A look at the ‘Grand Prix’ name: a rich history in F1 and motorsport

The history of the name “Grand Prix” may be confusing, but it is very interesting. The official language of Formula 1 these days is English, so why do we still call it a Grand Prix, which is French for Grand Prix? Ahead of the F1 race at Circuit Paul Ricard in France this weekend, we’re diving deep into the books to find out what was going on in motorsport over a hundred years ago.

At the end of the 19th century, races consisted of time trials from town to town. The event considered to be the first automobile race is the Paris-Rouen of 1894. As the name suggests, it was a race from Paris to Rouen, but the official name was the Concours du ‘Petit Journal’ Les Voitures sans Chevaux . Translated into Dutch, it is the “Horseless Carriage Competition” and it was organized by Le Petit Journal, which was a newspaper at the time. Count Jules-Albert de Dion was the first to finish, but was disqualified because his steam car needed a driver and it was forbidden. Seven years later, in 1901, the name Grand Prix appeared for the first time.

Grand Prix not understood

In 1900 a race was held from Pau to Tarbes to Bayonne and back to Pau and a lap was over 330 kilometres. The event was called the Circuit du Sud-Ouest, which is Dutch for Tour du Sud-Ouest. A year later, the first prizes were awarded to winners named “Grand Prix”. The Pau Grand Prix was the class for cars weighing 650 kilograms or more. The Winter Palace Grand Prix was split in two: one for cars between 400 and 650 kilograms and one for cars under 400 kilograms. So the prizes were called the Grands Prix, but not the race itself. It was probably mistranslated by the English press, they thought a race was called a Grand Prix.

The first real Grand Prix

The Automobile Club de France (ACF) was the first organization to officially qualify a Grand Prix race. In 1906, the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, simply the Grand Prix de France, was held around Le Mans. Hungarian Ferenc Szisz won the 1,238 kilometer race after 12 hours and 15 minutes in his Renault. However, the ACF played a political game from the 1920s. The Paris-Bordeaux-Paris of 1895, the first automobile race to have the same starting point as its finishing point, was retroactively renamed the I [de Romeinse ‘I’ om aan te geven dat het de eerste was] Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France. The 1906 Le Mans race became known as the IX Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France. The ACF thus claims races that it does not organize itself. For example, one can wonder if the name Grand Prix dates from 1895, 1901 or 1906.

Formula 1 Championships

Until 1924, only individual races were held, but the name Grand Prix was increasingly adopted by tradition. Probably to gain name recognition and there were simply numerous French organizations and races. The first championship took place in 1925: the constructors’ world championship, organized by the International Association of Recognized Automobile Clubs (AIACR), founded in 1904. We know this organization today as the FIA. The four most important Grands Prix have been selected: the Indianapolis 500, the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, the French GP at Montlhéry and the Italian GP at Monza. Only points were scored for this. Alfa Romeo beat, among others, Duesenberg and Bugatti with the fewest points. At that point, you got one point for a win, two points for second place, and so on, so the brand with the fewest points wins. In 1931, the AIACR launched the European Drivers’ Championship. Alfa Corse teammates Giuseppe Campari and Ferdinando Minoia also scored few points, but as the latter had covered more kilometers he took the title.

Grands Prix next to Formula 1

In 1947 the first technical regulations for Formula 1 were drawn up and used and after three seasons with only stand-alone Grands Prix, the first Formula 1 championship was held in 1950. As in the 1920s and 1930s, many Grands Prix took place in the 1950s and 1960s. Points could only be scored for the world championships for the most important races selected by the FIA. The last Formula 1 race not counted in the points standings was the 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, won by Williams driver and then defending champion Keke Rosberg. Today, there are still two national Grands Prix that take place outside of Formula 1. The Macau Grand Prix on the famous street circuit of Guia is one of them. This race is supposed to be with Formula 3 cars, but due to the pandemic it has been part of the Chinese Formula 4 championship since 2020. Dutchman Richard Verschoor was the last Formula 3 winner on a tight track but fast. The other is the New Zealand Grand Prix, which is part of the Toyota Racing Series. Verschoor is, besides Roberto Moreno, the only one to have won both races.