The FIA Hall of Fame is located at the Paris Headquarters of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile in Place de la Concorde. It is a gallery that has been created to celebrate the history of Formula 1 and pay homage to the heroes who made this motor sport great over the decades.

At the same time, the Hall of Fame was created to underline the key values of the competitions: passion, excellence, innovation, integrity and respect for other competitors, so that they can inspire future motor sport champions.

The presentation event coincided with the first annual ceremony of investiture: thirty-three drivers who have won the most important title in motor sport, the FIA Formula One World Championship, at least once, were celebrated at the Automobile Club de France.

More than 20 racing drivers were there, and alongside them there were six of the most iconic cars in the history of Formula 1. From its usual haunt in the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, the legendary Alfa Romeo 158 was amongst this lineup. The car is part of the prized FCA Heritage collection, the department dedicated to protecting and promoting the history of the Italian FCA brands.

The legendary Alfa Romeo 158 took its place on display outside the Hall of Fame alongside the Renault R25 driven to title glory by Alonso in 2005, the Ferrari 156 of Phil Hill; the Lotus Climax 25 of Jim Clark; the McLaren MP4/5 of Ayrton Senna, and the Ferrari F1-2000 of Michael Schumacher.

The inauguration ceremony, held in the library of the ACF, where F1’s regulations were first drafted in the 1940s, first inducted the seventeen champions with single titles to their name, starting with Formula One’s first champion, 1950 winner Giuseppe Farina and ending with 2016 champion Nico Rosberg.

Among that group was 1992 champion Nigel Mansell, who said: “I’d like to thank the FIA for making this evening possible for all of us. It’s such a special evening. I’d also like to congratulate all the other drivers here, truly they are all tremendous.”

Damon Hill, who in 1996 followed in the footsteps of his double title winning father Graham, added: “It was always very difficult to get it through my head that I’d become a world champion at all, so the thrill continues, and it just an amazing honour to be included. You see the people who are here and the names mentioned – Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Sir Jackie Stewart and it’s hard to believe I’m in the same gang. So, congratulations to the FIA for instigating the Hall of Fame and thank your for including me.”

The ceremony then celebrated two- and three-time champions, including 2005 and 2006 winner Fernando Alonso who commented: “It has been a fantastic night. I’m very honoured to be here with these great champions. All of them inspired me to become a Formula One driver, they inspired all the kids of my generation, so I feel very proud.

After honouring three-time winners such as F1 legends Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Jack Brabham, the evening moved to the sport’s most successful drivers, beginning with the induction of four-time champions Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton and then five-time winner Juan Manuel Fangio.

Of the evening, 2010-2013 winner Vettel said: “It’s been incredible to see all these names, all these faces. Obviously a lot of them I only know from what I have read, what I have seen, but I think it’s a great idea. There’s so much history in the sports, it’s still so alive, and thanks to events like tonight’s, we’ll keep it like that. I love racing but as you get older you change your way of thinking and I think your appreciation for things and definitely for things like tonight grows.”

Finally, the sport’s most successful competitor, seven-star driver Michael Schumacher, was inducted, with long-time manager Sabine Kehm on hand to accept his award. “We all know Michael should be here and I am totally sure he would love to be here,” she said. “He always had the highest respect for everyone in this room and he would be very honoured. What made Michael so special, what made him so successful was, as with everybody in this room, a love and passion for this sport.”

The FIA Hall of Fame gallery in Paris has been created by Wilmotte and Associates, a prominent global architecture firm headquartered in France, and will be open to the public upon reservation.

The event comes just weeks after Alfa Romeo announced its return to F1 after more than three decades away, albeit this time as a branding exercise, sponsoring the Swiss-based Sauber F1 Team.

 Alfa Romeo GP Tipo 158, the first Formula 1 World Champion

Alfa Romeo is synonymous with racing and technological prestige worldwide. It has taken part in Formula 1 from 1950 until 1988, as both a manufacturer and as an engine supplier. At its debut in 1950, Alfa Romeo won the first Driver's World Championship with Nino Farina in precisely the Alfa Romeo 158, which was launched at the end of the thirties. At that time, Alfa Romeo was rising again, thanks to aviation and heavy goods vehicle production, and an increasingly appreciated automotive product. For Ugo Gobbato, engineer and company director, the issue to tackle was racing - not in the Sports category, where Alfa Romeo is almost unbeatable, but in the Grand Prix. Alfa Corse was founded to increase competitiveness, and in parallel a new car was designed, with a 1.5 litre supercharged engine, a category that was set to become the premier class from 1940 on.

The team led by Gioachino Colombo sketched out the lines of the GP Tipo 158, soon to be nicknamed the "Alfetta". It had an unprecedented inline eight-cylinder engine with twin cam timing and a Roots volumetric compressor. The gearbox and differential were a single block on the rear axle. Initially, its power was 195 HP, but in 1939 this rose to 225 HP. With a top speed of 232 km/h, the streamlined single-seater made its debut at the Coppa Ciano in 1938, winning the first two places in front of an enthusiastic audience. Then came the Milan GP and a series of victories that closed prematurely with the Tripoli GP in 1940, when the outbreak of war interrupted all competitions. Without an overall ranking at the end of the conflict, the race resumed with difficulty, and in 1947-1948, that of the "Alfetta" - now with 275 HP and capable of 270 km/h thanks to its two-stage compressor - was overwhelmingly superior.

In the 1950 season, it raced in the first Formula 1 World Championship. The power of the Alfa Romeo 158 rose to 350 HP at 290 km/h, and the cars were entrusted to the three "F"s team - Nino Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli - a trio of which the designer Giuseppe Busso said "the main problem was deciding which of the three pilots should win the championship".