Video Series: Car Wars – Formula 1 season 1979

A year after Colin Chapman began using ground effects to glue his Lotus 79s to the ground Formula One was a very different beast.

Four world champion drivers would compete in the 1979 Formula One season, but none would win a race. It was the dawn of a new era, where the car you drove would have a greater influence on the outcome of a race than your own performance.

It was also the first success for a technology that would become instrumental to the sport in the 80s – turbo. Renault secured the first ever victory for a turbocharged car, the RS10, in Formula One at Dijon while Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux created history with one of Formula One’s most famous dices.

Car Wars looks back on the ’79 season and its place in Formula One history. It features plenty of brilliant racing footage along with thoughts from top men like James Hunt and is well worth a watch.