Races
16
Poles
15
Fastest laps
10
Engine
Honda RA168E turbo V6
Drivers
Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost
Race wins
15 of 16 races
Titles
Drivers' (Senna) and constructors'
Designers
Steve Nichols
The MP4/4 is the peak of the first turbo era: a low, narrow Honda-powered McLaren that won 15 of 16 races in 1988. Senna took the title from teammate Prost. Only a failure in Italy stopped a clean sweep.
1950
Alfa Romeo
Years raced: 1950–1951
Engine
1.5-litre supercharged straight-8
Drivers
Giuseppe Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio
Race wins
Six of seven championship races in 1950
Titles
Drivers' (Farina) — no constructors' cup yet
Designers
Gioacchino Colombo
The Alfetta 158 was already a decade old when the world championship began. Farina won the first title in it; Fangio won races in the same car. It is the front-engine, supercharged benchmark the rest of the 1950s had to beat.
Engine
4.5-litre Ferrari V12
Drivers
José Froilán González, Alberto Ascari
Race wins
First Ferrari world-championship race win
Titles
None (Alfa Romeo took 1951)
Designers
Aurelio Lampredi
The 375 is the car that got Ferrari on the Formula 1 scoreboard. González won at Silverstone in 1951 — the first world-championship race victory for the team — in a front-engine V12 that still sat the driver behind a long nose.
1957
Cooper
Cooper T43 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1957.
1957
Maserati
Years raced: 1954–1960
Engine
2.5-litre Maserati straight-6
Drivers
Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss
Race wins
Four wins for Fangio in 1957
Titles
Drivers' (Fangio, fifth title)
Designers
Gioacchino Colombo
The 250F is the last great front-engine championship car. Fangio took his fifth title in 1957, including the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring where he came from behind on worn tyres. After this, the engine moved behind the driver.
Aston Martin DBR5 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Aston Martin. It raced in 1959.
1959
Cooper
Years raced: 1959–1963
Races
24
Poles
6
Fastest laps
6
Engine
Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder
Drivers
Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss
Race wins
Five wins in 1959
Titles
Drivers' (Brabham) and constructors'
Designers
Owen Maddock
Cooper put the engine behind the driver and made it stick. The T51 was smaller and lighter than the front-engine cars around it. Brabham won the 1959 title; within two years almost nobody still built a nose-engined Formula 1 car.
1960
Cooper
Cooper T53 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1960.
1961
Cooper
Cooper T55 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1961.
1961
Cooper
Cooper T58 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1961.
Engine
1.5-litre Ferrari V6
Drivers
Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips
Race wins
Five race wins in 1961
Titles
Drivers' (Hill) and constructors'
Designers
Carlo Chiti
The sharknose 156 moved Ferrari into the mid-engine era that Lotus and Cooper had already forced on the grid. Phil Hill took the 1961 title in it; the season is also remembered for von Trips' death at Monza.
1961
Lotus
Lotus 20 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Lotus. It raced in 1961.
1962
Lotus
Lotus 24 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Lotus. It raced in 1962.
1963
BRM
BRM P61 is a Formula 1 chassis built by BRM. It raced in 1963.
1963
Lotus
Years raced: 1962–1965
Engine
Coventry Climax V8
Drivers
Jim Clark
Race wins
Seven wins in 1963
Titles
Drivers' (Clark) and constructors'
Designers
Colin Chapman
Chapman's Lotus 25 was the first fully stressed monocoque to win a Formula 1 title. Instead of a tubular spaceframe, the driver sat in an aluminium bathtub — lighter, stiffer, and the pattern almost every car followed after it.
1964
BRM
BRM P261 is a Formula 1 chassis built by BRM. It raced in 1964.
1964
BRM
BRM P67 is a Formula 1 chassis built by BRM. It raced in 1964.
1964
Cooper
Cooper T73 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1964.
1965
Honda
Engine
Honda RA272
Honda RA272 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Honda. It raced in 1965 with a Honda RA272 engine.
1966
Cooper
Cooper T81 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Cooper. It raced in 1966.
1966
Lotus
Lotus 43 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Lotus. It raced in 1966.
McLaren M2B is a Formula 1 chassis built by McLaren. It raced in 1966.
1967
Lotus
Years raced: 1967–1970
Engine
Ford Cosworth DFV V8
Drivers
Jim Clark, Graham Hill
Race wins
Won on debut at Zandvoort, 1967
Titles
Drivers' (Hill, 1968) in the 49B
Designers
Colin Chapman
The 49 did not just use the new Cosworth DFV — it used it as a structural member. The engine bolted to the tub and carried the rear suspension. Clark won first time out. That layout became the default Formula 1 build for decades.
1968
Honda
Engine
Honda RA301
Honda RA301 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Honda. It raced in 1968 with a Honda RA301 engine.
1968
Honda
Engine
Honda RA302
Honda RA302 is a Formula 1 chassis built by Honda. It raced in 1968 with a Honda RA302 engine.