The last Grand Prix of Europe - until now

This weekend sees the Grand Prix of Europe, originally an honorary title that's been used on-and-off since 1923 when it was bestowed first upon the Italian Grand Prix in 1923 and followed by the French Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix. After a hiatus in 1929, Spa received the last honorific title of the pre-World War 2 years in 1930.

After the war the title was revived by the FIA and given to the Belgian Grand Prix in 1947. When the Formula One championship began in 1950 the designation went that year to Silverstone. Other venues through the years have included the Nurburgring, Monaco, Aintree, Zandvoort and Brands Hatch.

The turn of the century the Grand Prix of Europe saw became an annual event, first at the Nurburgring between 1999 and 2007 and then on the Valencia street circuit from 2008 until 2012 after which the title was rested. The last winner of the Grand Prix of Europe was Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (pictured above) on 24 June 2012; he was joined on the podium by Kimi Räikkönen (then at Lotus) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes.)

With a new Grand Prix of Europe imminent, whoever wins this weekend at Baku will be taking their place as part of a unique thread of motorsport history.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.