The first-ever Formula 1 World Championship race was held 75 years ago today at Silverstone. The starting grid included some notable characters like a popular jazz musician and a Thai prince, some nobodies, and some names that we now associate with F1’s greatest like Fagioli, Farina, and Fangio.
The cars of the sport’s early days were rudimentary but powerful, and most of all, they could handle Silvertone’s 2.8 miles of high-speed corners and sharp bends with relative ease. Or perhaps it was the towering drivers who, unlike today’s uber-healthy and uber-fit racers, were simply beefy daredevils with heavy cojones and a huge need for speed. Oh, and the average age among the 21 drivers from that historic day was 39 years old.
After 2.5 hours of racing, 120,000 spectators (including King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Elizabeth) saw Italian legend Giuseppe Farina win the British Grand Prix (also called the Grand Prix d’Europe) at the wheel of his beautiful Alfa Romeo 158, which was over a decade old at the time of the race.
This got me thinking, in all 75 years of F1, what’s the best-looking car of them all? It’s probably impossible to choose just one, but maybe they can be broken up into periods or categories? Without further ado, here are my top three.
Ferrari 312T
Raced from 1975 until the end of the 1980 F1 season by heavy-hitting names like Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Clay Regazzoni, Carlos Reutemann, and Jody Scheckter, it’s hands-down one of the most special cars of the sport. Not just that, but it’s brutish and beautiful.
Jordan Mugen Honda
I’ve waxed poetic about the coolness of the Jordan Grand Prix Buzzin’ Hornets livery before, but seriously, look at it. Thanks for such a phenomenal-looking car, Eddie.
McLaren-Honda MP4/4
Perhaps the most iconic F1 car of them all, ’nuff said.
What do you think is the best-looking F1 car of them all? And while you’re at it, what do you think they’ll even look like when the sport’s 150th anniversary comes around?
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