The national-team format was conceived in 2003 by Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai. Once FIA backing was secured, thirty franchises were offered for sale — twenty-three assigned to specific nations, seven open to tender. Twenty-five franchises were sold in time for the first season. Competitors solely represented their country, and drivers were required to hold the same nationality as the team for which they raced, making nationality rather than contractual status the primary selection criterion. Team owners, principals, and crew, however, did not need to share the team's nationality.
2005–06 (inaugural season): The series opened at Brands Hatch on 25 September 2005, with Nelson Piquet Jr. winning the first race for A1 Team Brazil. The season was planned for twelve rounds but a cancelled round at Curitiba reduced it to eleven. A1 Team France dominated, taking the inaugural championship with 172 points; Switzerland finished second with 121 points and Great Britain third with 97. Katherine Legge tested a car in December 2005 at Dubai Autodrome, becoming the first woman to drive an A1GP car.
2006–07: Race durations and distances were revised to improve spectacle. Team Singapore and Team Greece joined the competition. A1 Team Germany won the championship with 128 points, 35 points clear of A1 Team New Zealand. During the season Sheikh Maktoum announced his resignation as chairman and chief executive; RAB Capital acquired his 80% stake.
2007–08: The final season using the Lola-Zytek A1GP car. Rule changes included two mandatory pit stops in the Feature Race and the introduction of E30 biofuel. A1 Team Switzerland, driven by Neel Jani, took the championship.
2008–09: The only season using the "A1GP Powered by Ferrari" car. Three rounds in Italy, Indonesia, and Mexico were cancelled. A1 Team Ireland won the championship with Ulsterman Adam Carroll as their lead driver.
2009–10 (cancelled): The planned opening round at the Nikon SuperGP meeting in Australia was cancelled five days before practice was due to begin, with the series unable to confirm race logistics or finances. Subsequent rounds in China and Malaysia were also cancelled, effectively ending the series.
Two generations of car were used across the series. The first generation was the Lola B05/52 — officially the Lola A1GP — powered by a 3.4-litre Zytek V8 producing 520 bhp in normal running and 550 bhp in PowerBoost mode. The chassis weighed 615 kg without driver or fuel. Cars ran on Cooper tyres. Construction used pre-impregnated carbon fibre composites over an aluminium honeycomb core, with FIA-approved side intrusion panels for lateral impact protection. The suspension was double wishbone with pushrod-operated twin coil-over dampers at each end. A six-speed paddle-shift semi-automatic sequential gearbox handled power transmission.
For the 2008–09 season the Lola chassis was replaced by a car developed in partnership with Ferrari, using an upgraded Ferrari F2004 platform fitted with a 4.5-litre Ferrari/Maserati V8 producing up to 600 bhp in PowerBoost mode. Michelin supplied tyres for this final season.
Grands Prix of Nations took place over three days. Two one-hour practice sessions ran on Friday, with a further session Saturday morning, allowing teams to use up to three different drivers across practice. A two-hour qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was divided into four ten-minute segments: sessions one and two set the Sprint Race grid, sessions three and four set the Feature Race grid. Each car was permitted three laps per segment.
Sunday featured two races. The Sprint Race ran for a maximum of 24 minutes plus one lap with a rolling start, with one mandatory pit stop between laps four and eight; drivers were permitted four PowerBoost activations. The Feature Race covered approximately 180 km from a standing start with two mandatory pit stops and eight permitted PowerBoost uses. During pit stops all four tyres were required to be changed; refuelling was not permitted. Up to eight mechanics could service the car but only four could touch it.
PowerBoost activated only when throttle position exceeded 80% and vehicle speed exceeded 60 km/h. It automatically deactivated if the throttle fell below 40%.
Unlike conventional motor racing, points were awarded to national teams rather than individual drivers, allowing driver substitutions between rounds without affecting championship standings. Points for the Feature Race were awarded to the top ten finishers on a 15–12–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis, with an additional point for the fastest lap in either race. Sprint Race points ran 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the top eight. This enabled teams from nations with strong driver depth to rotate personnel while maintaining a consistent championship challenge.
A legal dispute in January 2010 at the High Court of Justice in London over ownership of the cars resulted in administrator Tim Bramston winning the case. GoIndustry DoveBid was appointed to manage asset sales, with liquidators seeking £10 million for the assets. RAB Capital's Special Situations fund, which had paid a reported $200 million for the founder's 80% stake, had written down the A1GP investment three times before the collapse.
The former Lola A1GP chassis subsequently found use in the Euroseries 3000 (later Auto GP). In 2014 the International Sport Racing Association acquired the Lola-Zytek cars and ran a brief competition called Formula Acceleration 1. In 2015 AFRIX Motorsport of South Africa purchased the remaining 21 "Powered by Ferrari" A1GP cars from a freight company that held a lien over them for unpaid transport bills, with plans for a South African single-make series. A planned revival announced in May 2023 with $100 million in funding did not materialise.
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