Before Libya became the recently killed Muammar Gaddafi’s silly desert kingdom for 42 years, it was an Italian colony which hosted the Tripoli Grand Prix, the fastest motor race of the 1930s. Fed up with four years of Silver Arrow dominance, the Italians changed the rules for the 1939 race to make sure an Alfa Romeo or …

With yesterday’s acquisition of Brawn GP, Mercedes-Benz will return to Formula One after a 55-year hiatus. Judging by their earlier attempts to build race cars, every team has reason to be very, very afraid.

Originally developed for architectural photography, tilting and shifting lenses are much more than gadgets for turning cars into toys. Professionals even use them to document the ins and outs of Formula One. Mega-sized gallery below.

Brawn GP's inaugural 1–2 victory in Melbourne was no stranger to their engine supplier Mercedes-Benz: it was exactly the same fashion as how they debuted in Formula One in 1954 with their epic W196.