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Formula One

Fernando Alonso qualifying for the 2005 US GP in a Renault. Both driver and team are reigning World Champions in their respective categories for the 2006 Formula One season.

Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seat open-wheel formula auto racing. The "formula" in the name is a set of rules which all participants and cars must meet. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held in most cases on purpose-built circuits, in a few cases on closed city streets, whose results determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors. The cars race at speeds often in excess of 320 km/h (200 mph). The cars must meet a number of specifications, designed amongst other things to restrict maximum speeds in the interests of safety. For 2006[1] engines were reduced to normally-aspirated V8s with a displacement (capacity) of 2.4 litres (providing around 750 bhp at nearly 20,000 rpm). The rules place special emphasis on electronics, aerodynamics, suspension and tyres. The formula has seen many evolutions and changes through the history of the sport: engines have ranged from normally-aspirated straight-4 engines to supercharged V12 engines, displacements have ranged from 1.5 litres to 4.5 litres, and the maximum power achieved in the history of the series has been around 1200 bhp, during the turbo era.

Europe is Formula One's traditional centre and remains its leading market; however, Grands Prix have been held all over the world, and with new races in Bahrain, China, Malaysia and Turkey, its scope is continually expanding. As the world's most expensive sport, its economic impact is significant, and its financial and political battles are widely observed. Its high profile and popularity makes it an obvious merchandising environment which leads to very high investments from sponsors translating into extremely high monetary budgets for the constructor teams, however, in recent years several teams have gone bankrupt.

The sport is regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, with its headquarters in Place de la Concorde, Paris. Its President is Max Mosley. Formula One's commercial rights are vested in the Formula One Group, now owned by Alpha Prema. Although now a minority shareholder, the sport is still generally promoted and controlled by Bernie Ecclestone.

History

The Formula One series has its roots in the European Grand Prix motor racing (q.v. for pre-1947 history) of the 1920s and 1930s. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations laid out rules for a World Championship before World War II, but due to the suspension of racing during the war, the World Drivers Championship was not formalised until 1947, and was first run in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958. National championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One races were held for many years but due to the rising cost of competition, the last of these occurred in 1983.

The sport's title, Formula One, indicates that it is intended to be the most advanced and most competitive of the many racing formulae.

Formative years

Juan Manuel Fangio drove this Alfa-Romeo 159 to the title in 1951.

The inaugural Formula One World Championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, barely defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951 and four more in the next six years, his streak interrupted by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari. Though Britain's Stirling Moss was able to compete regularly, he was never able to win the World Championship. Fangio is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade and has long been considered the "grand master" of Formula One.

The first major technological development, Cooper's re-introduction of mid-engined cars (following Porsche's pioneering and all-conquering Auto Unions of the 1930s), which evolved from the company's successful Formula 3 designs, occurred in the 1950s. Jack Brabham, champion in 1959 and 1960, soon proved the new design's superiority. By 1961, all competitors had switched to mid-engined cars.

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 Commonwealth drivers won twelve world championships between 1962 and 1973.

In 1962, Lotus introduced a car with an aluminium sheet monocoque chassis instead of the traditional spaceframe design. This proved to be the greatest technological breakthrough since the introduction of mid-engined cars. In 1968, Lotus painted Imperial Tobacco livery on their cars, thus introducing sponsorship to the sport.

Aerodynamic downforce slowly gained importance in car design from 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 (though the concept had previously been tested by Jim Hall's Chaparral IndyCar team in the 1960s).

The formation of the Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile in 1979 set off the FISA-FOCA War, during which FISA and its president Jean Marie Balestre clashed repeatedly with the Formula One Constructors Association over television profits and technical regulations.

Rise in popularity

1981 saw the signing of the first Concorde Agreement, a contract which bound the teams to compete until its expiration and assured them a share of the profits from the sale of television rights, bringing an end to the FISA-FOCA War and contributing to Bernie Ecclestone's eventual complete financial control of the sport, after much negotiation.

The FIA imposed a ban on ground effect aerodynamics in 1983. By then, however, turbocharged engines, which Renault had pioneered in 1977, were producing over 700 bhp (520 kW) and were essential to be competitive. In later years, notably 1987, the Formula One turbo cars produced in excess of 1,000 bhp in racing trim (and perhaps as much as 1,250 bhp in qualifying trim). These cars were the most powerful open-wheel circuit racing cars ever. To reduce engine power output and thus speeds, the FIA limited fuel tank capacity in 1984 and boost pressures in 1988 before banning turbocharged engines in 1989.

In the early 1990s, teams started introducing electronic driver aids such as active suspension, semi-automatic gearboxes and traction control. Some 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 in 1994. However, many observers felt that the ban on driver aids was a ban in name only as the FIA did not have the technology or the methods to eliminate these features from competition.

The teams signed a second Concorde Agreement in 1992 and a third in 1997, which is due to expire on the last day of 2007.

On the track, the McLaren and Williams teams dominated the 1980s and 1990s. Honda and McLaren dominated much of the 1980s, whilst Renault-powered Williams drivers won several world championships in the mid 1990s, with a McLaren comeback in the late 1990s. The rivalry between racing legends Senna and Prost became F1's central focus in 1988, and continued until Prost retired at the end of 1993. Tragically, Ayrton Senna died in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix having taken over Prost's lead drive at Williams that year. The FIA vowed to improve the sport's safety standards; since that weekend, no driver has died on the track during a race.

Drivers from McLaren, Williams, Renault (formerly Benetton) and Ferrari, dubbed the "Big Four", have won every World Championship from 1984 to the present day. Due to the technological advances of the 1990s, the cost of competing in Formula One rose dramatically. This increased financial burden, combined with four teams' dominance (largely funded by big car manufacturers such as DaimlerChrysler), caused the poorer independent teams to struggle not only to remain competitive, but to stay in business. Financial troubles forced several teams to withdraw. Since 1990, 28 teams have pulled out of Formula One. This has prompted former Jordan owner Eddie Jordan to say that the days of competitive privateers are over.^[2]

Modern F1

Safety is of paramount concern in modern F1.

The official Formula One logo is part of the Formula One Administration's efforts to give F1 a corporate identity.

Many records were broken in the first few years of the 21st century by German Michael Schumacher and a resurgent Ferrari. Fernando Alonso became the youngest ever crowned champion in 2005. In 2001, Schumacher set the new record for the most Grands Prix ever won; the earlier record holder was Alain Prost, with 51 wins to his name. In 2002, Schumacher also set a new record by winning the championship earlier in the season than any previous driver by winning the French Grand Prix in July that year.^[3] In 2003, Schumacher won his sixth championship title, beating the earlier record-holder, Juan Manuel Fangio with five championships. His record in 2006 stood at 7 championships. In 2003 Fernando Alonso became the youngest ever pole sitter by qualifying first at Malaysia. Later that year he became the youngest ever winner of a Grand Prix when he took the chequered flag in Hungary.

Despite Ferrari's dominance, Kimi Räikkönen driving for McLaren had a theoretical chance of claiming the championship in 2003 right until the end of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya driving for Williams also came close in 2003. Ferrari's championship streak finally came to an end on September 25, 2005 when Fernando Alonso clinched the 2005 championship with a third place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix to become the youngest champion to date, replacing previous record holder Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil. Michael Schumacher had been world champion for more than 1,800 days.

In the rulebook, several driver aids returned due in part to developments that allowed teams to evade the FIA "restrictions". Meanwhile, several changes to the rules were made[4] with the intention of improving the on-track action and cutting ever-increasing costs. Most notably, the qualifying format changed several times between 2003 and 2006. Another new regulation made drivers start each race with the same level of fuel they had during qualifying, introducing a new tactical element to each team's strategy. Other new restrictions included one making it mandatory for each engine to last two races; a driver who had to have his engine replaced would be penalised by starting ten places lower than his actual qualifying position in the starting grid of the race. In 2005, drivers were not allowed to change tires during the race, unless the tires were dangerously worn. This rule was removed for the 2006 season. Slick tyres(tyres without treads) are required for the 2007 season.

The first few years of the 21st century in F1 also saw some controversies and scandals. At the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002, Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari who was leading the race, was ordered by Ferrari to allow Schumacher to overtake him under "team orders". The ensuing scandal saw Ferrari slapped with a fine by the FIA, who also banned any further use of team orders in the new rules and regulations. ^[5] In 2005, the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis saw only three out of ten teams race in a bizarre mishap when it turned out that the Michelin tyres for the other seven teams could not be safely used on the surface of the track, causing them to withdraw from the race ^[6] when the FIA refused a change for safety reasons, insisting on keeping to the letter of the regulations. Michelin has since announced that they will stop supplying tyres to F1 teams in 2007, sparking debate on whether this new system would make all F1 racing teams compete on a more equal ground.

During the early 2000s, Bernie Ecclestone's 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". Bernievision offered the viewer several simultaneous feeds (such as super signal, on-board, 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.

The year 2005 marked the end of the era of the 10-cylinder engines, in which both normally-aspirated and turbocharged engines were used in F1 cars for more than two decades. At the end the statistics show a raw supremacy of the Renault engines having clinched several championships as engine suppliers and their first ever Drivers and Constructors Championships in a 100% Renault car in 2005. Renault was innovative during this period producing out of the standard designs as the 111° 10 cylinder engine for the 2003 RS23. But not only Renault was successful, Ferrari and especially Honda enjoyed great success with multiple championships with several teams, most notable McLaren and by a lesser extent Williams with whom Honda engines reached the highest levels of power in F1 history in the late 80's exceeding, in some circumstances, the 1200 bhp limit in qualifying. Other Championship winning engines are those from Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche and Ford Cosworth.

Racing and strategy

Kimi Räikkönen drives his McLaren in anger during a practice session for the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.

A Formula One Grand Prix event spans an entire weekend, beginning with two free practices on Friday, and one free practice on Saturday. Third drivers are allowed to run on Fridays for teams that finished the preceding season in 5th place or lower. After these practice sessions, a qualifying session is held.

The format of this qualifying session has been through several iterations since 2003. Attempts were made to reinvigorate interest in the qualifying session by using a "one-shot" system in which each driver would take turns on an empty track to set their one and only time. This has been changed for 2006 with a new "knockout" system.

The qualifying session is divided up into three phases lasting fifteen, fifteen and twenty minutes respectively. In the first phase, all 22 cars take to the track, doing as many laps as they wish. Only their fastest time will be recorded. At the end of the phase, the slowest six cars are eliminated from the session and are assigned the back six slots on the starting grid. The second phase is the same, leaving only ten cars to battle it out in the final phase for the top ten grid slots. The drivers can do as many laps as they wish during qualifying. During the first two 15 minute qualifying sessions, drivers may run on any fuel load they wish. This allows drivers to produce their fastest times possible on very light loads. The cars that have been "knocked out" are allowed to refuel to any level before the start of the race, even completely if they choose. This gives the drivers at the back the option for the possible advantage of a longer or even one pit stop strategy.

The ten remaining cars must declare the amount of fuel that they plan to start the race before they begin the final 20 minute phase. They will be allowed to replace the amount of fuel used in this session using a 2.5 kilograms of fuel per lap equation as long as the lap times produced during the session comply with the 110% rule. This forces the drivers onto the track to burn off their fuel load before they are able to set their fastest times with a lighter car. The 110% rule states that any lap times produced by a driver in the final session must be within 110% of their fastest time or it will not be recognised for fuel replacement. This applies to the drivers using their personal times. For example, during the final qualifying session at the 2006 season opener in Bahrain, Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of 1 min 31.431 s, for which he was awarded the pole position. According to the 110% rule any of his lap times during this session must not exceed 1 min 40.574 s, which is 110% of his fastest. Unfortunately, due to traffic he did exceed this limit and was penalized the 2.5 kg of fuel for that lap, causing Michael to pit sooner than planned and arguably to lose the race.

The race begins with a warm-up formation lap, after which the cars assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified. If a driver stalls before the parade lap, and the rest of the field passes him, then he must start from the back of the grid. As long as he moves off and at least one car is behind him, he can retake his original position. A racer may also elect to start from pit-lane if he has any last minute problems with the car. If they choose to do this, they must wait for all cars to pass pit-lane before they may begin the race.

A light system above the track then signals the start of the race. Races are a little over 305 kilometres (180 miles) long and are limited to two hours, though in practice they usually last about ninety minutes. Throughout the race, drivers may make one or more pit stops in order to refuel and change tyres.

The FIA awards points to the top eight drivers and their respective teams of a grand prix on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis (the race winner receives ten points, the first runner-up eight, and so on). The winner of the two annual championships are the driver and the team who have accumulated the most points at the end of the season. If any drivers and/or teams have the exact amount of points and are both competing for the driver and/or team championships, the driver and/or team who has won more Grand Prix races during the course of the season is declared the winner.

Drivers and constructors

Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari have each won their respective World Championships a record number of times.

Formula One teams must build the chassis in which they compete, and consequently the terms "team" and "constructor" are more or less interchangeable. This requirement distinguishes the sport from series such as IRL, Champ Cars, and NASCAR, which allow teams to purchase chassis, and "spec series" such as GP2, which require all cars be kept to an identical specification. In its early years, Formula One teams sometimes also built their engines, though this became less common with the increased involvement of major car manufacturers such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Toyota, and Honda, whose large budgets rendered privately built engines less competitive (and redundant).

Early manufacturer involvement came in the form of a "factory team" (that is, one owned and staffed by a major car company), such as those of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari (FIAT) or Renault. Companies such as Climax, Repco, Cosworth, Hart, Judd and Supertec, which had no direct team affiliation, often sold engines to teams who could not afford to manufacture them. As the manufacturers' deep pockets and engineering ability took over, almost all engines are now produced by major manufacturers.

After having virtually disappeared by the early 1980s, factory teams made a comeback in the 1990s and 2000s, and now form half the grid with Toyota, Ferrari (FIAT), Honda, Renault and BMW either setting up their own teams or buying out existing ones. Mercedes-Benz (DaimlerChrysler) owns 40% of the McLaren team. The remaining teams buy engines from the factory teams or from Cosworth, currently the only commercial engine manufacturer.

The sport's 1950 debut season saw eighteen teams compete, but due to high costs many dropped out quickly. In fact, such was the scarcity of competitive cars for much of the first decade of Formula One that Formula Two cars were admitted to fill the grids. Ferrari is the only still-active team which competed in 1950, and as of 2006 eleven teams remain on the grid, each fielding two cars. Although teams rarely disclose information about their budgets, it is estimated that they range from US$75 million to US$500 million each.

Entering a new team in the Formula One World Championship requires a £25 million (about US$50 million) up-front payment to the FIA, which is then repaid to the team over the course of the season. As a consequence, constructors desiring to enter Formula One often prefer to buy an existing team: B.A.R.'s purchase of Tyrrell and Midland's purchase of Jordan allowed both of these teams to sidestep the large deposit.

Each car is assigned a number. The previous season's World Drivers' Champion is designated number 1, with his teammate given number 2. Numbers are then assigned according to each team's position in the previous season's World Constructors' Championship. 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 and 2. The number 13 has not been used since 1974, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organizers. 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 & 28, regardless of their finishing position in the world championship. As privateer teams quickly folded in the early 1990s, numbers were frequently shuffled around, until the current system was adopted in 1996.

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.

Grands 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 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 nineteen races are spread over the continents of Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and South America.

Traditionally, each nation has hosted a single grand prix that carries the name of the country. If a single country hosts multiple grands prix in a year, they receive different names. For example, every year two grands prix take place in Germany, one of which is 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, 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 World Championship season is the Italian Grand Prix. It has always taken place at Monza, with one exception in 1980 when it took place at Imola (which now hosts the San Marino Grand Prix).

One of the newest races on the Grand Prix, held in Bahrain, represents Formula One's first penetration into the Middle East with a high tech purpose-built desert track. The Bahrain Grand Prix, along with other new races in China and Turkey, present new opportunities for the growth and evolution of the Formula One Grand Prix franchise whilst new facilities also raise the bar for other Formula One racing venues around the world.

Circuits

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

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, venue for the United States Grand Prix

Countries which have had Formula One circuits

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 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. Many corners have become well known in their own right, such as the high-speed Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps, and before the addition of chicanes to tame it, the Tamburello corner at Imola and the Curva Grande at Monza. Others, like thirteenth turn at Indianapolis (road course configuration), are simply straights for the drivers, even having taken in consideration the G-forces acting on the suspension. Also particularly lamented are the circuits at Zandvoort in the Netherlands and Kyalami in South Africa, neither of which are now used by F1.

Most of the circuits currently in use are specially constructed for competition. The only real street circuit is the Circuit de Monaco, used for the Monaco Grand Prix, 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 for London and Beirut. 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 "riding a bicycle around your living room."

Circuit design to protect the safety of drivers is becoming increasingly sophisticated, as exemplified by the new track in Bahrain, designed – like most of F1's new circuits – by Hermann Tilke. Whereas in the 1950s a driver was lucky to find a strategically placed bale of straw to absorb an impact, modern Formula One circuits feature large run-off areas, gravel traps and tire barriers to reduce the risk of injury in crashes. This is an ongoing task – after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola during the 1994 season, the FIA mandated further changes to circuits. These were mostly aimed at better matching the speed of a car with both the available space to slow down in before reaching a barrier and the ability of those barriers to safely absorb the energy of a crash. An ongoing complaint of long time F1 fans is the emasculation of the world's greatest circuits in order to satisfy sometimes arbitrary demands from the FIA. Whilst circuit safety is of prime importance, this can often be achieved without the reduction of the modern circuit to parade route status.

The future of Formula One

Recent and proposed rule changes have attempted to reverse the trend of "tyre wars", which critics believe have shifted the competition from drivers and teams to tyres.

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 Ferrari. However, viewing figures are seeing some signs of recovery due to the varied 2005 season, with the Canadian Grand Prix attracting the third largest global TV audience of any sporting event in 2005, behind only the Super Bowl and the UEFA Champions League final.^[7]

At present, the FIA has been taxed with the responsibility of making rules to combat the spiralling costs which affect the smaller teams and to ensure that the sport remains as safe as possible. The sport's rapid expansion into new areas of the globe also leaves some question as to which races will be cut.

As of the 2005 Formula 1 season, Ferrari dominance disapated as Renault and McLaren both became the top two teams in Formula 1, with Fernando Alonso becoming the new World Champion. This has since seen an insurgence of interest in the sport, with 22 teams applying for the 12 team spots available for the 2008 season.

Venue changes

In the interest of making the sport truer to its designation as a World Championship, FOM president Bernie Ecclestone has initiated and organized a number of Grands Prix in new countries and continues to discuss new future races. As of 2005, this expansion has resulted in the disappearance of only one race, the Austrian Grand Prix, which was last held in 2003; however, several teams have expressed their preference for a shorter calendar[8], and the future of such races as the British, European and San Marino Grands Prix has recently fallen into doubt.

The inaugural Turkish Grand Prix took place in 2005 in Istanbul Park, and Ecclestone has asserted publicly that F1 will return to South Africa within five years.[9] He has also expressed interest in a Russian Grand Prix in Moscow or St Petersburg in the near future.[10] The European Union's ratification of laws prohibiting tobacco advertising went into effect on July 31, 2005, providing another incentive for the heavily tobacco-sponsored sport to find venues outside of Europe.^[11]

The future of the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is also in doubt after only six cars started the 2005 race due to concerns about the safety of the supplied Michelin tyres. The US Grand Prix has been officially scheduled to occur again at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 2, 2006.

Several of the new circuits in F1, especially those designed by Herman Tilke, have been criticized 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 were the long and blinding straights into the Black Forest. These newer circuits, however are generally agreed upon to meet the safety standards of modern Formula One better than the older ones.

Rule changes

In the interests of safety and competition due to spending, the FIA instituted a number of rule changes at the start of the 2005 season. New tyre restrictions, multi-race engines, and reductions on downforce took effect. These two issues, safety and cost, are paramount in all rule-change discussions, and the FIA has made public its intention to continue to modify the rules with these goals in mind.

2005

The most significant of the new rules to save money required an engine to be used for two consecutive races. Drivers had the same unit for practice, qualifying, and race day as in previous years, and a team changing out an engine for any reason was penalized half the grid (10 spots) on race day. This reduced the number of engines each team produced by a significant amount, and the subsequent man hours required in constructing and maintaining the most expensive part of the car. The switch to a single set of tires went into effect: one set was to be used for qualifying, then set aside as spares, while only one set was used for the entire race, along with wets and intermediates for rain when allowed by officials, and spares for punctures only. After Raikkonen destroyed his Mercedes due to a flat spot, the rule was modified to allow dangerous non-puncture officially inspected changes in the interest of safety. While tire rules usually are implemented primarily for safety and/or cost reduction, some detractors felt that this rule was an attempt to mix the grid up due to Ferrari/Schumacher's dominance on Bridgestones over the past five years; Ferrari did, in fact, lose out as Michelin found itself better able to cope with the rule changes. The new downforce rules were continuations of the previous years to decrease overall downforce and ease breakaway speed safety, while at the same time optimizing advertising space on wings and body.

New qualifying rules were enacted as well. The then current qualifying format, a single flying lap on race fuel, replaced one which was used for the first part of the 2005 season (until the 2005 European Grand Prix) which involved two separate sessions, one on Saturday and a second on Sunday morning, with the starting grid drawn up according to the fastest aggregate time of each driver. This was ditched after complaints from spectators, who felt that the Saturday session was meaningless, and broadcasters, who did not want to broadcast so much Formula One on a Sunday.

2006

Beginning with the 2006 season, engine displacement will be decreased, a 2.4L V8 replacing the current 3.0L V10. With similar engine speeds, the change is expected to cut peak power by around 200 bhp, which in turn is likely to add around three to five seconds to lap times at most circuits. The FIA has permitted Scuderia Toro Rosso to use a rev-limited and air restricted V10 engine. In its previous incarnation as Minardi last year it seemed unlikely to be able to source a V8 engine and this measure was intended to permit it to continue operations. In the long run, the FIA intends to introduce greater restrictions on testing and the introduction of standardised electronic units and tires.

Over the coming years, radical changes will be made to the rules. In October 2005, the FIA proposal of enhancing overtaking won the support of the teams by agreeing about the new rear wing concept that would eliminate the current single rear wing and replace it with two box-like wings, one behind each rear wheel. These changes are due in 2007. ^[12]

A switch to the "KO" qualifying system for 2006 was announced in October 2005. All cars are permitted on the track. At the end of the first 15-minute period the clocks are stopped immediately. Drivers on a timed lap will not have their time registered once the 15 minutes are up. The slowest six cars can take no further part in qualifying, these cars will make up the last six grid positions in the order of their times. The times for the sixteen remaining cars are reset for the next session. At the end of the second 15-minute period, the clocks are stopped immediately. Drivers on a timed lap will not have their time registered once the 15 minutes are up. The slowest six cars can take no further part in qualifying, these cars will make up the grid in positions eleven to sixteen in the order of their times. The times for the ten remaining cars will be reset for the next session. For the final period, lasting 20 minutes, the cars will be arranged on the grid in positions one to ten in the order of their times. In the first two 15-minute sessions, cars may run any fuel load and drivers knocked out after those sessions may refuel ahead of the race. However, the top-ten drivers must begin the final 20-minute session with the fuel load on which they plan to start the race. They will be weighed before they leave the pits. Whatever fuel they use in the 20 minutes may be replaced at the end of the session provided that the laps they complete are all within 110% of their best session time. Any fuel for a lap outside of the 110% time will not be replaced. Unlike the first two 15 minute sessions, if a driver starts a timed lap before the checkered flag falls for the 20 minute session, their time will count even if they cross the finish line after the session has ended. ^[13]

Also, the 2006 season sees the return of the tyre changes during the pitstops. The thinking behind this is that the reduced engine size will offset any performance gain. Drivers also have access to slightly more tyres than in 2005 - seven sets of dry-weather, four sets of wet-weather and three sets of extreme-weather. Drivers must make a final choice of dry-weather compound ahead of qualifying as opposed to ahead of saturday practice as in years gone by.

Small teams

The Ford Motor Company's decision to pull out of Formula One at the end of 2004 exposed the vulnerabilities of some small teams. Jaguar Racing was sold to Red Bull and is now known as Red Bull Racing.

Jordan and Minardi both relied on Ford's Cosworth engines. Jordan then signed deal to use Toyota engines, while Minardi continued to use Cosworth engines under Cosworth's new owners.

Jordan was bought by Russo-Canadian company Midland in 2005 and from 2006 will be rebadged as Midland F1. In June 2005, BMW bought a majority stake in Sauber and intends to run the team as a factory entry in 2006. The Williams team will cease their partnership with BMW as a result, instead opting to run Cosworth engines for 2006. Arguably, the final small team disappeared with the September 2005 purchase of Minardi by Red Bull. In 2006, the Faenza-based team will be run as a junior team named Scuderia Toro Rosso (initially known as Squadra Toro Rosso), although technically the team is a separate entity to Red Bull Racing.

BAR-Honda's former driver Takuma Sato has found a home with new team Super Aguri F1 (headed by Japanese former F1 racer Aguri Suzuki). The team will start the year with 2002 Arrows chassis bought from former Minardi chief Paul Stoddart powered by Honda engines. The team plans to introduce a new car later in the season. ^[14]

Notes

1. ↑  Jordan: Privateer era is over
2. ↑  Schumacher makes history
3. ↑  It was Ferrari all the way
4. ↑  Seven teams boycott US Grand Prix
5. ↑  F1 third biggest global TV draw referenced from ITV-F1, published 31 December 2005
6. ↑  Sauber: 19 races is too many
7. ↑  Bernie in South Africa pledge
8. ↑  Bernie promises Russian race
9. ↑  Confusion over tobacco laws
10. ↑  F-1 Plans to Reshape Cars, Have Knockout Qualifying
11. ↑  2006 season changes from the Official Formula 1 Website
12. ↑  F1 gives Super Aguri green light from BBC Sport, published 21 December 2005

References

• Arron, Simon & Hughes, Mark (2003). The Complete Book of Formula One. Motorbooks International.
• Bernie confident of Indy future (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Bernie in South Africa pledge (2004). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Bernie promises Russian race (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Confusion over tobacco laws (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Drivers suggest qualifying plan (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• FIA Archive. (2004). Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 25 October 2004.
• Formula One Regulations. (2004). Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 23 October 2004.
• Gross, Nigel et al (1999). Grand Prix Motor Racing. In, 100 Years of Change: Speed and Power (pp. 55-84). Parragon.
• Insight. (2004). The Official Formula 1 Website. Retrieved 25 October 2004.
• Jones, Bruce (1997). The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Formula One. Hodder & Stoughton.
• Jones, Bruce (1998). Formula One: The Complete Stats and Records of Grand Prix Racing. Parragon.
• Jones, Bruce (2003). The Official ITV Sport Guide: Formula One Grand Prix 2003. Carlton. Includes foreword by Martin Brundle.
• Jordan: Privateer era is over (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Jones, Bruce (2005). The Guide to 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship : The World's Bestselling Grand Prix Guide. Carlton.
• Mexican GP back on track (2005). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Rajan, Sanjay. (Dec. 28, 2002). It was Ferrari all the way. The Sportstar.
• Sauber: 19 races is too many (2004). itv.com/f1. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• Schumacher makes history (2002). BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 September 2005.
• F1 third biggest global TV draw. Referenced 5 January 2006.
• Seven teams boycott US Grand Prix. (June 19, 2005). BBC Sport.
• Tremayne, David & Hughes, Mark (1999). The Concise Encyclopedia of Formula One. Parragon.

External links

Official sites

• Formula1.com — The official site of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management; contains schedules, statistics, race results, live timing during each race, and some news
• Current regulations from the FIA website

News and reference

• autosport.com — Subscription motorsport news, articles and analysis. Formerly known as AtlasF1
• F1DB — F1 database and statistics
• F1-Live - News, results, discussion forum, Internet TV coverage
• Forumula1.co.uk — F1 Discussion Forum
• Formula 1 Review — F1 news, results, statistics, features, and discussion at World Racing Forum
• Formula1Home - News, results, feature articles and forum
• GrandPrix.com — F1 news and a Grand Prix encyclopedia
• ITV.com/f1 — News, pictures, and commentary from ITV, F1's British broadcasters; also from Matt Bishop and F1 Racing magazine
• mergetek.com - Aerial Views of Formula 1 (F1) Tracks via Google Maps
• Pitpass — News, results, analysis, discussion forum
• Manipe F1 - News, results, testing, statistics
• Chicane F1 - Results
• F1 Weekly - Audio Podcast covering news, results, and opinions

History

• Formula 1 History — All results since 1950, articles, statistics, compare drivers, preview for next races ...
• Ospedaletti Circuit — Ospedaletti Circuit - GP Sanremo -
• F1 Cars - Historical cars of the F1...
• F1empire.com\History — Historical info from 1950-present day, as well as pre-f1 era

IRC

• #F1 — Formula 1 support channel in QuakeNet IRC Network.

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