A1 Grand Prix

Twenty-five of the franchises were purchased in time for the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season, which began on 25 September 2005 with the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Great Britain at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, United Kingdom. The first season was planned for 12 rounds (24 races, with two each weekend); however the cancellation of a race scheduled for Curitiba, Brazil in January 2006 reduced this number to 11. Nelson Piquet, Jr. won the inaugural race of the series for A1 Team Brazil. Their winning form was not to continue. Wins at Estoril and Malaysia saw A1 Team France build up a sizeable gap. By the start of the winter break, France had run away with the lead with A1 Team Switzerland 28 points behind. At the final race of the season in Shanghai, A1 Team France were crowned the first-ever A1 Grand Prix world champions with 172 points. Switzerland were second with 121 points and A1 Team Great Britain third with 97 points.[5]

Katherine Legge was the first woman to drive A1 Grand Prix cars during test session in December 2005 on Dubai Autodrome.[6]

Changes were made for the 2006–07 season to race durations and distances to improve the spectacle for attendees and TV viewers.[7] The 2006–07 schedule was released on 7 July 2006, with the first race at Circuit Park Zandvoort on 1 October 2006, and the last race at Brands Hatch on 29 April 2007. New teams Team Singapore and Team Greece joined the competition but Team Turkey failed to secure funding for the season. Team Austria, Team Japan, Team Portugal and Team Russia did not return for the second season. However, after securing funding Team Portugal competed in the final four rounds of the second season in South Africa, Mexico, China and Britain. Team Germany won the series with 128 points, 35 points lead ahead of Team New Zealand.

On 29 September, Sheikh Maktoum announced he was resigning his position as chairman and chief executive of the series, seeking to have his place taken by increased shareholder interests:

I am happy that I have built the series with fans in mind. I feel like I have fulfilled my promise to them by bringing A1GP from concept to reality and am confident that the World Cup of Motorsport will go from strength to strength. Having devoted all my efforts to making A1GP the success it is today, this transaction will allow me to devote more time to my Dubai International Holding Company which currently manages a substantial portfolio of assets and new ventures and which continues to actively pursue other significant investment opportunities.

Maktoum announced his intended resignation in September and his exit from the organisation was confirmed in December.[8][9]

Sepang International Circuit A1 Race

The 2007–08 season was the final season that used the Lola-Zytek A1GP car, with rule changes including two mandatory pit-stops in the Feature Race and an introduction of E30 biofuel as the cars' fuel. Team Switzerland was the winning team with Neel Jani behind the wheel.

In what proved to be the series' final season, the 2008–09 season was the only season in which the "Powered by Ferrari" A1GP car was used. According to 2007–08 champion Neel Jani, 90% of teams in the paddock warned Teixeira ahead of time that this car change was untimely and an inefficient use of funds.[10] Rule changes included shorter qualifying sessions, a pit-stop during the now longer Sprint Race, removal of limits on Friday test drivers, and reduced Sprint Race points scoring.[11] Throughout the season, three rounds (in Italy, Indonesia, and Mexico) were cancelled for various reasons, and a proposed race in Brazil fell through.

The opening round of the season, scheduled as part of the already well established Nikon SuperGP race meeting, was cancelled five days before practice was due to begin. With cars and series infrastructure still tied up in London and no comment forthcoming from A1GP, organisers in Australia were forced to announce the series would not appear at what had been a high-profile addition to the A1 Grand Prix calendar.[12] The event was underwritten by the Queensland state government, who mentioned the possibility of taking legal recourse against A1 Grand Prix.[13]

The series was thrown into further doubt as more races were cancelled, with an announcement made on 5 November 2009 stating that the races in China and Malaysia would not be taking place.[14] The last race that was to be held in the season, the Dutch round, was switched for Superleague Formula. This put an end to the hopes the season would start and also put the future of the series in doubt.

A1 Grand Prix used a unique qualifying format, which began at 14:00 local time on the Saturday of the race weekend, to determine the grid lineup for Sunday's races, the Sprint Race and the Main Race. The qualifying period was split into four, ten-minute sessions.[11] Each car was permitted three laps per session, including the laps required for leaving the pits, and for re-entering it. This allowed one lap to set a competitive time. There was a five-minute break between sessions, which added up to a total of 55 minutes for qualifying. The grid for the Sprint Race was set based on the cars' fastest time from either the first or the second session. The grid for the Feature Race was determined the same way, but using sessions three and four. However, if there was a red flag due to an accident on the circuit, the timing to the end of qualifying continued to run.

The Sprint Race used the grid determined in sessions one and two of the previous day's qualifying session, and was held in the early afternoon. The race began from a rolling start, and its duration was a maximum of 24 minutes plus one additional lap.[11] Additionally, each team had to make one mandatory pit stop between laps four and eight.[11] Drivers were permitted four uses of PowerBoost during the Sprint Race.

The Feature Race used the grid determined in sessions three and four of the previous day's qualifying session, and was held mid-afternoon. The race began from a standing start, and was a race of approximately 180 kilometres (110 mi), with a maximum time limit of 69 minutes plus one lap. Teams had to make two mandatory pit stops during the Feature Race, one between laps eight and sixteen, and another during a pit window, which was not announced until the first window has closed. Drivers were permitted eight uses of PowerBoost during the Feature Race.

Each team had to complete three compulsory pit stops over the course of the race weekend – one during the Sprint Race, and two during the Feature Race.[11] During the pit stop, all four tyres on the car had to be changed. A total of eight mechanics could be used during the stop, however, only four were allowed to 'touch the car', none of which (save the so-called "lollipop man" that directed the car into its pit) could be present in the pit lane before the car came to a complete halt. Refuelling was also not permitted; infringements of these rules or of the pit-lane speed limit resulted in the imposition of a drive-through penalty.

At the end of Season 3, A1GP released the results of the season's pit stop times. Although having never won a race, A1 Team Australia had the fastest pit crew of all teams.[16]

Unlike almost all other forms of auto racing, drivers did not score points individually; instead the points they earn were ascribed to their national team. This means that teams could change drivers between rounds, which was often necessary because some drivers had commitments in other formulae, and still accumulate points to their score.

Points were awarded for the first ten places but the amounts changed during the series' run: 15 for the winner, 12 for second place, 10 for third place, 8 for fourth place, 6 for fifth place, 5 for sixth place, and so on with 4, 3, 2, and one point for tenth place. Points were awarded in a different way for the Sprint Race: 10 for the winner, counting down 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point for eighth place.[11] In addition, one point was awarded to the team that set the fastest single lap time in either the Sprint or Main Race. Cash prizes were also awarded.

Below is a list of pointscoring systems used to determine the winner of the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport since the 2005–06 season. The World Cup of Motorsport was awarded to the A1 Grand Prix team which accumulated the most points over the course of a season.

The first Chinese round of the 2006–07 A1GP took place on the streets of Beijing. However, the tight hairpin at the end of the back straight was too tight for the cars to negotiate safely, as it was a 180 degree left turn. Cars were running wide and stopping mid corner; therefore, the sessions were red flagged.

A shorter circuit was created, creating another, less tight hairpin halfway up the straight, bypassing most of the old straight. This corner was still not ideal, as drivers ran wide despite the corner being wider and had to avoid the pitlane entry barrier. It had to suffice, though, as otherwise the race would have been cancelled.

However, another problem arose in qualifying when manhole covers on the roads were coming undone due to the racing cars' high downforce and low ride height. Grid positions were decided based on practice times. Some advertising banners also came loose around the circuit.

It was announced that the races would start behind the safety car, as the first corner was also deemed unsafe.

Both races were uneventful, particularly the Sprint Race, which took place almost entirely behind the safety car after course officials failed to remove a single spun car in a timely fashion.