Formula One

The first World Championship for motor racing drivers under the jurisdiction of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) was contested in 1950.

The first race was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on May 13. 1950. It was won by Italian driver Giuseppe Farina, driving an Alfa Romeo. 

Farina went on to win the inaugural Formula One World Championship, winning 3 of the 7 races that year, including the final race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He finished the season with 38 points, 3 points ahead of his teammate Juan Manuel Fangio.

The 1950 Italian Grand Prix was held on September 3, 1950 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. Farina started the race from pole position and led for most of the race. He was challenged by Fangio, but Farina was able to hold on to win the race and the championship.

Giuseppe Farina

It was at the wheel of the Brabham BT3 that Jack Brabham became the first driver ever in 1966 to score Formula One World Championship points in a race car of his own manufacture. It remains the only such achievement using a car bearing the driver's own name.

The use of seat belts in F1 wasn't mandatory until 1976.

Hans Heyer was a German racing driver who failed to qualify for his only attempt at Formula 1 -  the 1977 German Grand Prix on July 21, 1977. Though only a reserve driver, he joined  the race illegally anyway by slipping out of the pits. Heyer was only be discovered by racing officials after 10 laps when his gearbox failed,  whereupon he was disqualified.

Fifty drivers have suffered fatal accidents while driving Formula One cars since the creation of the Formula One World Championship in 1950. Thirty-two of the drivers died during World Championship Grand Prix race weekends, seven during test sessions and eleven during non-championship Formula One events.

Only two Formula One Champions have died while racing or practicing in Formula One, Jochen Rindt in 1970, and Ayrton Senna in 1994. Rindt is the only driver to win the championship posthumously.

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest Formula One champion ever when he won the Drivers' Championship at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 14, 2010, at the age of 23 years and 135 days. He entered the final race of the season trailing Fernando Alonso by 15 points, but he was able to win the race and secure the championship. Vettel's victory was a historic moment for Formula One, as he broke the record for the youngest world champion, which had been held by Lewis Hamilton since 2008. 

At 120 miles per hour, a Formula One car generates so much downforce that it could drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.

When Max Verstappen made his Formula One debut, aged 17 years, 166 days, at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, he became the the youngest World Championship Grand Prix driver. With the rules now preventing any driver under 18 to be given a super licence, Verstappen's record will probably never be surpassed.

Max Verstappen By Foto: Stefan Brending, Lizenz:  Wikipedia Commons

Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race by winning the Spanish Grand Prix on May 15, 2016 aged 18 years and 228 days.

Formula 1 cars don't have airbags because, with a five-point harness and a HANS device, the driver's head will never hit the front of a car.