VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES GUIDE TO FORMULA 1

What is Formula 1?

The FIA Formula 1 World Championship is the pinnacle of global motorsport. It’s an annual competition that runs from March to November and pits the best drivers and the fastest cars in the world against one another.

The first World Championship race took place at Silverstone in the UK on 13th May 1950. Since then, the sport has grown from a largely European-based series into a truly global championship, with 18 races taking place on five continents in 2008.

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World Championship points are awarded at each race according to finishing position - 10 points for a win, eight points for second, six for third and then down to one for eighth place – and the results from each race are combined to determine two World Champions at the end of each season: one for drivers, the other for constructors.

Formula 1 has two governing bodies. The Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) presides over the sporting and technical aspects, while Formula 1 Management (FOM) owns Formula 1’s commercial rights and shares a percentage of its profits among the teams.

The sport’s 10 two-car teams are bound together by a legally-binding document known as the Concorde Agreement. However, each team operates as an independent entity and organises its own sponsorship, engine deals and drivers contracts.



THE TEAMSOf the 10 teams contesting in 2008, six are based in England, one in Switzerland, one in Germany and two in Italy.

The core of each team is factory-based, working on the design, build and development of the cars. The bigger teams run wind tunnels 24 hours a day to optimise the aerodynamics of their cars and they manufacture more than 90 percent of their parts in-house.

Trackside operations are split between the race and the test teams. The race teams prepare and operate the two cars at grands prix; the test teams track-test development parts away from the limelight to ensure they can be raced reliably.

To be competitive, the teams have to invest constantly in new technology. While that makes the sport attractive to six global car manufacturers, it means the running costs of each team are high.

The teams raise most of the money they need to go racing through partnerships with suppliers and sponsorship deals.



THE CARSFormula 1 cars are the fastest and most technologically advanced racing cars in the world.

They can accelerate from 0-100mph (160kph) and return to 0 in just 4.8 seconds; they can slow from 124mph (200kph) to 0 in just 2.9 seconds and they are capable of creating lateral forces of 5g while cornering.

How do they achieve such a high level of performance?

Their 2.4-litre V8 engines produce approximately 750bhp and the cars generate their own weight - 600kilos - in aerodynamic downforce at 80mph (130kph), which increases to 2,500kg at 200mph. High-tech electronics ensure the gearboxes operate seamlessly - they have no loss of power between gear changes.

Such is the ingenuity of the teams' designers that the sport's governing body, the FIA, has had to impose restrictions on performance in an effort to cap cornering speeds. The most recent examples are a 30 percent reduction in downforce in 2005 and a reduction in engine capacity from 3-litre V10s to 2.4-litre V8s in '06.

For 2009, even more stringent aerodynamic restrictions are intended to simultaneously slow the car and increase overtaking.



THE REGULATIONSThe technical regulations are split into five sections (“Articles”): definitions, general principles, bodywork and dimensions, weight and engine. But, rather than being a closed book, they can be added to at any time - usually in the name of safety - when the teams introduce new technologies that dramatically increase speeds.

The sporting regulations provide definitions on how the sport is run, from the necessary licences required by a driver to race, to a minute-by-minute description of the start procedure and the podium ceremony.

Keep an eye on McLaren.com for the new 2009 regulations.



BEHIND-THE-SCENESWhile the Drivers' World Championship attracts the bulk of the media coverage, Formula 1 remains inherently a team sport. The two drivers from each team that do battle on the racetrack are only the tip of the iceberg.

Back at the factory up to 1,000 people are involved in the design, build and preparation of the cars. Such is the relentless pace of development in Formula 1 that teams run nightshifts in an effort to stay ahead of the opposition.

The Formula 1 calendar's gruelling schedule (18 races across five continents in eight months) means that many of the race team mechanics and race engineers are rested between races. A separate team - a test team – takes to the track between races to try out development parts and only once new parts have been signed off by them are they then used in a race.

Even the drivers have a group of people working with them behind-the-scenes, from personal assistants to personal trainers. No stone can be left unturned in Formula 1 - and it usually isn'