Saturday, March 26, 2011

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racingsanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules with which all participants' cars must comply. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (translated to English as "Big Prizes"]), held on purpose-built circuits and public roads. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual World Championships, one for the drivers and one for theconstructors, with racing drivers, constructor teams, track officials, organizers, and circuits required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA.



Formula One cars are considered to be the fastest circuit-racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. Formula One cars race at high speeds – up to 360 km/h (220 mph) – with engines the performance of which is limited to a maximum of 18,000revolutions per minute (rpms). The cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of 5 gin corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics,suspension and tyres. The formula has had much evolution and change through the history of the sport. Europe, where all the Formula One racing teams are based, is the sport's traditional basis and where about half of each year's races occur. However, the sport's scope has expanded significantly during recent years and an increasing number of Grands Prix are held on other continents.
Formula One had a total global television audience of 527 million people during the course of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. The Formula One Group is the legal holder of the commercial rights. With annual spending totalling billions of US dollars, Formula One's economic effect is significant, and its financial and political battles are widely reported. Its high profile and popularity make it a merchandising environment, which results in great investments from sponsors and budgets in the hundreds of millions for the constructors. However, mostly since 2000, due to the always increasing expenditures, several teams, including works teams from car makers and those teams with minimal support from the automotive industry, have become bankrupt or been bought out by companies wanting to establish a team within the sport; these buyouts are also influenced by Formula One limiting the number of participant teams.
History
The sport's name, Formula One, indicates it is intended to be the most advanced and most competitive of the FIA's racing formulae.

Revenue and profits

Estimated budget split of a Formula One team based on the 2006 season.
Formula One is profitable for most parties involved—TV channels make profits from broadcasting the races, and teams get a slice of the money from the sale of broadcasting rights and from the sponsor's logos on their cars.
The cost of building a brand new permanent circuit like the Chinese Shanghai International Circuit can be up to hundreds of millions of dollars, while the cost of converting a public road, such as Albert Park, into a temporary circuit is much less. Permanent circuits, however, can generate revenue all year round from leasing the track for private races and other races, such as MotoGP. The Shanghai circuit cost over $300 million. The owners are hoping to break-even by 2014. The Istanbul Park circuit cost $150 million to build.
Not all circuits make profits—Albert Park, for example, lost $32 million in 2007.
In March 2007, F1 Racing published its annual estimates of spending by Formula One teams. The total spending of all eleven teams in 2006 was estimated at $2.9 billion US. This was broken down as follows; Toyota $418.5 million, Ferrari $406.5 m, McLaren $402 m, Honda $380.5 m, BMW Sauber $355 m, Renault $324 m, Red Bull $252 m, Williams $195.5 m, Midland F1/Spyker-MF1 $120 m, Toro Rosso $75 m, and Super Aguri $57 million.
Costs vary greatly from team to team. Honda, Toyota, McLaren–Mercedes, and Ferrari are estimated to have spent approximately $200 million on engines in 2006, Renault spent approximately $125 million and Cosworth's 2006 V8 was developed for $15 million. In contrast to the 2006 season on which these figures are based, the 2007 sporting regulations ban all performance related engine development.




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