 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Articles related to Formula One: |
|
History of Formula One |
|
Lists: |
Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seater (open-wheel) auto racing; it is a worldwide sport, and involves an annual World Drivers Championship and World Constructors Championship. Many regard it as the pinnacle of auto racing; it is the most expensive sport in the world, as average annual team budgets are in the hundreds of millions of US dollars. It is based around a series of races (18 in 2004), known as grands prix, on custom-constructed road courses or closed-off street circuits.
The sport has traditionally been centred in Europe, which undoubtedly remains its leading market, but races have also been held in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. New races in Bahrain, Malaysia, China and one planned in Turkey have reinforced the sport's "worldwide" image.
The sport is regulated by the FIA, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, and is generally promoted and controlled by Bernie Ecclestone.
Main Article: History of Formula One
See Grand Prix motor racing for history before 1950.
Historically, the Formula One series evolved from pre-war European Grand Prix motor racing of the 1920s and 1930s. A number of European racing organizations laid out rules for a World Championship before World War II, but due to the suspension of racing during the war, the drivers championship was not formalized until 1950; a championship for constructors followed in 1958. Non-championship Formula One races were held for many years around the world, but due to rising costs and sinking interest, the last of these ended in the early 1980s.
Giuseppe Farina won the first World Championship event, the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and went on to win the first World Championship in his Alfa Romeo, barely beating team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio. Fangio did win the title in 1951; Alberto Ascari won the next two championships in Ferrari cars, but Fangio then won four consecutive championships, 1954 through 1957. Though Stirling Moss was able to compete with him regularly, Fangio is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade.
The first major technological development, Cooper's introduction of mid-engined cars, also occurred in the 1950s; Jack Brabham, champion in 1959 and 1960, soon proved the new design's superiority; it quickly and permanently replaced the front-mounted engine model.
The first British World Champion was Mike Hawthorn, who drove a Ferrari to the title in 1958; however, when Colin Chapman entered F1 as a chassis designer and later founder of Lotus, British racing green came to dominate the field for the next decade. Between Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, and Denny Hulme, British teams and drivers won twelve world championships between 1962 and 1973.
In 1962, the Lotus team ran the Lotus 25 with an aluminium sheet chassis called a monocoque instead of tubular chassis. It proved to be the next major technological breakthrough since the introduction of rear-engined cars.
In 1968, Lotus introduced sponsorship to the sport in the form of a Gold Leaf (an Imperial Tobacco brand) livery painted on their cars. Sponsorship has since become the biggest source of income by far for teams. Since this era the cigarettes-manufacturers remains a major financial resource for Formula One.
Aerodynamic downforce had slowly gained importance in car design since the appearance of aerofoils in the late 1960s. In the late 1970s Lotus introduced ground effect aerodynamics that provided enormous downforce and greatly increased cornering speeds; much to Colin Chapman's dismay, they were promptly banned in 1983.
The 1980s was an era of turbocharged-engined cars that developed upwards of 1000 horsepower (750 kW). These cars were and still are the most powerful circuit racing cars of all time, but to reduce speeds, fuel tank capacity and boost pressures were limited before turbochargers were finally banned in 1989.
In the early 1990s, teams began to introduce electronic driver aids such as power steering, traction control, and semi-automatic gearboxes. Some of these were borrowed from contemporary road cars; some, like active suspension, were primarily developed for the track and later made their way to the showroom. The FIA, due to complaints that technology was determining the outcome of races more than driver skill, banned many such aids 1994. Williams were the most successful team during the mid 1990s with Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve driving their Renault powered cars to world championships, although Michael Schumacher did win two championships with Benetton during this period. When Williams lost their Renault engines in 1998, McLaren became the leading team winning a constructors championship whilst driver Mika Hakkinen won two championships. The early 2000s have been dominated Michael Schumacher and a resurgent Ferrari, whilst several driver aids returned due in part to rumours that teams were able to evade the restrictions.
Since 1984, three teams have dominated the championships: McLaren, Williams, and Ferrari, who have provided the vehicles for all but two of the World Champions for that period. Due to the vast technological advances of the 1990s, the cost to compete in Formula One has risen exponentially. The increased financial burden, combined with the dominance of three teams, has caused the less wealthy independent teams to struggle, not only to remain competitive, but also to stay financially stable; financial troubles forced several teams, such as Prost and Arrows, to withdraw from competition during the 1990s.
As of 2004, ten teams remain on the grid, and though teams rarely disclose information about their budgets, it is estimated that they average in the hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.
Main Article: Formula One cars
Modern F1 cars are single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel, race cars. They must be constructed by the racing teams themselves and be powered by a 3.0-litre, ten-cylinder naturally aspirated engine. Estimates put the best engines at or about 900 bhp at 19,000 rpm. Transmissions are mostly 7-speed and may be manually controlled (i.e. the driver must signal a gear change); however, the clutch, throttle control, and actual gear change are handled electronically.
The cars rely heavily on aerodynamics, using large front and rear wings to create about twice as much downforce as weight; thus in theory an F1 car could easily drive sideways or upside down. They are constructed of ultra-lightweight carbon fibre and use a finely-tuned blend of fuels which rather closely approximate normal gasoline. They use grooved tires made of highly-engineered compounds built for maximum grip and very short lifespan.
Main Article: Formula One racing
A Formula One grand prix event takes an entire weekend, beginning with free practice on Friday. Two qualifying sessions take place on Saturday, during which each driver sets a timed "flying lap" on the empty track. The first session determines the order of qualifying in the second session, which in turn determines each driver's starting position on the grid for the race itself, which takes place on Sunday afternoon. Each team is allotted two entries and though in the past it was common for slower cars to receive a "DNQ" designation (Did Not Qualify), teams can no longer risk the cost of showing up without racing; thus all cars who participate in qualifying take part in the race. The teams may not change anything to the car between qualifying and race. The drivers have to qualify with the same tyres, setup and amount of fuel as they start in the race.
The race begins with a warm-up "parade lap," after which the cars are assembled on the starting grid in the order they qualified. They are then started by a light system above the track. Races are a little over 300 kilometres (180 miles) long and are limited to two hours.
Points are awarded to the top eight drivers in each race and their respective teams. The winner of the annual championship is the driver (or team, for the constructor's championship) with the most points at the end of the season.
See List of Formula One constructors for a full list of teams. See List of Formula One drivers for a list of all drivers who have competed in Formula One. See List of Formula One World Champions for a complete list of champions.
A distinguishing aspect of Formula One is that the teams themselves build the cars in which they compete, unlike such "spec series" as IRL and NASCAR; consequently the terms "team" and "constructor" are interchangeable. F1's 1950 debut season saw eighteen teams compete, but due to rising costs many dropped out quickly. Ferrari is the only still-active team which competed in 1950, and during the 2004 season only ten teams remained on the grid, each fielding two cars.
The FIA has awarded the Formula One World Drivers Championship annually since 1950 and the Formula One World Constructors Championship annually since 1958. German driver Michael Schumacher holds the record for having won the most Drivers' Championships (seven) and Ferrari holds the record for having won the most Constructors' Championships (fourteen). Jochen Rindt has the distinction of having been the only posthumous World Champion.
Each car is assigned a number. The previous season's World Drivers Champion is given the number 1, with his team mate given the number 2. Numbers are then assigned according to each team's position in the previous season's World Constructors Championship. The number 13 has not been used since 1974, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organizers.
See List of Formula One Grands Prix for a full list of World Championship events.
The number of Grands Prix held in a season has varied over the years. Only seven races comprised the inaugural 1950 season; over the years the calendar has more than doubled in size. Though the number of races stayed at sixteen or seventeen since the 1980s, it peaked at eighteen in 2004.
Six of the original seven races took place in Europe; the only non-European race in 1950 was the Indianapolis 500, which, though meant to attract American drivers, was not a success. Very few American drivers competed in European races and equally few European drivers drove at the Indy 500; consequently a separate US Grand Prix began in 1961, held at Watkins Glen. The F1 championship gradually expanded to other non-European countries as well. Argentina was the first South American Grand Prix host in 1953, and Morocco had the first African World Championship race in 1958. Asia (Japan, 1976) and Oceania (Australia, 1985) followed as well. The current eighteen races are spread over the continents of Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, and South America.
Traditionally, each nation has hosted a single grand prix which carries the name of the country. If a single country hosts multiple grands prix, they receive different names; for example, Germany, Spain and Britain have at various times held a second race known as the European Grand Prix.
The grands prix, some of which have a history that predates the Formula One World Championship, are not always held on the same circuit every year. The British Grand Prix, for example, switched between Brands Hatch and Silverstone from 1963 to 1986. The only race to have been included in every World Championship season is the Italian Grand Prix; it has occurred at Monza, except when it was at Imola in 1980.
See List of Formula One circuits for a list of all circuits used.
Most of the currently-used circuits are specially constructed for competition. The only real street circuit is the Circuit de Monaco, used for the Monaco Grand Prix. Some of the other circuits are also completely or partially laid out on public roads, such as those of Spa-Francorchamps or Montréal. The glamour of the Monaco GP remains the most important reason the circuit is still in use, since it does not meet the strict safety requirements imposed on other tracks. World champion Nelson Piquet famously described racing in Monaco as "flying with a helicopter in your living room."
After the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the 1994 season, the FIA mandated higher safety standards; modern Formula One circuits feature gravel traps and tyre barriers to reduce risk of injury in crashes.
A typical circuit usually features a stretch of straight road on which the starting grid is situated. The pit lane, where the drivers stop for fuel and tyres during the race, and where the constructors work on the cars before the race, is normally located next to the starting grid. The layout of the rest of the circuit varies widely. Some of the curves on circuits have become well-known on their own, such as the high-speed Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps.
Main Article: List of Formula One people
Formula One has been called the soap opera of the sports world: the exotic locations, vast quantities of money, and famous faces involved in the "F1 circus" lend the sport an aura of glamour entirely absent from most other world sports. Among the notable names in F1 history:
In 2004, of the ten teams, four were subsidiaries of major car companies (Ferrari, Renault, Jaguar, and Toyota) and one was a division of a tobacco company (BAR). Williams and McLaren, both privately-owned teams, had engine-production agreements with major car companies, BMW and Mercedes-Benz respectively, and Honda produced engines for BAR. The final three teams, Jordan, Sauber and Minardi, were also privately owned but received little substantial sponsorship, and consequently tended to end up toward the back of the grid. Sauber was privately owned, but recieved Ferrari engines under the Petronas name, and also received sponsorship from Petronas.
From the 2004 season onward, all teams who did not finish in the top four of the previous year's World Constructors Championship were allowed to run a third car on the Friday before a grand prix for testing purposes. Other teams have test drivers as well, though they are not allowed to compete in Friday practice; Sauber chose not to run its third driver in practice because of its expense.
The following teams and drivers competed or tested in the 2004 Formula One World Championship:
Formula One went through a tough time in its history through 2003. Viewing figures dropped, and many fans simply switched off. This has largely been attributed to Ferrari's dominance of the 2002 season.
Other factors however include the use of driver aids supposedly taking the skill away from the driver and putting it in the hands of the mechanics. Furthermore, many of the smaller teams such as Minardi and Jordan struggle to keep up with the high cost of the sport. For this reason many rule changes have been proposed for the future.
The two key areas which determine changes to the rules of Formula One are safety and cost-cutting. The announcement that even a huge company such as Ford is pulling out of Formula One is seen as evidence of the need to cut the cost of running a Formula One team.
Many would also like to see drivers demonstrate more skill on the track. Some believe that it would be silly to have road cars which are more technically advanced than Formula One cars. However, most now agree that getting rid of electronic driver aids would a good way to increase the excitement of Formula One.
Max Mosley, the head of the FIA has come up with ideas for reducing the cost, danger and technicality of the sport. New regulations and rules proposed for the future include:
Team bosses and FIA President Max Mosley met in Monaco on May 4, 2004 to discuss the proposed changes; the bosses unanimously approved the plan, effective in 2008. Paradoxically, rather than reducing costs, these new rules may actually lead to an increase in costs, as the bigger teams pour huge amounts of money into research in order to get the most out of the new regulations. This leads the smaller teams to be in an even worse position than before.
There is always talk about changing the format of Qualifying. The 'one lap' format (whereby each driver has one lap on an empty track to set his qualifying time) is now seen as boring. All sorts of proposals have been suggested, but for a change to take place unanimous agreement between team bosses is required and this has not yet happened. A new system of two twenty minute-long sessions where drivers had to set a time with other cars on the track, with the aggregate of the two qualifying times determining the grid order, was due to be introduced for the 2004 British Grand Prix. However, once again, team bosses could not agree.
It has also been suggested that more Grands Prix could be run on street circuits. In the week of the 2004 British Grand Prix, a Formula One demonstration was held on a short street circuit in central London. A proposed circuit for a London Grand Prix was published, with the starting grid on The Mall facing Buckingham Palace and a complex corner at Hyde Park Corner. Such a move would have two major effects. Firstly, by including numerous famous landmarks it makes the courses more visually stimulating. Secondly, it would broaden the range of skills demanded of Formula One drivers, shaking the domination of drivers who have perfected the art of track driving. Safety, of drivers and of historic landmarks on the circuits, remains a tricky issue.
Due to Ford's decision to pull out of Formula One, the future for three teams looks uncertain. The Jaguar team has been put up for sale. Meanwhile, both Jordan and Minardi relied on Ford Cosworth engines. However, it is said that there is a large amount of interest in the sale of Jaguar, and Minardi boss Paul Stoddart believes that the team has the resources to run its own engine division.
There can be a minimum of 20 cars entering each Formula One race. Therefore, if one or more of these teams were to disappear, there is the possibility of some teams being forced to enter three cars per race.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
