The evolution of Formula 1: Exhibition at Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari

Despite reinventing itself on a yearly basis, the early principles of Formula 1 have largely remained intact over the decades. The Enzo Ferrari museum is holding a special exhibition, detailing 40 years of single-seater racing at the highest level…

With varying degrees of success, Formula 1 has regularly updated its rules to encourage the close competition which has made the sport so thrilling over the decades. On a season-to-season basis, the changes are often imperceptible in visual terms – but looking over a broader chronological spectrum demonstrates just how far the sport has come. Take, for example, the Ferrari Lancia D50 that somehow managed to do without any aerodynamic addenda; unthinkable at even the lowest levels of racing in modern times. These engineering advancements were often accompanied by highly artistic sponsor liveries – some of which define to this day not only their respective era, but the history of the sport itself.

At the ‘Le Monoposto del Campionato di Formula 1’ exhibition, a starting grid’s worth of evolutionary highlights (1950-1994) have taken residence within the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari in Modena. These include the Alfa 159 and Mercedes W196 which have a place (along with the aforementioned D50) on Fangio’s CV, as well as Lauda’s Ferrari 312 T, Dan Gurney’s Porsche 804 and Jacques Laffite’s Ligier. Also present is the Williams driven by Senna, and the legendary McLaren MP 4/4 which won all but one Grand Prix in the 1988 season.

The exhibition ‘Grand Prix - The Formula One World Championship Single-Seaters’ will run until 28 January 2014, For further information, visit www.museocasaenzoferrari.it.

Photos: Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari / studio129.it

Modern and classic single-seaters, along with other competition cars, can be found in the Classic Driver Market.