"The best purveyor of visual motorsport entertainment bar none, Duke." Henry Hope Frost, Autosport

Brunswick Films were pioneers in the embryonic days of Formula One production, when sponsors controlled the demand for footage, and before the era of global TV coverage began.

They have skilfully combined film from their famous archive - including some previously unseen material - to create reviews that capture the essence of a very special era in Grand Prix racing.

The coverage is not as comprehensive as in modern FOM reviews, but each year features the majority of races and you’ll see all the key drivers and cars on and off the track.

What’s included?

1970 was the year of transition in Grand Prix racing; the season that pitched the old guard against a feisty new breed of racers intent on pushing Formula One forward into the new decade. Nothing symbolised this battle more than the cars used by top contenders: Jacky Ickx’s Ferrari 312B relied on brute force to compensate for its outdated styling, whereas Jochen Rindt’s Lotus 72 showed that radical aerodynamics represented a brave and (potentially) faster way forward.

And with the technological battles came a fascinating season’s racing.

Jackie Stewart was the defending champion, but took nothing for granted. When different drivers won the first four races, Stewart, and the world, knew that the championship was wide open. Thrilling battles ensued until triumph and tragedy came together in one fatal collision: on the 5th of September 1970 championship leader Rindt died during practice at Monza. He was to become the sport’s first posthumous champion.

1971 Ferrari’s aging flat-12 powered 312 earned debutant Mario Andretti a welcome win in the first race of the season but once ’69 World Champion Jackie Stewart found his stride with the monocoque Tyrrell 003 it was clear the writing was on the wall for the old-fashioned Ferrari.

As the season progressed Stewart and Tyrrell developed a magical formula that combined radical aerodynamics with Stewart’s sublime talent. The season wasn’t just about drivers and cars, as this review shows. It tells the story of the intensifying tyre-war as the first slicks hit the tarmac, the year driver safety became a genuine concern and the year of Niki Lauda’s first Grand Prix.

1972 The Lotus 72 marked a serious step-change in Formula One car design, although it took a couple of seasons to iron out the niggles. Arguably it was at its best in 1972 in the hands of John Player Team Lotus stars Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson.

Wearing the iconic gold and black livery, Fittipaldi proved an unstoppable force, relegating reigning champion Jackie Stewart to second after a thrillingly climactic showdown at Monza – Fittipaldi’s spiritual home. Stewart’s broken clutch put him out of the race, ensuring Fittipaldi’s place in the record books: at just 25 years of age, ‘Emmo’ became the, then, youngest-ever World Champion.

1973 saw Jackie Stewart out for revenge on Lotus after his disappointment the previous year. With the new Tyrell 006 and aided by the fast and glamorous François Cevert as his team mate Stewart came out of the blocks as fast as lightning, but not as quickly as Fittipaldi’s Lotus.

For the rest of the season there was a brilliant back-and-forth battle between the two teams (by then the biggest in the World) as they exchanged race wins so there was only one point between them by mid-season. A thrilling end to the year lay ahead, but heavily tinged by tragedy.

1974 The events at Watkins Glen at the end of the ’73 season led to Jackie Stewart’s retirement from F1 racing, meaning that, along with the brilliant Brazilian, Emerson Fittipaldi, now driving for the McLaren-Ford team nobody started in 1974 as clear favourite.

What followed was a sensational year of racing as a host of racers, old and new, flung themselves into the battle for the Championship. By the final race of the season Emerson Fittipaldi, Clay Regazzoni driving for the resurgent Ferrari and Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) were locked in a fascinating three-way battle for the title. It went right down to the very last lap!

1975 With the arrival of the 312T and the rise of Niki Lauda to the very top, Ferrari was definitely on the ascendant in 1975. The season got off to a fairly unpredictable start as five different drivers took wins in the first five races including one-off wins for Jochen Mass and Carlos Pace (later in the season Vittorio Bambilla also took his only career F1 win), but once Lauda hit his stride with the new car there was no stopping him.

Packed with footage of the 312T in full race mode, this review of the season also gives a good idea of the unsettled atmosphere off-track: safety issues and money worries well to the fore…

1976 Possibly the most famous season’s racing in the long history of Formula One. With Lauda dominant and Fittipaldi (2^nd in 1975) lured from McLaren to Copersucar there was a big hole in the British team’s line-up. A hole that was filled by James Hunt, better known on the grid as ‘Hunt the Shunt’ for his do-or-die driving style.

After Lauda’s horrific crash at the Nürburgring the world thought his title chances had, almost too literally, gone up in smoke. His brave fight back became an instant legend, although Hunt’s momentum was too much to overcome by that stage.

1977 Lauda’s return to the cutting edge of the sport saw him win through consistency rather than flair. Nevertheless, 1977 saw what must class as one of the greatest returns in motorsport history as the badly burned Austrian closed the title fight with three races to go, and promptly left Ferrari.

It was Gilles Villeneuve who took over the Ferrari seat and, although very fast, proved to be quite hard on the relatively fragile F1 machines.

1978 Was the year of Andretti’s domination with the revolutionary Lotus 79 – and proved to be the team’s swansong as a manufacturer and force to be reckoned with in F1.

So dominant were the Lotus cars that only Ronnie Peterson could challenge Mario for the title. A seemingly fairly innocuous injury at Monza proved much more dangerous for Peterson than at first suspected. The Formula One world was once more left in mourning, and forced to confront the major safety issues that lurked beneath the surface.

1979 There was another new World Champion in 1979, as Jody Scheckter’s patience and resolve was finally rewarded with a strong, consistent season in the Ferrari 312T4 although the width of the flat-12 was starting to be a disadvantage in the ground effect era in comparison to the narrower Ford DFV V-8.

Alan Jones, driving for the still fledgling Williams team demonstrated the car’s pace, winning four out of the last six races. As Jones pointed to the sport’s future, two greats of its past – Hunt and Lauda – decided to call it a day.

1980 Coming from a season in which he’d won four of the last six races Alan Jones clearly had momentum on his side. Ferrari on the otherhand seemed to completely lose their way, suffering what must rank as their worst ever year in F1: 10 retirements, 10^th overall in the constructors’ championship, no podium finishes at all and failing to qualify one of their cars at the Canadian Grand Prix.

While Ferrari went through their annus horribilis, Williams with Carlos Reutemann and Jones and Brabham’s Nelson Piquet ran riot, winning 9 of 14 races between them. But even as these young guns made hay the next big change was on F1’s horizon: The coming of the turbo-era.