The pit stop is one of the most important aspects of F1 and shows how the sport is a team effort, but what goes into it? Williams Racing shows you.
Source: CNN

Mercedes technical chief James Allison says he cannot take much credit for the strength of former team Ferrari's 2017 title contender.

Allison left the same role at Ferrari mid-way through its winless 2016 campaign. Many speculated that his departure would be damaging for this season as it came at a crucial point in the development of 2017's car, but it has gone on to win two of the first three races of this year and leads both the drivers' and constructors championship.

The SFH70's development was taken over by Mattia Binotto, whose team has delivered a car which Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne predicts will be "at the forefront" of the title race all season. Allison feels it would be unfair to take away credit from the people who worked on the car after his departure.

"I left Ferrari many months ago and joined Mercedes just some small number of weeks ago and anything that Ferrari has done for this year's car is a credit to the people that work at Ferrari over these months and what they have delivered," Allison said in Bahrain. "Similarly, in the team that I'm in now, the credit for the fantastic performance of this team so far is down to all the people that have been putting in the effort at Brackley over those months."

He then joked about the period of gardening leave he entered after leaving Ferrari, which ended when he was confirmed at Mercedes on the eve of pre-season testing.

"I can only really be held responsible for the state of my garden at the moment which is looking very fine as a result of all the effort I've put into it in the last six months or so!"

Binotto was happy to hint at some credit to Allison, though he says the SFH70 is a product of a team effort at Ferrari's base at Maranello.

"I think that James has already answered, nothing more really to add," he said. "James was part of our team at the beginning of last year, as it's true that there is plenty of people working at Ferrari and the credit is to everybody."

Legendary Formula 1 designer Rory Byrne’s return to Ferrari had been kept low profile for months, but his presence alongside Jock Clear at the Autosport Awards showed he is very much part of the family now.

The 72-year-old – who was chief designer during the dominant Michael Schumacher era – is now dividing his time between Ferrari and Thailand, where he has devoted himself to his passion of underwater fishing.

Having been recalled in a consultancy role earlier this year, Byrne has been working closely with Simone Resta on Ferrari’s 2017 car – codenamed the 688 – on what sources say are the development of concepts that go to the limit of regulatory interpretations.

It is an aggressive approach that Ferrari has not been so keen to pursue in recent years, whereas rivals like Red Bull and Mercedes have always been keen to push things to the limit of the rules in their quest for success.

One example is the way Mercedes incorporated hydraulic front suspension through exploiting regulations that were intended to help Manor run a year-old car in 2015.

But with new regulations coming next year – which are expected to deliver a laptime improvement of five seconds – there is talk that technical director Mattia Binotto’s efforts are paying off.

At the Ferrari Mondiali in Daytona last weekend, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said: “Our 2017 began last August with a major change on the technical front.

"People expect a lot from Ferrari, wins and success, therefore we will do our utmost to achieve that. But ever since the new structure was put in place, with a great engineer like Mattia Binotto in charge, we have seen positive signs, as in Japan and Abu Dhabi.”

But how is it conceivable that a team that did not win a single race in 2016 – after three victories and runner-up in the constructors’ championship the year before – can hope to become competitive without much recruitment from outside and having lost a key strength in James Allison.

The answer comes from president Sergio Marchionne: “We have reorganised the management in August, and I have every confidence in the work of Mattia Binotto. The structure I believe is now very good – although some change is always possible. But the key building blocks are in place.”

The restructuring that is talked about involves 14 separate working groups, and a more horizontal structure that allows more input from more staff. Marchionne has laid down some ambitious targets, as he is determined for Ferrari to make the most of the opportunity given by new regulations.

In Maranello there is said to be some optimism about progress, because the car that is emerging is in line with expectations. However, that does not mean that Ferrari is definitely on course to produce a race-winning car – as that will depend on what Mercedes and Red Bull do – but it means the numbers from the simulators and windtunnel are encouraging.

Inside the racing department, there is understood to be a feeling that the team ‘must’ get back on top, and a quiet confidence it is working towards that target. But can Ferrari under Binotto really churn out ideas that will be necessary to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull?

We will only know for sure during the first winter tests when the cars are unleashed in Barcelona, but there are already whispers that Ferrari – under Byrne’s watchful eye – has found solutions that come from clever interpretation of the rules.

If true, it means the new Ferrari should have a more aggressive approach to its 2017 design than we saw with the SF16-H.

And was there a hidden motive behind the decision by Ferrari to challenge the FIA over the Mexico penalty for Sebastian Vettel? Was it trying to find out how far it can go in pushing the regulations and how the governing body would respond to a challenge – ahead of some interpretations that may raise the eyebrows of rival engineers on its new car?

How have Ferrari done it? That is the big question on many people's lips in Formula 1 this year.

Sebastian Vettel is leading the championship by seven points from Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton after two wins and a second place in the first three races. The German is giving every impression of being a serious title contender.

What a difference from last year, when Ferrari went winless, Vettel had a fractious relationship with his bosses and the big question was about whether the most famous team in F1 were disappearing into one of their periodic declines

Vettel started 2017 with a win in Australia, took a close second to Hamilton in the second race in China and won again in Bahrain last weekend.

Mercedes appear to have a faster car over one lap (in qualifying, for example), but the Ferrari is very strong in races, particularly on the very softest tyres, which the Mercedes is over-heating.

Had the cards fallen differently, arguably either Vettel or Hamilton could have won any of the races. Which just underlines how close it is, and what massive progress Ferrari have made.

title contenders graphic, showing that hamilton has won one race and vettel two so far this seaosn
Title contenders: how the battle is shaping up - Vettel is leading the overall standings by seven points. Next stop, Russia
What are Ferrari saying about it?

Ferrari have been cautious in all their public pronouncements so far this season - to the extent that there is something of a media blackout, with even the drivers' news conference appearances significantly cut back. Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has said almost nothing of consequence at all.

The idea, it seems, is to establish themselves in the season with as little pressure as possible.

When Vettel has spoken, he has not held back in his praise for the efforts Ferrari have made to turn their competitive position around.

"We did a massive stint over the winter," he said after his victory in Bahrain. "Last year was a very good year for us. It wasn't good in terms of results, don't get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking.

"It helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We looked reasonably competitive.

"Australia obviously was a massive boost for all the team. The whole factory has really come alive so that's great and we need to just make sure we keep it going.

"I'm really enjoying it; the car has been a pleasure. Things start to click and hopefully that sort of success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of momentum that maybe these guys [Mercedes] had in the past and the last couple of years. So they will be the ones to beat."

The moment Vettel won a thriller in Bahrain
A classic F1 season in the making
Ferrari Constructors' Championships graphic
Ferrari have won more constructors' championships than any other team
What has happened behind the scenes?

Hard work is one thing. But all F1 teams work hard. Ferrari were working hard last year - and in 2014, when they also failed to win a race.

The explanation for the turnaround is more complex than that, and it starts a year or so ago, in the first difficult months of Ferrari's 2016.

Ferrari were confident heading into last year that they had further closed the gap on Mercedes after a 2015 in which Vettel won three races. The team bosses told president Sergio Marchionne as much, and he came out before the season started and said he expected Ferrari to be absolutely competitive from the off.

The problems started when they were not. Marchionne is an uncompromising Italian-Canadian businessman with a reputation as a hard man with colourful language. His nickname is "the jumpered assassin". He was not happy, and he wanted to know why performance was not what had been promised.

He began a full investigation into how things worked at Ferrari's Maranello factory. He personally interviewed many staff, not just the bosses, wanted to know their thoughts on why Ferrari could not compete with the best British-based teams, and asked for an explanation about why they had a reputation for lack of imagination and innovation in F1 design.

Marchionne decided the design department needed to be restructured, to free up some of the more creative minds and make a less top-down structure.

He identified, he has said, about 20 key "high-potential individuals" to promote and harness. Management was reorganised; the format of meetings, too.

The idea was to make design more flexible, to ensure all ideas were discussed and make the group more open to suggestions. And to encourage a greater sense of ownership and responsibility among a much wider array of people, to avoid the usual Ferrari problem of people keeping their heads down so they could not be blamed for failure.

At the same time, Ferrari undertook an analysis of their weaknesses and concluded three main issues - aerodynamics, especially on circuits that require efficiency, such as Barcelona and Silverstone; tyre management; and gearbox fragility.

That done, they had a redefined baseline focus for 2017.

Is this really James Allison's car?

Ferrari SF70H
Sebastian Vettel is in his third season with Ferrari
This restructure took place in the summer of last year. A major part of it was the departure of former technical director James Allison - fundamentally because of a disagreement with Marchionne on details of the restructure - and his replacement by former engine boss Mattia Binotto, who had a reputation as an excellent engineering manager.

F1 cars are a long time in gestation. Even in a normal year, layout is being done in the spring of the previous season. When there has been a big regulation change, as there has been this season, design work starts much earlier. Most 2017 cars have been at least two years in the making.

The teams knew the fundamentals of the 2017 rules as long ago as the summer of 2015 but the regulations were not finally signed off until early March 2016. At the very least, the fundamental concept of this year's Ferrari - its wheelbase, dimensions, basic aerodynamic philosophy and so on - was done on Allison's watch.

He and former aerodynamic head Dirk de Beer left at the same time last July and are now ensconced at other teams - Allison as technical director of Ferrari's title rivals Mercedes; De Beer, who also worked with Allison at Lotus, at Williams.

So Allison, who is one of probably the top two most highly rated design leaders in F1, was at Ferrari for all but the final five or six months of the creation of this car. Clearly, his contribution to it was significant, even if he played down his influence when asked in Bahrain last weekend.

"I left Ferrari many months ago," Allison said, "and joined Mercedes just some small number of weeks ago. And anything that Ferrari has done for this year's car is a credit to the people that work at Ferrari over these months and what they have delivered."

Ferrari have, though, made progress since Allison departed. The car features a number of innovative design interpretations, and it surely cannot be an accident that this has happened in the first season after they restructured the design department with the express intention of being less conservative.

As ever when a team makes a big relative step forward like this, the paddock is a hotbed of rumour as to what they might have done.

Ferrari 312T
Other star cars: The 312T, which won the constructors' title four times. Despite having an airbox like a hairdryer. Very... '70s
People are talking about Ferrari having found a way to make the floor flex for aerodynamic advantage - in a similar way to that in which Red Bull were so successful in the early 2010s. Theoretically, this is not allowed, but everything flexes a bit, and there are load tests conducted by governing body the FIA. As long as a car passes these, it is legal.

Rivals also say that a significant chunk of Ferrari's pace has been down to major progress with the engine. Vettel confirmed this in Bahrain when he said: "We did a very, very good job, especially on the engine side. I think there's been a very big step so it feels great, feels like a lot more power than last year."

Again, there are rumours, this time about fuel additives to make a bigger combustion bang and therefore more power. Again, the FIA does checks and everything has been found to be above board.

The unanswered question so far is whether Ferrari can keep up in the development race, a weakness so far this decade.

What is good about Ferrari's car?

Ferrari sidepod
The sidepods are the most obvious indicators of Ferrari's design innovation
Ferrari's design innovation this year is most obvious around the front of the sidepods, the bodywork that sticks out either side of the cockpit and which house radiators and other ancillaries.

This area is unique - the sidepod air inlets are much higher and shallower than on other cars, and feature unusual airflow shapers at their front. The benefits are that the air has a cleaner route into the sidepods and there is more space under the inlets, through the cutaway section below, for the crucial downforce-defining airflow to the rear.

The result has been a car Vettel is actively enjoying driving, one that suits his driving style, unlike last year.

Vettel is a great driver, but he needs a car to behave in a certain way to be at his best. If a car won't do what he wants, he can get into a downward spiral, as happened last year and in 2014, his final season at Red Bull.

Vettel likes consistent and predictable rear grip on corner entry, so as to enable him to rotate the car early in the corner, get on the power early and therefore increase speed down the following straight.

It was a technique that worked to perfection in the Red Bulls he drove to four world titles, and it is working again this year. The downforce created by Ferrari's innovative design under new rules aimed at making the cars faster and more demanding has been crucial in creating this balance for Vettel.

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, is struggling, his pace affected by a lack of front-end grip, which has always been his biggest Achilles' heel, and which does not bother Vettel in the same way.

What does it all mean?

Ferrari's strong start to the season led to the first sign that their ultra-cautious approach is starting to peel away and their self-confidence is growing. Following Vettel's victory in Bahrain, Ferrari put out a statement from Marchionne.

"It is, of course, hugely satisfying to be back on the top step of the podium with Seb," he said. "More importantly, however, we are now completely confident that our victory in Melbourne wasn't just a one-off and that we will be at the forefront of this world championship until the last.

"We finally have a competitive car to count on and it is important to recognise the speed with which we implemented the developments demanded for each new race.

"All this is the fruit of superb work at the track and in Maranello, so my compliments not just to Seb for his achievements in Bahrain, but also to the whole team.

"That said, we are well aware we have a long road ahead and know that if we want to get to the most important finish-line of all, we cannot stint on our commitment and focus for a second."

Ferrari's performance is not just good for Ferrari, though; it is good for F1 as a whole.

For the new owners, ensconced only in January, it has given a superbly exciting championship battle to sell to the world.

Ferrari's success may, however, complicate negotiations over the teams' new contracts post-2020, which are already starting.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari
Ferrari's historic value means that under the current deal they are given 5% of F1's total revenues (which are about $1.5bn, so that's $75m) before the prize money is distributed - plus another $120m or so from the prize fund. Cutting that as part of a more equitable income distribution to the teams won't be easy when Ferrari's value as a stop on Mercedes' domination is so clear.

Beyond the arcane finances of F1, though, most importantly it means that in an era of falling television figures and questions about F1's appeal to a younger generation, two of the greatest drivers in the world are fighting for the title while racing for two of the biggest names in the automotive industry.

On every level, that's good for everyone who has even a passing interest in the world's biggest annual televised sport....

Formula 1's Strategy Group is set to face calls to consider intervening to help Honda catch up its engine rivals.

Reliability and performance problems with Honda's all-new engine concept have given McLaren a very tough start to the 2017 season.

When the governing body and F1's manufacturers agreed 12 months ago to keep the current turbo hybrid rules until 2020, a plan was also made to work on engine parity.

The FIA said it would analyse the potential of each power unit after the first three races of 2017 and, if the difference between them exceeded 0.3 seconds on a simulation around the Barcelona circuit, then the Strategy Group would be asked to intervene.

The FIA's engine chief Fabrice Lom said at the Spanish Grand Prix last year: "We check every car of every lap of the first three races, we take the best of each power unit for each race, and then we do the average.

"That should give a power unit index of performance for each power unit manufacturer.

"Then we have a translation of this index for the Barcelona track, and this is what we will do.

"We transform this index to lap time and check the difference in lap time to the Barcelona track."

It has emerged that a plan to assist Honda is likely to be discussed at Monday's Strategy Group meeting.

Alongside the ongoing FIA engine parity work, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is set to raise Honda's situation himself - though he is sceptical about the potential for any help.

"It is something that we have to raise," explained Boullier.

"We are in a position today where I am not sure everyone wants us to get more performance from the power unit, but I think it will be fairer for F1 to have a level playing field.

"I am not saying helping someone to beat the best power unit, but to be within this 0.3s ballpark of performance.

"I think it will fairer and good for F1. It will be more attractive for other car and engine manufacturers to join F1, and for the fans it will be much better as you will have closer racing on track.

"So it would tick all the boxes, except we are in a competitive world and I know a lot of people do not want us to deliver on that part."

Options for rules breaks to help Honda are limited now the engine development freeze and token system are gone.

One possibility could be to waive penalties for excess component use to allow Honda to develop faster with less of a focus on reliability.

Any measures to assist Honda during this season require unanimous agreement from the other F1 teams, with majority approval needed for any changes that would take effect for 2018.

Sauber is closing on a deal with Honda engines for the 2018 Formula 1 season, Autosport has learned.

The Swiss team has run Ferrari power since 2010 but cracks have formed in that relationship in recent months and Sauber has been working on finding a new partner.

Talks with Honda have been ongoing for some time and accelerated in March.

The finishing touches are now being put to what will be a long-term arrangement.

Sauber is bracing itself for a challenging rest-of-2017 with year-old Ferrari engines, but a switch to Honda would mean the team had latest-specification equipment again.

The deal is the latest step in Sauber's rebuilding plan, which began when new investors came onboard last July to save the team and solidify its future in F1.

When Honda returned to F1 in 2015 with McLaren, an agreement was made whereby both parties had to approve any deal for Honda to take on a second team.

The regulations subsequently changed, and the FIA is now able to compel the manufacturer with the fewest customers to supply a team that needs an engine.

Honda was not keen at first, particularly given its struggles with performance and reliability, but said it would do so if asked because of its duty to F1.

When its situation on and off track improved last year, Honda turned its attention to the possibility of taking on a second team.

Last summer, it expanded its Milton Keynes F1 facility to provide the space to accommodate another supply and talks with interested parties began soon after.

Sauber emerged as the frontrunner, particularly given it was growing increasingly frustrated with its current supplier Ferrari.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier admitted last week that having more teams running Honda engines could be beneficial given the Japanese firm's current problems.

But he warned Honda could not afford for an additional supply to detract from its primary programme with McLaren.

"I think more teams is better and more engine running is better," Boullier said.

"But there is a price to pay for that, which is deviating more resources into building more engines.

"Whatever happens, we are partners, so at some stage there will be a second team supply question, and I think we'll have to support this.

"But we want to make sure it's not detrimental to our partnership."

A formal announcement of the Sauber-Honda deal is expected in the coming days, with engine manufacturers required to notify the FIA which teams they intend to supply in 2018 by May 6.

The Sauber contract would be the first time Honda has supplied multiple teams in F1 since it provided engines for Super Aguri from 2006 to mid-'08 alongside its factory operation.

F1 car driven by Michael Schumacher and Nelson Piquet comes up for auction

Next month Bonhams is hosting an auction at the Spa Classic, and this is headlining. It’s a Benetton B-191-02 that competed in the 1991 F1 World Championship, and was driven by no fewer than two world champions.

It made its debut at the San Marino GP, where it was driven by Roberto Moreno. For the fifth race of the season at Montreal, the 191 was handed to three-time world champion Nelson Piquet. He won that race after leader Nigel Mansell slowed to wave to the crowd and stalled his engine.

This 191 would later finish 5th at the British GP and 8th at the French. For the last two races of the season in Japan and Australia it was driven by a young upstart by the name of Michael Schumacher, in his first season in F1. He was parachuted in by Jordan, to drive in place of the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot at Spa, then raced for Benetton for the rest of the season.

After it was retired from F1, the car sat in a museum for years. In 2016 it was restored to as-new condition, except for the updated safety features mandated by the FIA. Yep, it runs.

Estimated to fetch between £640,000 and £810,000, the 191 will be auctioned on May 21st. Bonhams says it’s in “excellent running order”. Imagine turning up to a trackday in this thing.

Formula 1's 2018 cars are set to feature a different type of cockpit protection than the Halo as well as see shark fins and T-wings removed following meetings on Tuesday.

Meetings of the Strategy Group and F1 Commission took place in Paris designed to look at potential changes ahead of the 2018 season, with FIA president Jean Todt and new F1 chairman Chase Carey present for the discussions.

While the Halo cockpit protection device was originally approved for introduction in 2018, the focus has now switched to a new concept known as the 'Shield,' which is similar to the front portion of a full canopy.

"A number of more integrated solutions for additional frontal protection have been studied, and the decision has been taken to give priority to the transparent 'Shield' family of systems," an FIA statement read. "The FIA aims to carry out track tests of this system during this season in preparation for implementation in 2018."

As a result of feedback on this season's cars, the FIA also announced it has been agreed to make changes to next year's regulations around the engine cover with the intention "that designs incorporating the 'T-wing' and 'shark fin' will be strictly limited."

In further technical regulation changes, "measures will be taken to ensure that oil will not be used as fuel. In addition, only one specification of oil may be used for any given power unit during an event."

It was also agreed upon that races will be resumed from a standing start after a red-flag period. All of the above changes need to be approved by the World Motor Sport Council, while a more immediate tweak will see driver names and numbers becoming more visible from the Spanish Grand Prix onward.

The Strategy Group is comprised of the FIA, the Commercial Rights holder and six teams: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and the highest-placed team from the previous season's constructors' championship, currently Force India. However, it has now been agreed that the remaining non-member teams will be invited to meetings of the F1 Strategy Group as observers in future, "demonstrating the effective commitment of both the FIA and the Commercial Rights Holder to improve transparency in the sport."

Formula 1 chiefs have approved a plan for a fresh clampdown on oil being illegally burned as fuel in qualifying, after suspicions of the tactic emerged again pre-season.

Red Bull queried the FIA about F1 teams burning oil to deliver a power boost on Saturday afternoons, suspecting Mercedes had benefited the most from this.

In response, the FIA confirmed that such activity was not allowed, and upped its monitoring of oil usage and the chemical composition of oil being used.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff suggested Red Bull had "seen ghosts" and his outfit has maintained an advantage in Q3 this year.

Nothing untoward has been found with the increased scrutiny, and three further measures have been approved by the F1 Commission to be added to the 2018 regulations, once ratified by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.

The first new requirement is that teams must supply the measurement of the oil level in their cars' main tank to the FIA "at all times" during a grand prix weekend.

The mass of the oil in tanks other than the main tank must also be declared to the FIA one hour before the start of the race, to provide a total sum of what is in the car.

This is aimed at highlighting anomalies in oil consumption, such as extra oil being burned in qualifying compared to the races.

Active control valves between any part of the power unit and the air intake will also be banned.

Sump breather pipes currently feed excess oil back into the engine through the intake - rather than out of the back of the car as happened decades ago - and this will prevent clever systems diverting it back into the engine for a power boost.

Teams will also be limited to a single oil specification per engine at any given grand prix, which must be declared with a sample provided beforehand.

This will prevent the possibility of teams using a 'qualifying oil' to produce extra power, and switching to a more durable type for the race.

Las Vegas and New York Are Competing to Host a Formula 1 Race

Long Beach, California is on the table, too.

The first time we heard about a Formula One Grand Prix in the New York area was in 2011, when the Port Imperial Street Circuit was announced as a part of the provisional 2013 season calendar. This track was planned to run through Weehawken and West New York, New Jersey. The location was chosen for several reasons, including its superb view of the New York City skyline and Hudson River, elevation changes, and proximity to public transportation. In 2012, Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel ran a promotional demo on the track's planned route, which he called "exceptional," and likened it to classic Grand Prix circuits Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco.

But the race never came to fruition. In 2013, big cheese Bernie Ecclestone said the race's organizers were in breach of their contract, and that they had been dropped from consideration for Formula One's race calendar. Thus, the Port Imperial Street Circuit race never came to be, and would remain stillborn as long as Ecclestone was calling the shots. With Liberty Media's buyout in 2016, however, Ecclestone was shown the door, and Chase Carey set to work bringing at least a second race to US soil. AMUS.de reports that a second race in the US could occur as soon as 2018, with the Port Imperial race being a prime candidate for a race in close proximity to New York City.

NYC isn't the only major metropolitan center gunning for a race in its city limits, though. The BBC reported last June that Las Vegas has been seeking its own Grand Prix. Twice in the early 1980s, a Grand Prix was held in the parking lot of Caesars Palace, though the track's lackluster design reflected the limited space in which it was constructed. Chinese investors, however, have put forward nearly $150 million to get Las Vegas on the Formula One calendar. Like the NYC race, however, Ecclestone claimed it was the race organizers who were failing, in spite of accusations that Ecclestone was trying to wring every last cent from tracks and event hosts.

All this is going on amidst the rumors of the Long Beach Grand Prix in California considering a return to Formula One. There can only be so many races in a season, though, so we can only hope that the best races make their way onto the calendar

McLaren driver Stefan Johansson describes what it was like driving a 1500-hp turbo F1 car as compared to today's machines.
A lot of racing fanatics wax poetic about the turbo era of Formula 1. For a brief moment in the 1980s, F1 drivers strapped into 1500-horsepower monsters with stick shifts and grippy slick tires and hurtled themselves down the circuits, a cacophony of noise in their wake.

(Shown above, Stefan Johansson driving for McLaren TAG at the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Rio Circuit in 1987)

But what was it like to actually pilot one of those outrageous machines? Stefan Johansson, the Swede who drove for McLaren alongside reigning champ Alain Prost in 1987, is here to give us a firsthand account of what was arguably F1's most exciting era.

Johansson describes how those raucous turbo engines, combined with the era's no-limits tires, made lapping a circuit into a nearly incoherent blur. He also has some high compliments for Prost, his teammate of the time.

But it's not all warm-tinged nostalgia. Johansson is a racer, and he's willing to point out the technological advances and advantages that modern F1 drivers enjoy.

Check out Johansson's full recounting of the full-throttle turbo era below.