The International Formula 3000 championship was born 40 years ago. The final rung on the single-seater ladder before Formula 1 began in 1985 and enjoyed a 20-year run, with future F1 race winners Jean Alesi, Olivier Panis and Juan Pablo Montoya among its champions before the category was replaced by GP2 in 2005.
But several prominent drivers, among them winners in F1, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indianapolis 500, also learned their craft in the category without quite ascending the top of the pile.
