Portal:Formula One

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The Formula One Portal

Fernando Alonso (with Renault R26) at the Canadian Grand Prix 2006

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Formula One, commonly known as Formula 1 or F1, is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of racing since its inaugural running in 1950. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participants' cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads.

A point-system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for the drivers, and one for the constructors (the teams). Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence the FIA issues, and the races must be held on grade one tracks, the highest grade rating the FIA issues for tracks.

Formula One cars are the world's fastest regulated road-course racing cars, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved by generating large amounts of aerodynamic downforce, much of which is generated by front and rear wings. The cars depend on electronics, aerodynamics, suspension, and tyres. Traction control, launch control, and automatic shifting, and 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. (Full article...)

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The 2015 Chinese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2015 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 12 April 2015 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. The race was the third round of the 2015 season, and marked the twelfth time that the Chinese Grand Prix has been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Lewis Hamilton was the defending race winner and went into the weekend with a three-point lead in the world championship over Sebastian Vettel, who had surprised the field by taking victory in the previous round at Malaysia. Hamilton took pole position during Saturday's qualifying, the 41st of his career and the third in a row. He went on to win the race from his teammate Nico Rosberg. (Full article...)
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Layout of the Silverstone Circuit

The 2014 British Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 July 2014 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom before a crowd of 122,000 people. It was the ninth round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the 65th British Grand Prix to be held as part of the series. Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team won the 52-lap race, from a sixth position start. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas finished second, with Daniel Ricciardo third for the Red Bull squad. It was Hamilton's fifth victory of 2014 and the 27th of his career.

Hamilton's teammate Nico Rosberg recorded the fastest lap in qualifying to start from pole position. The race was suspended for one hour, five minutes after a first-lap accident involving Kimi Räikkönen left a section of guardrail barrier needing repair. Rosberg led for 18 laps after the restart as Hamilton moved to second, then made a pit stop for tyres, giving the lead to Hamilton for six laps. Hamilton took the lead for good when Rosberg retired from a gearbox fault on the 29th lap; he won by more than 1⁄2 a minute over Bottas. Ricciardo held off McLaren's Jenson Button in the final laps to take third. (Full article...)
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Layout of the Bahrain International Circuit

The 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 April 2014 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the third round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship, the 900th Formula One World Championship event, the 11th Bahrain Grand Prix and the first time that the race was held at night. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 57-lap race starting from second position. His teammate Nico Rosberg finished second and Force India driver Sergio Pérez took third. It was Hamilton's second victory of the season and the 24th of his Formula One career.

Hamilton accelerated faster than Rosberg off the line and overtook him at the first corner. Both Mercedes drivers pulled away from the rest of the field and Rosberg conserved fuel which allowed him to attack Hamilton before the first round of pit stops on lap 19 with his teammate successfully defending the lead. He extended his advantage over Rosberg over the next 22 laps before an incident between Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutiérrez caused the safety car to be deployed and his lead was reduced to nothing. Following instructions to bring the cars safely to the finish, Rosberg immediately battled Hamilton for first place, but was unable to get ahead of him and Hamilton maintained a steady advantage when his teammate's soft compound tyres were worn out to win the race. (Full article...)
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Layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

The 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2015, was a Formula One motor race held on 7 June 2015 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The race was the seventh round of the 2015 season, and marked the 52nd running of the Canadian Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo was the defending race winner, having won his first ever grand prix the year before.

Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team won the race from pole position, leading for all but one lap of the race. He extended his championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished second, to 17 points. (Full article...)
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Layout of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace

The 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2015) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil on 15 November 2015. It was the eighteenth race of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 44th running of the Brazilian Grand Prix as a round of the World Championship since its inception in 1950.

Nico Rosberg, driving for Mercedes, was the defending race winner. His teammate Lewis Hamilton entered the race as World Drivers' Champion, having secured the title two races earlier in the United States. Mercedes had also already clinched the Constructors' title, having done so at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix. (Full article...)
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An MCL35 driven by Lando Norris during 2020 pre-season testing.

The McLaren MCL35 is a Formula One car that was designed under the direction of James Key and constructed by McLaren to compete in the Formula One World Championship. The car was originally intended to compete in the 2020 season only, but as the championship was heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the lifespan of all 2020 cars was extended into 2021. McLaren produced an upgraded version of the car, the McLaren MCL35M, for the 2021 championship as the team returned to using Mercedes engines. Both variants of the car were considered competitive and the team's results improved considerably during the two seasons it was used in, with McLaren regularly the third-fastest team and significantly closer to the leading teams than had been the case since the turbo-hybrid era began in 2014.

The MCL35 represented a substantial development over its predecessor, the MCL34, featuring a new design that increased aerodynamic efficiency and was better optimized for Renault engines. The MCL35 made its début at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix after the start of the season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was driven by Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris. McLaren finished in third place in the World Constructors' Championship for the first time since 2012 and achieved podiums at the Austrian and Italian Grands Prix, while also claiming three fastest laps and setting a track record at the Red Bull Ring. (Full article...)
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The 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2012) was a Formula One motor race that took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on 25 November 2012. The race was the twentieth and final round of the 2012 Formula One World Championship, and marked the forty-first running of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The race was won by Jenson Button driving for McLaren, scoring the 15th and last victory of his Formula One career, as well as McLaren's last Grand Prix victory until the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, as well as the last win for a British driver for McLaren until Lando Norris won the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.

It was at this race that Sebastian Vettel won the 2012 World Drivers' Championship, his third title in a row. Fernando Alonso finished second in both the race and the championship and had the provisional championship lead at a late stage of the race, before Vettel moved up the order to have a three-point cushion. The race also marked the 306th and final one for Michael Schumacher, after he announced his retirement for the second time. (Full article...)
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Sebastian Vettel (pictured in 2011) became a three-time World Champion with Red Bull Racing.

The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March and ended in Brazil on 25 November. The 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar.

The early season was tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the championship; a record for the series. It was not until the European Grand Prix in June that a driver, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, won his second race of the year, and with it, emerged as a championship contender. Alonso maintained his hold on the championship lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in the United Kingdom, Italy and Singapore. However, costly first-lap retirements in Belgium and Japan allowed his rivals to catch up, and defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel – like Alonso, a two-time title winner – took the lead in the sixteenth race of the season. Vettel, too, encountered difficulties throughout the season; contact with a backmarker left him to finish outside the points in Malaysia, while alternator failures at the European and Italian Grands Prix cost him valuable points and exclusion from qualifying in Abu Dhabi led him to start from the pit lane. Vettel entered the final race of the season with a thirteen-point lead over Alonso. Alonso needed a podium finish to stand any chance of becoming World Drivers' Champion, but in a race of attrition that finished under the safety car, Vettel finished in sixth place, scoring enough points to win his third consecutive championship, becoming just the third driver in the sport's sixty-three-year history to do so. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull Racing secured their third consecutive title when Sebastian Vettel finished second at the United States Grand Prix. (Full article...)

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Prost in 2008

Alain Marie Pascal Prost (French: [alɛ̃ pʁɔst]; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, he held the record for most Grand Prix victories (51) from 1987 until 2001, when Michael Schumacher won the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix.

Prost discovered karting at the age of 14 during a family holiday. He progressed through motor sport's junior ranks, winning the French and European Formula Three championships, before joining the McLaren Formula One team in 1980 at the age of 24. He finished in the points on his Formula One debut – at the San Martín Autodrome in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he took his first podium a year later – and took his first race victory a year later at his home Grand Prix in France, driving for the factory Renault team. (Full article...)
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The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from 1993 to 2012, except in 1998. During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a country that hosted its own national Grand Prix at a different point in the same season, at a different circuit (except in 2007). The race returned as a one-off in 2016, being held on a street circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In earlier years, the European Grand Prix was not a race in its own right, but an honorific title given to one of the national Grands Prix in Europe. The first race to be so named was the 1923 Italian Grand Prix, held at Monza, and the last was the 1977 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. (Full article...)
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Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh Drivers' Championship, equalling the record of most Championships.

The 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 71st running of the Formula One World Championship. It marked the 70th anniversary of the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship. The championship was recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively.

The championship was originally due to start in March, but the start was postponed until July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was originally due to be contested over a record of 22 Grands Prix, but as some races were cancelled and new races were added to replace them, a total of 17 races were run. The season started in July with the Austrian Grand Prix and ended in December with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first eight rounds of the championship were run behind closed doors, with the rest of the races being run at a reduced capacity or also behind closed doors due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Full article...)
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Schumacher in 1998

Michael Schumacher (German: [ˈmɪçaːʔeːl ˈʃuːmaxɐ] <phonos file="De-Michael-Schumacher.ogg"></phonos>; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1991 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012. Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, a record which was tied by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. At the time of his retirement, Schumacher held the records for most wins (91), pole positions (68), and podium finishes (155), while he maintains the record for most fastest laps (77), among others.

Born to working-class parents, Schumacher started his racing career in karting. He won his first karting championship aged six in a kart built from discarded parts. After having enjoyed success in karting—such as winning the direct-drive Karting European Championship in 1987—and in several single-seater series, Schumacher made a one-off Formula One appearance with Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. He was signed by Benetton for the rest of the 1991 season, winning his first and second drivers' titles consecutively in 1994 and 1995 with the team. Schumacher moved to the struggling Ferrari team in 1996. During his first few years with the team, Schumacher lost out on the title in the final race of the season in 1997 and 1998, and suffered a broken leg from a brake failure in 1999. He and Ferrari won five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004, including unprecedented sixth and seventh titles, while breaking several records. After finishing third in 2005 and second in 2006, Schumacher retired from the sport, although he later made a brief return with Mercedes from 2010 to 2012. (Full article...)
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The French Grand Prix (French: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest motor races in the world as well as the first "Grand Prix". It ceased, shortly after its centenary, in 2008 with 86 races having been held, due to unfavourable financial circumstances and venues. The race returned to the Formula One calendar in 2018 with Circuit Paul Ricard hosting the race, but was removed from the calendar after 2022.

Unusually even for a race of such longevity, the location of the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 16 different venues having been used over its life, a number only eclipsed by the 23 venues used for the Australian Grand Prix since its 1928 start. It is also one of four races (along with the Belgian, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix) to have been held as part of the three distinct Grand Prix championships (the World Manufacturers' Championship in the late 1920s, the European Championship in the 1930s and the Formula One World Championship since 1950). (Full article...)
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Hill in March 2012

Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formula One World Champion to also win the title. He started racing on motorbikes in 1981, and after minor success moved on to single-seater racing cars.

Hill became a test driver for the Formula One title-winning Williams team in 1992. He was promoted to the Williams race team the following year after Riccardo Patrese's departure and took the first of his 22 victories at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix. During the mid-1990s, Hill was Michael Schumacher's main rival for the Formula One Drivers' Championship, which saw the two clash several times on and off the track. Their collision at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill became champion in 1996 with eight wins, but was dropped by Williams for the following season. He went on to drive for the less competitive Arrows and Jordan teams, and in 1998 gave Jordan their first win. (Full article...)