Formula One Exhibition London: deep dive and tour with F1 Champion, Damon Hill
Former F1 World Champion Damon Hill shows us around a celebration of the greatest sport on Earth
At its core, the essence of Formula One has changed very little since the very first World Championship Grand Prix took place at Silverstone in 1950. Even after 70 years or so, it still fundamentally centres upon the fastest drivers in the fastest cars competing to get around a racetrack the quickest.
Yet, much like how the teams each season race to develop their cars, the sport of Formula One has undergone its own unique progression over the years, evolving from a wealthy gentleman’s pastime to a culture-crossing phenomenon that showcases some of the greatest minds, most talented drivers and cutting-edge technology the world has ever seen.
Making this decade-spanning story approachable to modern audiences is the job of the new Formula One Exhibition, which has just opened its doors at the ExCel Exhibition Centre in London.
Spanning six themed spaces, the touring show has already made stops in Madrid and Vienna, and it’s also currently showing in Toronto. We at Auto Express were granted early access so we could peruse all of the legendary items on display – many of which are exclusive to the London version.
Co-curator and motorsport pundit Peter Windsor explains how “the unifying theme is that every team, in effect, is a mini NASA operation”.
He goes on: “Frank Williams told me that it’s not about racing, it’s about engineering. Me? Well I’d say it’s about people – people so brilliant that every conversation I have with them I come away feeling like a bit of a dunce. They’re all so bright and you always come away having learned something.”
As you enter the exhibition, the first room is called Once Upon a Time in Formula 1, and gives a brief overview of the sport and its most iconic moments throughout the years. Particular highlights here include the display of several iconic cars, including the 1961 Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’, as well as the 1970 Constructors’ Championship-winning Lotus 72.
When they were designing each exhibit, how to present the story weighed heavily on the minds of the curators, because they wanted to showcase the pioneering work done by teams, engineers and even drivers throughout the ages of F1.
“I’m always thinking, would Colin Chapman or Frank Williams approve of this?”, Windsor remarks. “I know Colin, for starters, would love the display of the Lotus 49 monocoque. Remember, these people never had time to take stock and realise what brilliant things they were doing – they were always racing for the next race.”
The next room focuses on the development of Formula One cars, from the monocoque design, to the hybrid powertrains. Parked proudly in the centre is the Red Bull RB16B that took Max Verstappen to his first Drivers’ World Championship title, while a display behind shows all of the tyre compounds available to the sport’s 10 teams.
On the theme of Verstappen’s controversial victory in 2021, the exhibition’s third space focuses on some of the sport’s most famous rivalries. Most notable here are the racing suits and helmets of legendary drivers including Stirling Moss and Michael Schumacher.
Also present is the helmet and race suit of 1996 Formula One World Champion Damon Hill, who accompanies us on our tour of the exhibition. Hill was one of the many Formula One drivers to help out with the exhibition, whether that be donating artefacts they’ve kept over the years to taking part in interviews that are displayed on several big screens across each of the several rooms.
“I’ve been hanging around racing cars for a very long time,” Hill tells us. “But the exhibition goes back to before I was born, and there are some really fantastic items that make you realise how rich, intricate and interesting the sport is.”
The F1 Exhibition has toured all over the world, but the London installation has several exclusive exhibits, notably Ayrton Senna’s 1988 Championship-winning McLaren MP4/4, and the Mercedes AMG F1 W09 with which Lewis Hamilton won the 2018 drivers’ title.
That’s not all, because there’s also a display focusing on the rise and success of British Racing Motors. Windsor says: “It would be remiss of us not to tell the story of BRM and what they did to become the car of the people and win the championship in such a short space of time.”
Damon Hill’s father, Graham Hill, famously drove a BRM to win his first world championship in 1962. “To see the Hill family represented here makes you realise that you’re part of the sport, and that’s a tremendous privilege” Hill confesses. “I feel quite emotional sometimes when I look at stuff because it brings back memories.”
Raw emotion is to the fore in the penultimate section of the exhibition, titled ‘Survival’. In the centre of a dark room sits the remains of Romain Grosjean’s Haas car following his horrifying crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. This is the first time Grosjean’s wrecked car has been on public display, and it is accompanied by a narration from the ex-Haas driver recounting his close encounter with death. It provides a haunting reminder of how dangerous F1 can be.
The final space is something you can only experience yourself; a 360-degree audio-visual presentation, celebrating the history of Formula One – a sport that some argue now focuses too much on commercialisation and television soap operas than racing and engineering.
“We stand at a crossroads between F1 as a spectacular show and at the same time, being technology-led in a way that no other industry in the world is,” Windsor tells us. “The sport has roles to play in both, and I think in this exhibition we’ve managed to show that cross section.”
Tickets for the Formula One Exhibition are on sale now, priced at £25 for adults and £17 for children.
F1 Experiences in London
F1 Arcade – St. Pauls
While we certainly don’t endorse drink-driving, F1 Arcade is all about sipping fancy cocktails and racing hard on F1 simulators. Participants can pick between team and head-to-head racing modes, with sessions starting from just £17.95 per driver.
F1 DRIVE – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
A little more hands-on than its F1 Arcade counterpart, F1 DRIVE allows you to get behind the wheel of a real racer – albeit one that’s a souped-up electric go-kart. Still, a flashy 17-turn indoor track plus karts with built-in screens and simulated DRS systems should make for a fun day for F1 adult and child F1 fans aged eight and up.
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