FORMULA 1.

Sepang F1 Ticket..

2006-01-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

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Honda And Suzuki.

2006-01-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

Honda Banking On Suzuki Success

They have been bitter rivals in motorcycle racing, but for once Honda will be hoping that one particular Suzuki does well in 2006.

Only ten days to go till we find out if Aguri Suzuki's team Super Aguri Formula One have been accepted into the piranha tank that is F1.

Providing they can keep up with Minardis and the Jordans (sorry, make that the Squadra Torro Rossas and the Midand-Toyotas) they will be a welcome addition to the grid in a season which will see the end to tobacco sponsorship in motorsport.

In fact given the sponsorship circumstances it's absolutely phenomenal that it's happening. Apart from stumping up the ludicrous amount of $48m to pay to the FIA to show that they're 'serious' – just keeping the money in the bank gives the FIA an income of $2.4m – Suzuki will have to develop a worldwide infrastructure for his team.

It will be a fantastic reversal to start adding teams to the grid and has come about from private initiative and nothing to do with the FIA's supposed cost-cutting measures. Given Max Mosley's evangelical drive to get more cars into races it should be a rubber stamp formality from Paris. Though, given his sudden U-turn on one-race tyres, anything is possible these days.

The former F1 driver with the sticky-out ears is hopeful. "We have cleared all the hurdles up to this point," Aguri said. "There is a huge amount of work left but we plan to be on the grid in 2006."

However Suzuki, 45, is a man who is used to F1 disappointment. He spent the whole of his first season at Zakspeed failing to prequalify. Takuma Sato's record looks like Michael Schumacher's in comparison. Of the 39 runners who turned up to race through the 1989 season, Aguri would regularly finish either 37th or 38th. He made a special effort for the Japanese Grand Prix and finished 34th – still not getting through to main qualifying.

He went from Zakspeed to Larrousse to Footwork and then finished his F1 career at Ligier. Unlike other bios, he didn't retire from racing after he injured his ribs in a practice accident before the Japanese GP in 1995, and went on to race Nissan GTs, a version of the Skyline and the TWR-run Nissan R390 which finished third at Le Mans in 1998.

His latest outfit will be based in Tokyo but will also have an operation at the former Arrows headquarters in Leafield. It will have to. With an intense schedule of European races it will be hard to sustain it from such a huge distance away.

Also, to be able to hire experienced staff quickly he will need to go where there is the greatest pool of expertise and that is still the UK – with Renault just up the road and Williams just down the road; BAR, Midland and the remains of Minardi's English operating base less than an hour away.

Suzuki's next biggest hurdle is getting hold of the intellectual property rights of BAR's 2005 car. They can run an old BAR provided they've bought it, as (FIA technical delegate) Charlie Whiting made clear in 2004 when there were more than a few questions about the remarkable similarity between the 2004 Sauber and the 2003 Ferrari.

"The Concorde Agreement says that each team must own the intellectual property rights of the car concerned. Sauber do. They have their own drawings. It's as simple as that. I don't think anyone doubts that there's an exchange of technology between the two teams. It's inevitable if they're using the same engines and gearboxes. But I think they fulfil the requirements of the Concorde Agreement in their entirety."

However if Suzuki were to ask Charlie if they could buy some bits and pieces, he'd be keen to see it happen.

"Some people think we really should allow teams to buy parts [from other teams] in order to allow them to survive. Personally, I agree and it's certainly the only way any new team would come in. Because if you or I wanted to start a team, we might have $50 million in sponsorship – but you'd need six times that amount to start a team. If you were able to go out and buy a car, it'd be far more feasible."

What Suzuki is taking on is an immense task and every F1 fan should wish him well. Given that he wants to have Takuma Sato as his number one driver he is already tying one hand behind his back, even if it is his best hope for attracting Japanese money to the team.

The unfavourable sponsorship climate, the split offices, the huge learning curve, the time between now and the first race (Toyota had a whole shadow season and still messed up in 2002) and a driver who keeps the fabrication department busy is an immense mountain to climb.

Fingers crossed that one year on he's still in business.

Shanghai International Circuit.

2006-01-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

Shanghai International Circuit

Shajkhk International Circuit Location Shanghai, China

Major events Formula One; MotoGP; V8 Supercar; A1 Grand Prix
Circuit length 5.451 kilometres (3.387 miles)
Turns 16
Lap record 1'32.238 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)
Shanghai International Circuit (Simplified: 上海国际赛车场; Traditional: 上海國際賽車場; Hanyu Pinyin: Shànghǎi Guójì Sàichēchǎng) is a brand new motor racing venue, situated near Shanghai in China. It was the venue of the inaugural Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on 26th September 2004.

In common with many other new Formula One circuits, it was designed by Hermann Tilke. Contrary to popular belief, the resemblence of the track layout with the Chinese character shang (上), which means 'above' or 'ascend', was not intentional, but rather coincidental. One lap lasts 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometres).

An image of the main straight and pitlane areaOther events held at the circuit include a round of the MotoGP world championship, and the Australian-based V8 Supercar championship

Fomula 1 made profit 3 billion.

2006-01-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Formula 1

Bernie Ecclestone is already one of the richest men on the planet - and he's just got significantly richer...

The news on Friday that Bernie Ecclestone had sold his stake in SLEC, the company that controls F1’s commercial rights, was very interesting. Bernie was said to have sold his 25% stake in SLEC handing over ownership to a previously little-known private equity group CVC Capital Partners.

The minute you mention FIA and FOM and SLEC most F1 fans eyes begin to glaze over, but there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye.

Either it’s the first stage in allowing the major motor manufacturers to buy SLEC and hence prevent a split in the sport in 2008 – or it’s another example of Bernie managing to dispose of an asset at top dollar before things go pear-shaped.

Ever since his days selling motorbikes in Kent, Bernie has had a happy knack of doing the right deal at the right time. He sold his F1 digital TV package to the French station Canal + and made millions from it (they lost millions).

When he ditched the idea of an F1 flotation on the stock market he managed to sell 75% of the SLEC shares to German TV mogul Leo Kirsch for $1.6 billion. Kirsch, who was trying to convert F1 to a pay-per-view sport for the Schumacher-crazy German public, went bust and the three German banks that lent him the money suddenly became major players in F1.

Time after time Bernie has got grand prix promoters to stump up the maximum amount of cash for races. We’ve seen in the news today that the Belgian GP promoter has gone bust with a shortfall that the Wallonian government are reluctant to make up for.

Now it’s reported that Bernie has sold his remaining SLEC shares, along with 51 per cent of the German Bayerische Landesbank’s holding for a massive $3 billion ($1.75bn) to CVC Capital Partners.

Bernie was said to be "very happy" with the deal and you can understand why.

Judging from his previous mega deals either he’s managed to get shot of a major asset just before he knows it’s all going to fall apart (and the big five motor manufacturers leave F1 with just Ferrari and Red Bull). Or…

CVC Capital Partners are acting for the major motor manufacturers and what we are witnessing is a transference of ownership. Which would mean that F1 will stay as we know and love it.

The FIA have ultimate say in all of this because as owners of the F1 series, part of the commercial/TV rights deal is they get to judge whether the owner of SLEC is a fit and proper owner. They clearly believed that the man behind The Muppets in Germany was the right sort of owner because he had $1.6 bn and no doubt they’ll like CVC even more because they have $3.3 bn.

Whoever gets ultimate control of F1 – the big car manufacturers, or some major capital investment group - you can bet one person will not lose out.

Bernard Charles Ecclestone – he’s gone about making up for the UK pensions shortfall in his own special way.

Sepang F1 Circuit.

2006-01-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sepang International Circuit

Sepang F1 International Circuit Location Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia

Major events Formula One; MotoGP; A1GP; Japan GT
Circuit length 5.54 kilometres (3.44 miles)
Turns 15
Lap record 1'34.223 (Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW, 2004)
The Sepang F1 International Circuit is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix. It is also used as a venue for many other major motorsport events.

Widely regarded as a benchmark for other Grand Prix venues, the Sepang circuit boasts superb pit garage and media facilities, as well as impressive grandstands and patron amenities. Some complaints have been raised as regards to the unevenness of the surface, as the track appears to be slowly sinking. This is possibly due to the fact that Sepang was built on the site of a former swamp.

The circuit was designed by renowned German designer Hermann Tilke, who would subsequently design the impressive new facilities in Shanghai and Bahrain.

The main circuit, normally raced in a clockwise direction, is 5.54 kilometres long, and is noted for its sweeping corners and wide straights. The layout is quite unusual, with a very long back straight separated from the pit straight by just one very tight hairpin.

Other configurations of the Sepang circuit can also be used. The north circuit is also raced in a clockwise direction. It is basically the first half of the main circuit. The course turns back towards the pit straight after turn 6 and is 2.71 kilometres long in total.

The south circuit is the other half of the racecourse. The back straight of the main circuit becomes the pit straight when the south circuit is in use, and joins onto turn 8 of the main circuit to form a hairpin turn. Also run clockwise, this circuit is 2.61 km in length.

Sepang International Circuit also features kart racing and motocross facilities

Next F1 Ferrari.

2006-01-15T09:15:00.000-08:00

The Future of Ferrari.

For the last ten years or so, Ferrari haven't had to worry over much about their driving pairing. In the time of the Schumacher dynasty, it has been Michael + one other. The 'one other' being at first Eddie Irvine, then Rubens Barrichello and finally Felipe Massa. But now there is change on the horizon...

The Scuderia seem to have become unusually twitchy about reports of their drivers. Take the story a few weeks ago. Some websites were running a news item that Michael Schumacher injured his ankle playing football.

The team reacted thus in a statement: "Over the past few days several (web)sites have proven that they know very little about Formula One and that they will do anything to get 'hits' by reporting that Michael Schumacher had been injured playing football. We would like to reassure all our fans that Michael is in the best of health. He is now at home relaxing with his family after a long and difficult season."

It's hard to know why this really mattered so much. The pattern of Ferrari testing in the last few years has been that Michael takes it easy till the New Year and then storms back with a vengeance in January testing.

Even if he had injured his ankle, it's unlikely it would have affected Ferrari's test programme very much. The interesting thing was that the team felt they had to issue a statement denying it. Most F1 teams would just turn round and say, "it's just a website story, it has no basis" and leave it at that.

Now we have Luca Montezemolo suggesting that the media stop hounding Valentino Rossi about his future plans. The MotoGP star has been testing at Maranello again, generating a huge interest in the Italian sporting press.

"Maybe there's already been too much said about him regarding this issue," Montezemolo told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. "I'm certain that a person who has been so successful on motorbikes will know what to do. "Switching to four wheels is a decision he needs to take without any pressure. Valentino knows that if he decides to come to F1 it is because he knows he can win here too."

True, but it was Ferrari and not Rossi who generated and promoted the media hype. It was seen by some as a bit of a ruse to try and get Michael Schumacher to commit to a long-term contract – sign, or we'll get the monkey boy to drive for us.

If anything, Rossi has been embarrassed by all the stories about his supposed 2007 defection from four wheels to two. As you would be if you turn up to a MotoGP press conference and are asked lots of questions about another sport altogether.

"I've never said I've decided to go to F1, and I still can't say that," Rossi recently told the Motor Cycle News. "The problem is that I am still a motorcycle rider in my mind."

Whereas the media attention was fine during the summer, the heightened sense of anticipation grows after every Rossi test. And the fact that Montezemolo is now asking the press to get off his case could mean that he is seen at Maranello as the future of Ferrari. Because if you knew you had Kimi Raikkonen coming to your team in 2007, quite frankly, you wouldn't care less.

Raikkonen could and should have been World Champion in 2003 and 2005. With Raikkonen signed up, the Scuderia would know they have the fastest or second fastest man on the grid in the post-Schumacher era. Schumi may well go on through 2006, but it would be hard for the Ferrari team to bankroll both the $26m+ Schumi requires and Rossi who currently gets $18m from Yamaha.

The biggest spending team on the grid, Toyota, only pays $25m for Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher.

Similarly Raikkonen would expect to get around the $20 million mark, so the likelihood of him partnering Rossi is remote, unless Valentino is prepared to take an extraordinary cut in income. This summer Raikkonen refused to rule out a move to Ferrari at some time in the future, but that may well have been a negotiating ploy aimed at getting Ron Dennis (one of the wiliest deal-makers in F1) to cough up more money.

There are no real facts to play with right now, but the likelihood is that neither Schumi or Raikkonen will be at Ferrari in 2007. If Rossi decides that his future does lie with four wheels, then it could be an extraordinary gamble. For both him and Ferrari.

Monaco Circuit.

2006-01-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

Circuit de Monaco

Major events Formula One; GP2; Euro F3
Circuit length 3.34 kilometres (2.075 miles)
Turns 18
Lap record 1'14.439 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)
Circuit de Monaco is the name given to several streets in the principality of Monaco during one weekend of each year when they are closed to host the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.

The idea for a Formula One race around the streets of Monaco came from Anthony Noghes, the president of the Monegasque car club and close friend of the ruling Grimaldi family. The inaugural race was held in 1929 and was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti.

The circuit is commonly referred to as "Monte Carlo" because most of it is inside the Monte Carlo neighborhood of Monaco.

Due to the tight and twisty nature of the circuit, it favours the skill of the drivers over the power of the cars. However, there is very little overtaking as the course is so narrow and dangerous. Racing round the course has been likened to riding a bicycle round your bathroom or, in Nelson Piquet's words, "Flying a helicopter in your living room".

The famous tunnel section (marked in white in the circuit diagram above) is said to be difficult for drivers to cope with due to the quick switch from light to dark, then back to light again, at one of the fastest points of the course.

The circuit is generally recognised to be less safe than other circuits used for high profile events such as Formula One. However, due to the history and glamour associated with the circuit, it is said to have a safe place on the Formula One calendar.

The circuit has been worked on over the past years in order to improve cramped conditions in the pit garages. Land has been reclaimed from the harbour to slightly change the shape of one section of the circuit, which in turn will leave more space for the pit garages.

Future F1 Engine.

2006-01-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

Next F1 Engine.

In 2006 we will see F1 engines slimmed to 2.4 litres and a massive multi-million pound spend on their research. But wouldn't the big F1 teams be better off spending their money on something useful ...

A plan for an electric-powered World Championship racing car is being studied by a Formula 1 team it was revealed yesterday. It would compete against the world's fastest cars at speeds of more than 180 mph - meaning Formula One grand prix rules would have to be re-written.

The revolutionary idea was unveiled in Tokyo. The engine is said to be an electric-hydraulic power system which, in trials, achieved speeds of more than 90 mph for 600 miles, without stopping.

It is claimed the power unit can accelerate to nearly 130mph in under nine seconds and can put nearly 1500 bhp on the road - more than twice the power of a Formula One car.

Under current F1 rules, a grand prix car must have an internal combustion engine. The electric-hydraulic system is described as having a tiny engine driving a supplementary alternator - which would meet racing rules.

An official of Norwich-based Lotus Cars said in Tokyo: "Team Lotus is searching for a new racing engine and major sponsorship for 1992, so the field is wide open."

The last line of course gives it away. It's a news item from the Daily Mail, October 25, 1991.

Since that time, the momentum to get renewable energy driving F1 cars has been conspicuous by its absence. All the development has gone into making engines lighter, rev higher and last slightly longer than before.

Even when technology comes along that might be used by roadgoing cars, such as the systems developed by McLaren and BAR to harness the energy generated by their F1 cars under braking, the FIA have banned it.

Max Mosley and the FIA are making another colossal blunder in their management of the sport in blocking off these areas of innovation. They have seven or eight teams on the grid investing massive amounts of money into their cars, developing technology that can hardly be applied anywhere else.

Yet the FIA has a very worthy and important role in governing the test crash ratings for road vehicles. If they want to impose a restrictive rules system that limits car technology - as they seem to be doing for 2007 and beyond - then why not use rules that might benefit road car development?

Max's puritan rules, introducing a single ECU, are supposedly aimed at bringing small teams into F1 to compete. Yet, all he's left with right now are big teams who will be spending their big budgets on more and more marginal items. No wonder Ron Dennis wanted Fernando Alonso for 2007 and beyond. If the car can hardly be developed, the massive difference is going to come from the drivers, so top drivers will be at a premium.

The sound of an electric car isn't going to get anyone excited in the short-term. It makes the term petrolhead redundant for a start. But if the rules were changed overnight you can bet the most innovative engineering brains would soon be accelerating the rate of progress in the development of electric cars. Even that would be better than what we have in prospect.

Making the teams use old technology is not only a backward move for the sport, it's a backward move for the motoring industry as a whole. Electric cars, like the Lotus team, are unlikely to make an appearance any time soon.

Formula 1 Racing.

2006-01-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

Formula One racing

Formula One cars wind through the infield section of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 2003 United States Grand Prix
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This article focuses on a specific subtopic of Formula One.
A Formula One race takes place over an entire weekend, with free practice on Friday, two practice sessions and a qualifying session on Saturday, and the race on Sunday.

Contents.
1 Free practice sessions
2 Qualifying sessions
3 Race
4 Points system
5 Worldwide appeal

Free practice sessions

The event usually begins on Friday (except in Monaco where it begins on Thursday) with two free practice sessions, from 11:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 15:00, 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. Further free practice sessions will take place on Saturday from 9:00 to 9:45 and from 10:15 to 11:00; during events in North America the Saturday free practice sessions will take place from 8:00 to 8:45 and from 9:15 to 10:00.

Qualifying sessions

On Saturday at 13:00 (except in North America where the starting time is at 12:00) the qualifying session takes place, using the format of allowing each driver to set one "flying lap" time on an empty track. The order of running in the qualifying session is determined by the results of the last race, with the victor of the last race running last in the qualifying session. A driver or car that sets the fastest time qualifies at the front of the grid and is said to be on pole position. There are typically races in other FIA series (such as the GP2 Series) over the weekend to keep crowds entertained.

Historically there were often an excess of cars that wished to compete in F1, so teams had to pre-qualify for the opportunity to race and "DNQ" (Did Not Qualify) was a common designation if the qualifying time of the car was not within 107% of the pole sitters time. There are now only 10 teams in Formula 1 so the 107% rule has been removed since the FIA's rules indicate that 24 cars can take the start of an F1 race, and a minimum of 20 cars must enter a race. Each team has two cars, and if a team was to drop out the remaining teams would have to figure out how to maintain the 20 car rule. The current Concorde Agreement expires at the end of the 2007 season.

Race

The ten lights which when extinguished signal the start of a raceSee Formula One regulations for detailed information on the race start procedure.

The race itself, held on the Sunday afternoon, begins with a warm-up lap, after which the cars are assembled on the starting grid in the order they qualified. They then go on the signal of the starting light system, which consists of five lights mounted above the start / finish line which light up at one second intervals. After a random length of time (no more than a few seconds) the red lights are turned off, at which point the race starts. Races are 305 kilometres long, though occasionally some races are truncated due to special circumstances. A race can last for no longer than two hours.

Drivers usually make pitstops for fuel more than once during a race. The cars, on average, get around 2 kilometres per litre. As of the 2005 season tyre changes during the race are no longer allowed. Tyres may be changed only if the tyre deemed dangerous to the driver or other cars (for instance, if the tyre has been punctured). The FIA must examine changed tyres after the change to make the official call. If the tyre is deemed to still be safe the car and driver will get a positional penalty. Timing pitstops with reference to other cars is crucial - if they are following another car but are unable to pass, drivers will pit early in the expectation that when they rejoin the race they will end up in a clear area of track where they will be able to drive as fast as they can go, and thus make up overall time and pass the other car "in the pits".

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 where they answer questions in English and their native languages.

Points system

Points are awarded to drivers and teams exclusively on where they finish in a race, with the winner receiving 10 points, the second place finisher 8 points, third 6, fourth 5, fifth 4 and sixth 3, seventh 2 and eighth 1. If a race has to be abandoned before 75% of the planned distance has been completed all points are halved. The winner of the annual championship is the driver (or team, for the Constructors' Championship) with the most points.

Historically, the races were scored on the basis of a six-place tally: IE: via an 8-6-4-3-2-1 scoring system, with the holder of the fastest race lap also receiving a bonus point. In the late 1950s, the scoring was revised to give the winner nine points instead of eight, and the single point awarded for fastest lap was abandoned.

In the late 1980s, 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 the mid 2000s, 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 been able 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 wherewithall 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 ineffectual. 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 dethroned as "winningest" driver recently. As with most other sports, it is very difficult to compare stars of different eras owing to the changes in the sport and regulations.

Worldwide appeal

Despite being the pinnacle of racing in terms of budgets, and driver skill, Formula One racing has often been accused of being unexciting when compared to less-prestigious 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).

The sport is lesser-known in the United States than either their mostly-domestic open-wheeler racing series (at the moment there are two major ones, IRL and Champcars) or NASCAR, but in terms of budgets and global TV audiences F1 is bigger than all three. 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. :)

HISTORY OF FORMULA1.

2006-01-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

Formula One

Fernando Alonso qualifying in a Renault Formula One car at the 2005 United States Grand Prix
Articles related to Formula One:
History of Formula One
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Lists:
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Formula One portal

Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seat open-wheel formula auto racing. It consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held on purpose-built circuits or closed city streets, whose results determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors. The cars race at speeds often in excess of 300 km/h (185 mph) with engines that produce, as of 2005, around 900 bhp at 18000 rpm.

Europe is Formula One's traditional centre and remains its leading market; however, Grands Prix have been held all over the world, and with new races in Bahrain, China, Malaysia and Turkey, its scope is continually expanding. As the world's most expensive sport, its economic impact is significant, and its financial and political battles are widely observed. In recent years, it has also become known for glamour.

The sport is regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile,with its headquarters in Place de la Concorde, Paris. Its present President is Max Mosley, and is generally promoted and controlled by the official commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone through a variety of corporate entities.

Contents [hide]
1 History

1.1 Formative years
1.2 Rise in popularity
1.3 Modern F1
2 Racing and strategy
3 Drivers and constructors
4 Grands Prix
5 Circuits
6 The future of Formula One
6.1 Venue changes
6.2 Rule changes
6.3 Small teams
7 Notes
8 References
9 See also
10 External links

History

The Formula One series has its roots in the European Grand Prix motor racing (q.v. for pre-1947 history) of the 1920s and 1930s. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations laid out rules for a World Championship before World War II, but due to the suspension of racing during the war, the World Drivers Championship was not formalised until 1947, and was first run in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958. Non-championship Formula One races were held for many years, but due to the rising cost of competition, the last of these occurred in the early 1980s.

The sport's title, Formula One, indicates that it is intended to be the most advanced and most competitive of the many racing formulae.

See also: List of Formula One Grands Prix

Formative years

Juan Manuel Fangio drove this Alfa-Romeo 159 to the title in 1951.The inaugural Formula One World Championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, barely defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951 and four more in the next six years, his streak interrupted by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari. Though Britain's Stirling Moss was able to compete regularly, he was never able to win the World Championship. Fangio is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade and has long been considered the "grand master" of Formula One.

The first major technological development, Cooper's re-introduction of mid-engined cars (following Porsche's pioneering and all-conquering Auto Unions of the 1930s), which evolved from the company's successful Formula 3 designs, occurred in the 1950s. Jack Brabham, champion in 1959 and 1960, soon proved the new design's superiority. By 1961, all competitors had switched to mid-engined cars.

The first British World Champion was Mike Hawthorn, who drove a Ferrari to the title in 1958. However, when Colin Chapman entered F1 as a chassis designer and later founder of Lotus, British racing green came to dominate the field for the next decade. Between Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, and Denny Hulme, British teams and Commonwealth drivers won twelve world championships between 1962 and 1973.

In 1962, Lotus introduced a car with aluminium sheet chassis called a monocoque in place of the traditional tubular chassis; this proved to be the next major technological breakthrough since the introduction of mid-engined cars. In 1968, Lotus painted an Imperial Tobacco livery on their cars, thus introducing sponsorship to the sport.

Aerodynamic downforce slowly gained importance in car design from the appearance of aerofoils in the late 1960s. In the late 1970s Lotus introduced ground effect aerodynamics that provided enormous downforce and greatly increased cornering speeds (though the concept had previously been tested by Jim Hall's Chaparral IndyCar team in the 1960s).

The formation of the Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile in 1979 set off the FISA-FOCA War, during which FISA and its president Jean Marie Balestre clashed repeatedly with the Formula One Constructors Association over television profits and technical regulations.

Rise in popularity
1981 saw the signing of the first Concorde Agreement, a contract which bound the teams to compete until its expiration and assured them a share of the profits from the sale of television rights, bringing an end to the FISA-FOCA War and contributing to Bernie Ecclestone's eventual complete financial control of the sport, after much negotiation.

The FIA imposed a ban on ground effect aerodynamics in 1983. By then, however, turbocharged engines, which Renault had pioneered in 1977, were producing over 700 bhp (520 kW) and were essential to be competitive. In later years, notably 1987, the Formula One turbo cars produced in excess of 1,000 bhp in racing trim (and perhaps as much as 1,250 bhp in qualifying trim). These cars were and still are the most powerful open-wheel circuit racing cars ever. To reduce engine power output and thus speeds, the FIA limited fuel tank capacity in 1984 and boost pressures in 1988 before banning turbocharged engines in 1989.

In the early 1990s, teams started introducing electronic driver aids such as power steering, traction control, and semi-automatic gearboxes. Some were borrowed from contemporary road cars. Some, like active suspension, were primarily developed for the track and later made their way to the showroom. The FIA, due to complaints that technology was determining the outcome of races more than driver skill, banned many such aids in 1994. However, many observers felt that the ban on driver aids was a ban in name only as the FIA did not have the technology or the methods to eliminate these features from competition.

The teams signed a second Concorde Agreement in 1992 and a third in 1997, which is due to expire on the last day of 2007.

On the track, the McLaren and Williams teams dominated the 1980s and 1990s. Honda and McLaren dominated much of the 1980s, whilst Renault-powered Williams drivers won several world championships in the mid 1990s, with a McLaren comeback in the late 1990s. The rivalry between racing legends Senna and Prost became F1's central focus in 1988, and continued until Prost retired at the end of 1993. Tragically, Ayrton Senna died in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix having taken over Prost's lead drive at Williams that year. The FIA vowed to improve the sport's safety standards; since that weekend, no driver has died on the track during a race.

Drivers from McLaren, Williams, Renault (formerly Benetton) and Ferrari, dubbed the "Big Four", have won every World Championship from 1984 to the present day. Due to the technological advances of the 1990s, the cost of competing in Formula One rose dramatically. This increased financial burden, combined with four teams' dominance (largely funded by big car manufacturers such as DaimlerChrysler), caused the poorer independent teams to struggle not only to remain competitive, but to stay in business. Financial troubles forced several teams to withdraw. Since 1990, 28 teams have pulled out of Formula One. This has prompted former Jordan owner Eddie Jordan to say that the days of competitive privateers are over.[1]

Modern F1

Safety is of paramount concern in modern F1.
The official Formula One logo is part of the Formula One Administration's efforts to give F1 a corporate identity.Many records have been broken in the 21st century especially in the hands of German Michael Schumacher and recently the young Spaniard Fernando Alonso. The early 2000s were dominated by Michael Schumacher and a resurgent Ferrari. In 2001, Schumacher set the new record for the most Grands Prix ever won; the earlier record holder was Alain Prost, with 51 wins to his name. In 2002, Schumacher also set a new record by claiming the championship earlier in the season than any previous driver by winning the French Grand Prix in July that year.[2] In 2003, Schumacher claimed his sixth championship title, beating the earlier record-holder, Juan Manuel Fangio with five championships. His record now stands at 7 championships. In 2003 Fernando Alonso became the youngest ever pole sitter by qualifying first at Malaysia. Later that year he became the youngest ever winner of a Grand Prix when he took the chequered flag in Hungary.

Despite Ferrari's dominance, Kimi Räikkönen driving for McLaren had a theoretical chance of claiming the championship in 2003 right until the end of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya driving for Williams also came close in 2003. Ferrari's championship streak finally came to an end on September 25, 2005 when Fernando Alonso clinched the 2005 championship with a third place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix to become the youngest champion to date, replacing previous record holder Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil. Michael Schumacher had been world champion for more than 1,800 days.

In the rulebook, several driver aids returned due in part to developments that allowed teams to evade the FIA "restrictions". Meanwhile, several changes to the rules were made in a bid to improve the on-track action and cut spiralling costs. Most notably, the qualifying format has changed several times since 2003. Another new regulation made drivers start each race with the same level of fuel they had during qualifying, introducing a new tactical element to each team's strategy. Other new restrictions included one making it mandatory for each engine to last two races; a driver that had to have his engine replaced would be penalised by starting at a lower position in the starting grid of the race. Drivers are also no longer allowed to change tires during the race, unless the tires are deemed to be dangerously worn.

The first few years of the 21st century in F1 also saw some controversies and scandals. At the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002, Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari who was leading the race, was ordered to allow Schumacher to overtake him. The ensuing scandal saw Ferrari slapped with a fine by the FIA, who also banned any further use of team orders in the new rules and regulations. [3] In 2005, the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis saw only three out of ten teams race in a bizarre mishap when it turned out that the Michelin tires for the other seven teams could not be safely used on the surface of the track, causing them to pull out [4] when the FIA refused a change for safety reasons, insisting on keeping to the letter of the regulations.

During the early 2000s, Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Administration created a number of trademarks, an official logo, and an official website for the sport in an attempt to give it a corporate identity. Ecclestone experimented with a digital television package, known colloquially as Bernievision, by which a fan could purchase an entire F1 season, but after poor viewing figures in 2002 the program was discontinued.

The year 2005 marks the end of an era, the end of the 10 cylinder powerplants which saw both normally aspirated and supercharged engines being deployed in F1 cars for more than two decades. At the end the statistics show a raw supremacy of the Renault engines having clinched several championships as engine suppliers and their first ever Drivers and Constructors Championships in a 100% Renault car in 2005. Renault was innovative during this period producing out of the standard designs as the 111º 10 cylinder engine for the 2003 RS23. but not only Renault was successful, Ferrari and specially Honda enjoyed great success with multiple championships with several teams, most notable McLaren and by a lesser extent Williams with whom Honda engines reached the highest levels of power in F1 history in the late 80's exceeding, in some circumstances, the 1200 bhp limit in qualifying. Other Championship winning engines are those from Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche and Ford Cosworth.

The new 2.4 litre 8 Cylinder Formula is set to be introduced as early as the beginning of 2006 season allowing smaller teams to run rpm-limited V10 3-litre engines. The effects on the already low viewing figures are to be seen as the sound produced by V8 engines is expected to be different and perhaps not as loud as their V10 counterparts.

Racing and strategy
Formula One racing, Formula One regulations

A Formula One Grand Prix event spans an entire weekend, beginning with two free practices on Friday, and two free practices on Saturday. Third drivers are allowed to run on Fridays for teams that finished the preceding season in 5th place or lower. After these practice sessions, a qualifying session consisting of one "flying lap" (whereby the driver is given an empty track to set his time on, with time measured from a rolling start) determines a driver's position on the starting grid for Sunday's race, with the fastest driver during qualifying given "pole position" and the slowest driver starting last.

The race begins with a warm-up formation lap, after which the cars assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified. If a driver stalls before the parade lap, and the rest of the field passes him, then he must start from the back of the grid. As long as he moves off and at least one car is behind him, he can retake his original position.

A light system above the track then signals the start of the race. Races are a little over 300 kilometres (180 miles) long and are limited to two hours, though in practice they usually last about ninety minutes. Throughout the race, drivers may make one or more pit stops in order to refuel, although they are currently not allowed to change tires unless the change is essential (for instance, due to a puncture).

The FIA awards points to the top eight drivers and their respective teams of a grand prix on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis (the race winner receives ten points, the first runner-up eight, and so on). The winner of the two annual championships are the driver and the team who have accumulated the most points at the end of the season.

Drivers and constructors

Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari have each won their respective World Championships a record number of times.See also: List of Formula One constructors, List of Formula One drivers, List of Formula One people, List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, List of Formula One World Constructors' Champions

Formula One teams must build the chassis in which they compete, and consequently the terms "team" and "constructor" are more or less interchangeable. This requirement distinguishes the sport from series such as IRL, Champ Cars, and NASCAR, which allow teams to purchase chassis, and "spec series" such as GP2, which require all cars be kept to an identical specification. In its early years, Formula One teams sometimes also built their engines, though this became less common with the increased involvement of major car manufacturers such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Toyota, and Honda, whose large budgets rendered privately built engines less competitive (and redundant).

Early manufacturer involvement came in the form of a "factory team", i.e. one owned and staffed by a major car company, such as those of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari (FIAT) or Renault. Companies such as Climax, Repco, Cosworth, Hart, Judd and Supertec, which had no direct team affiliation, often sold engines to teams who could not afford to manufacture them. As the manufacturers' deep pockets and engineering ability took over, these collaborations largely died out in favour of the present system in which a manufacturer supports a single team.

After having virtually disappeared by the early 1980s, factory teams made a comeback in the 1990s and 2000s, with Toyota, Ferrari (FIAT), and Renault owning their own teams and BMW following suit by purchasing the former Sauber team. Honda has also recently gained control over what was once British American Racing. Others, such as DaimlerChrysler, provide engines and sponsorship for privately owned teams in return for prominent advertisement on their team clothing and car livery. The only remaining commercial engine manufacturer is Cosworth.

The sport's 1950 debut season 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 only still-active team which competed in 1950, and as of 2005 only ten teams remain on the grid, each fielding two cars. Although teams rarely disclose information about their budgets, it is estimated that they range from US$75 million to US$500 million each.

Entering a new team in the Formula One World Championship requires a £25 million (about US$50 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: B.A.R.'s purchase of Tyrrell and Midland's purchase of Jordan allowed both of these teams to sidestep the large deposit.

Each car is assigned a number. The previous season's World Drivers' Champion is designated number 1, with his teammate given number 2. Numbers are then assigned according to each team's position in the previous season's World Constructors' Championship. There have been exceptions to this rule, such as in 1993 and 1994, when the current World Drivers' Champion was no longer competing in Formula One. In this case the drivers for the team of the previous year's champion are given numbers 0 and 2. The number 13 has not been used since 1974, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organizers. Before 1996, only the world championship winning driver and his team generally swapped numbers with the previous champion – the remainder held their numbers from prior years, as they had been originally set at the start of the 1974 season. For many years, for example, Ferrari held numbers 27 & 28, regardless of their finishing position in the world championship. As privateer teams quickly folded in the early 1990s, numbers were frequently shuffled around, until the current system was adopted in 1996.

Michael Schumacher holds the record for having won the most Drivers' Championships (seven) and Ferrari holds the record for having won the most Constructors' Championships (fourteen). Jochen Rindt has the distinction of having been the only posthumous World Champion.

Grands Prix

Cars wind through the infield section of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the 2003 United States Grand PrixSee also: List of Formula One Grands Prix

The number of Grands Prix held in a season has varied over the years. Only seven races comprised the inaugural 1950 season; over the years the calendar has more than doubled in size. Though the number of races had stayed at sixteen or seventeen since the 1980s, it reached nineteen in 2005.

Six of the original seven races took place in Europe; the only non-European race that counted towards the World Championship in 1950 was the Indianapolis 500, which, due to lack of participation by F1 teams, since it required cars with different specifications from the other races, was later replaced by the United States Grand Prix. The F1 championship gradually expanded to other non-European countries as well. Argentina hosted the first South American grand prix in 1953, and Morocco hosted the first African World Championship race in 1958. Asia (Japan in 1976) and Oceania (Australia in 1985) followed. The current nineteen races are spread over the continents of Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and South America.

Traditionally, each nation has hosted a single grand prix that carries the name of the country. If a single country hosts multiple grands prix in a year, they receive different names. For example, every year two grands prix take place in Germany, one of which is known as the European Grand Prix.

The grands prix, some of which have a history that predates the Formula One World Championship, are not always held on the same circuit every year. The British Grand Prix, for example, though held every year since 1950, alternated between Brands Hatch and Silverstone from 1963 to 1986. The only other race to have been included in every World Championship season is the Italian Grand Prix. It has always taken place at Monza, with one exception in 1980 when it took place at Imola (which now hosts the San Marino Grand Prix).

One of the newest races on the Grand Prix, held in Bahrain, represents Formula One's first penetration into the Middle East with a high tech purpose-built desert track. The Bahrain Grand Prix, along with other new races in China and Turkey, present new opportunities for the growth and evolution of the Formula One Grand Prix franchise whilst new facilities also raise the bar for other Formula One racing venues around the world.

Circuits

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, home to the Italian Grand Prix, is one of the oldest-used circuits in Formula One.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, venue for the United States Grand PrixSee also: List of Formula One circuits

A typical circuit usually features a stretch of straight road on which the starting grid is situated. The pit lane, where the drivers stop for fuel during the race, and where the teams work on the cars before the race, is normally located next to the starting grid. The layout of the rest of the circuit varies widely, although in most cases the circuit runs in a clockwise direction. Those few circuits that run anticlockwise (and therefore have predominantly left handed corners) can cause drivers neck problems due to the enormous lateral forces generated by F1 cars pulling their heads in the opposite direction to normal. Many corners have become well known in their own right, such as the high-speed Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps, and before the addition of chicanes to tame it, the Tamburello corner at Imola and the Curva Grande at Monza, as well as in recent years the thirteenth turn at Indianapolis (road course configuration), known as the fastest corner in the sport. Also particularly lamented are the circuits at Zandvoort in the Netherlands and Kyalami in South Africa, neither of which are now used by F1.

Most of the circuits currently in use are specially constructed for competition. The only real street circuit is the Circuit de Monaco, used for the Monaco Grand Prix, although races in other urban locations come and go (Las Vegas and Detroit, for example) and proposals for such races are often discussed – most recently for London. Several other circuits are also completely or partially laid out on public roads, such as Spa-Francorchamps. The glamour and history of the Monaco race are the primary reasons why the circuit is still in use, since it is thought not to meet the strict safety requirements imposed on other tracks. Three-time World champion Nelson Piquet famously described racing in Monaco as "riding a bicycle around your living room."

Circuit design to protect the safety of drivers is becoming increasingly sophisticated, as exemplified by the new track in Bahrain, designed – like most of F1's new circuits – by Hermann Tilke. Whereas in the 1950s a driver was lucky to find a strategically placed bale of straw to absorb an impact, modern Formula One circuits feature large run-off areas, gravel traps and tire barriers to reduce the risk of injury in crashes. This is an ongoing task – after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola during the 1994 season, the FIA mandated further changes to circuits. These were mostly aimed at better matching the speed of a car with both the available space to slow down in before reaching a barrier and the ability of those barriers to safely absorb the energy of a crash. An ongoing complaint of long time F1 fans is the emasculation of the world's greatest circuits in order to satisfy sometimes arbitrary demands from the FIA. Whilst circuit safety is of prime importance, this can often be achieved without the reduction of the modern circuit to parade route status.

The future of Formula One

Recent and proposed rule changes have attempted to reverse the trend of "tyre wars", which critics believe have shifted the competition from drivers and teams to tyres.Main Article: Future of Formula One

Formula One went through a difficult period in the early 2000s. Viewing figures dropped, and fans expressed their loss of interest due to the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. However, viewing figures are seeing some signs of recovery due to the varied 2005 season, with the Canadian Grand Prix attracting the third largest global TV audience of any sporting event in 2005, behind only the Super Bowl and the UEFA Champions League final.

At present, the FIA has been taxed with the responsibility of making rules to combat the spiralling costs which affect the smaller teams and to ensure that the sport remains as safe as possible. The sport's rapid expansion into new areas of the globe also leaves some question as to which races will be cut.

Venue changes
In the interest of making the sport truer to its designation as a World Championship, FOM president Bernie Ecclestone has initiated and organized a number of Grands Prix in new countries and continues to discuss new future races. As of 2005, this expansion has resulted in the disappearance of only one race, the Austrian Grand Prix, which was last held in 2003; however, several teams have expressed their preference for a shorter calendar[6], and the future of such races as the British, European and San Marino Grands Prix has recently fallen into doubt.

The inaugural Turkish Grand Prix took place in 2005 in IstanbulPark, a Mexican Grand Prix has been planned for 2006[7], and Ecclestone has asserted publicly that F1 will return to South Africa within five years.[8] He has also expressed interest in a Russian Grand Prix in Moscow or St Petersburg in the near future.[9] The European Union's ratification of laws prohibiting tobacco advertising went into effect on July 31, 2005, providing another incentive for the heavily tobacco-sponsored sport to find venues outside of Europe.[10]

The future of the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is also in doubt after only six cars started the 2005 race due to concerns about the safety of the supplied Michelin tyres. The US Grand Prix has been offically scheduled to occur again at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 2, 2006.

Several of the new circuits in F1, especially those designed by Herman Tilke, have been criticized as lacking the "flow" of such classics as Spa-Francorchamps and Imola. His redesign of the Hockenheim circuit in Germany, for example, while providing more capacity for grandstands and eliminating extrtemely long and dangerous straights, has been frowned upon by many who argue that part of the character of the hockenheim circuits were the long and blinding straights into the Black Forest. These newer circuits, however are generally agreed upon to meet the safety standards of modern Formula One better than the older ones.

Rule changes
In the interest of safety, the FIA instituted a number of rule changes at the start of the 2005 season, including restrictions on the changing of tyres. In an attempt to reduce costs, a new rule requires each engine to be used for two consecutive races. These two issues, safety and cost, are paramount in all rule-change discussions, and the FIA has made public its intention to continue to modify the rules with these goals in mind.

The current qualifying format, a single flying lap on race fuel, replaced one which was used for the first part of the 2005 season (until the 2005 European Grand Prix) which involved two separate sessions, one on Saturday and a second on Sunday morning, with the starting grid drawn up according to the fastest aggregate time of each driver. This was ditched after complaints from spectators, who felt that the Saturday session was meaningless, and broadcasters, who did not want to broadcast so much Formula One on a Sunday. Both the teams and the drivers are still unhappy with the qualifying system, however, and several alternative formats have been suggested for use from 2006 onwards.

Beginning with the 2006 season, engine displacement will be decreased, a 2.4L V8 replacing the current 3.0L V10. However, some teams will be allowed to continue using the V10 with a rev limiter in order to cut costs. In the long run, the FIA intends to introduce greater restrictions on testing and the introduction of standardised electronic units and tires.

Over the coming years, radical changes will be made to the rules. In 2005-10-05, the FIA proposal of enhancing overtaking won the support of the teams by agreeing about the new rear wing concept -that would eliminate the current single rear wing and replace it with two box-like wings, one behind each rear wheel. These changes are due in 2007. [12]

Also, in 2005-10-24, the Formula One commission decided to switch the competition to the "KO" system. All cars are permitted on the track. At the end of the first 15-minute period the slowest five cars can take no further part in qualifying. These cars will make up the last five grid positions in the order of their times, the fastest occupying 16th position. The times for the fifteen remaining cars are reset for the next session. At the end of the second 15-minute period the slowest five cars can take no further part in qualifying. These cars will make up the grid in positions eleven to fifteen in the order of their times, the fastest occupying 11th position. The times for the ten remaining cars will be reset for the next session. For the final period, lasting 20 minutes, the cars will be arranged on the grid in positions one to ten in the order of their times, the fastest occupying pole position. These changes will be applicable for the 2006 season.

Also,the 2006 season will see the return of the tyre changes during the pitstops.The thinking behind this is that the reduced engine size will offset any performance gain. Drivers also have access to slightly more tyres than in 2005 - seven sets of dry-weather, four sets of wet-weather and three sets of extreme-weather. Drivers must make a final choice of dry-weather compound ahead of qualifying.

Small teams
The Ford Motor Company's decision to pull out of Formula One exposed the vulnerabilities of some small teams. Jaguar Racing was sold to Red Bull and is now known as Red Bull Racing.

Jordan and Minardi both relied on Ford's Cosworth engines. Jordan now has a deal to use Toyota engines, while Minardi continues to use Cosworth engines under Cosworth's new owners.

For 2006, Jordan will be rebadged as Midland F1. In June 2005, BMW bought a majority stake in Sauber and intends to run the team as a factory entry in 2006. The Williams team will cease their partnership with BMW as a result, instead opting to run Cosworth engines for 2006. Arguably, the final small team disappeared with the September 2005 purchase of Minardi by Red Bull. In 2006, the Faenza-based team will be run as a junior team named Scuderia Toro Rosso (initially known as Squadra Toro Rosso), although technically the team is a separate entity to Red Bull Racing.

Another team, Super Aguri F1 is set to join the F1 course in 2006, after gaining the unanimous agreement of the ten existing team [14]. The team is named after its founder, Aguri Suzuki, who was a Formula One driver himself and participated in 88 races. They are expected to sign former BAR driver Takuma Sato to drive for their team, their engines would be supplied by Honda, and as of November 2005 they are in negotiations with former Minardi chief Paul Stoddart to buy chassis for their cars, which would be the 2002 Arrows model.