lap flat-out at high speeds, and were a mistake away from crashing, leading to severe accidents. In 1960, it became the first circuit (and to this day only) to have two fatalities occur within the same race day. Jackie Stewart's crash and subsequent ordeal in 1966 (which involved him being trapped in his mangled car waist-deep in fuel and being taken to an inadequate medical facility after multiple delays, among other things) was the catalyst for his campaign to improve F1 safety. Spa stopped hosting F1 in 1970 before returning with the still-in-use layout we see today from 1983 onwards, becoming home of the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa is also noted for its unpredictable weather due to its location, being nestled in the Ardennes mountain range; it's not uncommon for one part of the track to be clear and sunny and another to be rainy.
• Circuit de Monaco (also called Monte Carlo), Monaco: First held in 1929, Monaco is one of the most famous circuits in F1 history and provides a perfect backdrop for one of the most prestigious motorsports series, located in one of the wealthiest regions in the world. It is also infamous for being a narrow, tight, demanding track where overtaking is difficult if not outright impossible, being considered one of the most dangerous tracks in the world because of those reasons. 3-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet summed the track up best: "driving around here is like riding a bicycle in your living room, but a win here is worth two anywhere else''.
• Suzuka International Racing Course, Japan: A course famous for its figure-8 layout, and host of the Japanese Grand Prix for most of its existence. Usually a title-deciding race because the Japanese Grand Prix was often held near the end of a season.
• Fuji Speedway, Japan: Another host of the Japanese GP, and in fact the first one in Asia, as F1 had a round there in 1976, where James Hunt won the championship over Niki Lauda (who withdrew from the race because of the torrential rain in the 1976 race- Lauda almost lost his life at the Nürburgring earlier that year, so he said that his life was more important and refused to participate). He would win there again in 1977 but the race was marred by a horror crash between Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson where a late-braking contest went horribly wrong and Villeneuve's Ferrari was thrown into a restricted area and killed a marshal and a photographer. It was dropped in 1978 ^note  Mainly because just getting there was hard, as this was in the middle of the Cold War and both the Soviets and Chinese banned Western aircraft of any kind from entering their airspace . Would return as host of F1 in 2006 under Toyota ownership with a redesigned layout, but Toyota withdrew from hosting it in 2009 because of the Great Recession.
• Nürburgring, Germany: One of the most (in)famous racing courses in motorsports, built in 1927 in the spirit of the Targa Florio in Italy- one of the most important motor races at the time — the Nürburgring is located in the Eifel mountain range (whose western continuation is the Ardennes region) and began hosting races not long after it opened. The Nürburgring was originally made up of two parts; the Sudschleife (south loop) and Nordschleife (North loop); the Sudschleife at 27 turns and 4,81 miles (7,75km) was much smaller than the Nordschleife, a 12.94-mile (20.83 km) course with 154 total corners. In 1951, the track hosted the World Championship edition of the German GP for the first time. In the 1960s the Nordschleife was becoming increasingly dangerous due to increasing F1 car speeds, with Jackie Stewart calling it "The Green Hell" after winning a very stormy, foggy race there in 1968. The length and mountainside location made it too expensive or outright impossible to upgrade the track's safety to the point of satisfying F1 drivers and FIA officials, in addition to the length making effective TV coverage for the whole track impossible and requiring a hideously large amount of marshals and medics; in 1976, it was decided early in the season that it would be the last time the Nürburgring hosted the German GP, and it was in this race that Niki Lauda crashed at the fast left kink before the Bergwerk corner, sustaining severe injuries and burns, which would have likely killed Lauda on-site if other drivers were not there to assist him. By this point, the Nürburgring had become the most deadly of F1 tracks in history, with a total of five recorded fatalities in F1 weekends there since 1951. In 1983, German organizers wanted F1 back to the Nürburgring, so they demolished the Sudschleife and built the current GP-Strecke (GP Circuit) in its place. Notably, the inauguration in 1984 saw a "Race of Champions" of current and former F1 drivers in spec Mercedes-Benz 190Es, which Ayrton Senna won. This course would host the German Grand Prix in 1985 and F1 would intermittently return to it, though they have not done so since 2020.
• Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Canada: Originally called Circuit Île Notre-Dame due to being built on the eponymous man-made island in Montreal, the circuit is the sole current host of the Canadian Grand Prix and was built after the mayor of Montreal successfully negotiated for F1 to move there, following Mosport Park being declared as unsuitable for F1 hosting. The circuit was constructed using some of the island's roads, and first held the Canadian Grand Prix in 1977. Gilles Villeneuve would debut his drive for Ferrari in this Grand Prix, and in 1978 he would claim his maiden win at that year's Canadian Grand Prix; to this day, Gilles is the only Canadian driver to win in the Canadian Grand Prix. After Gilles was fatally injured in the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix during qualifying, the circuit took on its current name in his honor; unfortunately, that season's Canadian Grand Prix also saw another fatal accident; rookie Osella driver Ricardo Paletti was killed when he slammed into the rear of Didier Pironi's Ferrari (Pironi had stalled, and Paletti could not avoid him in time). F1 races here were originally in September but since 1982 it was moved to mid-June to provide more pleasant weather. The final chicane before the start/finish line is called "Wall of Champions" because no less than three ^note  Jacques Villeneuve (1997 champion and Gilles' son), Michael Schumacher (1994-1995 and 2000-2004 champion) and Damon Hill (1996 champion) all crashed there in the same race in 1999.
• Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari: Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit, better known as Imola after the town it is located in. Like Monza, it is also considered a home of the Tifosi crowd. Opened to the public in 1953 as Autodromo di Imola before being renamed Autodromo Internazional Dino Ferrari three years later in honor of Alfredo Dino Ferrari, Enzo's late son, who had died that year of muscular dystrophy. When Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, the track was renamed to its current name. Infamous for its high average speed, in particular the first section of the circuit before the Tosa hairpin; in particular, the Tamburello and Villeneuve corners were the sites of several high-profile crashes: the former saw Nelson Piquet in 1987, Gerhard Berger in 1989, and Ayrton Senna in 1994 crash into the corner (fatally so, in Senna's case); the latter corner took on its current name Villeneuve because Gilles Villeneuve suffered a heavy crash there in 1980, and in 1994, during qualifying for that year's Grand Prix, Roland Ratzenberger fatally crashed in the corner after his front wing failed and jammed itself under his Simtek. In the aftermath of both Ratzenberger and Senna dying in the same weekend, Tamburello and Villeneuve were modified from high-speed (respectively) left and right sweepers into left-right chicanes with gravel traps^note that same 1994 weekend had three other incidents: a Friday crash that injured Rubens Barrichello (who survived), a race-start incident involving a stalled car that sent debris into the crowd injuring a few spectators, and an unsecured wheel coming loose at such velocity that at least one mechanic was injured as a result.

• Giuseppe Farina, Italian, the series' first champion, winning the debut season in 1950 with Alfa Romeo.
• Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian 5-time champion (1951, 1954-57) with four different teams - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Maserati. He was known in his lifetime as "El Chueco" (the bow-legged one), and with 24 wins out of 52 race starts, he is the driver with the highest winning percentage in Formula One history with a still-unsurpassed 46.15%.
• Alberto Ascari, Italian, Ferrari's first title winner. Son of the late Antonio Ascari, a Grand Prix champion from the '30s, he curb-stomped his way to win the 1952 and 1953 championships - winning the former with 100% of possible points earned, and in doing so becoming the first driver to successfully defend their title. First and last Italian to win the Drivers' Championship. Died at a test accident at Monza on May 26, 1955 (having narrowly survived ending up in Monte Carlo Harbour during the Monaco GP 4 days earlier).
• Sir Stirling Moss, English, versatile and talented but never won the championship, being runner-up four times in a row (1955-58). Known for his honorable sportsmanship, he managed to overturn a decision by the judges to disqualify Mike Hawthorn from the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix (after Hawthorn had started his car against the direction of the circuit), claiming that Hawthorn had not done anything wrong; ultimately, Hawthorn won the championship that year by a single point. Despite his lack of championships, he was practically synonymous with motorsport in Great Britain for decades, and is widely considered as among the best drivers to never win a title.
• Jack Brabham, Australian, only driver to win the title in a car of his own construction (1966); also won it twice prior in 1959 and 1960.
• Jim Clark, Scottish, renowned for his smooth style, won two titles in 1963 and 1965, the latter having skipped the Monaco Grand Prix to enter (and win) that year's Indianapolis 500. Was killed in a Formula 2 race accident at Hockenheim in 1968. He is considered by many to be the greatest driver of the "retro" era — his relatively low numbers are attributed mostly to truly horrendous reliability — and was described by most contemporaries as undoubtedly the greatest racer to ever live.
• Graham Hill, charismatic Londoner who won two titles (1962 and 1968) the latter for Lotus after Jim Clark's death, as well as the 1966 Indianapolis 500.^note The latter win remains controversial, as Team Lotus were convinced that Jim Clark had completed one lap more than Hill but had been docked track position as a result of two spinouts. Hill himself was "puzzled" and "surprised" to be named the winner. He also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972, making him the first and (so far) only racer to achieve the Triple Crown of Motorsport in either of the accepted versions.^note The Triple Crown is achieved by winning the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Monaco Grand Prix (winning all 3 in the same year would be impossible because the Indy 500 and Monaco GP are held on the same day roughly 4,500 miles apart, barring any delays the race in Monaco should end right around the time driver introductions in Indy start). Due to the difficulties in winning Monaco, an alternative version was agreed upon where you can win the Formula One World Championship instead of Monaco to get the Triple Crown. Died in a plane crash on 29th November 1975.
  • Damon Hill, his son, who won the title in 1996 driving for Williams. He started his career by racing on motorbikes, and got into Formula 1 at a quite old age (32) for Williams, mostly due to his willingness to play second fiddle next to bigger names (like Prost and Senna) together with his stellar track record on car setup and testing. However, after Ayrton Senna tragically passed away in 1994, he was thrust into the spotlight and did very well considering the circumstances, only losing the title by one point due to a very controversial move by Michael Schumacher on the last race. A mistake-filled 1995 followed, but in 1996 Williams was utterly dominant, and Hill won the title over his rookie teammate Jacques Villeneuve, despite the fact that he knew Williams had already decided to replace him come 1997. He got his last win driving for Jordan at the infamous 1998 Belgian GP. Aside from his racing career, he's also known for contributing a guitar solo to Def Leppard's song "Demolition Man".
• John Surtees, English, 1964 title winner for Ferrari, only driver/rider to have won major titles on both two and four wheels — he also won the 500cc world motorcycle championship (modern-day MotoGP), in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960. Passed away on March 10, 2017.
• Chris Amon, New Zealander, considered by many to be the greatest Formula One driver to never win a single race. His championship stint for Ferrari in 1968 became particularly infamous for his horrible luck: he was easily among the fastest drivers on the field, but a long string of mechanical issues prevented him from becoming a contender for the title. Mario Andretti summed up his friend's misfortune with a single quote: "If Chris became an undertaker, people would stop dying."
• Lorenzo Bandini, Italian, who drove for Ferrari from 1961. His own Formula 1 career saw him win a single Grand Prix and eight podiums in six years, and in addition to that he was also a highly capable sports car driver, winning the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 1965 Targa Florio, and the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona alongside the aforementioned Chris Amon. Was fatally injured due to a fiery crash in the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix when he clipped the harbor chicane and collided with the protective straw bales ^note tn fact, Bandini's fatal crash was the reason straw bales were banned in F1, with the ones at the Monaco harbor chicane where he crashed being replaced by an extended guardrail from 1968 onwards, overturning his car and causing it to catch fire with him trapped under it; he died three days later in hospital, having suffered ten chest fractures and third-degree burns to 70% of his body. The Lorenzo Bandini Trophy, awarded to individuals and teams for their achievements in Formula One, is named after him.
• Jacky Ickx, Belgian driver. His Formula One career saw him with 8 Grand Prix wins (and finishing 25 on the podium), 13 pole positions, 14 fastest laps and a total of 181 points across 14 seasons, having driven for Tyrrell, Lotus, Cooper, Brabham, McLaren, Ferrari and Ligier in those 14 seasons. In addition to this, he was also highly successful in sports car driving, winning six 24 Hours of Le Mans races (one of them in 1969, where he staged a one-man protest against the unsafe run-to-your-car-get-strapped-in-and-drive-away "Le Mans start" by walking calmly to his car and taking his time getting strapped into his car before leaving the starting line), a record that stood for the rest of the 20th century and would only be beaten in the 21st century. In addition to that, he won two 12 Hours of Sebring races, the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 1983 Paris–Dakar rally with Mercedes. Retired from endurance racing in 1985 due to his involvement in the fatal crash of Stefan Bellof, he remains one of the few drivers to have ever completed the "Triple Crown of Endurance Racing".
• Jochen Rindt, German-born driver who represented Austria in his career, the only driver in F1 history to be a posthumous champion. He died aged 28 during practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, when his Lotus 72, running without wings for the high-speed Monza track, lost control and crashed into an improperly installed Armco barrier at Parabolica — Rindt, who had not secured his 5-point harness' crotch straps, slid under the belts and got his throat fatally slashed open. He ended up winning the title with 45 points despite there still being 4 races remaining at the time of his death (including Italy). He had dominated the season up to that point, having won 5 races out of 9 started.^note Those five were the only ones where he even scored, having finished 13th in the season opener in South Africa and retired from the other races. Before his death, he had a 20-point lead on Jack Brabham, who was second in the season, which could still be overturned even if Brabham finished all remaining races second, but he failed to score for the remainder of the season, and none of the other contenders managed to get consistent enough to beat Rindt's lead in the standings. (Belgian Jacky Ickx got the runner-up title by winning two of the remaining races, but his shot at the title was, well, shot by his fourth-place finish at the USGP — had he won this in addition to the other two, he would have beaten Rindt by one point.)
• Sir Jackie Stewart, Scottish, three-time titlist (1969, 1971, 1973) who campaigned for better safety standards. He later became a race commentator who was instantly recognizable for his heavy Scottish accent. Also ran his own team in from 1997-1999, which was bought out by manufacturer Jaguar prior to the 2000 season and is known as Red Bull Racing since a takeover from the eponymous energy drink company in 2005.
• François Cevert, French driver, protege and best friend to the aforementioned Jackie Stewart. Though he never won an F1 title, he was popular for his good looks and pleasant personality, forming friendships with many drivers. During their time in Tyrrell, François was due to become team leader from 1974 onwards as Jackie Stewart was due to retire at the end of the 1973 season; unfortunately, François suffered one of the most gruesome fatal accidents in Formula 1 history during qualifying for the 1973 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen which put a stop to that plan; Jackie (and a lot of drivers on the grid) deeply mourned his untimely demise, and retired earlier than he was supposed to.
• Mario Andretti, Italian-American, won the title in 1978. Also won the Daytona 500 in 1967 and Indianapolis 500 in 1969. Various other wins made him one of the most successful drivers in motorsports history, and he is one of only two Americans to have won the title, the other being Phil Hill in 1961. Famously got pole position at his very first F1 race at Watkins Glen. He is practically synonymous with motorsport in the US.
• Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian, won two titles, for Lotus in 1972 and McLaren in 1974. Also won 2 IndyCar championships and 2 Indianapolis 500s in 1989 and 1993, where he infamously drank orange juice instead of milk during the post-race to advertise his orange groves — an act that made him a major source of controversy.
  • The Fittipaldi family is the one to have the most members to compete in Formula One — apart from Emerson, there's Wilson (Emerson's brother, who competed between 1972 and 1975), Christian (Wilson's son, who competed between 1992 and 1994, and with him they became the first father-son pair to score points in Formula One), and Pietro (Emerson's grandson, who replaced Romain Grosjean in the last two races in the 2020 season, becoming the first grandson of a Formula One driver to compete in the category), as well as Emerson's son-in-law, Max Papis (who competed in 1995).
• Niki Lauda, Austrian, won the 1975 title for Ferrari before being scarred in a fiery crash at the Nürburgring. Returned to win again (in 1977 and 1984) and establish his own airline company, Lauda Air. At the time of his death on May 20, 2019, he was the non-executive chairman of Mercedes' F1 team. Sometimes known by his nickname, "The Rat", for his prominent buck teeth.
• James Hunt, English, Lauda's Friendly Rival, he raced for McLaren and won the 1976 title at the final race of the season. He was also known for his flamboyant, playboy lifestyle off the track, and after retiring from motorsports in 1979, he took a career as a F1 pundit for BBC alongside Murray Walker until he died of a heart attack in 1993.
• Ronnie Peterson, Swedish, drove primarily for Lotus but spent one season in Tyrrell and two with March. Known for an exciting sideways driving style, Peterson was Sweden's most successful driver with ten wins, 26 podiums, 14 pole positions and 9 fastest laps, earning him the Fan Nickname of "Superswede". Died as a result of injuries sustained at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix after a faulty start which, unfortunately, was the race where aforementioned teammate Mario Andretti won his title.
• Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian, mainly drove for Ferrari (but made his debut with McLaren) and was the replacement for the aforementioned (then-outgoing) Niki Lauda. His first win in the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix is also the first (and to this day, only) Canadian driver win in the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite his relative low number of wins (and zero championships), he was (and still is) very popular among everyone (especially the Tifosi) for his daredevil driving style (even by the sport's standards). Four-time champion Alain Prost famously said that "Gilles is the last great driver—the rest of us are a bunch of good professionals." Another aspect that made him famous is being a Determinator who would not give up under any circumstances; best seen in the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix ^note  his left rear tyre exploded, but he regained control after spinning and drove an entire lap on two tyres (as the front right tyre was in the air as a result of the blown rear left tyre) before getting back to the pits, and afterwards he had to be convinced by his pit crew that his car was beyond repair for the race and he had to retire and the 1981 Canadian Grand Prix^note a minor accident damaged his front wing and resulted in it jutting up and blocking his vision; instead of retiring to the pits as most would do in such circumstances, he kept on driving until the front wing eventually fell off to the wayside (using his peripheral vision to guide himself around the circuit), and he managed to finish third in the damaged car. He died in a qualifying crash at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. The circuit in Montreal where the Canadian GP is held was renamed in his honor just weeks after his death, and the corner where he fatally crashed at Zolder, now a chicane, is named Gillevilleneuvechicane after him.
  • His son Jacques Villeneuve, less beloved but still highly successful as he won the Formula One title in 1997. Also won the IndyCar championship and the Indianapolis 500 in 1995. After his retirement from Formula One in 2006, he became a controversial pundit, as he likes to say what he has in mind regardless of what people think of his words. Jacques also became a journeyman and competed in all sorts of competitions, from endurance racing to touring cars to stock cars to electric racing to rallycross. Oddly, Jacques never really found the urge or time to compete a full season in those championships as the only time he completed a full racing season after his last season in Formula One was in 2019, when he competed full-time in NASCAR's Whelen Euro Series (yes, NASCAR does have a Europe-based championship). His last win as a driver came in 2021 on the aforementioned Euro Series (at the age of 50) and his last race to date happened in 2022 where he took part in his first Daytona 500. He finished second in the 2008 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, making him the closest driver to become just the second driver to achieve the Triple Crown (using the alternative Formula One championship version).^note Juan Pablo Montoya (using the original version) and Fernando Alonso (using either version) could still claim the Triple Crown, but Montoya had never raced in the top class at Le Mans while Alonso's two Indy 500 attempts ended up in a retirement on the first one and failing to qualify on the second. Oh, and he released a music album.
• Nelson Piquet, Brazilian, 3-time champion (1981, 1983, 1987), known for being outspoken and playing frequent pranks.
  • Nelson Piquet Jr., son of the above. His stint in Formula One was... controversial, to say the least. (See Crashgate.) However, he has largely redeemed himself by winning the debut 2014-15 season of Formula E, as well as making several starts in NASCAR in all three national series from 2010-2016, finishing well in most of them.
• Alain Prost, French, fourth (only behind Vettel, Hamilton and Schumacher) in total wins and also in title count with four (1985, 1986, 1989, and 1993). He became known for his clinical but highly effective style of racing, and his careful planning of race weekends earned him the nickname "The Professor". However, he is mostly known as the main rival to...
• Ayrton Senna, Brazilian, known both for his incredible speed and intensity, feuded with Alain Prost in the 1980s. A polarizing figure (accused by many for bringing "kart culture" involving crashes and close combat with other drivers into F1 and also for being a particularly vindictive individual — if his crash with Prost in the 1990 season closer in Japan was any indication), adored in Brazil and Japan, he also may have been the fastest and most daring driver in F1 history. Is thought by most to be the best qualifier ever, to the point where his rival Prost wouldn't even bother to set up his car for optimal one-lap performance on Saturdays, since he knew that there was no way Senna's time could be bettered. His Determinator status is best highlighted in his 1991 Brazilian GP victory, where his gearbox gradually failed throughout the latter half of the race until he was stuck driving on sixth gear for the last few laps; rather than abandoning and letting Riccardo Patrese's Williams take it home, Senna refused to give up his dream of winning in his home country and pushed on under extremely strenuous conditions. Won three titles, in 1988, 1990 and 1991, all of which were clinched at the Japanese Grand Prix. Killed in a crash on May 1, 1994 at that year's San Marino Grand Prix, often considered the darkest weekend in the history of F1 due to Rubens Barrichello's practice injury and Roland Ratzenberger's fatal qualifying crash, spurring a raft of new safety rules. On a tragic note, just hours before his death he did several meetings with other drivers, he was talking about implementing those very rules...
  • In fact, Senna's fatal incident was a watershed moment for F1 as a whole, both for its visibility — millions of viewers were constantly fed images of the unconscious driver — and for what was the very public death of the sport's biggest star. The shock from his death spurred a knee-jerk reaction from the FIA with some very questionable rules, but from now on safety was the name of the game, with several changes throughout the next decades making the sport safer for all.^note The NASCAR equivalent to this, right down to the moves to improve driver safety, was Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, that circuit's marquee event.
• Bruce McLaren, New Zealander, one of the youngest to win a Grand Prix at the age of 21 and, if McLaren Tooned is anything to go by, also a Determinator with four wins and 27 podiums. As a Constructor, he also solved an airflow problem which then became the downforce "nostrils" like those on the company's 2013 Hypercar, the P1. He had the dream and idea to build the ultimate road going Cool Car but had died in a tragic testing accident at Goodwood in 1970. Gordon Murray and his team eventually formed McLaren Automotive to build said car, its name and style evocative of the sport, the McLaren F1.
• Keke Rosberg, Finnish, and the first of his nationality to win the title, doing so in 1982 despite only taking one win. (In case you were wondering, Ferrari had by far the best car that year and its drivers were comfortably leading the standings, but then Gilles Villeneuve suffered a fatal crash at Zolder, while teammate Didier Pironi had a Career-Ending Injury in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim that left him with severe injuries (particularly to his legs); hence, Rosberg won by virtue of being the last man standing.
  • Nico Rosberg, his son. German, due to his mother being German and the fact he was born there.^note He actually started racing with a Finnish license, but switched his racing nationality to Germany while driving in Formula 3. Incidentally, he doesn't speak a lick of Finnish—Keke deliberately chose not to teach Nico that language, figuring that more widely spoken languages would be more useful in Nico's life. He made his debut with Williams in 2006 and raced for them until he moved to Mercedes in 2010. In 2014, he challenged for and lost the championship to childhood friend Hamilton in a close battle with a record ten 2nd places in the season. In 2015, was runner-up to Hamilton again, winning all three final races once his rival had already clinched the title. In 2016, he finally won the championship, beating Hamilton in points with 9 wins compared to Hamilton's 10, and retired shortly after the finale in Abu Dhabi to the surprise of everyone.
• Nigel Mansell, English driver most associated with Williams, with which he was champion in 1992. Crossed over to CART IndyCar for its 1993 season and won the championship (and nearly the Indy 500 as well) which lead Mansell to become the only driver so far to hold both of open-wheel racing's top series titles simultaneously. His ferocious driving style made him very popular among fans, to the point that Ferrari fans dubbed him il leone ("the lion") in his brief stint for the Italian team. Held the distinction of being the last Ferrari driver to be personally selected for the team by Enzo Ferrari himself before his death, an honour which Mansell stated was "one of the greatest in my entire career".
• Mika Häkkinen, Finnish, 1998 and 1999 World Champion. Considered to be Michael Schumacher's only real rival (even though the 1999 win came only through lack of competition, considering this rivalry, since Schumacher sustained an injury which sidelined for most of the season). He was a late bloomer, winning his first race 7 years into his career (Jerez 1997), but then won the title two years in a row on an increasingly competitive McLaren Mercedes. After another close battle with Schumacher in 2000 and a problem-filled 2001, he announced his sabbatical for the 2002 season, which later turned into a full-blown retirement.
• Michael Schumacher, German, has held most of the sport's records including most wins (91, a record which was beaten by Lewis Hamilton at Portugal 2020), pole positions (68, three more than Senna, although this was broken by Lewis Hamilton at Canada 2017) and titles (7 - 1994, 1995 and 2000-2004, breaking Fangio's five-title record after getting his sixth in '03; equaled by Hamilton in 2020), making him the world's wealthiest athlete at the time with an estimated net worth of 800M USD. Notorious for several incidents, the major ones occurring at the final rounds in 1994 (where he very aggressively defended his position against Damon Hill, after Schumi had hit the wall, causing Hill to crash into him and for both of them to retire, giving him his first title) and 1997 (when he crashed deliberately into title-rival Jacques Villeneuve when the latter tried to overtake him, but failed to get him out of the race - later he was excluded from that years Driver's Championship as punishment). Retired in 2006. Had planned a comeback to cover for the injured Felipe Massa, but was forced to call it off due to injuries. He then came back for newly rebranded Mercedes MGP in 2010 after recovering from a neck injury that kept him out the year before. Then, he was an upper midfielder at best, but for someone off the track for 4 years practically driving for the first time again, its a solid performance, albeit slightly disappointing to most fans due to his legend... finally retired for good after 2012 (the same year he achieved his final podium, becoming the oldest driver to do so at the age of 43). In 2013, he was critically injured in a skiing accident leaving him with life-altering injuries rendering any plans to compete in other motorsports moot. His condition is kept extremely private and thus practically unknown, much to the dismay of millions of fans worldwide.
  • Is widely considered to be the most influential driver in modern history, for the simple fact that every driver on the grid today is modeled after him: his dedication, fitness regime (brought cardio and 365-days-a-year training into a sport were most drivers before thought jogging was adequate enough), sheer commitment (drove an untold number of laps on Ferrari's Fiorano track while testing new components) and team spirit (famously remembered details about his mechanics' personal lives, bought them freshly-baked pizza on nights where he'd work with them on the racecars, and was always mentioning his team as a vital part of his success) have changed the profession of a modern-day Formula 1 driver almost completely. His legacy is carried on by his son Mick, who competed in 2021 and 2022 with Haas and is set to make his IndyCar debut in 2026.
  • Ralf Schumacher, German, and the younger brother of the abovementioned Michael. First drove for the Jordan team in the 1997 season, then transferred to Williams in 1999. Earned his maiden win in the 2001 San Marino GP, then won the Canadian GP that same year with his brother Michael in second place (giving them the sole distinction of being the first (and so far only) siblings to get a one-two finish in a Formula 1 race). After a tumultuous 2006-2007 season with Toyota, he retired from F1 in favor of running in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 2008. Retired from active motor sport since 2013, and currently mentoring young drivers under the Mücke Motorsport Team.
• Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian, 1999 and 2000 CART titlist (after the infamous split of 1996, CART became separate from the then-new IRL) and Michael Schumacher's main rival after Häkkinen retired. Despite only 7 wins in his F1 career, he was the only other driver in the field to consistently give Schumi a hard time at the turn of the millennium. Retired from F1 in 2006 after a very shaky season with McLaren and had a brief stint in NASCAR (2007-2014 in the Cup Series where he got 2 wins, both on road courses) before going back to IndyCar. He now races in the IMSA WeatherTech sports car championship in the four endurance rounds with Penske.
• Jos Verstappen, Dutch, had 2 podium finishes until he slipped off the radar after being Michael Schumacher's teammate at Benetton in 1994. He later on won races in the A1 Grand Prix and the LMP2 class at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans. He has also famously survived a massive pit fire in the 1994 German Grand Prix, coming out with mild burns under his eyes.
  • Max Verstappen, his son, who is currently enjoying a far more successful career in F1 than his father, winning four consecutive world titles from 2021 to 2024. Despite being born and spending most of his childhood in Belgium, he races with a Dutch license as he lived with other Dutch people while growing up around the border between the two countries. He is the current holder of various 'youngest driver' records, such as points scorer, podium finisher, and race winner, plus most points and wins in a single season. He was also known for his cutthroat driving style, for better or for worse. He has the third most wins for a driver in F1 history with 71 wins, and is on track to be considered to be one of the greatest drivers of all time not only for his achievements but also for his track record of consistently great results: in 2025, he had a 104-point deficit from then-championship leader Oscar Piastri due to a bad car, but once those got worked out from Zandvoort onwards, Max would return fire and reduce that deficit so much that it became a three way title fight between him, Piastri and Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi- and while Norris ultimately won, Verstappen earned a lot of praise for his near-comeback. On top of that, he made his GT4 and GT3 debuts at the Nordschleife in September of the same year, winning his first race in the latter category. Off-track, Max is also an avid sim racer, streaming as a member of Team Redline (one of the most sim racing prestigious teams on the scene) - to the point of influencing younger drivers such as Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto and Kimi Antonelli to invest in sim racing as a way to improve their racecraft.
• Fernando Alonso, Spaniard, second youngest two-time world champion, and currently the most experienced driver in terms of number of race starts^*425 as of the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, laps completed^*23,084 laps as of the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, and race distance^*115, 658 kilometers as of the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, the first driver to hit the 100,000 km mark.. Ended Schumacher's dominance in 2005 and 2006 driving for Renault. Retired from F1 after a fourth and final middling year with McLaren in 2018. He also participated in the 2017 Indianapolis 500, to much fanfare of the motorsport world... Only to be beaten by former F1 driver Takuma Sato after engine failures of teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay and Chip Ganassi driver Charlie Kimball, and one of his own. All three were Hondas, although Sato's was as well. He is now starting to show interest in branching out to different motorsports, mostly endurance racing. He participated in the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona in IMSA and is now one of Toyota's LMP1 drivers in the World Endurance Championship, winning the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with them on his first attempt, and again in 2019 after which he left the WEC. He returned to the category in 2021 for a third spell in Renault (now Alpine) only to switch two years later to Aston Martin.
  • The Spaniard is basically F1's case study for being in the wrong place at the most inopportune time: after back-to-back titles with Renault, he moved to powerhouse McLaren–Mercedes, at the same time that an unproven rookie named Lewis Hamilton emerged — their rivalry completely derailed the team and the 2007 title went to Kimi Räikkönen. He instantly returned to Renault, who were a shell of their former selves due to cost-cutting, and won just two races in two years. He then moved to Ferrari to much fanfare, and despite two near-misses in 2010 and 2012, the scarlet cars were no match for the Red Bulls. After a disappointing 2014, Alonso returned to McLaren, now with brand-new Honda engines, but unfortunately said engines were both painfully slow and terrifyingly unreliable, causing many an outburst - and absolutely no podiums, much less wins. However, as of 2023 his luck seems to be changing, as he has found himself in an increasingly competitive Aston Martin car at first, but he has failed to score any podiums since the 2023 São Paulo GP — though Adrian Newey's arrival at Aston Martin may signal another turnaround in his fortunes.
• Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish, 2007 World Champion, and (as of his retirement at the end of the 2021 season) co-holder of the record for most fastest laps gained in a single season^*Michael Schumacher held said record in 10 races for the 2004 season, a feat that Räikkönen equaled twice - in 2005 and 2008, respectively. A great character and a fan favorite, well-known off track for his... smooth approach to press conferences, to his engineers, and especially to alcohol. Popularly known within the sport as "The Iceman" thanks to his nationality and (lack of) expressiveness. Left F1 after 2009 to participate in the World Rally Championship, and made a start in the NASCAR Truck Series as well as the Nationwide Series, finishing 15th and 27th in each. Returned to the sport with a briefly-returning Lotus-Renault for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, then re-signed with Ferrari for 2014, with which he continued to drive until 2018 on what was however a clear #2 role to eventual teammate Sebastian Vettel. Parted ways with the team for the 2019 season to race for the returning Alfa Romeo (which is actually the rebranded Sauber F1 team, the same team where he made his F1 debut,) until retiring from the sport for good at the end of the 2021 season. Has enjoyed popularity in recent years for being a Fountain of Memes among fans and detractors alike.
  • An interesting tidbit: As of his 2018 United States GP win, he is so far the only driver who can claim to have won a Formula 1 race in three distinct engine eras, having earned at least one victory each in the 3-liter V10, 2.4-liter V-8, and 1.6-liter V6 Turbo-Hybrid eras.
• Sir Lewis Hamilton: The English champion of the 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons, hence joint record holder with Michael Schumacher for all-time driver's championships. The only black driver to ever race in F1 and the second youngest to win the title; in only his second year in the sport with McLaren (after finishing one point behind winner Kimi Räikkönen the season prior, his debut). Even then, he won by a single point from Ferrari's Felipe Massa, on the last corner of the last lap of the last race. Hamilton won his second title in more convincing fashion with Mercedes to see off the challenge of teammate and childhood friend Nico Rosberg with a win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the only double points race in F1 history. The third title came with three races remaining, and the fourth and fifth with two after losing to Rosberg (who retired of his own accord afterwards) in 2016. Has broken pretty much any standing record from the Schumacher days (with the exception of fastest laps), and was less than a lap away from becoming an eight-time champion at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, if not for a controversial call from the race director. Now drives for Ferrari from 2025 onward, after eleven seasons (and 6 of his 7 Championships) with Mercedes.
  • The newest arrival on the "Greatest of all Time" debate — which usually features him, Schumacher and Senna — Hamilton remains both adored and hated by many: his fans will point to his frankly ridiculous stats, incredible rookie season and many intra-team battles with other world champions, with the latter being something that Schumacher and sometimes Senna actively avoided by choosing second-rate teammates. On the contrary, his detractors say that he was a part of the greatest dynasty in F1 history (Mercedes won 8 consecutive Constructors' titles and had the best car (or very close to it) every year from 2014 to 2021, something no other team has ever come close to achieving), that he didn't win any titles from 2009 to 2013 when he didn't have the fastest machinery, and how he was beaten by his teammates Button and Rosberg (and tied with Alonso), while Senna was only beaten once by Prost and Schumi never lost to a teammate, at least before his first retirement. On top of that, he's trailing Alonso as the second most experienced driver in F1 history by virtue of having the second most amount of race starts and being the second driver to drive over 100,000 kms in race distance.
• Jenson Button: English, 2009 World Champion, was being touted for years as the next big British driver, and finally came into prominence after his team (Honda) bounced back as the Brawn GP Team when team manager Ross Brawn bought it from the manufacturer after they pulled out of the sport (nearly preventing Button from racing) and retrofitted it with a Mercedes engine, and caught everyone by surprise by blazing the competition. Afterwards, spent the remaining 7 years of his career with McLaren before retiring after 2016. He raced in Super GT, having won the GT500 in 2018. He competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship representing Porsche and later Cadillac in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
• Rubens Barrichello: Brazilian, holds the second-most races contested (326 races with 322 starts) with a career that spanned 19 seasons (1993-2011), longer than any other driver. Notoriously known as Schumacher's former teammate, who was consistently making him play second fiddle, emphasized in the 2002 Austrian and United States Grands Prix. Also drove in the 2012 IndyCar season, but decided against returning in 2013 after a disappointing result there. He recently raced stock cars in his native Brazil. Oh, and he also beat The Stig.
• Sebastian Vettel, German, World Champion from 2010 to 2013, all four times driving for Red Bull. Later drove for Ferrari for six years and and spent the last two years of his career at Aston Martin (former Racing Point) before retiring at the end of 2022. He held most of the sport's 'youngest' records until Max Verstappen snagged several, but he still holds some such as polesitter and each of one, two, three, and four titles. Has the fourth highest number of wins in the series and also holds the record for shortest time between the start of a F1 career and his first penalty at NINE SECONDS at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix for speeding in the pitlane during a free practice session.
  • While he was touted as Schumacher's natural successor (the two had a great relationship) and the best bet to break some of his records after dominating the early 10's, nowadays his career is mostly known for his relative lack of success with Ferrari, especially on the 2017 and 2018 seasons. It must be noted that his team did many mistakes (by not giving him on-track support from his teammate and by introducing some failed upgrades in late-2018), but Vettel became somewhat of a meme by crashing and/or spinning out of seemingly every other race, ending his title chances. Eventually, he was pretty much ousted from Maranello due to the emergence of...
• Charles Leclerc, Monegasque and a graduate of the Ferrari Drivers' Academy program. Childhood friend of the late Jules Bianchi and Anthoine Hubert, and rival to Max Verstappen since their karting days, he is the youngest driver to get pole position and win two consecutive GPs - Belgium and Italy in 2019. Beat Sebastian Vettel on both seasons where they were teammates, imposing himself as the new leader of the Scuderia, a mantle that has buried many careers in the past. He would later become the second Monegasque driver to ever win the Monaco Grand Prix (his home race) in 93 years since Louis Chiron in 1931. Despite his young age, he has immediately gained a strong fan following for his elegant yet ruthless racing style and humble, pleasant personality.
• Daniel Ricciardo, Australian^note Although actually Italian-Australian, Ricciardo pronounces his surname as "Ricardo" instead of the Italian pronunciation "Rit-tchar-do", and a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, which success in the lower categories prompted his rise to the Scuderia Toro Rosso team, before joining the main Red Bull team after Mark Webber's retirement. After four years in Red Bull, he raced for two years at Renault, before switching over to McLaren in 2021, then returning to the Red Bull organization by joining the then-AlphaTauri team midway through 2023 after leaving McLaren at the end of the 2022 season. Known as the Honey Badger for his racing style as well as his smile, and of course for introducing the celebratory "Shoey" beginning in 2016 after grabbing a podium finish at the German Grand Prix, and would repeat whenever he was on the podium. After Hamilton, he is probably the most famous racing driver in the States, in no small part due to his exposure in Drive to Survive. It was to the point where his subsequent departure from F1 after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix was met with tributes from all over the racing world and the fandom at large. A year later, he would announce his retirement from motorsport.
• Lando Norris, English, 2025 world champion. Signed by McLaren after having been a part of its drivers' program since 2017 at the age of 17, Norris' tenure with the team coincided with their return from backmarker status in the late 2010s as the team first rose to the midfield, then back to podium contention in 2023. Norris would claim his first Grand Prix win in 2024, and would win three more races to finish runner-up behind Max Verstappen. 2025 saw him clinch his first title by two points over Verstappen, after a season where he claimed seven more victories and maintained consistent form even as his rivals had varied form over the course of the year, and thus secured McLaren their first drivers' title in 17 years. Also previously known to be a shitposter and a memelord, even in the early years of his F1 career.
• Robert Kubica, first and (so far) only Pole to race and win a Grand Prix (Canada 2008). Known as one of the greatest "What Could Have Been" drivers of his generation^NoteHe was touted as a prospect driver for Scuderia Ferrari, scheduled to partner Fernando Alonso for the 2012 season, were it not for his rally car crash in 2011 which caused serious injuries to his right arm. Nonetheless, he undertook a comprehensive recovery program to become a modern-day Handicapped Badass, restarting his racing career in 2013, until he finally got back into an F1 car for a full season in 2019 with the Williams Racing team. Later transferred to Alfa Romeo Sauber in 2020 as a Test and Reserve Driver, with a couple of Grand Prix stints in 2021^NoteHe substituted for Kimi Räikkönen for the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix that year, as the latter tested positive for COVID-19. As of 2025, he has participated in multiple racing series, becoming champion in WRC-2 (2013), the European and World Endurance Championships under the LMP2 class (2021 and 2023, respectively), and the first Eastern European to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025, with (poetically enough) a customer Ferrari Hypercar.
• Zhou Guanyu, Chinese, the first (and so far only) racing driver from China to ever compete in Formula One, and the first one to score points. The only team he has signed onto is Sauber- then Alfa Romeo during his 2022 debut. His debut saw him score not only his but his country's first ever points when he finished 10th (admittedly, with a helping of luck; on the final lap, he was behind Sergio Perez's Red Bull when the latter suffered a fuel system issue that shut off his engine and forced him to retire), and before season's end he would score a fastest lap in that year's Japanese Grand Prix. 2023 opened well for him as he scored another fastest lap at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, but his relative inexperience compared to his much more seasoned teammate Valteri Bottas showed, and at best he could hold his own against Bottas. An exception to this is 2024, when the infamously terrible Sauber C44 saw the team go almost without points for the whole season had it not been for Zhou's 8th place finish at that season's Qatar Grand Prix. His 2025 stint saw him return to Ferrari- the team whose academy trained him in the first place- as a test/reserve driver, but in 2026 he would join newly-inaugurated Cadillac's F1 team (again, as a reserve driver), reuniting with his Sauber teammate from 2024, the aforementioned Bottas.
• Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican, the first Mexican racing driver to ever win a Formula One Grand Prix. The older brother of racing driver Ricardo Rodriguez, the first Mexican driver to ever take part in the Grand Prix, the two started racing on motorcycles before transitioning into cars. after Ricardo was killed in an accident during practice for the non-championship 1962 Mexican Grand Prix, Pedro considered retiring but pressed on; in Formula One he drove for works teams Lotus, Ferrari, Cooper, BRM and privateer team Parnell, winning the 1967 South African Grand Prix and 1970 Belgian Grand Prix. In addition, he was also a successful sports car racing driver, finishing third with co-driver Jean Guichet in a 1-2-3 Ferrari photo finish at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona, winning the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, and winning a total of ten races with the Porsche 917 in 1970-1971. Unfortunately, like his younger brother, he was killed behind the wheel; at an Interserie race at the Norisring at Nurnberg in 1971, the right front tyre of the Ferrari 512 he was hired to drive came off under heavy braking for the course's S-turn at lap 12, sending the Ferrari into a wall before rebounding across the track and catching fire, causing Pedro to sustain fatal injuries and die shortly after being evacuated from the wrecked Ferrari. The circuit that hosts the Mexican Grand Prix- Autodromo Magdalena Mixuca- got its current name Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 1979 to honor of both him and Ricardo. Pedro was noted to be extremely fast in wet conditions and developed a rivalry with Swiss racing driver (who also competed in Formula 1) Joseph "Jo" Siffert.

• James Hunt vs. Niki Lauda: A rivalry that has had much increased exposure the past few years after the release of Rush (2013), it was mostly focused on the 1976 season, where Lauda's Ferrari had a small advantage over Hunt's McLaren. However, the Austrian's horrible accident at Nürburgring thrust Hunt into the forefront, and ultimately, the Brit won the title by a single point in torrential conditions at the last race in Fuji, only after Lauda parked his car at the pits on the second lap, famously stating that he wouldn't risk his life again. Nonetheless, the pair were quite good friends off track, with their rivalry being Played for Drama on the movie.
• Alain Prost vs. Ayrton Senna: By far the biggest and most notorious one, Prost and Senna dominated the mid-to-late 80's and the early 90's. Initially their relationship was pleasant enough as teammates on the dominant McLaren, but after the Brazilian almost drove his rival into a wall in the '88 Portuguese GP, it soured quickly, deteriorating further due to an incident in the '89 San Marino GP, in which they had an agreement of not fighting for positions until past the first turn which supposedly Senna broke.^note This was due to the race being red-flagged following a terrible accident Gerhard Berger suffered; right at the restart, Senna took the lead from Prost, which he saw as a break on their agreement, despite the fact that, on the actual first lap of the race (with Senna having the pole position), neither of them attempted to overtake the other. Mostly notorious for two incidents on consecutive years on the track of Suzuka: in 1989, while leading the championship, Prost simply shut the door on an overtake attempt by Senna, initially retiring them both - but the Brazilian drove off the escape road with the help of some marshals and won the race, only to be disqualified later for using said road. Senna thought of this as a blatantly political act (the then-president of FISA, Jean-Marie Balestre, was French and close friends with Prost), and got his revenge 12 months later. On reverse circumstances, Prost (now with Ferrari) got the better start despite Senna being on pole, but since he hadn't forgotten the past year's shenanigans (although Senna claimed that it was due to the pole position marker being on the inside of the track, considered the "dirty" part, as it was outside the racing line and had less traction), the Brazilian simply drove into Prost on the first corner at speeds of 170+ mph — it was by pure luck that no one was gravely injured.
  • Their rivalry cooled off after that, helped by the fact that they never fought for the championship together again,^note In 1991, while Senna won his third championship, Prost had a dismal no-win season at Ferrari, and his criticism of the car led Ferarri not to renew his contract. Prost went on sabbatical in 1992, but Senna's hopes of taking advantage of his rival's absence evaporated when Williams unveiled a Renault-powered car laden with electronic "driver aids" (active suspension, anti-lock brakes, traction control, and launch control) that allowed Nigel Mansell to thoroughly dominate the season, winning his first (and only) driver's championship with five races to go. Despite his criticism of the car's gizmos (which he felt relegated the driver to a secondary role), Senna expressed interest in driving for Williams following Mansell's retirement at the end of the season, but so did Prost, who imposed a condition that he would only sign for Williams if he was not teammates with Senna; Williams agreed, and while Senna clinched a second-place finish in the 1993 season, his now-underperforming McLaren continued to struggle against Prost's Williams. When Senna finally persuaded Williams to sign him for the 1994 season, Prost announced his retirement from Formula 1 (only admitting years later that he did so because he couldn't stomach being on a team with Senna again). and Ayrton ended it formally by getting Prost into the top spot on the podium at the latter's last race, the 1993 Australian GP, which Senna won. They were friendly after that, with Senna even proclaiming "We miss you, Alain" while on a lap for the French TV feed, only a few hours before his passing. Alain Prost was a pallbearer at the Brazilian's funeral, and he has since been on the board of the Senna Foundation.
• Mika Häkkinen vs. Michael Schumacher: A surprisingly respectful rivalry (in stark contrast to Schumi's other adversaries), the pair dominated the late 90's ^note  they were regularly qualifying a whole freaking second over their teammates — in Formula 1 terms, that's a lifetime with Mika winning two titles^note despite most of the 1999 season being fought instead against Schumi's teammate Eddie Irvine, due to Schumacher missing most of the second half of the season following an accident in Silverstone which left him with a broken leg to Schumacher's one. However, after a 2001 season that was filled with reliability and driving issues, Häkkinen stepped away from the sport, leaving (according to many) the door wide open for Schumacher's dominance. Highlights include the penultimate race of 1998 in Germany which all but sealed Mika's first title, the 2000 Japanese GP which did the same for Schumacher, and of course, one of the greatest overtakes of all time at the 2000 Belgian GP. After his first retirement in 2006, Schumacher recognized Häkkinen as his strongest and fiercest rival, with the Finn accepting it graciously.
• Lewis Hamilton vs. Nico Rosberg: Short on duration but extremely bitter, the once-childhood friends were initially very happy to be at the same team - however, when in 2014 Mercedes started perhaps the biggest domination in F1 history, they were fighting for the title and their relationship quickly turned sour with several on-track incidents to boot. Hamilton won both 2014 and 2015, but in 2016 Rosberg bounced back and spurred by Hamilton's engine failure late in the season, won the title at the last race - and then, in one of the most controversial moves in recent years, promptly retired, drawing criticism by many - Hamilton included.
• Sebastian Vettel vs. Mark Webber: Teammates at Red Bull from 2009 onwards, the peak of their rivalry was at the 2010 season, where they both had great odds for the title - and contrary to the ordinary Formula 1 ethos, their team didn't favour anyone directly ^note however, everyone but the teams' director was heavily biased towards Vettel, who was the first successful alum of Red Bull's youth driver academy with Webber leading coming up to the last race but Vettel ultimately claiming the title. Afterwards, Webber lost most of his pace and the German won three more titles in a row. Notorious for two incidents: on the 2010 Turkish GP, when the pair crashed while leading the race,^note and everyone bar RBR's youth program director blamed Vettel and three years later on Malaysia, when Vettel passed his teammate for the win despite being told on the radio to hold his position.
• Lewis Hamilton vs. Max Verstappen: the latest rivalry has been quite short but extremely volatile, with both Verstappen and Hamilton getting penalized throughout the 2021 season for crashing into the other (albeit not on purpose...mostly). Verstappen later took advantage of Hamilton's mid-season slump to open up a large enough gap in the standings that he had realistic chances of clinching the title early; however, towards the end of the season, Hamilton recovered, winning three races back-to-back, and after his win at the latter of those, the inaugural Saudi Arabian GP (during which he and Verstappen fought repeatedly on track, with the latter even brake-testing him), they were level on points going into the final race in Abu Dhabi, for the first time since 1974. Verstappen got pole but Hamilton took the lead before the first corner, pretty much dominated the entire race, and would have won the title if not for a late crash that brought out the Safety Car and an extremely controversial call by the race director to let Hamilton (who had worn and hard tyres) and Verstappen (who had newer and softer tyres) essentially do a one-lap sprint to the chequered flag — with the latter getting ahead and winning the title.
  • Has cooled off in 2022, as Verstappen remained in the title hunt while Hamilton's Mercedes regressed to a podium outfit, at best, ending any chance of a fight between the two. At the first half of 2022 it felt Verstappen would fight against Leclerc, but right after the summer break Verstappen and Red Bull would go on to dominate not just what was left of 2022, but the entirety of 2023 and the first few races of 2024!

• The 1994 cheating allegations controversy: In a bid to stop the all-conquering Williams team (which had won 31 out of 33 poles in the last two years), the FIA announced that all electronic aids would be banned from 1994 onwards. Most teams removed them… but not all: after a whole lot of suspicion, a hidden form of launch control was found in the Benetton car, masqueraded as the hidden 13th option in an otherwise perfectly legal list of aids. However, since it was impossible to determine whether it had been used or not, the team escaped any punishment… only to find even more trouble later in the season, when at the German GP, Jos Verstappen’s B194 was engulfed in flames after a botched pitstop. Later, it was revealed that Benetton had removed the fuel filter from the hose in order to speed up the entire process, violating the rules (which forbade any modifications to the fueling equipment). Nonetheless, the team pleaded guilty and was merely fined for what many thought was an offence worthy of disqualification, going on to win the 1994 Drivers’ World Championship after Michael Schumacher’s infamous collision with rival Damon Hill at the season-ending Australian GP.

• The 2002 Austrian GP team orders controversy: Yes, it was just the sixth round of the season, but pretty much everybody knew who would be the champion come October, with Michael Schumacher having won 4 of the past 5 races and looking utterly dominant. Same thing happened in Austria as well, but this time the other Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello led and was primed to win… until he braked just a few meters before the finish line in order to make Schumacher the winner, to the shock of millions worldwide. While the German did look extremely uncomfortable (going as far as to elevate Barrichello to the top step on the rostrum and give him the winners’ trophy^note Which got Ferrari a $1 million fine from the FIA for breaking podium protocol. This was the only punishment handed out since what they did on the track didn't break any rules, though "team orders" would be banned the following season, then unbanned in 2014 when the FIA determined the ban was unenforceable), team principal Jean Todt defended his decision on the grounds that the championship was far from decided – even though after the race, Schumi’s tally of 54 points was double that of 2nd placed Montoya’s 27 – years after, both he and director Ross Brawn admitted that with Schumacher that far ahead, Barrichello should have been allowed to win. For what it’s worth, Michael returned the favor by letting his teammate through at Indianapolis later that year, along with a couple other Barrichello wins on which the then four-time world champion was driving… quite slow at times.

• The 2005 Indianapolis GP: Back in the 00’s, there were two tire suppliers: Bridgestone and Michelin. The first had an almost-exclusive relationship with Ferrari, while the second one supplied all other leading teams. Going into the 6th Indianapolis GP, the Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta both had rear-left tire failures after a number of laps, prompting Michelin to investigate the matter… and realizing that due to a recent resurfacing of the track (which it had no idea about, but Bridgestone did thanks to its subsidiary Firestone supplying Indy Car, which had run its Indianapolis 500 the previous month), its tires could barely last 10 laps, much less the entire race as was the rule that year. So, all parties (with the exception of Ferrari, who just kept itself out of it all) sat down and tried to save the race, but then FIA president Max Mosley was against any modification on the oval Turn 13 (which was the cause of the failures), the teams made some proposals of their own that went nowhere, and eventually the 200.000 spectators were treated to a… 6 car race between the Bridgestone teams (Ferrari and minnows Jordan, Minardi) which prompted outrage throughout the motorsport world.
  • An inquiry (yes, FIA loves these!) resulted in Michelin paying a hefty fine and eventually abandoning the sport 18 months after, F1’s popularity in the US (the one territory in the world where it was not the leading motorsport series) utterly nosedived, and today the race is remembered by everyone for all the wrong reasons.

• The 2007 espionage controversy (also known as Spygate): In the start of the 2007 F1 season, disgruntled Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney met with his friend and colleague McLaren’s Mike Coughlan, giving him a 700-page dossier with all kinds of highly classified information on the entire Ferrari F1 operation, from car designs to strategy plans. FIA and Ferrari eventually connected the dots and dragged McLaren to court, but there was no evidence that the dossier’s contents were known to any other McLaren engineers, and the matter was closed there… until then-McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, alienated from what he thought was preferential treatment from the team to its other driver, rookie Lewis Hamilton, pretty much blackmailed team principal Ron Dennis that if the situation didn't change, he would reveal to the world what he knew about Stepney’s dossier. A panicked Dennis immediately informed FIA president Max Mosley, and on the second investigation it was made known that in fact a whole lot of people inside McLaren knew not just about the dossier’s existence but its contents as well. Thus, despite Mosley’s calls for a two-year ban, McLaren was banned from the 2007 Constructors’ Championship and got a 100 million dollar fine (in the end it was rescinded to 50 million), but its drivers were able to fight for the Driver’s title, which they lost to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on the final race– and it is widely thought (but not proven) that Macca sabotaged both its drivers in the last couple of races under FIA’s orders to make Raikkonen the champion instead of a driver on a “tarnished” team. As of Alonso didn't have enough...

• The 2008 crashing controversy (also known as Crashgate): At the inaugural 2008 Singapore GP, Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed into a seemingly easy corner early on in the race, bringing out the Safety Car. Due to the rules at the time (back then cars were forbidden from entering the pit lane under Safety Car conditions), most front-runners got penalties for pitting and Piquet’s teammate Fernando Alonso (who had pitted just before the crash) managed to get into first place, going on to win the race. A few people questioned the timing of the incidents above, but didn’t do anything more, since it was thought that no team would actually instruct their driver to crash on purpose… until a year later when now-unemployed Piquet Jr. spilled it all, explaining exactly how the team’s directors (Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds) instructed him to crash at a certain corner and in a certain lap, in order to maximize his teammate’s (who was found to have no knowledge of the whole thing) chances of winning. They were removed from their positions, Renault F1 Team left the sport within a year, but Alonso kept his win as he had no responsibility on the incident.

• The 2019 Ferrari engine saga: Despite having an unreliable and underpowered engine at the start of the hybrid era in 2014, Ferrari had managed to catch Mercedes in that department, going on to win seven consecutive poles in 2019, while also winning races on power-heavy circuits such as Spa-Francochamps and Monza with rising star Charles Leclerc on what was essentially a dragster car… but its opponents were suspecting that something was amiss, especially after a technical directive regarding an engine’s “fuel flow” ended Ferrari’s streak of poles– with the team denying it had any impact on its performance. Just before the 2020 season started, however, FIA announced that it had reached an “agreement” with the Italian team in regards to its engine, which crucially was not described in the document as either legal or illegal. Whatever it was, it was not inside the red cars anymore, and Ferrari slipped way down the order, only recovering after a rules overhaul in 2022. The matter still remains heavily debated in F1 circles, with Ferrari fans denying that the engine was ever illegal, and everyone else describing the agreement above as FIA playing favorites with the Scuderia.

• The 2021 Safety Car controversy in Abu Dhabi: Coming into the last race of a highly contested season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were level on points and were readying themselves for a thrilling, winner-takes-all finale. Verstappen got pole but Hamilton managed to overtake him at the first corner and virtually dominated the race from there on, getting closer to a record-breaking 8th title… until Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed a few laps before the end, bringing out the Safety Car. Verstappen pitted for brand-new soft tires, while Hamilton stayed put on his worn hards with Mercedes betting that the race would end under Safety Car conditions. It… didn’t, with race director Michael Masi (whose competence was at that point already doubted by everyone in the paddock) ordering just the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves (not all, as per rule), thus allowing the SC to come into the pits at the end of the penultimate lap and essentially turning the race into a one-lap sprint to the finish. Verstappen passed Hamilton and won both the race and the championship, but Mercedes almost instantly protested the result. Said protest was unsuccessful, and Mercedes decided not to pursue any further action after FIA announced an inquiry into the race itself.
  • Its results were published a few months after, and while it explicitly said that Masi “had acted in good faith”, it also stated that the outcome of the race “stemmed from human error”. Nonetheless, the championship results had already been validated, and Max Verstappen remained the 2021 World Champion.

Scuderia Ferrari

The most famous team of F1, who have participated in every season and almost every race since the sport's inception in 1950 - they did miss the very first World Championship race in 1950 and the odd race since, but have taken part in every single race weekend since the 1976 season. As such, they have won the most races (400+) and championships (16). Ferrari fell into a slump in the 1980s but slowly climbed back to the front starting in 1988, and were finally rejuvenated by the signing of Michael Schumacher in 1996 who after four barren years dominated the early-mid 2000s. Their last constructors' title came about in 2008, but after multiple seasons of playing second fiddle to Red Bull and later on Mercedes, they appeared to be genuinely fighting for both titles in 2018. Unfortunately for them, FIA confiscated their power unit after a string of strong performances in mid-2019, and found it wasn't legal... nor illegal. Nonetheless, Ferrari had to build a new one, and between 2020 and 2021 they were a midfield outing with the odd lucky podium here and there. The start of the 2022 season saw an initial reversal of fortune for the Scuderia coupled with the rule changes, which saw them spring back to the very top of the grid alongside Red Bull if not for some...interesting strategy decisions. Unfortunately a drop-off later in the season ensured Red Bull would take the victory that year. To this day, Ferrari continues to be in the process of re-fashioning its role in the sport, as the rise of other teams and internal staffing changes affect the Scuderia.

For information about Ferrari's grands prix cars, see here.

McLaren

The second most famous team in F1, founded by the late New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominated in the late 1980s driving for the team. After winning the constructor's title in 1998 and a string of podium finishes in almost all successive seasons (excluding the highly controversial 2007 season where they saw themselves stripped of all their constructors' championship points due to the "Spygate" scandal), McLaren were reduced to backmarkers from 2015-2017 after switching their engine supplier to Honda. They switched again to Renault in 2018 where they handily beat their ex-suppliers before finally returning to Mercedes power units in 2021. The first season with Mercedes power units was pretty positive - with them finishing fourth in the World Constructors' Championship, and they have responded reasonably well to the rule changes in 2022, sporting probably the midfield's most well-rounded package in spite of a terrible showing at the season opener in Bahrain. 2024 saw them bounce back even further by winning the constructor's title with the MCL38 driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, gaining multiple race wins for the first time in a season since 2012 and the lead in the constructors' championship by the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, becoming the first non-Red Bull team to do so since Ferrari early on in the 2022 season and becoming the first non Red Bull/Mercedes constructor to win the championship since Brawn GP in 2009. The following season was a dominant one for the team, clinching the constructor's championship with six races to go at the Singapore Grand Prix, and securing their first drivers' championship in 17 years after Norris finished third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, outscoring Max Verstappen by a mere two points.

For information about McLaren's grands prix cars, see here.

Mercedes-Benz

The Brackley, UK-based team currently owned by Mercedes-Benz is most iconic for its 2014-2021 era of dominance thanks to the hybrid engine regulations and Lewis Hamilton. The involvement of Mercedes-Benz itself in the series is a very interesting story. Before Formula One as we know it was created, Mercedes was one of the leading forces in 1930s pre-WWII grand prix racing - often clashing against fellow German team Auto Union (now better known as Audi). Mercedes made its official debut in Formula One in 1954, immediately winning the World Drivers' Championship with Juan Manuel Fangio; the next season proved to be just as successful with Fangio and Stirling Moss finishing first and second in the standings, but the 1955 Le Mans disaster caused the German team to withdraw from all motorsport endeavors. Although they returned as an engine supplier to the Circus in 1994, and cooperated formally with McLaren from 1995 to 2009, the Silver Arrows would not properly compete as a constructor in Formula One again until 2010, when Daimler AG, still an engine supplier for McLaren, bought a controlling stake on the then-defending champions Brawn GP (previously known as Tyrell Racing and BAR Honda). Brawn GP was rebranded as Mercedes-AMG Petronas, and would slowly climb up the ranks of the grid with the odd race win here and there. Their fortune dramatically changed in 2014 and the shift to hybrid engines with the return of turbochargers, and for the next 8 years, the Silver Arrows began what is probably the single most dominating period in the sport's history, winning all but one title between 2014 and 2021 with the help of Lewis Hamilton as their lead driver. The rule changes in 2022 saw them return to their pre-2014 selves, ending up in a weird limbo where they noticeably lag behind against Red Bull and a now-rejuvenated Ferrari and McLaren, but are far ahead of the rest of the pack. Following Lewis Hamilton's departure from the team at the end of the 2024 season, the team has undergone a transitionary period driven by George Russell and Italian junior protege Kimi Antonelli, while continuing to keep front-runners on their toes, especially in the 2025 season.

For information about Mercedes' grands prix cars, see here.

Red Bull

Originating from Sir Jackie Stewart and Paul Stewart's self-named team, the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull Racing, owned by the eponymous Austrian energy drink brand after the Jaguar Racing team was sold to them by Ford, has made a name for itself as a strong team in the modern F1 era, especially against Mercedes' era of dominance, culminating in them ending their streak in 2021 in a neck-to-neck battle. Red Bull itself had been involved in F1 before having their own team, having previously been a sponsor of Sauber. Following the birth of Red Bull Racing in 2005, the arrival of Adren International's Christian Horner from Formula 3000 as team principal and the onboarding of famed F1 designer Adrian Newey would result in the team gradually rising, where a young German driver by the name of Sebastian Vettel would bring the team their first Drivers and Constructors championship. After Vettel's departure to Ferrari, partially due to tension between him and fellow driver Mark Webber, Red Bull would soon find a Dutch protege driver by the name of Max Verstappen, who would quickly establish himself as the team's most dominant driver in its entire history, and this plus a transition from Renault power units to Honda power units in 2016 would ultimately culminate in a dominant streak with Max winning the Drivers Championships from 2021 all the way thru 2024 and the team winning the Constructors championship in 2022 and 2023. Following the departure of Newey ahead of the 2024 season, the sacking of Horner in the middle of the 2025 season due to team underperformance, the departure of Jonathan Wheatley, the team's long-time sporting director, to Audi, and the departure of Helmut Marko, the team's long-running, but controversial, driver program manager and advisor at the end of the season, Red Bull is in a transitionary state under former Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies, with an exit from Honda power units at the end of the 2025 season and reuniting them with Ford to help build their own in-house power units in their Red Bull Powertrains division ahead of the new regulations coming in 2026.

For information about Red Bull's grands prix cars, see here.

Williams Racing

Founded by late former grocery businessman turned motorsport executive Sir Frank Williams and his close engineering partner Patrick Head as a successor to the former's Frank Williams Racing Cars team, Williams Racing were frontrunners in the 90s, thanks partly to a strong design department spearheaded by Head and designer Adrian Newey, and drivers including Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve, but have slipped to the midfield in recent years and to the back in 2018. Until 2020, the team was owned by Frank, and it plus Haas were the last remaining family-owned privateer Formula One teams: halfway through the 2020 season, the team was bought by Dorilton Capital, and the ensuing departure of then-team principal Claire Williams, Frank's daughter, heralded the End of an Era for the team. Williams would later climb their way to the top of the midfield in 2025, under the leadership of former Mercedes strategist James Vowles.

For information about Williams' grands prix cars, see here.

Alpine

Currently owned by Renault, the Enstone, UK based team ("Team Enstone" as it is informally called) entered the sport as Benetton F1 in 1986 following the purchase of Toleman the season prior. They won the odd race here and there, until they hit the jackpot in 1991 and signed a young German named Michael Schumacher under the nose of the Jordan Grand Prix team, a few days after he participated on his first race for the latter team. Schumi managed to win the 1994 Drivers Championship, but it was perhaps the most controversial 'ship in history: it was tainted not only from Ayrton Senna's untimely death and the title-deciding collision in Adelaide, but there were also widespread allegations of Benetton using illegal driver aids - indeed, Launch Control (named Option 13) was found hidden in the engine's software, and to this day the debate rages on about whether they actually used it or not. Benetton also won both titles next year in much less controversial circumstances, but in 1996 Schumacher (and the majority of the engineers) left for Ferrari, and the team faded into obscurity... until 2003, when Renault bought the team and signed a young, charismatic driver named Fernando Alonso who won back to back titles in 2005-06. Since then, however, the team has languished into the middle of the pack, with relatively stable top 10 finishes but not much beyond that, barring the infamous "Crashgate" controversy. In 2021, the team was rebranded as Alpine in order to promote Renault's historically successful sports car brand. Following Renault's departure as a power unit manufacturer in F1 at the end of the 2025 season after years of decline starting in the 2014 hybrid era, the team switched to Mercedes power units starting in the 2026 season.

For information about Alpine/Renault's grands prix cars, see here.

Aston Martin

Originally established in 1991 by Irish driver Eddie Jordan as Jordan Grand Prix, the midfield Silverstone-based team went through a revolving door of owners in the mid-2000s, first with a sale of the team to Midland Group in 2006, before being sold in 2007 to Dutch car manufacturer Spyker, and then to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch businessman Michiel Mol shortly after to be rebranded as Force India, where the team would see some podiums. Financial fraud and criminal charges against Mallya resulted in Force India being sold to a consortium called Racing Point led by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll in 2018 and rebranded as such. Following Stroll taking a stake in Aston Martin and him becoming the chairman of the luxury auto manufacturer, whom had performed poorly with their own attempts in Formula One in 1959 and 1960 with the David Brown Corporation, the team would be rebranded to become Aston Martin's team ahead of the 2021 season, marking the end of a more than sixty-year absence from the sport. Since their Force India days, the Aston Martin team had maintained a power unit relationship with Mercedes until the end of the 2025 season, where the team would switch over to Honda power units ahead of the 2026 regulation change. This plus the arrival of Adrian Newey from Red Bull as team principal marks a start of a new chapter for the team.

Audi

Founded in 1970, Audi's F1 team was originally Sauber, founded by Swiss automobile salesman Peter Sauber, who specialized in producing and racing cars for other motorsports series, including a partnership with Mercedes that led the team to a 1989 victory at Le Mans. Following a rules change that saw the team's expertise in Group C outlawed out of Le Mans and endurance racing, the team would turn their focus to F1 in 1993, where despite the team being smaller than others on the grid, they were capable of occasionally punching above their weight and gained a following as the sport's underdog team, while also playing a role in introducing notable drivers to the sport. Following an acquisition by BMW in 2006 to become BMW Sauber, the team achieved their best success during BMW's ownership, managing to achieve 16 podiums throughout and the team's only P1 victory in the form of Robert Kubica's 2008 Canadian Grand Prix win, before The 2007 Financial Crisis and struggles with the 2009 regulation changes forced BMW to sell the team back to Peter in 2009. The 2010s thru 2020s would see a close power unit partnership with Ferrari, including a livery rebrand as Alfa Romeo (whose parent company is also chaired by Ferrari's chairman) from 2019 thru 2023. In 2022, Audi made the decision to acquire Sauber to transform it into their full works team for the 2026 season and beyond and under former long-time Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and former Ferrari engineer & team principal Mattia Binotto, the team has seen an significant expansion, with Audi's Neuburg engineering center taking the helm of manufacturing a F1 power unit for the first time, and the creation of an engineering centre in Bicester, England. Audi's entry and debut to Formula One marks the renewal of a rivalry between its predecessor company Auto Union and Mercedes not seen in the higher echelons of global motorsports since prior to World War II.

For information about Audi's grands prix cars, see here.

Racing Bulls

The second team on the grid owned by Red Bull that serves as Red Bull Racing's junior team, Racing Bulls has its origins as an Italian privateer team founded by Italian driver Giancarlo Minardi, whom primarily focused on the development of young drivers, which has been maintained by Red Bull when the team was sold to them ahead of the 2006 season. Despite subsequent rebrands to AlphaTauri and its current Racing Bulls name, the team has largely remained the same as the junior team for Red Bull, where Helmut Marko, who oversaw the drivers for the Red Bull and Racing Bulls teams until 2025, established a controversial reputation for being unforgiving when it comes to underperformance. Despite this, the Faenza-based team has served as the major launch platform for many notable current and former drivers seen in modern F1, most notably Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

For information about Racing Bull's grands prix cars, see here.

Haas F1 Team

In 2014, Gene Haas, a major figure within NASCAR and owner of machine tool manufacturing company Haas Automation, acquired the assets of the defunct Marussia F1 team that was based in Banbury, England create the first American team in F1 since the unrelated Haas Lola team raced in 1985 and 1986. Through its power unit partnership with Ferrari, the team has also depended on them for their reserve drivers. Similar to Sauber, the team carries a reputation for occasionally punching above its weight. Notably, an ongoing technical partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) in 2024 saw Toyota provide technical, design, and manufacturing services for the team in exchange for test driver and commercial benefits, marking Toyota's return to the sport since their failed 2002-2009 stint. The signing of TGR as the team's title sponsor for 2026 has provided fresh speculation on the long-term future of the team, especially considering the team's existing relationship with Ferrari and indications that Toyota's partnership is only growing.

Cadillac

The newest team on the grid set to debut in 2026, Cadillac marks the first time that General Motors and the brand enter the sport. Originally announced in 2023 by GM in partnership with veteran driver Michael Andretti ahead of the 2026 regulation changes, the team faced challenges due to disputes between Andretti and the Formula One Group, leading to Los Angeles Dodgers chairman and owner Mark Walter and his company TWG Global to take over ownership of the team, with Andretti stepping aside to become advisor. As part of agreements, General Motors is expected to begin manufacturing engines for the team starting in 2029; with Ferrari stepping in to provide power units until then. As a brand new team being built from the ground-up, Cadillac made major hires including former Marussia F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon, former Renault technical director Nick Chester, and drivers Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas (both known for being Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton's respective teammates during their championship-winning days) to help guide the team through what is expected to be a challenging debut for 2026.

Many of the current F1 teams are teams who have undergone changes in branding and ownership as time has gone on. However, there are some teams that permanently folded, whether be bankruptcy, leaving the series for good, or other circumstances. Below is an incomplete list of some of these teams.

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• Lotus was a major team that dominated the series in the 1960s and 1970s. A decline in results in the 1990s ultimately resulted in the team being folded after the 1994 team. The brand saw a resurgence in the 2010-2015 season, when a Malyasian consortium created a team (which would later became the now-defunct Caterham F1 team) that briefly raced under the banner in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, while Team Enstone (the current Alpine team) raced under the Lotus name in 2012 thru 2015.

• Future GPX Cyber Formula is about the Cyber Formula, a futuristic racing league, similar in nature to modern day Formula One. Notable for having one character named after Michael Schumacher (though granted, when the character was first introduced, Schumacher was still in Formula Three at the time).
• F is a Japanese manga series about a country boy who fulfills his dream by racing in a Formula One car. The manga was serialized in the magazine Big Comic Spirits between 1985 and 1992, and received an anime adaptation in 1988, having many fans in Europe in The '80s, especially Italy and Spain.
• Coming from the reverence the Japanese hold for Ayrton Senna, Koyu Nishimura's F no Senkou is a retelling of the 1991 season from Senna's point of view.

• John Frankenheimer's 1966 movie Grand Prix, starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Yves Montand, is pretty much the definitive Hollywood treatment of Formula One.
• Roman Polański produced a documentary following Jackie Stewart's 1971 Monaco GP victory.
• Senna, a documentary of Ayrton Senna's life and career. It premiered in Japan during the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix weekend, and was a competitor in the 27th Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award for Documentary Film.
• In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark enters a Historic F1 race at Monaco. Ivan Vanko then attacks the race in a deliberately public attempt to challenge Stark.
• A biopic called Rush, directed by Ron Howard, which focuses on the rivalry between James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (played by Daniel Brühl) during the 1976 season (won by Hunt).
• Steve McQueen was going to make a movie in 1966 called Day of the Champion, with John Sturgess directing, and Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart on board for driving sequences. After rushes of various real races were filmed the project was axed by Warner Brothers because delays meant that Grand Prix was going to release first. The racing sequences were accidentally rediscovered decades later and made into a documentary. Four years later Le Mans was made incorporating many of the same ideas in the script.
• Driven ended up being about IndyCar (or rather, its then-incarnation CART), but was planned as an F1 movie, with Sylvester Stallone attending various races as study before the teams' secrecy prevented him from going through with it.
• Francesco Bernoulli from Cars 2 is designed after an F1 car. In addition, a few F1 drivers voice car versions of themselves throughout the trilogy.
• F1 is centered around Formula One racing — in particular, the fictional Apex Grand Prix (APXGP) team. This film is notable for being filmed during several races during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and the fact that many teams lent their hand to the production team in order to make the film as realistic as possible. In fact, Lewis Hamilton is also involved as one of the producers of the film!

• Top Gear (UK) has had various F1 drivers as their "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car." Unlike most of the stars, they have their own leader board due to their skill superiority. Rubens Barrichello was the first driver to beat The Stig's time, by a mere tenth of a second. Lewis Hamilton currently holds the fastest time, superseding both by over a second.
  • Consequently, the Stig has developed an irrational hatred for Rubens.
  • Both Jackie Stewart and Mika Häkkinen have been featured in segments where they teach presenter James May (aka 'Captain Slow') how to drive like a racer.
  • Season 13 had Stig reveal himself... as Michael Schumacher. It wasn't, as he was later revealed to be Ben Collins.
  • Also in Season 13, during the 'rear wheel drive' challenge, the presenters were in a race in France. One of the other competitors was former driver Olivier Panis (winner of the chaotic wet 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for Ligier). He called their cars shitboxes.
  • As mentioned below, the original Stig was the talented but unlucky Perry McCarthy. He outed himself in his biography, and was subsequently fired due to a clause in his contract saying that if his identity was revealed, he would be fired.
  • The second Stig, who was with the show from Seasons 3-15, was revealed to be Ben Collins. They are now on their third Stig.
  • Season 14 had the presenters attempt to make art out of cars. David Coulthard helped Jeremy out with his art, using a 2005 Red Bull car. Specifically, using paintballs fired from the exhaust pipe of the Red Bull car. Onto a canvas Clarkson was holding in front of him. It didn't go well.
    Coulthard: [as Clarkson lies in a fetal curl on the ground] I'm not giving him mouth to mouth.
  • Season 15 Episode 5 had an absolutely beautiful tribute to Ayrton Senna, to commemorate what would have been his 50th birthday earlier that year (2010).
  • Season 17 Episode 3 produced a new fastest driver in the F1 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' Leader Board, Sebastian Vettel. He was defeated by Lewis Hamilton and his old Red Bull teammate Mark Webber a few series later.
  • Season 18 Episode 7 featured Kimi Räikkönen, returning from his two-year F1 sabbatical (in which he competed in the World Rally Championship), as the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car'.
• This Is Your Life also featured a few drivers as the subject of its show, most notably Murray Walker, Damon Hill, and Nigel Mansell. Several other racing drivers acted as guests.
• A Bit of Fry and Laurie featured a sketch where Hugh Laurie played an F1 driver who constantly moans about his "many problems" even though he won the race. The interviewer (Stephen Fry), after berating him "You do a job that half of mankind would kill be able to do, and you can have sex with the other half as often as you like!", "Are you ARSING WELL HAPPY you dismal moaning French twat?" finally punches him out. A real punch as well, hence Stephen's slightly guilty expression.
• The Mary Whitehouse Experience has a sketch trying to prove that elderly drivers are the most dangerous. Part of which was Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost being held up at the British GP by 'Granddad'. The constructors' championship being won by McLaren, with Ferrari second, and "Austin 1100" third.
• Jasper Carrott talked about fellow brummie Nigel Mansell on his show: "Potentially, he is the most exciting man on the Earth..." (beat) "...until he speaks". "He's got all those exciting endorsements on his tunic; Havoline, Texaco, Labatts...it's so incongruous isn't it?. It should be Horlicks, or Solihull Public Library." He even mentioned Nigel's Indycar switch: "Paul Newman, and Nigel Mansell! Butch Cassidy and The Sanatogen Kid!"
• Cool Car-themed Tokusatsu shows from Toei Company will sometimes include an F1-themed Mid-Season Upgrade:
  • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger crosses over into the Machine World of Engine Sentai Go-onger populated by giant living vehicles, where they meet and recruit Machalcon the F1 car (a Canon Foreigner to Go-Onger as the son of two of its protagonists). Machalcon acts as one of the team's Humongous Mecha and is a major component of the team's ultimate combination. Machalcon was also adapted for Power Rangers Super Megaforce as the Turbo Falcon Zord; here tied to Go-Onger's adaptation Power Rangers RPM.
  • Kamen Rider Drive's Mid-Season Upgrade Type Formula is based on F1, to the point that his chestplate makes him look like he's wearing a race car.
  • Kamen Rider Build paired animal and machine powers together, and sound effects in the toy that indicated that one machine would have been an F1 car. However, the F1 powerup was never used in the show or released as a toy (especially conspicuous as it was to be used in a homage to Kamen Rider Drive, and as a result Drive was the only then-recent series to not get homaged in that way). This is possibly because it specifically used the actual brand name of "F1", presumably without authorization; where Toei's other uses just used a generic race car design with the Serial Numbers Filed Off.
  • In Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger, Sixth Ranger Boon Violet and his Robot Buddy Byun Diesel are themed after Formula One, with Violet modeled on an F1 driver and Byun Diesel transforming into a race car Humongous Mecha.
• Formula 1: Drive to Survive is a Netflix-produced Docu Soap that follows the teams and drivers in Formula One, which started by covering the 2018 season.

• Teenage Fanclub's 1995 album ''Grand Prix'' had a Simtek on the cover.
• The song "Formula One" of Primal Fear's debut album is about the sport.
• Robbie Williams' video for "Supreme".
• David Guetta's music video for "Dangerous".
• The Chemical Brothers' No Geography album was released with an official link to soundtrack the new season coverage. And it also resulted in the Mind Screw video for "We've Got To Try" featuring a dog learning to drive an F1 car before piloting a space capsule - Laika style.
• Carte Blanq, when paired with Maxx Power, create chant songs that are named after Formula One drivers, with their most famous one being "33 Max Verstappen". F1 has used some of their songs in promotional material.

• There have been a large number of officially licensed games, some of them endorsed by F1 drivers (most being Japan-only games, and even the majority of them endorsed by Satoru Nakajima, who was the country's main driver during the 8- and early-16-bit era).
  • FIA themselves are currently licensing the Formula One brand to Codemasters (who are a household name in auto racing games thanks to the Colin McRae and GRID series) They also released several loosely based F1 games during the days of the Commodore C64 back in the late '80s/early 90's. They now release an annual game based on the current season [though said game always comes towards the end of the season, which is explained as the time the teams and drivers' characteristics are better sorted out (not so much from F1 2019 onwards, being usually released on May-June). Although EA Sports (who had the license between 1999 and 2002) have taken over as publishers, Codemasters are still the developers. Starting with F1 2021, the game introduces the story mode Braking Point.
  • Also well-known to fans is MicroProse's Grand Prix series, which to this day has an active modding community recreating seasons of old and new, despite the last game having been released in 2002.
• The highly successful Super Monaco GP series on Genesis, which weren't FIA officially licensed games and thus made use of Expies for both cars and drivers; the second game however had Ayrton Senna's supervision and thus he was the only real-life driver featured there. Not surprisingly, beating him is one of the game's biggest challenges.
  • As In Name Only as it is, Sega had previously made an "original" Monaco GP for arcades in the late 1970s.
• Project CARS has many forms of open-wheel Formula One cars in the form of Lawyer-Friendly Cameos. Formula Rookie, Formula Gulf 1000, and Formula C/B/A. Side events in the career that you can be invited to feature vintage Lotus built cars from the 49 Cosworth at A, the 72D Cosworth and 78 Cosworth at B or the 98T Renault at C. Project CARS 2 adds the futuristic prototype known as the Formula X, meant to be a foreshadowing of new design concepts in F1 cars for the 2020s.
• Also from Sega, 3D racing pioneer Virtua Racing had the option to drive F1 cars.
• Grand Prix Legends is a PC simulation of most of the 1967 season. It has received many mods and graphics updates since its release in 1998, including other seasons, IndyCar/USAC, fictional open-wheel cars, and even sports and Can-Am cars.
• Nigel Mansell's World Championship for the SNES and Game Boy. Licensed by the Lion himself, and containing all 16 races and the team lead drivers from his winning season (besides Mansell, only Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher appear). The SNES version got a good critical reception.
• F1 Race Stars, released by Codemasters in late 2012 (featuring drivers and cars from that season, just like the year's official game, F1 2012) is esentially Formula One meets Mario Kart.
  • Before that, there was also SD F-1 Grand Prix, released only in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1995. Mostly inspired by the 1995 season, it takes heavy inspiration from Super Mario Kart and features a cast of chibi animal characters inspired by that year's line-up (e.g. a dog as Mika Häkkinen, a wolf as Michael Schumacher, a horse as Jean Alesi, and a hawk as Damon Hill). It also features four hidden drivers based respectively on Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Satoru Nakajima, and - as the game's Final Boss - Ayrton Senna.
• F1 ROC: Race of Champions (also known as Exhaust Heat overseas) on the SNES included 16 tracks from the 1992 season. Two years later, a sequel came out which added new original tracks for two smaller leagues (Group C and Formula 3000) before progressing to the 1994 Formula One season.
• Forza: Forza Motorsport 5 includes, for the first time in the series, open-wheel cars, three of them being F1 cars: Kimi Räikkönen & Romain Grosjean's Lotus E21 from the 2013 season, and from the 1976 season, James Hunt & Jochen Mass' McLaren M23 and Niki Lauda & Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari 312T2 (which also doubles as a Shout-Out to the 2013 film Rush, with some in-game achievements making references as well). They would be later on joined by the Lotus E23 of the aforementioned Grosjean & Pastor Maldonado, Mario Andretti & Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus 77, Ayrton Senna & Alain Prost's McLaren MP4/4 and Prost and Nigel Mansell's Ferrari 641 in Motorsport 6, and finally, Nico Hulkenberg, Jolyon Palmer, and Carlos Sainz's Renault R.S.17 in Motorsport 7 (Palmer as the second driver was fired after 2017's Japanese Grand Prix, and Sainz came in to replace him for the following race).
• Gran Turismo introduced expies of F1 cars in the third game along with a final championship which had an identical championship format and had Monaco (under the name Cote d'Azur) as the final and most difficult track in the game. Later games would expand upon this by adding more real tracks, some of which are or were Formula One tracks. Starting from the fourth game, the franchise introduced the "Formula Gran Turismo" car which was Polyphony's take and iteration of a car from the 2004 season; likewise the game's final series/championship also had only the FGT. The fifth game kept the car and also added Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa's F2007 from the 2007 season as well as Massa's and Fernando Alonso's F10 from 2010. They served no significance in the career mode, however, and due to licensing costs were removed from the next entry. Gran Turismo 6 had also taken out the FGT championship, which made the original car serve no purpose aside from the now unavailable seasonal events. However, it introduced a short special event free DLC campaign to honor the legacy of Ayrton Senna, released on the 20th anniversary of his death. This included his (and Elio de Angelis') Lotus 97T from 1985, which he took three wins in, one of which he lapped nearly the entire field in wet conditions. Gran Turismo Sport finally removes the obsolete Formula Gran Turismo, and the F1500T-A (in its own group class) takes its place. Most believe the car is based on the 1986 Lotus 98T of Senna and de Angelis. A later update would add Lewis Hamilton's and Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes W08 EQ Power+ from the 2017 season. Updates for 7 added more fully licensed archaic F1 cars like Aytron Senna's 1988 winning McLaren MP4/4, a 1965 Honda RA272, Juan Manuel Fangio's 1955 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R, and fictionalized 90's cars called the F3500-A and F3500-B.
• The "Senna Forever" update for Horizon Chase adds a career mode based on Ayrton Senna's F1 career. Produced without an FIA license, it features expies of all the teams and racers of the time, and F1 itself is referred to as the "Biggest Racing Championship".
• Motorsport Manager features an F1 championship as its most prestigious championship, featuring expies of the teams and pilots of the first hybrid era from 2014 to 2021.
• The F1 Manager games, developed by Frontier Developments (of Elite and RollerCoaster Tycoon fame), are a series of fully licensed F1 management games, with one releasing every year from 2022 to 2024.
• Real Racing 3 introduced vintage F1 cars prior to its version 8.0 patch, such as the Ferrari 375 F1, 412 T2 and F14 T, and McLaren MP4/4. By the time of the game's version 8.0 patch, Formula 1 is officially introduced in its 2019 season where players can make use of the usual upgrade tree without consuming gold coins. The 2020 and 2021 seasons introduced the tuning setups, driver and team principal levels; tuning setups are purchased through M$ and driver and team principal upgrades use gold coins. The 2022 F1 cars in the game returned to using its standard upgrade tree, with the upgrade costs are not as expensive compared to the driver and team principal upgrades of the previous two seasons.

• Mystery Science Theater F1 and CookP1's Season Reviews are dedicated to unserious comedic reviews/criticisms of old (and new in MSTF1's case) races.
• MiniDrivers is a Spanish animated series, which has been releasing short videos that recap Grand Prix highlights in a comical manner since 2009, with the channel being launched the previous year. It has many running gags, and releases a special video at the end of each year that reviews that year's season (Mini for Speed every even-numbered year, and others for every odd-numbered year).
• Really3D, a Spanish YouTuber known for doing Stylistic Suck parodies of popular shows once did "Último Minutoon", a satirical recap of the 2022-2024 Forumla One championship seasons. Notable gimmicks included a Large-Ham Announcer named Lobato doing all the commentary, "Magic" Alonso being favored and always winning every single race, Lewis Hamilton being portrayed as a cheater who gets away from it and notably, Max Verstappen being sent to prison for being a cheater.
• McLarenTooned is a 2012 animated series produced by McLaren, featuring Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the team's drivers from that year, as well as original character Professor M voiced by comedian Alexander Armstrong. Season 2 in 2013 had Hamilton out for Sergio Perez, and was aptly named "Tooned 50", as it focused on the anthology of McLaren over the past 50 years. Another special in 2014 had Button and Kevin Magnussen alongside Stewart-Haas NASCAR Cup Series driver Tony Stewart; named "Mobil 1: The Story of Oil. It was essentially a glorified ad for Mobil 1, which sponsored both the McLaren team and Stewart's car that year.
• Formula 1: The series' official YouTube channel, featuring "Best of" clips from races, F1 news & interviews, top ten videos, drivers taking F1 trivia quizes and related content.

• The Autobot Mirage on The Transformers turns into a formula one car (based on many cars built by Ligier in the 80s).
  • The Stunticon Drag Strip turns into an orange version of the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeled F1 car.
• The Movie "Ready, Race, Rescue" of PAW Patrol takes place in two competitions: Adventure Bay 500 and the Around the World Road Rally.
  • The vehicles are modified Formula One cars.
  • The Paw Patrol built an entire circuit.
  • It has slightly modified the rules of Formula one.
  • The Cheetah managed to steal vehicles while leaving the disaster on its wake. causing the PAW Patrol to rescue while Marshall races. And at the end she was exposed as a cheater this whole race. And lectured by Mayor Humdinger. But she vows for it and falls flat and chases his cousin along while the victors looking on them