Note: This is intended only as a very basic look at Fomula One for those who have little or no exposure to the sport.

Overview

Formula One is the top level of open wheel motor racing in the world today and also the one with the most history behind it. The roots of Formula One can be traced all the way back to the first auto races held in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The "modern" era is considered to have began in 1950 and since then the sport has been growing steadily. There was however a World Championship that was briefly held in the 1920s though this is much different from the World Championship of today. This is the sport in which prestigious manufacturers like Ferrari, Lotus, Renault, Mercedes, McLaren, and many others have made their mark along with drivers such as Fangio, Clark, Hill, Schumacher, Ascari, Hakkinen, Prost, Senna and hundreds of others. Formula One is considered by most to be the peak of automotive technology and driving skill.

The Cars

A modern Formula One car is a single seat, mid-engined machine with high amounts of downforce and electronic aids for the driver. This has not always been the case however and the modern car has evolved from every one before it. In the 1950s, the start of the modern Formula One era, the cars were front engined beasts with large wooden steering wheels made on low budgets with minimal testing and design improvement. The cars then progressed to low slung mid-engined cars in the early 1960s with wings and other basic aerodynamic aids appearing at the end of that decade. Design then progressed rapidly into the "wing car" concept that used aerodynamics more and more efficiently to provide increased grip and better speeds. In the 1980s till now it has become a constant battle with between the regulators and the teams over the reduction of speeds through aerodynamic rules. The designers however almost always win in the end resulting in even faster cars. The design of a modern car takes hundreds of hours and the car is constantly upgraded and changed during the season depending on results from races and or testing to get the best out of it. One small change can make the difference of winning and not even scoring a point.

The Drivers

It used to be at the beging of the modern era that any weathly man could purchase a car and race it himself as a privateer or that a mechanic could easily work his way up to drive. Now however there are only a handful of drivers that race in Formula One and all of them are greatly experienced in some form of racing leading Formula One to be considered the cream of the crop so to speak of auto racing tallent. Drivers in the past treated Formula One almost like a hobby. They were not always in the best physical shape, did little testing or setup work with the car, and were often twice as old as most driver are now. Now drivers are picked from feeder series such as Formula 3000 and such and are well trained. They keep in great shape, work out, test constantly with the cars, and are also media icons for their sponsors.

The Teams

Formula One is by no means an individual sport. There have been people who have done more than one task such as owned the team they drove for, worked as mechanics on their own cars, and such but there are always many people behind every driver. There is only one team that has been around for the complete modern era and that is Ferrari though many teams have as near a great history such as McLaren, which was founded by a New Zealand driver and winner named Bruce McLaren, Williams, which worked it's way up from a small private team to a powerhouse, and Lotus, who though nolonger races set many a standard in the racing world. Some team engineers are more famous than their drivers such as Flavio Braitorre who has managed the Benneton/Renault team, the founder and designer of Lotus who was known for his amazing aeorodynamic advancements, Collin Chapman, and Jean Todt, the man behind the resurgence of Ferrari in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Also there are many many individuals that work even further behind the scenes. Some of the more modern teams employ upwards of two hundred people in building the car, sponsor relations, pit crews, driver care, and many other things. Formula One, though it centers around a small field of drivers is really a team based sport depending on entire organizations not just the man in the car.

The Tracks

Formula One has progressed over the years from being held on true road circuits such as Spa-Francochamps and Rhiems which were on public road between villages to custom buit race tracks such as the one in Sepang Malaysia that was designed purposly for Formula One. Wtih safety becoming a bigger concern each and every year the classic tracks have all but dissapeared and have been replaced by safer, shorter, and all together what are considered, compared to the tracks of yesteryear, more boring. Some venues still are in use today though in modified form. The Nurburgring is no longer fourteen miles but is a shorter and safer course, the old one having claimed several drivers lives. The only course still used today in in almost its origional configuration is the street circuit in Monte Carlo, Monaco which has had only few minor changes due to developement of the principality. There is no one track in Formula One that is "better" than the others, all have their unique layout and characteristics that make each exciting.

The Engines

Engine technology has always been a scene of constant develpment in auto racing but nowhere else is it showcased better. Modern Formula One engines are so well made they do not use gaskets and it is said that if you pulled off the cylinder head and disconnected the crankshaft on the upward swing of a piston the forces now would shoot it over five hundred feet up into the air. This translates to about eight-hundred and fifty horsepower (actuall numbers are not usually released to the public) at almost nineteen thousand revolutions per minute. Truely an engineering marvel and a long way from what appears now to be the cumbersome old V8s of the 1960s and the turbo engines in the 1980s that were developing a reported one thousand four hundred horsepower.

The Rules

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) are the rule makers of Formula one. This organization determines the technical specifications, drivers licensing, the schedual, everything. The FIA has organized races since around 1904 and handle not only Formula One but also rally, motorcycle, and other types of racing. Each year the FIA changes the rules slightly in an attempt to make the cars safer and in recent times to slow cars down. They also change the rules in such a way as to make the field somewhat even so that not just the teams with the biggest budgets can compete as well and so that technical development is encouraged. One must remember though, the FIA is like any other organization, profit based, and they make more profit by putting on the best show.

Equipment

Formula One is also known for the high tech equipment used not just on the cars. Computer modeling and control systems have been around now for years and improve each season as electronics are made smaller. High precision machining tools are used in fabrication of the cars and high quality hand tools are built to maintain the finished cars. Wind tunnels, computers, jacks, wrenches, and screwdrivers can make the differenece in a winning team. In such a competitive sport one must have the best equipment to be the best.