Alphabetical F1 - All Things 'A' Quiz

Answer: Alfa Romeo

The 1950 F1 season consisted of six grands prix and the Indianapolis 500 race. The Alfa Romeo 158 car didn't compete at Indy, but it did win all the other events (the British, Monaco, Swiss, Belgian, French and Italian Grands Prix). The team's lead drivers, Juan Manuel Fangio and Nino Farina, won three races each, but Farina was crowned champion thanks to the additional points he scored from a fourth place finish at the Belgian race.

The Alfa Romeo 158 was developed in the pre-Second World War era and made its racing debut at Livorno in 1938. After the war Alfa Romeo used it for their entry into the new form of motorsport known as 'Formula 1' and it (along with a new version known as the 159) dominated the 1950 and 1951 seasons, winning 10 of the 13 races. Sadly, financial difficulties meant Alfa Romeo withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of the 1951 season.

The incorrect options were all Italian F1 teams - however, they were also all short-lived and unsuccessful.

Answer: Alberto Ascari

Italian Alberto Ascari won the F1 World Drivers' Championship in both 1952 and 1953, becoming the first Ferrari driver to do so. His (and Ferrari's) first F1 race was the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix - he finished in second place - while his last was the same event five years later, which he retired from after crashing his car into the harbour. He was killed testing a Ferrari sports car at Monza in May 1955 at the age of 36.

In addition to his successes in F1, where he won a total of 13 races and two world championship titles, Ascari also competed in motorcycle racing in the pre-war period. After the Second World War he entered the Mille Miglia endurance race on several occasions, before finally winning it in 1954, as well as competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and the Indianapolis 500.

The incorrect options were all other Italian F1 drivers - but their careers were considerably less successful than Ascari's.

Answer: Liverpool

Aintree is a small village located about five miles north-east of the English city of Liverpool. It is best known for the racecourse that hosts the Grand National, but in the mid-20th century the racecourse was also a noted F1 circuit. Fans of horse racing would also probably find some of the names of the corners on the old circuit somewhat familiar, particularly 'Bechers Bend', 'Melling Crossing' and 'Canal Curve'.

The first F1 world championship race was held at Aintree in 1955. It was the first F1 victory for the British driver Stirling Moss and the first time that the British Grand Prix had been won by a British driver. The other Aintree F1 winners were Tony Brooks (shared with Stirling Moss) in 1957, Jack Brabham in 1959, Wolfgang von Trips in 1961 and Jim Clark in 1962.

Answer: Arrows

Arrows (full name Arrows Grand Prix International) competed in F1 from 1978 to 2002, clocking up five second places and four third places - but no race wins. The last of those second places famously came at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix when the reigning world champion, Damon Hill, led the race until his Arrows became stuck in third gear with just three laps to go - Hill was overtaken by Jacques Villeneuve who went on to claim the win instead. The team scored just nine points in the whole 1997 season - two thirds of which came from that solitary (and somewhat unexpected) second place. Other notable drivers who raced for Arrows over the years include Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen, Riccardo Patrese, Jos Verstappen and the 1980 world champion Alan Jones.

The team's name came from the initials of its founders, who had all previously been associated with the Shadow team - Oliver had just retired as an F1 driver, Rees (another former F1 driver) and Southgate were F1 car designers, Wass an F1 engineer and Ambrosio provided the finance.

Aston Martin briefly competed in F1 in 1959 and 1960; Amon were founded by former F1 driver, Chris Amon; and ATS were a German F1 team that entered over 100 races between 1977 and 1984.

Answer: True

Mario Andretti was born in 1940 in modern-day Croatia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Italy. He and his family moved to the US in 1955 and he became a naturalised US citizen in 1964. He had success in NASCAR and Indycar before taking a full-time drive in F1 in 1975. By 1978 he had joined the Lotus team and took six victories before claiming the world title with two races to spare. Sadly, the reason for his early triumph was the death of his team-mate and closest rival, Ronnie Peterson, at the Italian Grand Prix.

Andretti's record in the two grands prix held in the US in 1978 was mixed. He finished second in the US Grand Prix West near the beginning of the season (a race he had won the previous year), but retired from the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen with engine failure after starting from pole position.

Answer: Gerhard Berger

The Adelaide Street Circuit is a temporary facility located in the Adelaide Park Lands area of the city in South Australia. The circuit often hosted the final round of the F1 world championship and was the venue for several memorable events in F1 history, including the final race of the triple world champion, Niki Lauda, in 1985; the spectacular tyre-blowout that cost Nigel Mansell the title in 1986; and the acrimonious accident between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill that settled the 1994 title in Schumacher's favour.

Although the Australian Grand Prix transferred from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1996, the Adelaide Street Circuit has since hosted various endurance and touring car races. Gerhard Berger competed in F1 from 1984 to 1997, winning a total of 10 races along the way. His best result in the world championship was third place, which he achieved in both 1988 and 1994.

The incorrect options were all Austrian F1 drivers: Niki Lauda competed from 1971 to 1979 and 1982 to 1985; Karl Wendlinger started 41 F1 races between 1991 and 1995; and Roland Ratzenberger was killed in qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix - the same event that claimed the life of Ayrton Senna.

Answer: Brabham

In the 20th century, only five women entered an F1 Grand Prix and only two of those - Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi - actually made it through qualifying and started the race. Giovanna Amati made her attempts in 1992 when she entered qualifying for the first three races of the season in South Africa, Brazil and Mexico for the Brabham team. Sadly, she was slowest in all three qualifying sessions and ended up (on average) about four seconds slower than everyone else. As only the fastest 26 drivers were allowed to take the start, Amati never got to take part in an F1 race.

However, to be fair to Amati, it should be pointed out that 1992 was the Brabham team's final year in F1 and the car only qualified to take part in three of the races overall, despite the fact that Amati was replaced by Damon Hill - a future world champion. Brabham eventually collapsed mid-season as a result of financial difficulties - a sad end for a team that won four drivers' championships and two constructors' titles during their 30 years in F1.

Hesketh, March and Williams all had female drivers at various points in their F1 history.

Answer: 1995 Canadian Grand Prix

Although Jean Alesi won only one race in his lengthy F1 career, he was a fast and highly respected driver who missed out on more success thanks to bad luck (he retired whilst leading a race on several occasions) and poor timing when deciding which team to join (he signed with both Ferrari and Benetton for seasons where their cars were particularly uncompetitive). In addition to his sole victory at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, he finished on the podium at total of 31 times (16 second places and 15 third places).

Alesi won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after starting the race from fifth on the grid. He was in second place for much of the race, but took the lead when Michael Schumacher's Benetton developed an electrical fault. Alesi's victory was a popular one with the Canadian fans as his Ferrari carried the number 27 - the same one used on Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari in the early 1980s.

The incorrect options were three races from which Alesi was forced to retire. The 1997 Australian Grand Prix was probably the most embarrassing retirement of Alesi's career as his Benetton ran out of fuel after Alesi ignored repeated calls to come in for a pit-stop.

Answer: Minardi

Fernando Alonso made his grand prix debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix while driving a Minardi. The team were perennial backmarkers during their 20 years in the sport, but often employed drivers who went on to achieve success with other teams later in their career. Former Minardi drivers include race-winners Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber in addition to Alonso, as well as the CART champion Alex Zanardi. In 2005 the Minardi team was sold to Red Bull and became their junior team, Toro Rosso. Although Minardi never came close to winning a race, Toro Rosso won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix with future world champion, Sebastian Vettel.

After a year out as Renault's test driver in 2002, Alonso became one of Renault's race drivers in 2003 and remained with the team until 2006, winning back-to-back world championships with them in 2005 and 2006. After an ill-fated and acrimonious year with McLaren in 2007 (in which Alonso finished just one point short of winning the championship for a third time), he returned to Renault for 2008 and 2009 before moving to Ferrari. In his six years with Ferrari he finished second in the championship on three separate occasions before returning to McLaren in 2015. Despite the lack of championship victories during these years, Alonso was regularly described as the best driver in Formula 1.

Answer: Abu Dhabi

The Yas Marina Circuit is located on the man-made Yas Island, a short drive from the centre of Abu Dhabi - the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. Although Singapore had nabbed the title of "first F1 night-race" in 2008, Abu Dhabi managed to claim the "first day-night race" by starting their grand prix before sunset, with floodlighting installed to maintain visibility as darkness fell. The circuit is also noted for the spectacular and colourful lighting system on the roof of the circuit's hotel and its proximity to the enormous Ferrari World indoor theme park.

The inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was won by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, with his team-mate, Mark Webber, in second and that year's world champion, Jenson Button, in third place. The pole-sitter, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, was forced to retire with brake problems after just 18 laps.

All of the incorrect options are world capital cities beginning with 'A' - but none of them hosted an F1 race in 2009 (or prior to that for that matter).