F1 Racing's launch was the culmination of a year of preparation by UK publishers Haymarket. The magazine's genesis was inspired by the sport's peak in popularity following the death of Ayrton Senna, and high-profile rivalry between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. Haymarket's weekly Autosport and Motorsport News titles supplied a pool of talented writers and their contacts: with the weekly market well served, F1 Racing would be more feature-based and former Autosport writer Mike Herd was appointed editor. Two business decisions in particular made the new title feasible: Haymarket's focus on agreeing annual (rather than monthly or ad-hoc) deals with advertisers, and its publication of a German edition to capitalise upon Schumacher's popularity. A private 'dummy' test issue was produced in November 1995, dubbed 'Issue Zero', before the first issue proper was published to coincide with the beginning of the 1996 season.