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Overview
Formula One Racing For Dummies has all the information you need to start following this exciting motor sport. You’ll learn the basic dynamics and rules of F1, and you’ll get a primer on the drama, strategies, politics, and rivalries that have turned the sport into a global sensation. Written by an industry expert, this book is full of fun anecdotes that will get beginners and die-hards alike excited for the next race. Get to know the contemporary F1 scene, with profiles of current team managers and drivers, info on the best media coverage and F1 news sources, and the latest rules and technical regulations. For fans who watch F1 on TV and those who attend the races in person, this fast-paced Dummies guide is a perfect way to bolster your enjoyment of the sport.
- Discover the anatomy of Formula One racecars, including hybrid engines and modern safety systems
- Learn what goes on behind the scenes, so you know what’s at stake when you watch races
- Get to know the most popular drivers, their racing styles, and their backstories
- Familiarize yourself with the championships, pit stops, and new tracks
Following F1 is a lot more exciting when you have a little knowledge about the sport. Formula One Racing For Dummies, the Grand Prix of racing guides, will teach you the ins and outs.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781394206384 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 10/31/2023 |
| Edition description: | 2nd ed. |
| Pages: | 368 |
| Sales rank: | 260,846 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Formula One Racing For Dummies
By Jonathan Noble Mark Hughes
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-7645-7015-3Chapter One
Just the Formula One FactsIn This Chapter
* Understanding what Formula One is
* Discovering who the most important people in the sport are
* Getting a glimpse at a Formula One car
* Touring the Formula One tracks
* Recognising the sport's business side
* A calendar of events
Formula One racing is, as its name suggests, the pinnacle of motor racing around the world. Small children don't dream about growing up to race in lesser series - above all else, they want to be a winning Formula One driver.
These days, the sport is a truly global circus. At almost every race on the calendar, more than 120,000 spectators cram into the grandstands and spectator banking, all vying for a view of the millionaire superstar drivers. At that same time, in 150 countries worldwide, more than 300 million people tune in to watch the fight for glory in the comfort of their front rooms.
It is this sort of global following that has attracted huge sponsorship and left television stations around the world falling all over themselves to broadcast the races. The huge marketing drives put on by the sponsors have whipped up even more interest in the sport. Nowadays, only the Olympic Games and the football World Cup can boast the kind of viewership, backing, and interest that Formula One has - and those events only take place every four years.
Formula One: A Grand and Global Sport
Part of Formula One's mass appeal is that it is truly a global sport. Not only do the best drivers from many countries fight for glory on the track, but they also use the best cars and the best engines from around the world. A case in point: Spaniard Fernando Alonso drives for the French team Renault under Italian team boss Flavio Briatore, even though the cars are designed and built in a factory in Britain. Wow!
The global appeal increases further because, every season, the sport travels all over the world to unique tracks, each of which provides different challenges. Formula One really is like a travelling circus, as the cars, teams, and drivers pop up in Australia one week, a fortnight later arrive for a race in Malaysia, and then head to Brazil for another race two weeks after that.
The fans come from around the world, too. At any given race, you can find not only the local fans, but also others from around the world who have travelled to the event. A quick look around the grandstands at Formula One events inevitably shows a host of different nation's flags.
This mass appeal has been the story of the sport since the official Formula One world championship began in 1950. Before then, although Formula One races took place, there was no officially sanctioned fight for the world title.
Drivers and Other Important People
Like most hugely successful sports, Formula One is jammed pack full with superstar names. Just like David Beckham in soccer or Tiger Woods in golf, the big name drivers in Formula One have millions of fans around the world worshipping their every move and hoping that their man can triumph each time out.
But the drivers aren't the only big names in Formula One. Many of the team bosses are personalities in themselves. Some - like Renault boss Flavio Briatore - are almost as well known for their appearances in celebrity gossip columns as they are for the great work they've done for their teams.
But it is not just the drivers and team bosses who are famous - because even the bosses of the series have their own slice of fame. Bernie Ecclestone, who runs the commercial side of Formula One, is a well-known figure in most households and is well renowned for being one of the richest men in Britain. Max Mosley, president of motor racing's governing body, the FIA, is also widely known.
Drivers
The drivers are, without doubt, the central focus for almost everyone in Formula One. Without the drivers there'd be no racing, and without the great battles, the psychological wars, and the fact that a few of the drivers dislike one another, there'd be no interest in following each twist and turn of a Formula One racing season.
The best-paid drivers these days earn money that many of us can only dream about, but they definitely work hard for it. They not only have to take massive risks in driving Formula One cars at 200 mph, but they also have to work with the team to get the last tenths of a second out of the car, deal with the media, and attend promotional events for their sponsors. (You can find detailed information about the life of a Formula One driver in Chapter 7.)
For some drivers, the stress of being a successful Formula One star proves too much; they turn their back on the sport and find something a little bit more relaxing to do. For those who can cope with all the pressures and risks - and become the very best by regularly winning races - the rewards can be mighty.
Although the money, attention, and the thrill of driving fast cars are ample rewards for being a good Formula One driver, nothing is better than actually winning. Some aces claim that winning gives them the best rush of excitement they have ever experienced in their lives - but you can make up your own mind by looking at Chapter 11, which explains what happens after a win and how winning a race doesn't signal the end of the driver's day.
Team bosses
There's a saying that behind every great man lies a great woman. In Formula One that saying still applies, but with a slight rephrasing: Behind every great driver lies a really great team. The team makes sure that the drivers have the right machinery running in the right way. Each driver knows that, without these machines, he wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Regular Formula One racing driver David Coulthard once famously remarked that he would look pretty stupid sitting on the grid with his bum on the floor and no car around him.
The leader of the team - the man who pulls the resources and personnel together - is the team boss. There is no perfect job description that covers every team boss in the pit lane because they all have unique ways of running their teams. BAR boss David Richards has been hired by his team's shareholders to run the outfit, while Minardi boss Paul Stoddart owns 100 per cent of the shares in his team. Others have some share in the business.
Although a driver can achieve race victories very quickly in the sport, especially if he's signed to a leading team in his first few years of Formula One, a team boss requires many, many years to turn an outfit into one of the best, a task that requires that he do the following:
The huge prizes for success in Formula One, which include the prospect of earning millions of pounds in extra sponsorship backing or television rights money, mean that team bosses also have to deal with an incredible amount of politics within the sport. There are often arguments revolving around money, the changing of rules and even the threat of protests against rival teams. There are agreements in place to make sure there is no foul play - and rule books to be followed (or to try and get around) in a bid to make Formula One an even contest.
To find out more on the responsibilities of team bosses, head to Chapter 6. If you're interested in the rules teams have to abide by, go to Chapter 4.
The Top Cats: Ecclestone and Mosley
But the sport's leaders are not just restricted to those who run the race teams. There is Max Mosley, the president of motor racing's governing body, the FIA, who looks after regulating Formula One. And then there's the sport supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who has helped Formula One evolve from a sport that not many knew about in the 1970s to one that's beamed into almost every household in the world today. Eccelstone's exploitation of Formula One's commercial rights has paid dividends for everyone. It's also made him one of Britain's richest men.
Rockets on Wheels: The Cars They Drive
When you ask people what a racing car looks like, a lot of them describe a souped-up road car, with a big engine, massive tyres, and a really good paint scheme. Some of them may even imagine that the doors are sealed shut to increase safety when out on the track.
A Formula One car, however, is a very different beast to anything else you see on the road. It is the ultimate prototype machine, featuring design ideas, technology, and materials that many people associate more with a modern day fighter jet than with an automobile.
Because they aren't required to be street legal, Formula One cars have evolved differently than road cars. Their design has been centred on the quest for speed rather than comfort, and they are almost literally rockets on wheels.
Key elements in the design
Following are some of the elements and characteristics that make up a Formula One car and give it a completely different appearance to other types of racing cars (see Figure 1-1):
In general terms, a Formula One car is the ultimate single-seater, open-wheel, racing car. You can find similar looking machinery in Champ Cars, the Indy Racing League, Formula 3000, and Formula Three. But while these other cars look the same as Formula One cars, none of them is as fast over a single lap as a Formula One car is - even though some cars, like top-level dragsters, can accelerate faster and reach higher top speeds for a short period of time.
To find out more about what defines a Formula One car and what is underneath the bodywork, take a look at Chapter 5.
Prepping the car for maximum performance
At this top level of motor racing, each team must use its equipment to the absolute maximum. If the car has just one weak area, all the rival teams will do their best to exploit this weakness for their own advantage and the team is likely to suffer. The cars are made ready for race performances in three ways:
Continues...
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1Part 1: Speeding through the Basics 5
Chapter 1: Just the Formula One Facts 7
Chapter 2: The Most Popular Sport in the World 17
Chapter 3: The Big Business of Formula One 29
Chapter 4: Following the Rulebook 43
Part 2: Teams, Drivers, and Their Cars 55
Chapter 5: Understanding a Formula One Car 57
Chapter 6: The Race Team 79
Chapter 7: Who’s in the Driving Seat? 95
Part 3: What Happens On (and Off) the Track 111
Chapter 8: Getting in the Race 113
Chapter 9: Race Day Strategies 127
Chapter 10: Life in the Pits 145
Chapter 11: Winning It All 155
Chapter 12: Safety in Formula One 167
Part 4: Understanding Formula One Tracks 181
Chapter 13: Track Basics and Racing Circuits 183
Chapter 14: Track and Driver 191
Chapter 15: A Look at Formula One’s Tracks 199
Part 5: You and Formula One: A Day at the Races 235
Chapter 16: Going to a Race 237
Chapter 17: Following Formula One from Home 259
Part 6: The Part of Tens 273
Chapter 18: The Ten Greatest Formula One Drivers 275
Chapter 19: The Ten Best Formula One Races 285
Chapter 20: Ten Things to Do During the Season 293
Chapter 21: Ten Famous Names from the Past 299
Chapter 22: Ten Future Stars of Formula One 305
Part 7: Appendix 311
Appendix A: Formula One Jargon 313
Index 329
