Chequered Past
Chequered Past is a Formula 1 history podcast that dives deep into iconic races, legendary drivers, and forgotten moments from motorsport’s rich and dramatic past. Each episode revisits Grand Prix events that took place on the same date in history, uncovering fascinating stories, on-track controversies, and the evolution of F1 through the decades. Whether you're a lifelong fan or new to the sport, Chequered Past offers compelling insights and nostalgia-fuelled storytelling from the world’s fastest sport.
Episodes
264 episodes
18th February 1898: The Drivers That Ferrari Admired
On 18 February, we mark the birthday of Enzo Ferrari — the founder, the autocrat, and the figure whose name became inseparable from Formula One itself.In this episode of Chequered Past, we explore a different side of Ferr...
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Season 1
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Episode 263
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14:41
17th February 1959: The Spygate Scandal That Shook Formula 1
On 17 February 1959, Mike Coughlan was born — an engineer whose career would become forever linked with one of the most explosive controversies in modern Formula One history.In 2007, a confidential Ferrari technical dossier, a photocopy ...
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Season 1
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Episode 262
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20:40
16th February 1921: The Drivers Who Ferrari Couldn't Contain
On 16 February 1921, Jean Behra was born — a fiercely talented and uncompromising racer whose brief and explosive time at Ferrari revealed something deeper about the Scuderia’s identity.In this episode of Chequered Past, we explore Ferra...
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Season 1
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Episode 261
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16:35
15th February 1929: The Seven Decades That Separate Two English Winners
On 15 February 1929, Graham Hill was born in Hampstead. On 15 February 1998, George Russell was born in King’s Lynn. Nearly seven decades apart, two English drivers entered Formula One through entirely different pathways — yet both would become...
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Season 1
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Episode 260
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16:42
14th February 1944: The Speed That Was Never in Doubt
On 14 February 1944, Ronnie Peterson was born — a driver whose raw pace would make him one of the most visually spectacular figures of 1970s Formula One.In this episode of Chequered Past, we revisit the season that established h...
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Season 1
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Episode 259
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16:22
13th February 1997: The French Dream That Faded
On 13 February 1997, Alain Prost formally completed his takeover of Ligier — transforming France’s historic Formula One entry into Prost Grand Prix.It was a bold move. A four-time world champion stepping away from the cockpit to build a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 258
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18:21
12th February 1877: The Manufacturer That Reshaped Formula One
On 12 February 1877, Louis Renault was born in Paris — an engineer whose company would go on to alter the course of Grand Prix history.From victory in the very first French Grand Prix in 1906… to pioneering turbocharged power in 1977… to...
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Season 1
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Episode 257
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22:27
11th February 1973: The Race That Announced Brazil
On 11 February 1973, Formula One arrived in Brazil as a World Championship event for the first time — and the result was more than just a home victory. The 1973 Brazilian Grand Prix became a statement of intent, as Emerson Fitt...
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Season 1
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Episode 256
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16:35
10th February 1993: The Season That Senna Raced One Weekend at a Time
On 10 February 1993, McLaren announced its driver line-up for the new Formula One season — and left out the name that had defined the team for half a decade.This episode explores how Ayrton Senna entered one of the most unusual seasons o...
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Season 1
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Episode 255
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15:49
9th February 1964: The Winter Championship That Mattered
On 9 February, the Formula One World Championship calendar falls silent. But in the early 1960s, elite racing didn’t stop simply because the World Championship did.This episode looks at the Tasman Series, a southern-hemisphere cha...
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Season 1
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Episode 254
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16:58
8th February 1932: The British Drivers That Ferrari Trusted
On 8 February 1932, Cliff Allison was born — a driver whose Formula One career was brief, interrupted, and largely overshadowed, but whose time at Ferrari reveals a forgotten chapter in the sport’s history.This episode uses Alliso...
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Season 1
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Episode 253
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14:23
7th February 1961: The Argentine Grand Prix That Fell to McLaren
The Argentine Grand Prix That Fell to McLaren revisits the opening race of the 1960 World Championship — a season-starter defined not by domination, but by attrition, judgement, and survival. In the searing heat of Buenos Aires, early pace from...
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Season 1
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Episode 252
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15:21
6th February 1981: The War That Almost Split Formula One
On 6 February 1981, Formula One arrived at Kyalami with a peace agreement already signed — yet the sport was anything but united.Just weeks earlier, the first Concorde Agreement had been concluded, designed to bring an end to the bitter ...
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Season 1
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Episode 251
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15:00
5th February 2026: The Moments That Begin and End Formula One
Formula One is often remembered through championships, dominant seasons, and defining victories. But the sport rarely changes where it later becomes famous for doing so.In this milestone episode of Chequered Past, we step away f...
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Season 1
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Episode 250
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15:51
4th February 1979: The Promise That Peaked Early
The 1979 Formula One season began with an air of clarity. Across the opening two races in Argentina and Brazil, Jacques Laffite and Ligier looked composed, coherent, and firmly in control.At Interlagos, Laffite delivered a comma...
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Season 1
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Episode 249
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15:01
3rd February 1920: The Australian Who Opened the Door
On 3 February 1920, Tony Gaze was born — a name rarely found in Formula One record books, but one that holds a unique place in its history. In 1952, Gaze became the first Australian to compete in a World Championship Grand Prix, quietly ...
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Season 1
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Episode 248
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18:41
2nd February 1948: The Future That Arrived Too Soon
On 2 February, Formula One’s history brings together two very different stories — and a revealing moment in the sport’s development.Roger Williamson’s career barely had time to begin, yet his rise through British Formula Three and his ca...
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Season 1
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Episode 247
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14:07
1st February 2006: The Motorcycle Riders Who Tried Formula One
With no World Championship Grand Prix on 1 February, Chequered Past takes a step sideways to explore one of Formula One’s most enduring curiosities: why greatness forged on motorcycles has so rarely translated into success on four whee...
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Season 1
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Episode 246
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17:30
1996: The Season Where Williams Took Control Part 2
In Part 2 of our special look back at the 1996 Formula One season, thirty years on, Chequered Past turns from control established to control understood.While Williams executed a championship defined by clarity and composure, the...
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Season 1
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Episode 245
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20:12
1996: The Season Where Williams Took Control Part 1
With no Formula One World Championship Grand Prix falling on today’s date, Chequered Past turns to a season that quietly reshaped the sport.The 1996 Formula One season is often remembered as predictable — a year without sustaine...
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Season 1
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Episode 244
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21:03
29th January 1978: The Race That Tested Composure
On 29 January 1978, Formula One arrived in Brazil for Round 2 of the World Championship — and discovered how quickly early promise could be stripped away.At Jacarepaguá, a new circuit raced in oppressive heat, theory gave way to enduranc...
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Season 1
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Episode 243
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15:23
28th January 1973: The Opening That Set the Terms
The 1973 World Championship did not begin with a declaration of dominance. Instead, it began with a contest.At the Argentine Grand Prix, the opening race of the season revealed a championship already tightening at the front. Lot...
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Season 1
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Episode 242
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14:46
27th January 1974: The Brazilian Races That Chart Formula One’s Progress
The Brazilian Grand Prix has often revealed more than it has decided.In this episode of Chequered Past, we explore how races at Interlagos came to chart Formula One’s progress — not through domination, but through transition.
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Season 1
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Episode 241
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18:50
26th January 1975: The Day That Brazil Found a New Winner
The 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix arrived with a sense of inevitability. Formula One had only staged two World Championship races in Brazil before — and both had been won by Emerson Fittipaldi. Two weeks earlier, he had opened the new season with v...
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Season 1
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Episode 240
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18:17
25th January 1976: The Calm That Came Before The Drama
The 1976 Formula One season would become one of the sport’s most dramatic — but it did not begin that way.At Interlagos, the Brazilian Grand Prix opened the year not with confrontation, but with control. Niki Lauda’s measured victory sho...
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Season 1
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Episode 239
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15:23
