Formula One race or Grand Prix is a sporting event which takes place over three days (usually Friday to Sunday), with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to a race on Sunday.
Current regulations provide for two free practice sessions on Friday, a practice session and a qualifying session on Saturday, and the race on Sunday, though the structure of the weekend has changed numerous times over the history of the sport.
In addition to Formula One racing, other events such as races in other FIA series (such as the GP2 Series) are provided to keep crowds entertained.
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[edit]Free practice sessions
The event usually begins on Friday (except in Monaco where it begins on Thursday) with two free practice sessions, from 10:00 to 11:30 and from 14:00 to 15:30 (except in Singapore where it is 19:00 to 20:30, 21:30 to 23:00), for the drivers to learn the circuit and for the teams to experiment with their cars to figure out the best settings for the particular track. Third drivers for teams that finished outside the top four of the previous season's World Constructors' Championship are allowed to take part in Friday's free practice sessions. Another free practice session takes place on Saturday from 11:00 to 12:00 (19:00 to 20:00 in Singapore).
[edit]Qualifying sessions
On Saturday at 14:00 the qualifying session takes place to determine the running order at the beginning of the race. The qualifying hour is split into three sessions of 20, 15 and 10 minutes, with a seven-minute break between the first and second sessions and an eight-minute break between the second and third sessions. During the first session, all 24 cars run laps at any time. The seven slowest cars are assigned grid places 18 through 24. Lap times are reset for the second session, which sees the remaining 17 cars on track together. Again, the seven slowest of those cars are assigned grid places 11 through 17. The final qualifying session is a shootout among the final ten competitors to determine the final 10 grid places. The number of laps run during any session is uncontrolled.
Generally, a driver will leave the pits and drive around the track in order to get to the start/finish line (the out-lap). Having crossed the line, they will attempt to achieve the quickest time around the circuit that they can in one or more laps (the flying lap or hot lap). This is the lap time which is used in calculating grid position. Finally, the driver will continue back around the track and re-enter the pit-lane (the in-lap). However, this is merely strategy, and no teams are obligated by the rules to follow this formula.
A driver or car that sets the fastest time qualifies at the front of the grid and is said to be on pole position.
[edit]DNQ
As of 2010 only 12 teams are entered for the Formula One World Championship, each entering two cars for a total of 24 cars, while the regulations place a limit of 26 entries for the championship. At some periods in the history of Formula One the number of cars entered for each race has exceeded the number permitted, which historically would vary from race to race according to the circuit used.Monaco, for example, for many years allowed only 20 cars to compete because of the restricted space available. The slowest cars excess to the circuit limit would not qualify for the race and would be list as 'Did not Qualify' (DNQ) in race results.
[edit]Pre-qualifying
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the number of cars attempting to enter each race was as high as 39 for some races. Because of the dangers of having so many cars on the track at the same time, apre-qualifying session was introduced for the teams with the worst record over the previous 6 months, including all new teams. Only the four fastest cars from this session were then allowed into the qualifying session proper, where 30 cars competed for 26 places on the starting grid for the race. The slowest cars from the pre-qualifying session were listed in race results as 'Did Not Pre-Qualify' (DNPQ). Pre-qualifying was discontinued after 1992 when many small teams withdrew from the sport.
[edit]107% rule
Main article: 107% rule
As the number of cars entered in the world championship fell below 26, a situation arose in which any car entered would automatically qualify for the race, no matter how slowly it had been driven. The 107% rule was introduced in 1996 to prevent completely uncompetitive cars being entered in the championship. If a car's qualifying time was not within 107% of the pole sitter's time, that car would not qualify for the race, unless at the discretion of the race stewards for a situation such as a rain affected qualifying session. The 107% rule was removed since the FIA's rules indicated previously that 24 cars can take the start of an F1 race, and a minimum of 20 cars must enter a race. For 2003 the qualifying procedure changed to a single-lap system, rendering the rule inoperable. However, there were concerns about the pace of the new teams in the 2010 season. As the qualifying procedure had been changed since the 2006 season to a 3 part knockout system, the rule could now be reintroduced. As such, the 107% rule has been reintroduced for the 2011 F1 season. Currently, cars have to be within 107% of the fastest Q1 time in order to qualify for the race.[1]
[edit]Race
- See Formula One regulations for detailed information on the race start procedure.
The race itself is held on Sunday afternoon. Thirty minutes prior to race time, the cars take to the track for any number of warm-up laps, after which the cars are assembled on the starting grid in the order they qualified. At the hour of the race, a green light signifies the beginning of the relatively slow formation lap during which all cars parade around the course doing a final tire warmup and system checks. The cars then return to their assigned grid spot for the standing race start. The starting light system, which consists of five pairs of lights mounted above the start/finish line, then lights up each pair at one second intervals. Once all five pairs are illuminated, after a random length of time (one to nine seconds), the red lights are turned off by the race director, at which point the race starts. The race length is defined as the smallest number of complete laps that exceeds 305 kilometers (the Monaco Grand Prix is the sole exception with a race length of 78 laps / 260.5 km), though occasionally some races are truncated due to special circumstances. The race can not exceed two hours in length; if this interval is reached the race will be ended at the end of that lap.
Teams are supplied by the sole tyre supplier (currently Pirelli which replaced Bridgestone in 2011), and receive two different types of slick dry tyre compounds: Prime tyres (either Hard or Medium compounds), and Option tyres (Soft and Super-soft compounds). The Prime tyres are more durable than the Option tyres, however the Option tyres are faster than the Prime tyres (the Option tyres are said to be 1 second per lap quicker than the Prime tyres ). While the drivers who qualified 1st - 10th are required to use the tyres they qualified with to start the race; the other drivers have freedom over which tyres they can start with, which can give those who qualified in 11th and 12th place a slight advantage over those placed 9th and 10th in the race. Each driver is also required to use both types of dry compound during a dry race, and so must make a mandatory pit-stop.
Drivers used to make pitstops for fuel more than once during a race though refuelling during the race has been banned for the 2010 season. The cars, on average, get around 2 kilometres per litre (~5mpg). Timing pitstops with reference to other cars is crucial - if they are following another car but are unable to pass, driver may try to stay on the track as long as possible, as usually a car with worn tyres and low fuel load is faster than a car with new tyres and heavy fuel load.
At the end of the race, the first-, second-, and third-placed drivers take their places on a podium, where they stand as the national anthem of the race winner's home country and that of his team is played. Dignitaries from the country hosting the race then present trophies to the drivers and a constructor's trophy to a representative from the winner's team, and the winning drivers spray each other and the fans with champagne. The three drivers then go to a media room for a press conference where they answer questions in English and their native languages.
[edit]Points system
Points are awarded to drivers and teams exclusively on where they finish in a race. The winner receives 25 points, the second place finisher 18 points, with 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points for positions 3 through 10. If a race has to be abandoned before 75% of the planned distance has been completed all points are halved. In a dead heat, prizes and points are added together and shared equally for all those drivers who tie. The winner of the annual championship is the driver (or team, for the Constructors' Championship) with the most points. If the number of points is the same, priority is given to the driver with more wins. If that is the same it will be decided on the most second places and so on.
Historically, the races were scored on the basis of a five-place tally: i.e. via an 8-6-4-3-2 scoring system, with the holder of the fastest race lap also receiving a bonus point. In 1961, the scoring was revised to give the winner nine points instead of eight, and the single point awarded for fastest lap was given for sixth place for the first time the previous year.
In 1991, the points system was again revised to give the victor 10 points, with all other scorers recording the same 6-4-3-2-1 result. This was thought to have been something of a knee-jerk reaction to the spate of drivers who had won the championship despite scoring fewer victories than their nearest challenger.
In 2003, the FIA again revised the scoring system to apportion points to the first eight classified finishers (a classified finisher must complete 90% of race distance) on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The winner of the world championship is the driver who accumulates the most points throughout the course of the season.
At certain periods in F1's history, the world champion has been determined by virtue of the "best 7 scores" in each "half" of the world championship, meaning that drivers have had to "discard" lower scores in either half of the season. This was done in order to equalise the footings of teams which may not have had the wherewithal to compete in all events. With the advent of the Concorde Agreements, this practice has been discontinued, though it did feature prominently in several world championships through the 1970s and 1980s.
The change in the awarding of world championship points has rendered the comparison of historical teams and drivers to current ones largely ineffective. For instance, Michael Schumacher is widely credited with being the most successful GP driver of all time. While his statistics are very impressive and easily outstrip those of his nearest competitor, it is worth noting that his points tally vs points available, and winning percentage of grands prix entered, do not significantly exceed those of Juan Manuel Fangio, whom he recently dethroned as winner of the most World Championships. As with most other sports, it is very difficult to compare stars of different eras owing to the changes in the sport and regulations.
[edit]Worldwide appeal
Despite having the highest budget in all of auto racing, Formula One racing has often been accused of being unexciting when compared to less expensive categories. The differences in driver ability are usually dwarfed when compared to the relative speed of the different makes of cars, and on-track overtaking is very rare due to the aerodynamics of trailing cars being adversely affected by the car in front (making overtaking only possible by very risky and thus rarely-taken chances, or a much faster car trailing a slower one). Also, the use of electronic driver aids such as semi-automatic gearboxes and traction control has been widely criticized by F1 fans around the globe. Traction control was banned in the 2008 Formula One season.
The sport is lesser-known in the United States than the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series or their mostly-domestic open-wheel racing series, the IndyCar Series, but in terms of budgets and global TV audiences F1 is bigger than both combined.
Estimates for Ferrari's racing budget in 1999 were around 240 million USD, and even tailender Minardi reportedly spent 50 million. Estimates of TV audiences are around 300 million per race.
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Is Micheal Schumacher to drive for Brawn?
Sebastian Vettel
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Beyond the High Rise Honors: Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna... If you were watching Top Gear (Series 15, Episode 5) on July 25, 2010 in the UK, 24th here in the US, you probably saw an incredible tribute to Ayrton Senna. Nothing more can be said best than that Ayrton was the greatest Formula 1 racing driver, and possibly the greatest racing driver bar none to have ever lived. When he died, (JD: 4; OldbOy: 5), we were fairly young to really come to a realization of how great he was. But thanks to Top Gear, we had the Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schümacher, and Mikka Häkkinen kicked out of us.
Ayrton was more than a racing driver, but more of a car control genius. His ability to feel the track, and to feel the car goes unmatched until this day. Senna set the bar higher than any driver not because of the amount of wins, but rather due to the style of driving. He had a unique understanding of cars that no one else has had since. As a result, the Honda/Acura NSX turned out as one of the greatest Japanese super cars produced at the time with it's unique handling.
As suggested by Top Gear, however, Ayrton was indeed more than a racing driver, he was a human being. Contributing a vast majority of his wealth to children foundations in Brazil, and even stopping when a fellow driver got into an accident. He showed that winning didn't mean just crossing the line, it meant winning by doing what you did best. Driving is driving, but winning with dignity is another story. As Jeremy Clarkson pointed out, "[Gilles] Villeneuve [and many others, even today] was [or are] spectacular on a number of occasions. Senna was spectacular every single time he got in a car." Truly unmatched. Long live a legend, long live Ayrton Senna.
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