Latest news with #GiuseppeFarina
The Drive
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
What's the Best-Looking F1 Car of the Last 75 Years?
The latest car news, reviews, and features. 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. 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. 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. 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? Got a tip? Email us at tips@ Jerry Perez is the Deputy Editor at The Drive, overseeing the site's daily and long-term content initiatives in addition to writing his own features and reviews. He's been covering the automotive industry professionally since 2015 and joined The Drive in January 2018.
Top Gear
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Stop what you're doing and watch colourised footage of Silverstone's first F1 race
Formula One F1 celebrates 75 years of… F1, with never-before-seen footage of, well, F1 Skip 3 photos in the image carousel and continue reading The petition to get commentary for the 2025 British Grand Prix in the style of Pathé News begins here. Today (13 May), F1 has commemorated 75 years since the very first race (also 13 May) by releasing this restored footage of Silverstone back in 1950. And it is, quite frankly, excellent. Delivered by British Pathé, the newsreel showcases Giuseppe Farina's triumph in his delightful Alfa 158, ahead of Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell. The most famous man on the grid in those days – Juan Manuel Fangio – retired after 62 laps (it was a 70-lap race back then) despite qualifying on pole. Advertisement - Page continues below It's a fascinating look back at Formula One's ground zero. Quite literally, there is zero stuff on the ground, barring the odd hay bale scattered here and there. King George V greets the competitors. Pit stops are lengthy affairs with a man frantically waving his arms around to get racers to stop. Did we mention the hay bales? Hay bales all up in the kitchen. Except there was no kitchen. Formula One's experts used advanced AI, reference imagery, and 'manual painting techniques' to bring the 1950 British GP back to full glory. 'Specific elements such as the sky, grass, cars, and faces are electronically painted manually to truly bring the scene to life,' we're told, 'using images of the cars and subjects, and F1 archive footage, to ensure accuracy.' You might like F1 boss – and former Ferrari team principal – Stefano Domenicali, added: '75 years ago today our sport roared to life, and we are privileged to continue the incredible legacy of the brave drivers who raced for the ultimate prize on this day in 1950.' Check it out here, and don't forget to sign that petition below. Advertisement - Page continues below 3 minutes 8 seconds Images and video courtesy of F1 Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
ITV News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ITV News
Colour footage shows first-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone
Footage of the race, held on 13 May 1950, and won by the Italian Giuseppe Farina, has been colourised with manual painting techniques and advanced AI software
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why F1 cars have really gained hundreds of kilograms over the years
Seventy-five years ago this week, when Giuseppe Farina roared across the finishing line to win the first world championship grand prix at Silverstone, he did so in an Alfa Romeo 158 weighing – depending on fluids and which sources you use – between 650 and 700kg. When Formula 1 adopted a minimum weight for the first time in 1961, the figure was set at 450kg. Under the most recent ruleset, teams have been struggling – note the amount of unpainted carbon fibre on display – to hit the current minimum of 800kg. On the face of it, not a fantastic advert for three-quarters of a century of scientific progress. Advertisement Obviously the figure of 800kg now includes the driver but even when viewed through a more rigorous prism, which involves going back to 1995 when the car and driver weight was first combined, the resulting figure makes for an ugly comparison: 595kg. The difference is 205kg. In the past three decades only the price of Oasis gig tickets has inflated more egregiously. 'We'd all like the cars to be a lot lighter,' FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis told 'Some of the solutions being mooted [in terms of future powertrains] would lead to significantly lighter cars, which is what everyone would like. 'It's a trade-off between financials, technological freedom and how cutting-edge Formula 1 is, environmental considerations, and excitement.' Advertisement Around 100kg of the weight gain came as a result of adopting hybrid powertrains. The current minimum weight for a hybrid power unit is 151kg – compare that with, say, a late 1990s 3-litre V10 which weighed between 90kg and 100kg. Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single Seater Director Andy Hone / Motorsport Images Andy Hone / Motorsport Images While the PU minimum weight of 151kg includes the hybrid system, it doesn't include the turbocharging mechanism or, more significantly, the cooling system, which is vastly more complex than the plumbing required by a 1990s engine. The days of having two simple radiators handling the majority of heat management are long gone. Advertisement Around 50kg of additional weight can be accounted for by safety features such as stronger side-impact structures and the halo. Clever engineering and design can mitigate the effects of having to resist a stricter crash-testing regime but, to an extent, with additional strength comes weight. Given the growing list of likely injuries averted by modern safety features, this is not an element anyone sensible in F1 would wish to row back on. The remaining 55kg or so of bloat is accounted for by a mix of elements, some of which it could be possible to reset. When former F1 'ringmaster' Bernie Ecclestone rolled out of the wrong side of bed early in 2015 and declared the cars should be wider and more aggressive-looking, he did this sporting category a great disservice because the inevitable result was additional weight and made greater difficulty in overtaking. Wider, bigger-diameter wheels have also had an effect – one being mitigated slightly for next year since the front wheels will be 25mm narrower, the rears 30mm. Not a massive amount but, again, there are performance considerations. Advertisement One change which would be politically difficult to execute, but could reduce car weight, is to reduce aerodynamic and mechanical complexity. 'We can go towards negating some of the dimensional aspects of cars, but it has to be possible to come back to a car that is simpler than it is now,' said Tombazis. Race start Race start Fadel Senna - AFP - Getty Images Fadel Senna - AFP - Getty Images 'And that is an interesting philosophical issue: why cars nowadays are a lot more complicated. The reason people design more complicated cars is because they have 'near-perfect' simulation capability. 'Take the cooling system, for example: cars in the past used to have an entry duct and a radiator. And then the air after the radiator would find its way out through the bodywork and eventually go out of the back. Nowadays, there's an entry duct, a radiator, and an exit duct, all fully profiled with little winglets and turning vanes. Advertisement 'As another example, the front floor now has a damper and a full system to operate at exactly the regulatory limits of deflection. 'So, there are many performance-increasing features on cars, all incremental, that make the car much more complicated – and heavier.' It is famously difficult to return a genie to the bottle. No F1 team would give up an area of performance gain without a fight. And this is where the battle lines are forming ahead of the 2026 season, as senior engineers have been openly questioning whether the relatively modest 30kg weight cut planned for the new ruleset is even possible. It might – or should – be. And more would be better. Advertisement But if the trend towards weight gain is to be meaningfully reversed, teams are going to have to give up some long-cherished performance features. Read Also: F1 teams braced for battle to hit 'very aggressive' 2026 weight limit To read more articles visit our website.
The Citizen
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
Alfa Romeo celebrates 70 years of Giulietta moniker
Just over 70 years ago, on April 20, 1955, Alfa Romeo took the wraps off a car that would become a cornerstone of both the brand's history and Italy's post-war economic renaissance. Looking for a new or used set of wheels? Find it here with CARmag! Revealed at the Turin Motor Show, the Giulietta Berlina represented a renaissance for the Italian automaker, encompassing elegance, affordability, and brimming with advanced engineering. The compact saloon also played a crucial role in Alfa Romeo's leap into an era of industrial-scale production and mass-market success. Related: Road Test Figures: BMW M3 Touring While Alfa's post-war comeback began with the 1900, it was the Giulietta that truly democratised the brand's sporty DNA, bringing it to middle-class driveways across Italy. As Roberto Giolito, head of heritage at Stellantis, puts it, the Giulietta Berlina 'brought Alfa Romeo's sporty DNA to the everyday lives of Italians… a symbol of progress and rebirth in post-war Italy'. The debut of this car came only five years after Giuseppe Farina and four years after Juan Manuel Fangio won with the Alfa Romeo SpA constructors team. These were the first two seasons of the modern Formula 1 format still followed today. Continuing with the history, it wasn't the Berlina that launched first. In a bold break from convention, Alfa Romeo revealed the Giulietta Sprint coupé a year earlier in 1954. Penned by Franco Scaglione for Bertone, the Sprint combined good looks with a high-revving engine under 1.5l. The response was electric and Alfa's dealers were swamped with orders, prompting the company to fast-track the saloon. When it debuted in 1955, the Giulietta Berlina brought that same performance spirit to a four-door package — what Alfa proudly called 'the family car which wins races'. At the heart of the Giulietta was a technical tour de force: a 1.3l aluminium twin-cam engine producing 53hp (40kW), giving the featherweight 870kg saloon a top speed of 140km/h. It sounds meagre and insignificant today, but back then proved to be revolutionary because no other mass-produced compact could match its mix of lightweight construction, advanced valvetrain, and sporty dynamics. Its chassis featured independent suspension all around, a gearshift on the steering column, and drum brakes cast using Alfa's own process. It was a saloon that didn't drive like one, and many was the predecessor to what is regarded as the progenitor of the sport saloon segment; the Giulia. What it did for Alfa's production capabilities was vast since its arrival transformed Alfa Romeo's Portello plant from a boutique operation into a modern industrial facility. Under the guidance of engineer Rudolf Hruska, the factory's output surged from 50 to 200 cars a day. Related: LONG-TERM WRAP-UP: Ford Territory 1.8T Trend AT And Italians embraced it and it became a pop culture icon before monikers like the Mustang existed. The Giulietta starred in films alongside screen legends like Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren. It graced the first cover of Quattroruote magazine and 1965, Alfa sold nearly 178 000 Giuliettas across a range of body styles, including the Spider by Pininfarina, the Sprint Speciale, the Zagato-bodied SZ, and even a station wagon called the Promiscua. Once the original Type 750/101 Giulietta ran its course, the second iteration with code Type 116 was spawned. It continued but only as a four-door saloon based on the Alfetta chassis, and was made from 1977 to 1985. Finally, the third Giulietta (Type 940) arrived in more recent memory as a front-wheel drive hatchback, produced from 2010 to 2020 that got a potent Quadrifoglio Verde model that rivalled the likes of the Golf GTI. Click here and browse thousands of new and used vehicles with CARmag! The post Alfa Romeo Celebrates 70 Years of Giulietta Moniker appeared first on CAR Magazine. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.
