Formula One

The competition is split between the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. These are decided by a point system whichthat awards the top 10ten cars of a grand prix with points ranging from 25 points for 1st to 1 point for 10th place to both constructor and driver. Championships are awarded to the Driverdriver, or the World Champion, and the Constructorconstructor with the most points at the end of the season.

In 2022, the sport decided to introduce a sprint race on the Saturday before the full Sunday Grand Prix. In the sprint, drivers placed 1stfirst to 8theighth score points, with 8 points for first place and 1 point for eighth place. As of 2019, F1 also introduced a point for fastest lap, which could only be awarded if the car whichthat scored the fastest lap was already in a point-winning position. Meaning, if the driver with the fastest lap finished 13ththirteenth, they would not be awarded a point, but if they finished 10thtenth or higher, they would be awarded the point.

Along with the ICE and turbocharger, the power unit is composed of an Energy Recovery Systems (ERS), which harnesses energy from the car and redeploys the energy for up to 33 seconds of a lap, representing 160 brake horsepower in increased power. Further, the power unit involves an MGU-H and MGU-K, components of the ERS system. The MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat) is driven by exhaust gases, which uses the heat from the gases to generate electrical power. The MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic) is an electric generator and motor which, connected to the ICE, provides power under acceleration, and recovers energy under braking.

The energy harnessed through the ERS is stored in the Energy Store (ES), which is more simply a car battery. The battery can store, and later deploy, up to 4 megajoules of energy per lap. These components are controlled by the Control Electronics (CE), which links the ERS together. All of these systems are closely monitored and regulated by the FIA to ensure regulations are maintained.

The goal of the 2022 chassis regulations is to decrease the dirty air and allow cars to follow each other closer and race closer. The dirty air results in the following car losing around 35 percent of their downforce at 3three car lengths behind another car, and the loss increasing to 47 percent when they are one car length behind. These regulations include a deep underfloor to produce downforce through ground effects. Downforce is the aerodynamic force whichthat allows cars to carry greater speed through corners. The regulations remove bargeboard and other protruding pieces of bodywork that have caused these cars to be difficult to follow. And the regulations see a chance of the wheels to 18-inch wheels from the previous 13-inch wheels.

Formula 1 Constructorsconstructors are the entities responsible for designing and building the engine and chassis of a Formula 1 car, and these are essentially the teams, although it is more complicated in some cases. For example, a constructor in Formula 1 that has designed, created, and built the chassis, and/or engine of a car are entered into the Constructors Championship. These Constructorsconstructors include drivers, teams, staff, mechanics, engineers, safety personnel, trainers, principles, and more.

McLaren won all but one race in 1988 with engine partner Honda

The World Drivers' Championship, which became the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981, has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, which take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads.

A points system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA. The races must run on tracks graded "1" (formerly "A"), the highest grade-rating issued by the FIA.

Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, and wider tyres, resulting in peak cornering forces near 6.5 lateral g and top speeds of around 350 km/h (215 mph). As of 2021, the hybrid engines are limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 rpm; the cars are very dependent on electronics and aerodynamics, suspension and tyres. Traction control, launch control, and automatic shifting, plus other electronic driving aids, were first banned in 1994. They were briefly reintroduced in 2001, and have more recently been banned since 2004 and 2008 respectively.

With the average annual cost of running a team – designing, building, and maintaining cars, pay, transport – being approximately US$247 million, its financial and political battles are widely reported. On 23 January 2017, Liberty Media completed the acquisition of the Formula One Group, from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $8 billion.

Juan Manuel Fangio's 1951 title-winning Alfa Romeo 159

History

The Formula One series originated with the European Championship of Grand Prix motor racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula consists of a set of rules that all participants' cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon during 1946 with the first non-championship races taking place that year. The first Formula 1 race was the 1946 Turin Grand Prix. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations had laid out rules for a world championship before World War II, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the World Drivers' Championship did not become formalised until 1947. The first world championship race took place at Silverstone in the United Kingdom in 1950. Giuseppe Farina, in his Alfa Romeo, won the first World Championship for Drivers in 1950, narrowly defeating his teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957 (his record of five World Championship titles stood for 45 years until Michael Schumacher took his sixth title in 2003). Fangio's streak was interrupted (after an injury) by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari.

A championship for constructors followed in 1958. Although the UK's Stirling Moss was able to compete regularly, he was never able to win the world championship and has been described by The Independent as "The greatest driver to never win the world championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961, Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and in third place the other three times. Fangio, however, achieved the record of winning 24 of the 52 races he entered - a record that holds to this day. National championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held by promoters for many years. However, due to the increasing cost of competition, the last of these occurred in 1983.

This period featured teams managed by road-car manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Maserati. The first seasons featured pre-war cars like Alfa's 158. They were front-engined, with narrow tyres and 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre naturally aspirated engines. The 1952 and 1953 World Championships were run to Formula Two regulations, for smaller, less powerful cars, due to concerns over the lack of Formula One cars available. When a new Formula One formula for engines limited to 2.5 litres was reinstated to the world championship for 1954, Mercedes-Benz introduced the advanced W196. This featured innovations such as desmodromic valves and fuel injection, as well as enclosed streamlined bodywork. Mercedes drivers won the championship for two years, before the team withdrew from all motorsport in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

Drivers

Every team in Formula One must run two cars in every session in a Grand Prix weekend, and every team may use up to four drivers in a season. A team may also run two additional drivers in Free Practice sessions, which are often used to test potential new drivers for a career as a Formula One driver or gain experienced drivers to evaluate the car. Most drivers are contracted for at least the duration of a season, with driver changes taking place in-between seasons, in comparison to early years where drivers often competed at an ad hoc basis from race to race. Each competitor must be in the possession of a FIA Super Licence to compete in a Grand Prix, which is issued to drivers who have met the criteria of success in junior motorsport categories and having achieved 300 kilometres (190 mi) of running in a Formula One car. Drivers may also be issued a Super Licence by the World Motor Sport Council if they fail to meet the criteria. Although most drivers earn their seat on ability, commercial considerations also come into play with teams having to satisfy sponsors and financial demands.

Teams also contract test and reserve drivers to stand in for regular drivers when necessary and develop the team's car; although with the reduction on testing the reserve drivers' role mainly takes places on a simulator, such as rFactor Pro, which is used by most of the F1 teams.

2005 Canadian Grand Prix: Kimi Räikkönen leading Michael Schumacher, with Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda) fighting for pos

Each driver chooses an unassigned number from 2 to 99 (excluding 17 which was retired following the death of Jules Bianchi) upon entering Formula One, and keeps that number during their time in the series. The number one is reserved for the reigning Drivers' Champion, who retains their previous number and may choose to use it instead of the number one. At the onset of the championship, numbers were allocated by race organisers on an ad hoc basis from race to race. Permanent numbers were introduced in 1973 to take effect in 1974, when teams were allocated numbers in ascending order based on the Constructors' Championship standings at the end of the 1973 season. The teams would hold those numbers from season to season with the exception of the team with the World Drivers' Champion, which would swap its numbers with the one and two of the previous champion's team. New entrants were allocated spare numbers, with the exception of the number 13 which had been unused since 1976. As teams kept their numbers for long periods of time, car numbers became associated with a team, such as Ferrari's 27 and 28. A different system was used from 1996 to 2013: at the start of each season, the current Drivers' Champion was designated number one, their teammate number two, and the rest of the teams assigned ascending numbers according to previous season's Constructors' Championship order.

As of the conclusion of the 2021 Championship, a total of 34 separate drivers have won the World Drivers' Championship, with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton holding the record for most championships with seven. Lewis Hamilton achieved the most race wins, too, in 2020. Jochen Rindt is the only posthumous World Champion, after his points total was not surpassed despite his fatal accident at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix, with 4 races still remaining in the season. Drivers from the United Kingdom have been the most successful in the sport, with 18 championships among 10 drivers, and 307 wins.

Constructors

A Formula One constructor is the entity credited for designing the chassis and the engine. If both are designed by the same company, that company receives sole credit as the constructor (e.g. Ferrari). If they are designed by different companies, both are credited, and the name of the chassis designer is placed before that of the engine designer (e.g. McLaren-Mercedes). All constructors are scored individually, even if they share either chassis or engine with another constructor (e.g. Williams-Ford, Williams-Honda in 1983).

Ferrari (pictured with Sebastian Vettel) have competed in every season

Since 1981, Formula One teams have been required to build the chassis in which they compete, and consequently the distinction between the terms "team" and "constructor" became less pronounced, though engines may still be produced by a different entity. This requirement distinguishes the sport from series such as the IndyCar Series which allows teams to purchase chassis, and "spec series" such as GP2, which require all cars be kept to an identical specification. It also effectively prohibits privateers, which were common even in Formula One well into the 1970s.

The sport's debut season, 1950, 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 oldest Formula One team, the only still-active team which competed in 1950.

Formula One (F1) is considered the highest class of international open-wheel single-seater racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, which had its inaugural season in 1950, was renamed the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981. The word formula refers to the set of rules to which participants cars must conform.

Aryton Senna driving the iconic McLaren MP4/8A at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The competition is split between the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. These are decided by a point system which awards the top 10 cars of a grand prix with points ranging from 25 points for 1st to 1 point for 10th place to both constructor and driver. Championships are awarded to the Driver, or the World Champion, and the Constructor with the most points at the end of the season.

Early manufacturer involvement came in the form of a "factory team" or "works team" (that is, one owned and staffed by a major car company), such as those of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, or Renault. Ferrari holds the record for having won the most Constructors' Championships (sixteen).

Lewis Hamilton, the driver to have won the most points in F1 history.

In 2022, the sport decided to introduce a sprint race on the Saturday before the full Sunday Grand Prix. In the sprint, drivers placed 1st to 8th score points, with 8 points for first place and 1 point for eighth place. As of 2019, F1 also introduced a point for fastest lap, which could only be awarded if the car which scored the fastest lap was already in a point-winning position. Meaning, if the driver with the fastest lap finished 13th, they would not be awarded a point, but if they finished 10th or higher, they would be awarded the point.

Starting in 2014, Formula 1 introduced one of the largest changes to the sport's engines, formally known since 2014 as "power units" for their hybrid approach. These engines include a 1.6-litre V6, the internal combustion engine (ICE), with a turbocharged hybrid-electric systems attached, offering the vehicle close to 1000 brake horsepower.

Companies such as Climax, Repco, Cosworth, Hart, Judd and Supertec, which had no direct team affiliation, often sold engines to teams that could not afford to manufacture them. In the early years, independently owned Formula One teams sometimes also built their engines, though this became less common with the increased involvement of major car manufacturers such as BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Toyota, whose large budgets rendered privately built engines less competitive. Cosworth was the last independent engine supplier.[80] It is estimated the major teams spend between €100 and €200 million ($125–$225 million) per year per manufacturer on engines alone.

The Mercedes V6-turbo with a split-turbo design.

Along with the ICE and turbocharger, the power unit is composed of an Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) which harnesses energy from the car and redeploys the energy for up to 33 seconds of a lap, representing 160 brake horsepower in increased power. Further, the power unit involves an MGU-H and MGU-K, components of the ERS system. The MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat) is driven by exhaust gases, which uses the heat from the gases to generate electrical power. The MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic) is an electric generator and motor which, connected to the ICE, provides power under acceleration, and recovers energy under braking.

In the 2007 season, for the first time since the 1981 rule, two teams used chassis built by other teams. Super Aguri started the season using a modified Honda Racing RA106 chassis (used by Honda the previous year), while Scuderia Toro Rosso used the same chassis used by the parent Red Bull Racing team, which was formally designed by a separate subsidiary. The usage of these loopholes was ended for 2010 with the publication of new technical regulations, which require each constructor to own the intellectual property rights to their chassis,[82][83] The regulations continue to allow a team to subcontract the design and construction of the chassis to a third-party, an option used by the HRT team in 2010 and Haas currently.

The energy harnessed through the ERS is stored in the Energy Store (ES) which is more simply a car battery. The battery can store, and later deploy, up to 4 megajoules of energy per lap. These components are controlled by the Control Electronics (CE) which links the ERS together. All of these systems are closely monitored and regulated by the FIA to ensure regulations are maintained.

Although teams rarely disclose information about their budgets, it is estimated they range from US$66 million to US$400 million each.

Ferrari Formula 1 V10 naturally aspirated engine.

These engines replaced the previous normally aspirated V8s, and are expected to remain in place until at least 2025. Previously, Formula 1 cars have used normally aspirated V10s, V12s, and V8s, and turbocharged V6s, during different regulatory periods. As of 2021, the hybrid power units are limited to a maximum of 15,000 rpm. Constructors are also expected to only use 3 power units for a season, incurring penalties for the use of any extra power units.

Example of the aerodynamic elements (barge boards) removed in the 2022 regulations.

The other major focal point for the technical regulations of Formula 1 is the chassis and aerodynamic elements of the car. These regulations have increased in complexity as the cars and capabilities of constructors to develop aerodynamic elements have increased. In 2022, what is largely considered the biggest aerodynamic and chassis regulation change in the history of Formula 1 following the inclusion of aerodynamic parts since 2014 that have made Formula 1 cars harder to follow in race conditions due to "dirty" air.

Entering a new team in the Formula One World Championship requires a £25 million (about US$32 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: BAR's purchase of Tyrrell and Midland's purchase of Jordan allowed both of these teams to sidestep the large deposit and secure the benefits the team already had, such as TV revenue.

The "simplified" aerodynamics of the 2022 F1 car.

The goal of the 2022 chassis regulations is to decrease the dirty air and allow cars to follow each other closer and race closer. The dirty air results in the following car losing around 35 percent of their downforce at 3 car lengths behind another car, and the loss increasing to 47 percent when they are one car length behind. These regulations include a deep underfloor to produce downforce through ground effects. Downforce is the aerodynamic force which allows cars to carry greater speed through corners. The regulations remove bargeboard and other protruding pieces of bodywork that have caused these cars to be difficult to follow. And the regulations see a chance of the wheels to 18-inch wheels from the previous 13-inch wheels.

Ferrari's 1950 car, the longest running constructor in F1.

Formula 1 Constructors are the entities responsible for designing and building the engine and chassis of a Formula 1 car, and these are essentially the teams, although it is more complicated in some cases. For example, a constructor in Formula 1 that has designed, created, and built the chassis, and/or engine of a car are entered into the Constructors Championship. These Constructors include drivers, teams, staff, mechanics, engineers, safety personnel, trainers, principles, and more.

Seven out of the ten teams competing in Formula 1 are based close to London in an area centred around Oxford. Ferrari have both their chassis and engine assembly in Maranello, Italy. The Alpha Tauri team are based close to Ferrari in Faenza, whilst the Alfa Romeo team are based near Zurich in Switzerland.

It is possible for two constructors to be involved in the construction of a single car. For example, Red Bull designed and built the chassis of the Red Bull F1 car, but the engine was designed and built by Honda. Which means both Red Bull and Honda are constructors in the F1 team, but only one set of points is awarded to the team, and both constructors are treated as a single entity.

Ferrari's F1-75, celebrating the constructors 75 history in F1

As well, some constructors, such as Aston Martin or Haas, are considered customer constructors, in that they purchase the engine, and sometimes transmission and suspension, from another constructor. In the case of Aston Martin, they are a customer of Mercedes, making the constructor Aston Martin-Mercedes. And in the case of Haas, they are a customer of Ferrari, making the Haas-Ferrari.

Each constructor brings two vehicles and two drivers through the season. Each team takes different philosophies to their drivers and chassis, with some teams having a number one driver, which the team focuses their efforts on, and a support driver, their to get as many points for the team as possible, and help the main driver win the championship. Or they go for a competitive driver's line up with two drivers capable of winning a championship, and their efforts as a team split evenly between the two drivers.