Distinction between Formula One and World Championship races

Currently the terms "Formula One race" and "World Championship race" are effectively synonymous; since 1984, every Formula One race has counted towards the World Championship, and every World Championship race has been to Formula One regulations. But the two terms are not interchangeable. Consider that:

• the first Formula One race was held in 1947, whereas the World Championship did not start until 1950.
• in the 1950s and 1960s there were many Formula One races which did not count for the World Championship (e.g., in 1950, a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship). The number of non-championship Formula One events decreased throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where the last non-championship Formula One race was held in 1983.
• the World Championship was not always exclusively composed of Formula One events:
  • The World Championship was originally established as the "World Championship for Drivers", i.e., without the term "Formula One" in the title. It only officially became the Formula One World Championship in 1981.
  • From 1950 to 1960, the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the World Championship. This race was run to AAA/USAC regulations, rather than to Formula One regulations. Only one of the world championship regulars, Alberto Ascari in 1952, competed at Indianapolis during this period.
  • From 1952 to 1953, all races counting towards the World Championship (except the Indianapolis 500) were run to Formula Two regulations. Note that Formula One was not "changed to Formula Two" during this period; the Formula One regulations remained the same, and numerous Formula One races were staged during this time.

The distinction is most relevant when considering career summaries and "all time lists". For example, in the List of Formula One drivers, Clemente Biondetti is shown with 1 race against his name. Biondetti actually competed in four Formula One races in 1950, but only one of these counted for the World Championship. Similarly, several Indy 500 winners technically won their first world championship race, though most record books choose to ignore this and instead only record regular participants.

Television

Formula One can be seen live or tape delayed in almost every country and territory around the world and attracts one of the largest global television audiences. The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix attracted an average live global TV audience of eighty-three million viewers, with a total of 154 million viewers tuning in to watch at least some part of the event. Official figures from FOM for 2006 that state Formula One television broadcasts were witnessed by 580 million unique viewers during the 2005 season and average viewing figures for 1995–1999 were 50 billion. It is a massive television event; the cumulative television audience was calculated to be 54 billion for 2001 season, broadcast to two hundred countries.

In 2005, the Canadian Grand Prix in Montréal was the most watched of the races, and the third most watched sporting event in the world.

During the early 2000s, Formula One Administration created a number of trademarks, an official logo, and an official website for the sport in an attempt to give it a corporate identity. Ecclestone experimented with a digital television package (known colloquially as Bernievision), which was launched at the 1996 German Grand Prix in cooperation with German digital television service "DF1", thirty years after the first GP colour TV broadcast, the 1967 German Grand Prix. This service offered the viewer several simultaneous feeds (such as super signal, onboard, top of field, backfield, highlights, pit lane, timing), which were produced with cameras, technical equipment and staff different from those used for the conventional coverage. It was introduced in many countries over the years, but was shut down after the 2002 season for financial reasons.

TV stations all take what is known as the 'World Feed', either produced by the FOM (Formula One Management) or the 'host broadcaster'. The only station that has any difference is 'Premiere'—a German channel that offers all sessions live and interactive, with features such as the onboard channel. This service was more widely available around Europe until the end of 2002, when the cost of a whole different feed for the digital interactive services was thought too much. This was in large part because of the failure of the 'F1 Digital +' Channel launched through Sky Digital in the United Kingdom. Prices were too high for viewers, considering they could watch both the qualifying and the races themselves free on ITV.

Bernie Ecclestone had announced that F1 will adopt the HD format near the end of the 2007 season. However, details of the races to be covered and the means of showing the content have yet to be announced. Also it was announced early in 2008 that the BBC would be broadcasting F1 for five years including the return of iconic theme tune The Chain by Fleetwood Mac , starting in 2009, regaining the rights from ITV who had been broadcasting it since they got the rights in 1997. However, on 31 December 2008, Roger Mosey, Director of BBC Sport announced that F1 would not be broadcast on BBC HD because "no HD world feed is available".

Future

Formula One went through a difficult period in the early 2000s. Viewing figures dropped, and fans expressed their loss of interest due to the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari. Viewing figures are seeing some signs of recovery due to the varied seasons since 2005. Ferrari's and Schumacher's 5 year domination ended in 2005 as Renault became the top team in Formula One, with Fernando Alonso becoming the new (and youngest ever at the time) World Champion. There has since been a resurgence of interest in the sport, especially in Alonso's home country of Spain, and Lewis Hamilton's home country of Great Britain. In 2006, twenty-two teams applied for the final twelfth team spot available for the 2008 season. The spot was eventually awarded to former B.A.R. and Benetton team principal David Richards' Prodrive organization, but the team pulled out of the 2008 season in November 2007.

A sign displaying that the safety car (SC) is deployed. Safety is of paramount concern in contemporary F1.

The FIA is responsible for making rules to combat the spiralling costs of Formula One racing (which affects the smaller teams the most) and for ensuring the sport remains as safe as possible, especially in the wake of the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in 1994. To this end the FIA have instituted a number of rule changes, including new tyre restrictions, multi-race engines and reductions on downforce. Safety and cost have traditionally been paramount in all rule-change discussions. More recently the FIA has added efficiency to its priorities. Currently the FIA and manufacturers are discussing adding bio-fuel engines and regenerative braking for the 2011 season. FIA President Max Mosley believes F1 must focus on efficiency to stay technologically relevant in the automotive industry as well as keep the public excited about F1 technology.

After being banned since 1998, slick tyres will return to Formula One racing in 2009.

In the interest of making the sport truer to its role as a World Championship, FOM president Bernie Ecclestone has initiated and organised a number of Grands Prix in new countries and continues to discuss new future races. The sport's rapid expansion into new areas of the globe also leaves some question as to which races will be cut.

Cars and technology

A birdseye view of the rear of a 2006 McLaren MP4-21.

Modern Formula One cars are mid-engined open cockpit, open wheel single-seaters. The chassis is made largely of carbon fibre composites, rendering it light but extremely stiff and strong. The whole car, including engine, fluids and driver, weighs only 605 kg—the minimum weight set by the regulations. The construction of the cars is typically lighter than the minimum and so they are ballasted up to the minimum weight. The race teams take advantage of this by placing this ballast at the extreme bottom of the chassis, thereby locating the centre of gravity as low as possible in order to improve handling and weight transfer.

The cornering speed of Formula One cars is largely determined by the aerodynamic downforce that they generate, which pushes the car down onto the track. This is provided by 'wings' mounted at the front and rear of the vehicle, and by ground effect created by low pressure air under the flat bottom of the car. The aerodynamic design of the cars is very heavily constrained to limit performance and the current generation of cars sport a large number of small winglets, 'barge boards' and turning vanes designed to closely control the flow of the air over, under and around the car.

The other major factor controlling the cornering speed of the cars is the design of the tyres. Since 1998, tyres in Formula One have not been 'slicks' (tyres with no tread pattern) as in most other circuit racing series. Instead, each tyre has four large circumferential grooves on its surface designed to limit the cornering speed of the cars. Slick tyres will return to Formula One in the 2009 season. Suspension is double wishbone or multilink all round with pushrod operated springs and dampers on the chassis. Carbon-Carbon disc brakes are used for reduced weight and increased frictional performance. These provide a very high level of braking performance and are usually the element which provokes the greatest reaction from drivers new to the formula.

Engines must be 2.4 litre naturally aspirated V8s, with many other constraints on their design and the materials that may be used. Engines run on unleaded fuel closely resembling publicly available petrol. The oil which lubricates and protects the engine from overheating is very similar in viscosity to water. The 2006 generation of engines spun up to 20,000 RPM and produced up to 780 bhp (580 kW). For 2007 engines were restricted to 19,000 RPM with limited development areas allowed, following the engine specification freeze from the end of 2006.

A wide variety of technologies–including active suspension, ground effect and turbochargers–are banned under the current regulations. Despite this the current generation of cars can reach speeds of up to 350 km/h (220 mph) at some circuits. A Honda Formula One car, running with minimum downforce on a runway in the Mojave desert achieved a top speed of 415 km/h (258 mph) in 2006. According to Honda the car fully met the FIA Formula One regulations. Even with the limitations on aerodynamics, at 160 km/h (99 mph) aerodynamically generated downforce is equal to the weight of the car and the often repeated claim that Formula One cars create enough downforce to 'drive on the ceiling' remains possible in principle, although it has never been put to the test. At full speed, downforce of two and a half times the car's weight can be achieved. The downforce means that the cars can achieve a lateral force with a magnitude of up to five times that of the force of gravity (5g) in cornering–a high-performance road car like the Ferrari Enzo only achieves around 1g.Consequently in corners the driver's head is pulled sideways with a force equivalent to the weight of 20 kg. Such high lateral forces are enough to make breathing difficult and the drivers need supreme concentration and fitness to maintain their focus for the one to two hours that it takes to complete the race.

Circuits

Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, home to the Italian Grand Prix, is one of the oldest circuits still in use in Formula One.

Countries in red have hosted the Formula One Grand Prix in the past, countries in green are 2008 hosts, and countries in yellow will host in the near future.

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 teams 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, although in most cases the circuit runs in a clockwise direction. Those few circuits that run anticlockwise (and therefore have predominantly left-handed corners) can cause drivers neck problems due to the enormous lateral forces generated by F1 cars pulling their heads in the opposite direction to normal.

Most of the circuits currently in use are specially constructed for competition. The current street circuits are Monaco, Melbourne, Valencia, and Singapore, although races in other urban locations come and go (Las Vegas and Detroit, for example) and proposals for such races are often discussed–most recently London and Paris. Several other circuits are also completely or partially laid out on public roads, such as Spa-Francorchamps. The glamour and history of the Monaco race are the primary reasons why the circuit is still in use, since it is thought not to meet the strict safety requirements imposed on other tracks. Three-time World champion Nelson Piquet famously described racing in Monaco as "like riding a bicycle around your living room"

Circuit design to protect the safety of drivers is becoming increasingly sophisticated, as exemplified by the new Bahrain International Circuit, added in 2004 and designed–like most of F1's new circuits–by Hermann Tilke. Several of the new circuits in F1, especially those designed by Tilke, have been criticised as lacking the "flow" of such classics as Spa-Francorchamps and Imola. His redesign of the Hockenheim circuit in Germany for example, while providing more capacity for grandstands and eliminating extremely long and dangerous straights, has been frowned upon by many who argue that part of the character of the Hockenheim circuits was the long and blinding straights into dark forest sections. These newer circuits, however, are generally agreed to meet the safety standards of modern Formula One better than the older ones.

The most recent addition to the F1 calendar is Valencia and Singapore (which hosted the first night race in F1 history). Also Abu Dhabi has been confirmed as the last race for the 2009 season and a Formula 1 Grand Prix will be held in India for the first time in 2010. The races in Canada and France will not be part of the calendar as of 2009

Grand Prix

Cars wind through the infield section of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

The number of Grands Prix held in a season has varied over the years. Only seven races comprised the inaugural 1950 world championship season; over the years the calendar has almost tripled in size. Though the number of races had stayed at sixteen or seventeen since the 1980s, it reached nineteen in 2005.

Six of the original seven races took place in Europe; the only non-European race that counted towards the World Championship in 1950 was the Indianapolis 500, which, due to lack of participation by F1 teams, since it required cars with different specifications from the other races, was later replaced by the United States Grand Prix. The F1 championship gradually expanded to other non-European countries as well. Argentina hosted the first South American grand prix in 1953, and Morocco hosted the first African World Championship race in 1958. Asia (Japan in 1976) and Oceania (Australia in 1985) followed. The current eighteen races are spread over the continents of Europe, Asia, Oceania, 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 in a year they receive different names. For instance, a European country (such as Britain, Germany or Spain) which has hosted two Grands Prix has the second one known as the European Grand Prix, while Italy's second grand prix was named after nearby republic of San Marino. Similarly, as two races were scheduled in Japan in 1994/1995, the second event was known as the Pacific Grand Prix. In 1982, the United States hosted three Grands Prix.

The Grands Prix, some of which have a history that pre-dates the Formula One World Championship, are not always held on the same circuit every year. The British Grand Prix, for example, though held every year since 1950, alternated between Brands Hatch and Silverstone from 1963 to 1986. The only other race to have been included in every season is the Italian Grand Prix. The World Championship event has taken place exclusively at Monza with just one exception: in 1980, it was held at Imola, host to the San Marino Grand Prix until 2006.

One of the newest races on the Grand Prix calendar, held in Bahrain, represents Formula One's first foray into the Middle East with a high-tech purpose-built desert track. The Bahrain Grand Prix, and other new races in China and Turkey, present new opportunities for the growth and evolution of the Formula One Grand Prix franchise while new facilities also raise the bar for other Formula One racing venues around the world. In order to make room on the schedule for the newer races, older or less successful events in Europe and the Americas have been dropped from the calendar, such as these in Argentina, Austria, Mexico, San Marino, and the United States.

In 2007 it was confirmed that new Grands Prix would be added to the calendar. The first was the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008, which had the honour of the first night race ever held in Formula One. The second was the Indian Grand Prix which will be held in Delhi, India. Other changes included the removal of the United States Grand Prix from the calendar, and the move of the European Grand Prix to Valencia, Spain.

Drivers

The Formula One Drivers' Trophy.

Each driver is assigned a number. The previous season's champion is designated number 1, with his team-mate given number 2. Numbers are then assigned in order according to each team's position in the previous season's constructors' championship. The number 13 is not used.

There have been exceptions to this rule, such as in 1993 and 1994, when the current World Drivers' Champion (Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, respectively) was no longer competing in Formula One. In this case the drivers for the team of the previous year's champion are given numbers 0 (Damon Hill, on both occasions) and 2 (Prost himself and Ayrton Senna—replaced after his death by David Coulthard and occasionally Nigel Mansell–respectively). The number 13 has not been used since 1976, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organisers. Before 1996, only the world championship winning driver and his team generally swapped numbers with the previous champion–the remainder held their numbers from prior years, as they had been originally set at the start of the 1974 season. For many years, for example, Ferrari held numbers 27 and 28, regardless of their finishing position in the world championship.

Michael Schumacher holds the record for having won the most Drivers' Championships, with seven. Jochen Rindt became the only posthumous World Champion after a fatal accident at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.

Feeder series

GP2 is the current main feeder series for F1.

For the most part F1 drivers start in Karting and then come up through traditional European single seater series like Formula Ford, Formula Renault, Formula 3, and finally GP2. The GP2 series started in 2005 and all three champions have gone on to race in F1. Before GP2, Formula Two and then Formula 3000 had filled the role of the last major "stepping stone" into F1. 2006 GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton became the first F2, F3000 or GP2 champion to win the Formula One driver's title in 2008.^[39] Drivers are not required to have competed at this level before entering Formula One. British F3 has long been considered one of the best places to spot F1 talent, with champions including Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen having moved straight from that series to Formula One. Again, though, it is possible to be picked earlier, as was the case with Kimi Räikkönen, who went straight from Formula Renault to an F1 drive.

American Championship Car Racing has also contributed to the Formula One grid. Champions Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve, as well as Michael Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Cristiano da Matta and Sébastien Bourdais have all moved to F1 from America, with varying degrees of success. Alessandro Zanardi raced in Formula 1 from 1991 to 1994, entering 27 races with little success, but his successful career in CART, winning the championship in 1997 and 1998, gave him the opportunity to return to Formula 1 in 1999. However, he failed to score a single point during the season.

Other drivers have taken different paths to F1; Damon Hill raced motorbikes, and Michael Schumacher raced in sports cars, albeit after climbing through the junior single seater ranks. To race, however, the driver must hold an FIA Super Licence–ensuring that the driver has the requisite skills, and will not therefore be a danger to others. Some drivers haven't had the license when first signed to a F1 team. Kimi Räikkönen received the license despite having only 23 car races to his credit.

Beyond F1

The DTM has become a popular destination for retired F1 drivers.

Some former F1 drivers have moved to NASCAR.

Most F1 drivers retire before their mid-30s; however, many keep racing in disciplines which are less physically demanding. The German touring car championship, the DTM, is a popular category involving ex-drivers such as two-times F1 champion Mika Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher and Jean Alesi, and some F1 drivers have left to race in America–Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi duelled for the 1993 IndyCar title, and Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Speed and Jacques Villeneuve have moved to NASCAR. Some drivers have gone to A1GP (Narain Karthikeyan), and some, such as Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, returned to F1 as team owners. A series for former Formula One drivers, called Grand Prix Masters, ran briefly in 2005 and 2006.^[40] Others have become pundits for TV coverage such as Martin Brundle for ITV and Jean Alesi for Italian national network RAI and David Coulthard for the BBC. Others, such as Damon Hill and Jackie Stewart take active roles in motorsport in their own countries.

2009 Calendar

Round	Predicted Race Title	Grand Prix	Circuit	City / Location	Date	Time
						Local	UTC
1	ING Australian Grand Prix	Australian GP	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne, Victoria	29 March	17:00	06:00
2	Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix	Malaysian GP	Sepang International Circuit	Kuala Lumpur	5 April	17:00	09:00
3	Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix	Chinese GP	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	19 April	15:00	07:00
4	Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain GP	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir, Manama	26 April	14:30	11:30
5	Gran Premio de España Telefónica	Spanish GP	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona	10 May	14:00	12:00
6	Grand Prix de Monaco	Monaco GP	Circuit de Monaco	Monte Carlo	24 May	14:00	12:00
7	ING Turkish Grand Prix	Turkish GP	Istanbul Park	Istanbul	7 June	15:00	12:00
8	Santander British Grand Prix	British GP	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone	21 June	13:00	12:00
9	Großer Preis von Deutschland	German GP*	Nürburgring	Nürburg	12 July	14:00	12:00
10	Magyar Nagydij	Hungarian GP	Hungaroring	Budapest	26 July	14:00	12:00
11	Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe	European GP	Valencia Street Circuit	Valencia	23 August	14:00	12:00
12	ING Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian GP	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Spa	30 August	14:00	12:00
13	Gran Premio Santander d'Italia	Italian GP	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Monza	13 September	14:00	12:00
14	SingTel Singapore Grand Prix†	Singapore GP	Marina Bay Street Circuit	Singapore	27 September	20:00[41]	12:00
15	Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix	Japanese GP	Suzuka Circuit	Suzuka	4 October	15:00[41]	06:00
16	Grande Prêmio do Brasil	Brazilian GP	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	São Paulo	18 October	14:00	16:00
17	Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Abu Dhabi GP (United Arab Emirates)	Yas Marina Circuit‡	Abu Dhabi	1 November	14:00	10:00

† Night Race
‡ New Circuit
* As was the practice in 2007, if an agreement cannot be reached over the naming rights, then the Grand Prix held at Nürburgring will likely be named something other than the "German Grand Prix" - as the Hockenheimring currently holds all naming rights for the "German Grand Prix". The last Grands Prix to be held at the Nürburgring that were not named the European Grand Prix were held in 1997 and 1998, under the name Luxembourg Grand Prix. However, while currently the name "European Grand Prix" is reserved for the Valencia Street Circuit this could be changed to the "Mediterranean Grand Prix."