In 2025, we mark the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 world championship, so we're asking the question; What will the F1 car of the future look like?
The world's largest collection of historic British cars
The world's largest collection of historic British cars
Whilst Grand Prix racing (French for ‘big prize’) first started in 1906 at Le Mans in France, the races weren’t organised into the Formula 1 World Championship until 1950 with the first race being held at Silverstone on 13th May that year. Nowadays, with the race calendar growing each year, the first race of the season is much earlier. In 2025 the Australian Grand Prix, held at Albert Park, Melbourne will be begin on 16th March.
Going back over a century, our 1908 Austin 100hp competed in that year’s French Grand Prix, held in Dieppe. Four Austins were built for the race, whilst the one on display is the ‘5th’ car, built from the remains of two which crashed in practice. Unlike later Formula 1 cars, it has two seats since carrying an onboard mechanic was often permitted. As the car had no mirrors, the co-driver would also act as a ‘spotter’ to check for following cars.
Much had changed by the time we get to our 1970 March 701, used by the Tyrrell team and ‘The Flying Scot’, Jackie Stewart. Long gone was the co-driver, and in their place were many features still present on F1 cars today – a mid-engine layout, aerodynamic wings, 6-point racing harness, and wide, grippy tyres. Stewart himself was the first F1 driver to adopt a seatbelt by choice in 1967, 5 years before they became mandatory in 1972, and he went on to help introduce full-face helmets, flame retardant overalls, and trackside marshals. Team Tyrrell themselves almost changed the sport forever with their 1976 P34 – the only 6-wheel car to race in F1. It won the ’76 Swedish Grand Prix, but proved unreliable and using 4 wheels became mandatory a few years after.
More and more of these F1 technical innovations have found their way into road cars as well. The British designer John Barnard introduced carbon fibre to Formula 1 with the 1981 McLaren MP4/1 and the semi-automatic paddle shifter gearbox with the 1989 Ferrari 640. Our McLaren MP4-12C road car, on display in the Sports Car section of the Museum, boasts both an F1 style semi-automatic gearbox and a fully carbon fibre body, hence the C in its name.
With new rules coming into effect for 2026 and increased manufacturer presence with Audi and Ford joining from that year, F1 designers will continue to innovate with many features appearing on our roads as well as the track.
Take a look here at this video from the official F1 YouTube Channel – what do you think has been the most significant F1 technical innovation from the past 75 years? What do you think the future holds? How will Formula 1 cars change in the future?
Challenge: Sketch your design for the F1 car of 2050 and post it to our Facebook page - don’t forget to use the hashtag #ExploringBMM!
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