Put to one side the speculation over the future of F1 and the threats that, if the FIA hit Michelin with an excessive punishment, we could find ourselves watching another six-car race. If normal service is resumed in France, there is a mighty championship battle to be fought. If Silverstone, host of the first ever … Continue reading French Grand Prix 2005 Preview
Formula 1 articles archive
The Formula 1 world championship began in 1950 and is considered the world’s leading form of single-seater motorsport. The 2025 F1 season is the 75th time the world championship has been held.
The most successful F1 drivers in history are seven-times world champions Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. In 2021 the former became the first and so far only driver to date to win 100 grands prix.
While Schumacher retired from F1 at the end of 2012, Hamilton continues to race. His rival world champions in the series are Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.
There are 10 teams active in the championship, each of which field cars for two drivers. Each team is required to design and build the majority of its cars but may source some parts including engines, gearboxes and certain other components.
Ferrari has won the F1 constructors’ championship more times than any other team, with 16 titles. It is also the only team which has competed in every championship since the first season of Formula 1.
The Formula 1 calendar typically runs from March to November each year. Pre-season tests take place in February and March, and a post-season test is usually scheduled for late November or December.
A championship now includes over three times as many rounds as early seasons did. Seven rounds counted towards the first world championship – including the Indianapolis 500, despite it being run to different rules – but the 2025 F1 calendar has now grown to 24 races. The series visits Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. It has not raced in Africa since 1993.
Two organisations are responsible for running F1. The Federation Internazionale de l’Automobile (FIA), based in Paris, France, administers and governs the sport. Its commercial rights are leased to Formula 1 Management (FOM) which was purchased by the US-based company Liberty Media in 2017.
Index of F1 articles on RaceFans:
Something Completely Different
Posted onNow, as anyone will tell you, last week’s US GP was a disaster, and a stultifyingly tedious one at that. OK,some die-hard Ferrari fans loved it, but that’s all. But was there really a better way for us to spend a Sunday evening? We came up with a few alternatives: Watch another channel? – Among … Continue reading Something Completely Different
How to know when to go
Posted onThe toughest decision a sportsperson faces in their career is when to retire. This is especially true in F1, where drivers, team owners and even the sport’s administrators past and present have outstayed their welcome, to the detriment of their legacy. Of course back in the ‘golden age’ of racing this was not a problem … Continue reading How to know when to go
Editorial: How can you expect to be taken seriously?
Posted onIf the punishment for the seven teams who boycotted the United States Grand Prix is deemed unreasonable, F1 could be on the road to an unavoidable split. The FIA will trial the Michelin teams on Wednesday June 29th, and the outcome will be pivotal for the future of Formula One. Already Paul Stoddart, a strong … Continue reading Editorial: How can you expect to be taken seriously?
Champ Car take F1 tickets
Posted onOrganisers of the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland have generously offered to honour any tickets stubs for the United States Grand Prix as entry for their round of the Champ Car calendar. For more information see http://www.grandprixofcleveland.com/ The FIA and F1 teams would do well to imitate such generosity if they hope to ever … Continue reading Champ Car take F1 tickets
Mosley gets defensive
Posted onWhen logic and persuasion are failing to vindicate your political position, reach for flimsy, vague analogies instead. In defence of the FIA’s ‘no compromise’ stance on Michelin’s tyre problems at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Max Mosley argued: “To make the competitors in a downhill ski race with the correct skis run on a … Continue reading Mosley gets defensive
BMW confirm Sauber purchase
Posted onBMW confirmed F1’s worst-kept secret by buying into the Sauber team. They must have dropped their heads in dismay when they realised that their official announcement of the purchase would coincide with the most dismal controversy in F1 since 1994.
Unforced Errors
Posted onSo, if you were in Jenson Button’s position last Sunday you wouldn’t have crashed into the wall? Likewise I bet that if it had been you in the cockpit of the number 10 McLaren you would have ignored the team, pitted and won the race? Of all sports, motor sport is perhaps the easiest of … Continue reading Unforced Errors
F1-Speak
Posted onStalinist Russia had nothing on propaganda, F1-style. F1Fanatic takes an ever-so-slightly cynical look at what those team press releases really mean… You know the score, halfway through a deathly dull one shot qualifying session, Louise Goodman grabs David Coulthard or Felipe Massa to talk through their heroic drive to 12th on the grid. They will … Continue reading F1-Speak
Editorial: A Rules Revolution
Posted onThe FIA have put forward a radical proposal for the Formula One rules package from 2008 onwards. But in the light of the shambolic preparations for the United States Grand Prix, is there any cause for optimism that they might get it right? Let’s turn our minds back to the recent FIA survey of what … Continue reading Editorial: A Rules Revolution
Jordan drop Dallara
Posted onJust five days after announcing the departure of technical director Trevor Carlin, the troubled Jordan team have now revealed that their 2006 car will not be manufactured by Dallara, but be built in-house. Although team owner Alex Shnaider threw a lavish party at his adopted homeland Canada last week in celebration of his team competing … Continue reading Jordan drop Dallara
Talking Money
Posted onThis week’s racing press has seen perhaps the biggest split since Ayrton Senna died, between those who ‘get’ racing and those who do not. I cannot believe those who comment that Kimi Raikkonen should have jeopardised a potential Grand Prix win by changing his damaged tyre. Newsflash: Raikkonen is a racing driver and he is … Continue reading Talking Money
Editorial: Unintended Consequences
Posted onA chance Google mix-up earlier this week got me musing on the problem of unintended consequences. Plan for one thing, get the other. Luckily for us, unintended consequences have played a major part in making the 2005 season rather good so far. Take Ferrari’s sudden and shocking decline in form relative to the opposition. The … Continue reading Editorial: Unintended Consequences
Williams slam BMW
Posted onThe Williams-BMW partnership looks unlikely to last for a seventh season as both team owner Frank Williams and technical chief Patrick Head have lashed out at the Munich car manufacturer for deflecting blame from themselves for their car’s failure to win a championship so far. Rumours suggest BMW will buy into the Sauber team and … Continue reading Williams slam BMW
Carlin departs Jordan
Posted onMeanwhile Jordan’s dismal start of to 2005 has been compounded by the loss of technical director Trevor Carlin, who has left to concentrate on running his F3 team. As Carlin was put in place my new owner Alex Shnaider, his departure may signal that Shnaider is indeed losing interest in entering his own team next … Continue reading Carlin departs Jordan
Safety car ‘unsafe’
Posted onMark Webber has warned that the use of the safety car could precipitate more serious accidents as the enforced low-speed running causes tyre pressures to become dangerously low. This problem has been observed in F1 since the growing regularity of the use of the safety car in 1994, when it was suspected to have been … Continue reading Safety car ‘unsafe’
FIA warning on tyres
Posted onMax Mosley has fired a double salvo in retaliation to media criticism of driver safety in the wake of Kimi Raikkonen’s last-lap crash in the European Grand Prix. Mosley has warned teams not to risk accidents by allowing drivers to race on seriously worn or damaged tyres – potentially a futile plea, as no team … Continue reading FIA warning on tyres
The Eurovision Grand Prix
Posted onOn an already jam-packed calendar, why does Germany get two races? The case for the European Grand Prix to be held at a different venue each year is a sensible one. It’s time someone took notice of it. In the midst of last-week’s white hot build-up to the Eurovision song contest (I voted for Norway) … Continue reading The Eurovision Grand Prix
Missing the points
Posted onChanging the number of points that are given for finishing positions in Grands Prix could revolutionise how drivers approach races and fundamentally alter the meaning of the Driver’s Championship. It is something the governing body should very seriously consider. The Formula One rules have been in a state of flux since 2002. Not a year, … Continue reading Missing the points
Editorial: No joy at Jordan
Posted onHaving slumped almost to the very back of the grid, Jordan are now not far short of being beaten by usual backmarkers Minardi. In theory, 2006 should bring a relaunch of the team as Midland F1 – but the current sorry state of affairs is not breeding much optimism. The European Grand Prix was a … Continue reading Editorial: No joy at Jordan