1.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in 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, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
2.
Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. A three-time Formula One World Champion, he is regarded by fellow and he won his first title with McLaren in 2008 before moving to Mercedes, where he won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. In December 1995, at the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, I want to race for McLaren. Less than three years later McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme, Hamiltons contract for the McLaren driver development program made him the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in a Formula One drive. Coming from a background, with a black father and white mother. In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous records while finishing second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, just one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. He won the World Championship the following season in dramatic fashion, following his second world title in 2014, he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 2015, he became the first British driver in history to win consecutive F1 titles, and he also became the first English driver to reach that milestone. He is the first driver in the history of F1 to have made the podium after starting 20th place or lower at least 3 times. He is the driver in the history of the sport to have won at least one race in each season he has competed to date, with McLaren from 2007 until 2012. He has more victories than any other British driver in the history of Formula One. His 54 Grand Prix victories is the second highest of all-time having surpassed Alain Prosts total of 51 at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, behind only Michael Schumacher at 91. Hamilton also holds the record for most wins in the season winning the World Championship. Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, although widely reported as being named after American sprinter Carl Lewis, Hamilton states that this is not the case. Hamiltons mother, Carmen, is white British, while his father, Anthony Hamilton, is black British, making him mixed-race, in early 2011, Nicolas signed with Total Control Racing to start a racing career in the 2011 Renault Clio Cup. Hamilton was raised a Roman Catholic, Hamiltons father bought him a radio-controlled car in 1991, which gave him his first taste of racing competition. Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year and he said of the time, I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults. As a result of this his father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present at the age of six and his father told him that he would support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school
3.
Scuderia Ferrari
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Scuderia Ferrari S. p. A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, and competes in Formula One racing. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, the team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. As a constructor, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors Championships, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have won a record 15 Drivers Championships for the team. Since Räikkönens title in 2007 the team narrowly lost out on the 2008 drivers title with Felipe Massa, Schumacher is the teams most successful driver. Joining the team in 1996 and departing in 2006 he won five titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between 2000 and 2004, including the constructors title of 1999 consecutively being won until the end of 2004, this was the teams most successful period. Currently, World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are the two race drivers. The team is known for its passionate support base known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the home race. The Scuderia Ferrari team was founded by Enzo Ferrari on 16 November 1929 and became the team of Alfa Romeo. In 1938, Alfa Romeo management made the decision to enter racing under its own name, establishing the Alfa Corse organisation, Enzo Ferrari disagreed with this change in policy and was finally dismissed by Alfa in 1939. The terms of his leaving forbade him from motorsport under his own name, in 1939 Ferrari started work on a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815. The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first Ferrari cars, World War II put a temporary end to racing, and Ferrari concentrated on an alternative use for his factory during the war years, doing machine tool work. After the war, Ferrari recruited several of his former Alfa colleagues and established a new Scuderia Ferrari, the team owns and operates a test track on the same site, the Fiorano Circuit built in 1972, which is used for testing road and race cars. The team is named after its founder, Enzo Ferrari, Scuderia is Italian for a stable reserved for racing horses and is also commonly applied to Italian motor racing teams. In 1947 Ferrari constructed the 12-cylinder,1.5 L Tipo 125, a Formula One version of the Tipo 125, the Ferrari 125 F1 was developed in 1948 and entered in several Grand Prix, at the time a World Championship had not yet been established. In 1950, the Formula One World Championship was established, and it is the only team to have competed in every season of the World Championship, from its inception to the current day. The company later switched to the large-displacement naturally aspirated formula for the 275,340, after the 1951 Formula One season the Alfa team withdrew from F1, causing the authorities to adopt the Formula Two regulations due to the lack of suitable F1 cars
4.
2009 GP2 Series
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For the Asian-based series, see 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season. The 2009 GP2 Series season was the fifth GP2 Series season, the season consisted of twenty races at ten rounds, beginning on 9 May at the Circuit de Catalunya and finishing on 20 September at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The Algarve circuit hosted its first GP2 weekend, and was the new circuit on the calendar. The Nürburgring also returned as part of its rotation with Hockenheim as the home of German Grand Prix, the title was won by German rookie Nico Hülkenberg at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza, the first time the series had been won before the final round. His team ART Grand Prix claimed the title in the Algarve. Barwa Addaxs title contender Romain Grosjean left the series mid-season to join the Renault for the remainder of the Formula One season following Nelson Piquet Jr. s sacking, perera was in turn replaced by Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto Jr. for the final two rounds. Davide Rigon missed round five due to sponsorship problems, rodolfo González filled in for him at Trident Racing. Davide Valsecchi parted company with Durango ahead of seven and switched to Barwa Addax to replace Formula One-bound Romain Grosjean. Stefano Coletti was the driver to replace Valsecchi at Durango, BCN Competición was bought by Tiago Monteiro, who moved the team to Portugal and renamed it Ocean Racing Technology. Campos Grand Prix became Barwa Addax after it was bought by Alejandro Agag, midseason changes Fisichella Motor Sport became PartyPokerRacing. com Scuderia Coloni prior to round seven in Valencia. They were then forced to miss round eight at Spa due to unresolved financial disputes, Durango missed round nine at Monza as Stefano Coletti destroyed one of the teams chassis in a crash at Spa. Coletti himself was unfit to drive the original chassis that was driven by Nelson Panciatici. They also missed the round at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve due to not finding suitably qualified drivers. The 2009 calendar was announced on 16 December 2008, the final round of the championship will be the first GP2 race to take place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Scoring system Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race, Feature race points Sprint race points Points are awarded to the top 6 classified finishers. Notes, † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance, notes, † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance
5.
Felipe Massa
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Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver who currently drives for Williams. Massa started his career in go-karting from the age of eight continuing in national and regional championships for seven years and he moved into Formula Chevrolet and claimed the championship. He moved in Italian Formula Renault in 2000 and won the title along with the European championship, Massa went into Euro Formula 3000 taking the championship. Massa started his Formula One career with Sauber before joining Scuderia Ferrari as a test driver for 2003, Massa won three races in 2007, finishing 4th in the Drivers Championship. He finished second in the 2008 Drivers World Championship after a title battle with Lewis Hamilton. At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was injured by a suspension spring off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello, Massa was forced to miss the rest of the season but returned in 2010. Massa suffered a dip in form in 2011 scoring no podiums, Massa contributed to Ferraris Constructors Championships in 2007 and 2008 and was under contract to race for the team until the end of the 2013 season. On 10 September 2013, he confirmed he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season, Massa replaced Pastor Maldonado alongside Valtteri Bottas at Williams from 2014. On 1 September 2016, Massa announced that he would retire from Formula One at the end of the season, however, he returned for the 2017 season when Valtteri Bottas joined Mercedes. Born in São Paulo, Massa is a Brazilian whose grandfather emigrated from Cerignola, Massa began karting when he was 8 years old, finishing fourth in his first season. He continued in national and international championships for 7 years, and in 1998 moved into Formula Chevrolet, during the following season, he won 3 of the 10 races and claimed the championship. In 2000, he moved to Europe to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series and he could have moved to Formula Three, but instead chose the Euro Formula 3000, where he won 6 of the 8 races and the championship. He was then offered a Formula 1 test with the Sauber team and he also drove for Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship as a guest driver. In his rookie year in Formula 1, Massa was paired with 1999 International Formula 3000 champion Nick Heidfeld and he proved he was a competitive driver, but made several mistakes, including spinning off the track several times. Nevertheless, Massa scored 4 championship points in his first season and he suffered a one race suspension late in the season, forcing him to miss the United States Grand Prix. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Saubers former driver, drove for Massa in his place, Massa returned to the drivers seat for the Japanese Grand Prix, but Sauber confirmed that Frentzen would partner Heidfeld in 2003, leaving Massa without a race seat. Instead, he spent a year with Saubers engine suppliers, Ferrari, Sauber then re-signed Massa for the 2004 season. In 2004, he scored 12 of Saubers 34 points, his best result being a place at the Belgian Grand Prix
6.
Open-wheel car
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An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the cars main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, open-wheel cars are usually built specifically for racing, frequently with a higher degree of technological sophistication than in other forms of motor sport. Open-wheel street cars, such as the Ariel Atom, are scarce as they are often impractical for everyday use. American racecar driver and constructor Ray Harroun was a pioneer of the concept of a lightweight single-seater. After working as a mechanic in the industry, Harroun began competitive professional racing in 1906. He was then hired by the Marmon Motor Car Company as chief engineer, charged with building a racecar intended to race at the very first Indianapolis 500 and he developed a revolutionary concept which would become the originator and forefather of the single-seater racecar design. A typical open-wheeler has a minimal cockpit sufficient only to enclose the drivers body, in the Whelen Modified Tour and other short track modified series, the drivers head is contained in the car. Some major races, such as the Singapore Grand Prix, Monaco Grand Prix, however, most open-wheel races are on dedicated road courses, such as Watkins Glen International in the US, Nürburgring in Germany, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Silverstone in Great Britain. The Whelen Modified Tour is the only opened wheeled race car series endorsed by NASCAR and this series races on most of NASCARs most famous tracks in the United States. Other asphalt modified series race on tracks in the United States and Canada. Open-wheeled racing is among the fastest in the world, Formula 1 cars can reach speeds in excess of 360 kilometres per hour. At Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Antônio Pizzonia of BMW Williams F1 team recorded a top speed of 369.9 kilometres per hour in the 2004 Italian Grand Prix. Since the end of the V10 era in 2006 speeds like this have not been reached, with contemporary machinery reaching around 360 kilometres per hour. It is difficult to give precise figures for the top speeds of Formula 1 cars, as the cars do not have speedometers as such. The speed traps on fast circuits such as Monza give a good indication, speeds on ovals can range in constant excess of 210–220 miles per hour, and at Indianapolis in excess of 230 miles per hour. Some sources claim that in 1996, Paul Tracy recorded a speed of 256.948 miles per hour at Michigan International Speedway. In 2000, Gil de Ferran set the qualifying record of 241.428 miles per hour at California Speedway. Even on tight non-oval street circuits such as the Grand Prix of Toronto, driving an open-wheel car is substantially different from driving a car with fenders
7.
2008 Australian Grand Prix
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The 2008 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 March 2008 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia. It was the first race of the 2008 Formula One season, the 58 lap race was won by Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team after starting from pole position. Nick Heidfeld finished second in a BMW Sauber car, with Nico Rosberg third in a Williams, the Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in 11 teams of two. The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Honda, Force India, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Williams, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri. Heading into the new season, several teams opted to keep the same line-up as they had in 2007, however some teams changed drivers for 2008. One of the driver changes involved McLaren driver Fernando Alonso. Defending Drivers Champion Kimi Räikkönen stayed at Ferrari after his title-winning campaign, as in 2007, eleven teams took to the grid for the start of the new season. The final mass test session before the new season took place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, all the teams, with the exception of Super Aguri attended this three-day test which was affected by rain on the first day. On day one, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was fastest having recorded a lap of 1,22.276, followed closely by the Ferraris of Räikkönen, Hamilton continued to top the charts on the second day, with new teammate, Kovalainen second. Räikkönen was third on a 1,21.722, having joined at the track by his teammate Felipe Massa. Massas best lap of 1,22.513 was only enough for fifth place. On the final day, the Toyota of Jarno Trulli topped the timesheets with the fastest lap of the test, second was the Red Bull mount of David Coulthard, having missed the previous days running due to requiring treatment on a trapped nerve. Three practice sessions were held before the race, the first was held on Friday morning, both sessions lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes with weather conditions dry throughout. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour, Heikki Kovalainen completed the top four in the McLaren, with Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Fernando Alonso in the Renault rounding out the top six positions, two seconds off the pace. Rookie Nelson Piquet Jr. caused a brief red-flag in the session, Hamilton lapped faster than Räikkönen in the second practice session with a time of 1,26.559. Webber was second in the Red Bull, nine-tenths of a second behind Hamilton, Coulthard, Webbers teammate, was fifth, three-tenths behind Kovalainen, who finished the session fourth. The Ferraris were third and sixth, Massa in 3rd and Kimi Räikkönen in sixth, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota and Nico Rosberg in the Williams completed the top eight positions. In preparation for the session, many teams put their cars on soft tyres for the third practice session
8.
2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
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The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 November 2008 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the 18th and final race of the 2008 Formula One season, the 71-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Felipe Massa after starting from pole position. Fernando Alonso finished second in a Renault, and Kimi Räikkönen third in a Ferrari, Massa started the race alongside Toyota driver Jarno Trulli. Massas teammate Räikkönen began from third next to McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, rain fell minutes before the race, delaying the start, and as the track dried Massa established a lead of several seconds. More rain late in the made the last few laps treacherous for the drivers. Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso finished in place behind Alonso. Hamilton passed Toyotas Timo Glock in the corners of the race to finish fifth. Hamilton received praise from many in the Formula One community, including former Champions Damon Hill, the McLaren driver also received official congratulations from Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Massas win and Räikkönens third place helped Ferrari win the Constructors Championship, the Grand Prix was David Coulthards final race, the Scot retired after 246 race starts. A maximum of ten points were available for the final race, in the event of a points tie, Massa would win the Championship on a count-back, having more wins. Behind Hamilton and Massa in the Drivers Championship, Robert Kubica was third on 75 points in a BMW, in the Constructors Championship, Ferrari were leading on 156 points and McLaren–Mercedes were second on 145 points,11 points behind, with a maximum of 18 points available. If the two Ferrari drivers finished in the top six, the team would secure the Constructors Championship, prior to this race, Hamilton was criticised by many pundits for not keeping a cool head at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix. Suddenly defending even a seven-point lead sounds a tall order, both Hamilton and Massa rejected the comments, Massa said Playing dirty has never been part of my game. I dont want anything to do with it, the only thing on my mind is winning the race. The weekend marked David Coulthards final race, Coulthards Red Bull RB4 was decorated in the colours of Wings for Life, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of spinal cord injuries. Coulthard said Im dedicating my last race to the vision of making paraplegia curable, Red Bull Racing received approval from the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile, Formula Ones governing body, to run Coulthards car in different colours than his teammate Mark Webber. This was also the last Formula One race broadcast by ITV in the United Kingdom and Telecinco in Spain, also, this was the last race for the Honda team before they announced that they would pull out of F1 due to the global economic crisis. Three practice sessions were held before the race, the first on Friday morning, the third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour
9.
Singapore Grand Prix
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The Singapore Grand Prix is a motor race on the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The event takes place on the Marina Bay Street Circuit and was the night race. Had been ordered to crash on purpose by senior management to bring out the safety car at a timely moment to catapult Alonso to the head of the line. The Singapore Grand Prix will remain on the F1 calendar until at least 2017, since 2008, every race edition has featured at least one safety car, a total of 14 safety car deployments, as of 2016. The race under artificial lights start at midday GMT, which is the time for European Grands Prix. Even so, given the race is held just about 137 km from the equator, first organised in 1961, the race was initially known as the Orient Year Grand Prix. The following year, the race was renamed the Malaysian Grand Prix, after Singapore attained its independence in 1965, the race at the Thomson Road circuit was renamed to the Singapore Grand Prix. Announced in 2008, an agreement for a deal was signed by Singapore GP Pte Ltd. In November 2007 it was announced that the telecommunications company SingTel would sponsor the event, the official name of the event became the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. The race was co-funded by the Government of Singapore, footing 60% of the bill, or S$90 million. Around 110,000 tickets were available for the countrys first Formula One race. Corporate hospitality suites and packages went on sale at the end November 2007, single-day passes went on sale a month later. The event went on to achieve a full sell-out for all of its tickets, the 2008 race hosted the famous Amber Lounge after party and in 2010 Singapore became the second location to host the Amber Lounge Fashion show. The first race held at the new Marina Bay Street Circuit was the 15th round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, the timing of the night event meant that it could be broadcast live at a convenient time for European TV audiences. The track was also illuminated by a series of projectors which adapt their output to match the shape of the course, the race was won by Fernando Alonso driving for the Renault team, however that result has since been tarnished by controversy. For the 2009 race, the circuit was reprofiled slightly, including modifications to turns 1,2 and 3 to aid overtaking, and also at turn 10 where high kerbs caused many accidents in 2008. On 22 September 2012, the AP reported that Bernie Ecclestone, on 15 April 2014, it was announced that Singapore Airlines would sponsor the Singapore Grand Prix, starting from that year. During the 2015 race a spectator entered the track on the straight after Anderson Bridge, given that he crossed the track, the accident probability was high, but he climbed over the fencing himself when the safety car was deployed
10.
Marina Bay Street Circuit
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The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a street circuit around Singapores Marina Bay and is the venue for the Singapore Grand Prix. The track is 5.065 km long in a location similar in style to the Circuit de Monaco. The circuit is designed by KBR, Inc. a modification of the one first proposed by Hermann Tilke. The circuit has FIA Grade 1 license, the circuit holds a unique record of having safety car appearance in every race to date. A total of 14 safety car deployments in nine races, on the day of confirmation of the Singapore Grand Prix in the 2008 Formula One season, a routemap was published. The pit area of the circuit is located in an empty plot of land off Republic Boulevard, a temporary track leads from the pit area and under the Benjamin Sheares Bridge to Republic Boulevard and turns onto Raffles Boulevard. It then proceeds along Nicoll Highway, Stamford Road and Saint Andrews Road around the Padang, the track then goes onto the Anderson Bridge, past the Fullerton Hotel and make a tight left turn to Esplanade Drive beside the Merlion Park. It joins Raffles Avenue and cut right after the Esplanade to the front of The Float at Marina Bay, the track layout is unique in that in between turns 18 and 19, the cars race underneath a section of grandstand of the Floating Platform. Several drivers, including Sébastien Bourdais and Fernando Alonso, expressed their concern about the high, ferraris Felipe Massa compared the kerbs akin to little tortoises that would wreck the car if you get something wrong. The drivers were worried that hitting the bumps could cause damage or even damage a tub. They also raised concerns that the bumps would pitch them into the wall on the outside of the corner, the kerbs were further reduced in height for Saturday and Sundays night race. In 2013, ahead of the race, the chicane was removed and replaced with a left turn, the problem was deemed to be primarily due to the speed differential of those entering the pits and those continuing on another lap and their sharing of the same race line. The controversial pit entry at Singapore was then modified ahead of Saturdays official Qualifying round by extending the pit entry line away from the pits and this change compelled drivers to commit to the pit entry earlier, providing additional warning to those following behind. In March 2009, three of the corners were given names after a competition amongst local F1 fans to submit ideas. The Singapore Sling was changed for the 2013 Grand Prix and Turn 10 is now a flowing left-hander, in January 2010, it was reported that race organisers were considering changes to the circuit for the 2011 season. No major changes were made to the layout for the 2011 race, in 2013 season FIA approved track configuration changes. Turn 10 chicane, known as Singapore Sling was removed and replaced with a single-apex left-hand bend, corner entry speed is about 40 km/h faster. To compensate for the increase in speed, a layer of TecPro barriers lines the end of the Turn 10 run-off as an added safety measure
11.
Marina Bay, Singapore
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Marina Bay is a bay located in the Central Area of Singapore surrounded by the perimeter of four other planning areas, the Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South and Straits View. The area surrounding the bay itself, also called Marina Bay, is a 360 hectare extension to the adjacent Central Business District. The Urban Redevelopment Authority Master Plan for Marina Bay aims to encourage a mix of uses for this area, including commercial, residential, hotel, the Singapore government also spent $35 million to complete the 3.5 km Waterfront Promenade around Marina Bay. It includes a new visitor centre and The Helix linking Bayfront to Marina Centre where the Youth Olympic Park is located. The Promontory @ Marina Bay will be used as an event space and public space used for activities such as theatres. In 1969, land reclamation work to create 360 hectares of prime waterfront site began at Marina Bay, the reclaimed land forms what is today the Marina Centre and Marina South areas, and the reclamation work was completed in 1992. In the reclamation process, Telok Ayer Basin and Inner Roads was removed from the map by reclaiming land, while the Singapore Rivers mouth now flows into the bay instead of directly into the sea. The long term visions for the Marina Bay area was first articulated in the 1983 Master Plan by the URA, in 2008, Marina Barrage was built, converting the basin into a new downtown freshwater Marina Reservoir, providing water supply, flood control and a new lifestyle attraction. The first World Championship Singapore Grand Prix took place on 28 September 2008 on a circuit through Marina Bay. It was also the first ever Formula One Grand Prix to be staged at night, the world’s largest floating stadium played host to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. The area also hosts the annual i Light Marina Bay, the first, Singapore is the second Asian country after Japan to implement a comprehensive Common Services Tunnel system to distribute various utility services to all city developments. The Marina Bay network of purpose-built tunnels houses water pipes, electrical and telecommunication cables, in 2004, the Public Utilities Board publicly announced plans to construct a new downtown reservoir by damming the Marina Channel. This barrage was completed in 2008, known as the Marina Barrage, it turned Marina Bay and the Kallang Basin into a confined freshwater reservoir with limited access to marine transportation to regulate the water quality. The new reservoir provides another source of drinking water for Singapore, as well as a water level for a variety of water activities. The barrage will also prevent flooding in the Chinatown area, there are currently 7 rail stations, City Hall, Raffles Place, Marina Bay, Bayfront, Downtown, Esplanade and Promenade serving Marina Bay. By 2020, the 360 hectares Marina Bay will boast a comprehensive transport network as Singapores most rail-connected district, the first three new MRT lines will open between 2012 and 2014. By 2018, the Marina Bay district will have more than six MRT stations, within greater Marina Bay, water taxis will even double up as an alternative mode of transportation. The 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay site is made up of Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden, a 3.5 km waterfront promenade linking the attractions at the Marina Centre, Collyer Quay and Bayfront areas was completed in 2010
12.
Singapore
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Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations
13.
Night game
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A night game, also called a nighter, is a sporting event that takes place, completely or partially, after the local sunset. Depending on the sport, this can be either with floodlights or with the usual low-light conditions. The term night game is used only in reference to sports traditionally held outdoors. Although indoor sporting events take place after local sunset, these events are artificially lighted regardless of the time of day they take place. A baseball game was played under artificial illumination in 1880, the year after Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and it was an experimental game between two department store teams, and it would take another fifty years before Organized Baseball would sanction night baseball. There were a couple of exhibition night baseball games in the early 1900s between Organized Baseball teams, One of them was in 1909, and the other was in 1927, but the games did not count in league standings. Even though the games were between professional teams, they were unofficial experiments and did not count as the nocturnal first, in 1929, the president of the Des Moines, Iowa baseball club announced to the National Association convention he was going to play night baseball in 1930. However, the first official minor league night game took place in Independence. An article in the April 1931 edition of Baseball Magazine stated that Independence was the first team in America to play a night baseball game. After the game in Independence, night baseball spread like wildfire across the minor leagues. In addition to that, in 1935, The Sporting News pointed out that Des Moines, Iowa was not the first to install permanent lights, by the end of the 1934 season there were sixty-five minor league teams with permanent lights installed on their fields. The light towers installed in Independence in 1930 were removed and scrapped in June 1990, mickey Mantle, an Independence Yankee in 1949, played under the historic lights. Lighting technology had improved since the 1927 night game exhibition. After fifty years of experiments, a new era in baseball was about to start. The Independence Producers of Independence, Kansas were a Class C minor league team that played in a stadium known now as Shulthis Stadium. They purchased lights from the Giant Manufacturing Company and installed permanent lights on their field, when Independence played the night game on April 28,1930, it made Independence the birthplace of professional night baseball. By the end of the 1930 season there were minor league teams with lights installed on their fields. Independence played the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball on April 28,1930, the term Organized Baseball refers to Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball games
14.
European Grand Prix
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The European Grand Prix was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held regularly from 1999 until 2012. A recent host venue for this event was the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain, the race was removed from the calendar in 2013. In 2016, the race returned, being run on a circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan. In earlier years, the European Grand Prix was not a race in its own right but just an honorific title, one of the national Grands Prix was also designated as the European Grand Prix. The first race to be so named was the 1923 Italian Grand Prix, held at Monza and won by Carlo Salamano in a Fiat and the last one was the 1977 British Grand Prix. Since its reintroduction, the European Grand Prix has usually held in a country in Europe that also holds a national Grand Prix in that same year. The European Grand Prix was created as a title by the AIACR. The first race to receive the title was the Italian Grand Prix, in 1923, after a hiatus in 1929, Spa received the last honorific title of the pre-WWII years, in 1930. All post-war honorific European Grands Prix were Formula One races except for the 1952 event, the Italian Grand Prix was named the European Grand Prix seven times, which was more than any other race. It received the three times in the 1920s. The event was created as a stop-gap. In 1983, the Formula One schedule originally featured a race near Flushing Meadows Park in New York City, when the race was cancelled three months before the event, track organizers at Brands Hatch were able to create a European Grand Prix at the track in its place. The success of the event, buoyed by a battle for the World Championship. Brands Hatch returned to host the European Grand Prix in 1985, in 1990, a wealthy Japanese businessman, Tomonori Tsurumaki, built the Nippon Autopolis with the idea of hosting a Formula One race. In 1992, plans were made to have an Asian Grand Prix in 1993 to replace the Mexican Grand Prix on the schedule, however, these plans failed to materialise. Instead, Bernie Ecclestone added a race at Donington Park to the schedule, the race was the brainchild of Tom Wheatcroft, who had been trying to bring F1 to the track since an abortive attempt to host the British Grand Prix in 1988. The first and so far only Formula One Grand Prix at Donington Park resulted in Ayrton Sennas victory in mixed wet, the European race would go the following season to Jerez in Spain. Brands Hatch was unable to host the European Grand Prix in 1984, so the European GP went to a redesigned and it was a far cry from the 14-mile Nürburgring that most were used to seeing, and was initially unpopular during Formula Ones return
15.
Valencia Street Circuit
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The Valencia Street Circuit was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years. The first race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23/24 August 2008 weekend, with Felipe Massa winning the main event, the European Grand Prix, after starting from pole position. The 2012 edition took place on 24 June and was the last to go under the name of the European Grand Prix until 2016 and it has not been used since 2013 after a deal fell through to alternate this venue with Catalunya in Barcelona to host the Spanish Grand Prix. The deal to host the Valencia race was signed on June 1,2007 and this deal goes back on comments made by Ecclestone previously stating that no European country should hold more than one race each year as Barcelona currently holds the Spanish Grand Prix each year. Although not confirmed, the deal was rumoured to be conditional on the Peoples Party winning regional elections on 27 May 2007. However, Ecclestone had clarified his comments on May 16,2007 and he said his statements were taken out of context. Ecclestone has since been cleared of influencing the election by the Valencian Electoral Commission, the official track layout was unveiled by Valencia Councillor and transport counselor, Mario Flores, on 19 July 2007. The track was first used in the last weekend of July 2008, as the circuit hosted a round of the Spanish F3 Championship and it was first used for the European Grand Prix on August 24,2008. The track was 5.419 kilometres long and incorporated a total of 25 turns –11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. It was estimated that the track had a top speed of around 323 kilometres per hour, with a lap record of 1,38.683, held by Timo Glock, which he set during the 2009 European Grand Prix. Valencia was not as tight as Circuit de Monaco but overtaking opportunities were scarce, due to the straights not being straight. Nico Hülkenberg noticed quite a bit of space for a street circuit, robert Kubica suggested that good traction and good braking stability were crucial to win at this circuit because there were a lot of long straight lines ending with heavy braking. The circuit had been criticised by the drivers for its lack of overtaking opportunities, however, the five normal overtakes still represented the years second lowest total, although the adoption of two DRS zones for that years race limited the potential for non-DRS assisted passes. Despite this, the 2012 race was shown to have many different overtakes and it also had many more retirements - a total in four in 2012 compared to 0 retirements during the 2011 race. The pit straight is short and immediately leads into the flat-out turn 1 before cars heavily brake down to 60 mph for the complex of turns 2 and 3. A curved straight leads into a chicane, turns 4 and 5. Drivers exit the 85 mph chicane by running very close to the wall, before sweeping through the kinks of turns 6 and 7, then braking heavily for the following swing bridge section. One of the slowest corners on the track, turn 8, with an speed of around 55 mph
16.
Valencia
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Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 1. 5–1.6 million people. Valencia is Spains third largest metropolitan area, with a population ranging from 1.7 to 2.5 million, the Port of Valencia is the 5th busiest container port in Europe and the busiest container port on the Mediterranean Sea. The city is ranked at Gamma in the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC, and called Valentia Edetanorum. In 1238 the Christian king James I of Aragon reconquered the city and divided the land among the nobles who helped him conquer it and he also created a new law for the city, the Furs of Valencia, which were extended to the rest of the Kingdom of Valencia. In the 18th century Philip V of Spain abolished the privileges as punishment to the kingdom of Valencia for aligning with the Habsburg side in the War of the Spanish Succession, Valencia was the capital of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte moved the Court there in the summer of 1812. It also served as capital between 1936 and 1937, during the Second Spanish Republic, the city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Valencia is integrated into an area on the Costa del Azahar. Valencias main festival is the Falles, the traditional Spanish dish, paella, originated in Valencia. The original Latin name of the city was Valentia, meaning strength, or valour, the Roman historian Livy explains that the founding of Valentia in the 2nd century BC was due to the settling of the Roman soldiers who fought against an Iberian rebel, Viriatus. It is not clear if the term Balansiyya was reserved for the entire Taifa of Valencia or also designated the city, by gradual sound changes, Valentia /waˈlentia/ has become Valencia or in Castilian and València in Valencian. In Valencian, the grave accent <è> /ɛ/ contrasts with the acute accent <é> /e/—but the word València is an exception to this rule and it is spelled according to Catalan etymology, though its pronunciation is closer to Vulgar Latin. Valencia stands on the banks of the Turia River, located on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, at its founding by the Romans, it stood on a river island in the Turia,6.4 km from the sea. The Albufera, a lagoon and estuary about 11 km south of the city, is one of the largest lakes in Spain. The City Council bought the lake from the Crown of Spain for 1,072,980 pesetas in 1911, in 1986, because of its cultural, historical, and ecological value, the Generalitat Valenciana declared it a natural park. Valencia has a Mediterranean climate with short, very mild winters and long, hot and its average annual temperature is 18.4 °C.23.0 °C during the day and 13.8 °C at night. In the coldest month – January, the temperature typically during the day ranges from 14 to 21 °C. In the warmest month – August, the temperature during the day typically ranges from 28–34 °C. Generally, similar temperatures to those experienced in the part of Europe in summer last about 8 months
17.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
18.
Timo Glock
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Timo Glock is a German BMW factory racing driver, who previously drove in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers Championship in both 2008 and 2009, scoring three podium finishes, born in Lindenfels, West Germany, Glock began his motorsport career in 1998 at the age of 15. He won several karting championships as well as the BMW ADAC Formula Junior Cup in 2000, in his first German Formula Three Championship season in 2002, he finished third in the standings en route to rookie of the year honours. In 2003, he competed in the Formula Three Euroseries, winning three races and scoring three podium finishes, which were enough to place him in fifth position in the Championship. He finished 11th, but inherited 7th following the disqualification of the Williams and Toyota cars and he finished the season with Jordan, taking over from Pantano for the last three races. Glocks sponsorship with Deutsche Post helped bring back the colours of DHL to Jordan, in 2005, Glock shifted his career to the United States, racing in the Champ Car World Series with Paul Gentilozzis Rocketsports team. His best finish was second place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at the Molson Indy Montreal in Canada, in the closing laps of the race Glock twice retained the lead over Servia by missing the tracks final chicane. As the rules require drivers who gain or retain a position by driving off the surface to give way, Glock was asked to move over by Champ Car officials. Glock obliged midway through the lap, giving him enough time to try to take the lead back. Glock finished 8th in the season points standings and won the Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year award. In 2006, Glock raced in Europe in the GP2 Series and he started with the midfield BCN Competicion team, gaining average results. In 2006 he tested an F1 car again for BMW Sauber, Glock was also re-signed for 2007 by iSport and won one feature race and four sprint races on his way to the championship. Following the serious crash of regular Formula One BMW driver Robert Kubica in Canada, however, the team instead chose its lead test driver Sebastian Vettel. After winning the GP2 Series in 2007, Glock was connected to several F1 teams and he signed a contract with Toyota F1, though still under a test driver contract with BMW, which led to the dispute being brought before the Contract Recognition Board. In November, the CRB ruled that Glock was free to race for Toyota in 2008 and he scored his first points of 2008 in the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing 4th ahead of Felipe Massas Ferrari. Glock qualified a career-best fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, at the Singapore Grand Prix, Glock finished 4th, one of his best of the season. Starting the final lap, Glock was fourth, but he was passed by Toro Rossos Sebastian Vettel, hamiltons pass on Glock was enough for him to win the 2008 Drivers Championship. Glock finished the race in sixth and the championship in tenth position, with 25 points,2009 started well enough for Glock
19.
Sebastian Vettel
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Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is a four-time Formula One World Champion, having won the championship in 2010,2011,2012 and 2013 with Red Bull Racing and he is among the most successful F1 drivers of all time. He is one of four drivers to have won four or more drivers titles. He is contracted to remain as a Formula One driver with Scuderia Ferrari until at least the end of 2017. Vettel started his career in Formula One as a test driver for BMW Sauber and made his debut with the team at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, later in the season, he signed with Toro Rosso and stayed with the team into 2008. He became the youngest race winner at the time when he took victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, in his first year driving for Red Bull in 2009, Vettel finished the season as the youngest-ever World Drivers Championship runner-up. The following year he went on to become the youngest driver ever to win the World Drivers Championship, in the same year he helped Red Bull win the teams first World Constructors Championship. He followed up his first championship with three titles, becoming the youngest double, triple and quadruple world champion in Formula One. The 2011 and 2013 titles saw Vettel dominating the seasons and wrapping up the titles early, after his winless 2014 season he returned to winning ways in his first Ferrari season, being the closest challenger to the dominant Mercedes cars and winning three races. He is also currently in place among all time race winners. Vettel was born in Heppenheim, then West Germany, to Norbert and he has one younger brother, Fabian, and two older sisters, Melanie, a dental technician, and Stefanie, a physiotherapist for disabled children. Vettel suggested in an interview that he was terrible at school, Vettel is also a fan of The Beatles, collecting several records, including Abbey Road and his favourite song being Drive My Car. In an interview on Top Gear, Vettel stated that he was a fan of British comedy such as Little Britain, Vettel lives in Thurgovia, Switzerland amongst other racing drivers and is a fan of German football team Eintracht Frankfurt. Vettel has described himself as competitive, private, and impatient, Vettel also appears in advertisements for Head & Shoulders. Vettel provided the voice of character Sebastian Schnell in the version of the movie Cars 2 dubbed for German-speaking audiences, Vettel is in a relationship with Hanna Prater, a childhood friend. In January 2014, Vettel became a father for the first time with the birth of his daughter, in September 2015, Vettel became a father for the second time with the birth of his second daughter, Matilda. In 2015, Forbes estimated that Vettels annual income was $33 million, on the Formula One circuit, Kimi Räikkönen, his Ferrari teammate for 2015 to 2017, is a close friend. Vettel also shows to have a friendship with fellow drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg with whom he repeatedly showcases a close
20.
Black people
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As such, the meaning of the expression varies widely both between and within societies, and depends significantly on context. For many other individuals, communities and countries, black is also perceived as a derogatory, outdated, reductive or otherwise unrepresentative label, different societies apply differing criteria regarding who is classified as black, and these social constructs have also changed over time. In a number of countries, societal variables affect classification as much as skin color, in the United Kingdom, black was historically equivalent with person of color, a general term for non-European peoples. In South Africa and Latin America, mixed-race people are not classified as black. In other regions such as Australasia, settlers applied the term black or it was used by local populations with different histories and ancestral backgrounds. The Romans interacted with and later conquered parts of Mauretania, a state that covered modern Morocco, western Algeria. The people of the region were noted in Classical literature as Mauri, numerous communities of dark-skinned peoples are present in North Africa, some dating from prehistoric communities. In the 18th century, the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty raised a corps of 150,000 black slaves, called his Black Guard and he claims that black-looking Arabs, much like black-looking Latin Americans, consider themselves white because they have some distant white ancestry. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had a mother who was a dark-skinned Nubian Sudanese woman, in response to an advertisement for an acting position, as a young man he said, I am not white but I am not exactly black either. My blackness is tending to reddish, due to the patriarchal nature of Arab society, Arab men, including during the slave trade in North Africa, enslaved more black women than men. They used more black female slaves in domestic service and agriculture than males, the men interpreted the Quran to permit sexual relations between a male master and his female slave outside of marriage, leading to many mixed-race children. When an enslaved woman became pregnant with her Arab masters child, she was considered as umm walad or mother of a child, the child was given rights of inheritance to the fathers property, so mixed-race children could share in any wealth of the father. Because the society was patrilineal, the children took their fathers social status at birth and were born free, some succeeded their fathers as rulers, such as Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who ruled Morocco from 1578 to 1608. He was not technically considered as a child of a slave, his mother was Fulani. Such tolerance for black persons, even when technically free, was not so common in Morocco, the long association of sub-Saharan peoples as slaves is shown in the term abd, it is still frequently used in the Arabic-speaking world as a term for black people. In early 1991, non-Arabs of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan attested that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign, Sudanese Arabs, who controlled the government, were widely referred to as practicing apartheid against Sudans non-Arab citizens. The government was accused of deftly manipulat Arab solidarity to carry out policies of apartheid, American University economist George Ayittey accused the Arab government of Sudan of practicing acts of racism against black citizens. The Arabs monopolized power and excluded blacks – Arab apartheid, many African commentators joined Ayittey in accusing Sudan of practising Arab apartheid
21.
British people
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British people, or Britons, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown dependencies, and their descendants. British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, although early assertions of being British date from the Late Middle Ages, the creation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity. The notion of Britishness was forged during the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and the First French Empire, and developed further during the Victorian era, because of longstanding ethno-sectarian divisions, British identity in Northern Ireland is controversial, but it is held with strong conviction by unionists. Modern Britons are descended mainly from the ethnic groups that settled in the British Isles in and before the 11th century, Prehistoric, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse. The British are a diverse, multi-national and multicultural society, with regional accents, expressions. Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the time of the Roman Empire made much reference to them, the group included Ireland, which was referred to as Ierne inhabited by the different race of Hiberni, and Britain as insula Albionum, island of the Albions. The term Pritani may have reached Pytheas from the Gauls, who used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands. Greek and Roman writers, in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, name the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland as the Priteni, the origin of the Latin word Britanni. It has been suggested that name derives from a Gaulish description translated as people of the forms. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, the term Britannia persisted as the Latin name for the island, during the Middle Ages, and particularly in the Tudor period, the term British was used to refer to the Welsh people and Cornish people. At that time, it was the held belief that these were the remaining descendants of the ancient Britons. This notion was supported by such as the Historia Regum Britanniae. Wales and Cornwall, and north, i. e. Cumbria, Strathclyde and this legendary Celtic history of Great Britain is known as the Matter of Britain. The indigenous people of the British Isles have a combination of Celtic, Norse, Anglo-Saxon, oppenheimer continues that the majority of the people of the British Isles share genetic commonalities with the Basques, ranging from highs of 90% in Wales to lows of 66% in East Anglia. Oppenheimers opinion is that. by far the majority of male gene types in the British Isles derive from Iberia, ranging from a low of 59% in Fakenham, Norfolk to highs of 96% in Llangefni, north Wales. The English had been unified under a single state in 937 by King Athelstan of Wessex after the Battle of Brunanburh. However, historian Simon Schama suggested that it was Edward I of England who was responsible for provoking the peoples of Britain into an awareness of their nationhood in the 13th century
22.
Damon Hill
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Damon Graham Devereux Hill, OBE is a British former racing driver. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg and he started racing on motorbikes in 1981, and after minor success moved on to single-seater racing cars. But although he progressed steadily up the ranks to the International Formula 3000 championship by 1989, Hill became a test driver for the Formula One title-winning Williams team in 1992. He was promoted to the Williams race team the year after Riccardo Patreses departure. During the mid-1990s, Hill was Michael Schumachers main rival for the Formula One Drivers Championship and their collision at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill became champion in 1996 with eight wins, but was dropped by Williams for the following season and he went on to drive for the less competitive Arrows and Jordan teams, and in 1998 gave Jordan their first win. Hill retired from racing after the 1999 season and he has since launched several businesses and has made appearances playing the guitar with celebrity bands. In 2006, he became president of the British Racing Drivers Club, Hill stepped down from the position in 2011 and was succeeded by Derek Warwick. He presided over the securing of a 17-year contract for Silverstone to hold Formula One races, Hill currently works as part of the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting team. Hill was born in Hampstead, London, to Graham and Bette Hill, Graham Hill was a racing driver in the international Formula One series. He won the drivers championship in 1962 and 1968 and became a well-known personality in the United Kingdom. Graham Hills career provided a comfortable living, by 1975 the family lived in a 25-room country mansion in Hertfordshire and Damon attended the independent The Haberdashers Askes Boys School. The death of his father in a crash in 1975 left the 15-year-old Hill, his mother. Hill worked as a labourer and a courier to support his further education. Hill is married to Susan George and they have four children, Oliver, Joshua, Tabitha, Oliver was born with Downs syndrome and Hill and Georgie are both patrons of the Downs Syndrome Association. In 2008, Hill also became the first patron of St. Josephs Specialist School and College, Joshua started racing in 2008, competing in the British Formula Renault Championship in 2011. On 9 July 2013 Joshua announced his retirement from motor racing, Hill started his motorsport career in motorcycle racing in 1981. He used the simple, easily identifiable helmet design as his father
23.
Super Aguri F1
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Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from 2006 to 2008. The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, the cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team functioning to some degree as an unofficial Honda B-team. In Japan, public pressure persuaded Honda to help its former driver Takuma Sato to continue to compete in Formula One and this was influential in the creation of Super Aguris F1 project and the engine supply from Super Aguris parent company Honda. After participating in the championship for 2 years and 4 months, throughout the teams time in the sport, it scored 4 points. All of these were scored by Sato, and all were in the 2007 season, talks to start the team began in February 2005, but it was not until September that plans started to take shape. The team registered its intention to enter the Formula One World Championship to the FIA, Formula Ones governing body, the team re-applied for entry in 2006, and continued to prepare cars for the upcoming season. Having missed the registration, the team needed to convince the existing ten teams to unanimously agree to its entry. In 2006, the cars were powered by Honda engines, the chassis, SA05, was based on the 2002 Arrows A23, bought from ex-Minardi principal Paul Stoddart who purchased them when the Arrows team went into receivership. The team had announced plans to produce a new in-house chassis later on in the 2006 season, possibly for the European races, instead, the team updated their older chassis to become the SA06 – a change which was visible from the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, onwards. Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide were the race drivers for the team in the 2006 season. The team made it onto the grid for the start of the season, in its debut race at Bahrain Sato successfully completed the Grand Prix while Ide retired on lap 35 with a mechanical failure and after nearly running over his pit crew. Suzuki deemed this race to be a good test for the team as the car had only done a maximum of 10 laps during pre-season testing, the teams second race was little better, with again only Sato finishing the race. Super Aguris third race, the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, saw significant improvement, Ide said This is the first time that both Taku and I have finished a race, so I am happy about that. For the European Grand Prix, Ide and Montagny swapped roles within the team, at the request of the FIA and this was mostly due to a collision between him and Midland driver Christijan Albers at the San Marino GP. As of 10 May 2006 the FIA Permit Office revoked Ides Super Licence, Montagny raced until and including the French Grand Prix, and on 8 June 2006 Sakon Yamamoto became Super Aguris third driver. Montagny and Yamamoto swapped roles for the 2006 German Grand Prix, when the updated car was first raced in the German Grand Prix, it managed to impress, with decent qualifying positions, although failing to finish the race. The teams cited the fact that the Concorde Agreement mandated a car may not use any parts designed or constructed by another manufacturer of Formula One cars, Super Aguri seemed to be in violation about this. The FIA however did not have the authority to act on the Concorde Agreement without the matter already being resolved in court, however, Super Aguri stated that they were in compliance with the sports regulations, though the matter was still of great contention
24.
Fernando Alonso
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Fernando Alonso Díaz audio is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a double World Champion who is currently racing for McLaren-Honda. He is often regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers, born in Oviedo, the capital of the autonomous region of Asturias, Alonso started in karting from the age of 3. He won three consecutive karting championships in Spain from 1994 to 1997, and he became world karting champion in 1996 and he made his Formula One debut in the 2001 season with Minardi, and then moved to the Renault team as a test driver the next year. Starting in 2003 Alonso then became one of the drivers of the team. On 25 September 2005, he won the Formula One World Drivers Championship title at the age of 24 years and 58 days, after retaining the title the following year, Alonso also became the youngest double Champion at the time. He joined McLaren in 2007, before returning to Renault for two seasons in 2008 and 2009, for the 2010 season, he joined Scuderia Ferrari. His strongest title challenges were in 2010 and 2012, finishing both seasons just adrift of title winner Sebastian Vettel and he left Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season, two years prior to the original expiry of his contract. Nicknamed El Nano, a pseudonym for Fernando in Asturias, his place of birth. With his fourth-place finish in the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix, scoring his 1, 571st career point, however, the record has once again been broken by Sebastian Vettel at the 2015 Italian Grand Prix. As of January 2016, Alonso is the only Spanish driver to have won a Formula One Grand Prix and is the driver with the sixth highest number of Grand Prix wins, Fernando Alonso was born in Oviedo, Asturias in northern Spain. His mother worked in a department store and his father was employed as a mechanic in a factory near Oviedo. Alonso has a sister, Lorena. Alonsos father José Luis, a kart racer, wanted to pass on his passion to his children. He built a kart, originally meant for eight-year-old Lorena, but unlike her three-year-old brother, Alonso attended the Holy Guardian Angel Primary School in Oviedo until he was 14 when he later attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarín of San Lazaro. He dropped out in 2000 as his commitment to motor racing prevented him from further studying, Alonso lived in Oxford, England until he moved his residence to Switzerland in 2006. Alonso owned a house in Mont-sur-Rolle, near Lake Geneva from 2006 to 2010 and it is highly common for Formula One stars to take up residence in Switzerland to reduce their tax bills. In the winter of 2010–11, Alonso moved back to Oviedo in order to be closer to friends and family, Alonso married Raquel del Rosario, lead singer of Spanish pop band El Sueño de Morfeo, on 17 November 2006. They announced their intention to divorce in December 2011, in mid-2012, Alonso started dating Russian model Dasha Kapustina
25.
Nelson Piquet Jr.
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Nelson Ângelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior, also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian stock car racing driver and former Formula One driver. He currently competes in Formula E where he was champion in the 2014–15, the resulting scandal which became one of the most significant in motor sport history would ultimately see a permanent end to Piquet Juniors career in Formula 1. Piquet also finished runner-up in the 2007 GP2 Series, fourth in the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship, Piquet is the son of three-time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet, one of Brazils most successful F1 drivers. Piquets parents separated soon after he was born, and he lived in Monaco with his Dutch mother, Sylvia Tamsma, until he was eight years old and he then moved to live in Brazil with his father. My mother wanted me to get to know my father, she wanted me to know Brazil and the language, Piquet has two full-sisters, Kelly and Julia, and four half-brothers, Geraldo, Laszlo, Pedro, and Marco. He lived in Brasília and attended the American School of Brasília until he was 16 years old, Piquets racing career started in 1993 in Brazilian karting, where he would stay until 2001 when he moved to Formula Three Sudamericana. His fathers wealth enabled him to race for his own team and he raced in part of the 2001 season there, staying for 2002 winning the championship with four races to go. In 2002 he also raced one race of Brazilian Formula Renault, in 2003, Piquet moved to the UK where he joined the British Formula 3 Championship and formed the Piquet Sports team. He went on to finish the championship in 3rd place with six wins, five podiums, a test with the Williams Formula One team followed. In 2004, Piquet won the British Formula 3 Championship and he became the youngest driver to have ever won the championship at 19 years and 2 months. He also did further running for Williams and he also drove for the HiTech/Piquet Sports in the GP2 Series, winning his first race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and tested for the BAR-Honda Formula One team. In 2006, Piquet gained second place in the championship to British driver Lewis Hamilton in his year of GP2. During the 2007 season he was the official test and reserve driver for the Renault Formula One team, the 2008 season saw Piquet promoted to the Renault Formula One race team to drive alongside returning double World Champion Fernando Alonso. It was reported that he gained preference for the seat over Heikki Kovalainen because Kovalainen was seen as a rival to Alonso. The first race of the 2008 season in Australia saw Piquet start 21st and damage his car in a collision on the opening lap and this was exactly the same result as his father achieved in his first race at the 1978 German Grand Prix. At the Malaysian Grand Prix he started from 13th on the grid and he started the Bahrain Grand Prix from 14th but retired with a gearbox problem after his second pit stop. Piquet qualified in 10th for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, however, his race ended on lap seven after colliding with Sébastien Bourdais in an attempt to overtake. The Turkish Grand Prix saw him qualify 17th and finish the race 15th, Piquet was under increasing pressure from his Renault team over the course of the 2008 season, and there was speculation he would lose his race seat if he did not improve
26.
Renault Formula One crash controversy
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On 28 September 2008, on the 14th lap of the Singapore race, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. The other Renault driver, Fernando Alonso, had made an early pitstop. Alonso subsequently won the race after starting 15th on the grid, Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake. After an investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy on 4 September, on 21 September it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, the Renault F1 Formula One team came into existence with the car manufacturer Renaults re-entrance into Formula One in 2000, by purchasing the Benetton Formula One team. Italian businessman Flavio Briatore had been managing director of Benetton until 1997, after managing Renaults motorsport sister company Mecachrome, he returned to the main team following the Renault takeover, again as managing director. Spanish racing driver Fernando Alonso had been involved in Formula One since 2001, after becoming World Champion in 2005 and 2006 and a one-year stint with McLaren, he returned to the team in 2008. Brazilian racing car driver Nelson Piquet, Jr, since October 2006, Piquet Jr. was also personally contracted to Flavio Briatores management company FFBB. Before the Singapore incident, Renault F1 had not won a race for almost two years, and were said to be close to quitting the sport, the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was the fifteenth race of the 2008 Formula One season, and took place on 28 September 2008. The race was Formula Ones first night race, Alonso was eliminated during qualifying because of mechanical failure. After the race started, Alonso was the first driver to make a pit stop for fuel and tyres on lap 12. Three laps later, Nelson Piquet Jr. hit the wall at turn seventeen, one of the turns on the circuit which did not have a crane nearby. Under the previous regulations, the leaders could quickly pit before they were hauled up and their lead eliminated, some drivers needed to stop while the pits were closed to avoid running out of fuel, so they were handed penalties for their infractions. After gaining the lead in the third of the race. A first podium of the season and first victory as well, I cannot believe it right now, I think I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year. It seems impossible all through the season to be close to the top guys, obviously we started at the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race. From the start of the things were complicated and I had a lot of graining. The team asked me to push, which I tried to do, I hit the wall heavily but Im OK
27.
Honda in Formula One
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Honda has participated in Formula One, as an entrant, constructor and engine supplier, for various periods since 1964. Hondas involvement in Formula One began with the 1964 season, their withdrawal in 1968 was precipitated by the death of Honda driver Jo Schlesser during the 1968 French Grand Prix and they returned in 1983 as an engine supplier, a role that ended in 1992. They returned again in 2000, providing engines for British American Racing, by the end of 2005 they had bought out the BAR team, based at Brackley, United Kingdom, and renamed their new subsidiary Honda Racing. It was announced on 5 December 2008 that Honda would be exiting Formula One with immediate effect due to the financial crisis and were looking to sell their team. On 27 February 2009 it was announced that team principal Ross Brawn had led a management buyout of the Brackley team, the team raced successfully as Brawn GP in 2009, and was subsequently sold to Daimler AG and renamed Mercedes GP for the 2010 season. On 17 May 2013, Honda announced their intention to return to the sport in the 2015 season under an agreement with McLaren to supply V6 engines. Honda entered Formula One Grand Prix racing in 1964, just four years after producing their first road car and they began development of the RA271 in 1962 and startled the European-dominated Formula One garages with their all-Japanese factory team. More startling was the fact that Honda built their own engine and chassis, something only Ferrari, in only their second year of competition, Honda reached the coveted top step of the podium with Ginthers win in the RA272 at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. For the new 3. 0L rules from 1966, Honda introduced the Honda RA273, although the RA273s engine was a well-designed, ~360 bhp V12, the car was let down by a relatively heavy and unwieldy in-house chassis. Honda returned to the circle in 1967 with the new Honda RA300. This won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix in only its first Formula One race, the RA300 chassis was partly designed by Lola in the UK, and this resulted in the car being nicknamed the Hondola by the motoring press. This was the last competitive car that Honda produced for Formula One in the 1960s, the following years Honda RA301 only reached the podium twice. The teams new Honda RA302 appeared in only a race at Rouen-Les-Essarts. The death prompted Honda to withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 1968 Formula One season, mugen-powered cars had won 4 Grands Prix by the end of the 1999 season. In 1998, Honda was seriously considering entry in Formula One as a constructor, going as far as producing an engine and hiring Harvey Postlethwaite as technical director and designer. In addition, Honda pulled engineer Kyle Petryshen from HRC to help with the design, implementation, a test car, RA099, designed by Postlethwaite and built by Dallara, was made and tested during 1999, driven by Jos Verstappen. The team impressed at test sessions, beating some more experienced and better financed teams, even if they were mostly in the midfield. At a test of car, Postlethwaite suffered a fatal heart attack
28.
Ross Brawn
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Ross James Brawn OBE is the Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports. He is also a former engineer and Formula One team principal. He had worked for a number of Formula One teams, serving as the director of the championship-winning Benetton. He took a sabbatical from the sport in 2007 but returned to F1 for the 2008 season as Team Principal of Honda. He was the owner of the Brawn GP team, which acquired the Honda team in early 2009, Mercedes bought into the team in November 2009, making Brawn Team Principal and Co-Owner with Nick Fry. In 2011 Brawn and Fry sold the shares to Mercedes Benz. In November 2013, it was announced that Brawn would step down, following speculation linking him with other teams, Brawn announced his retirement from Formula One in February 2014. Teams with Brawn in a role have won, in total,8 constructors championships and 8 drivers championships. Brawn was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England and he became interested in engineering during his early years, often visiting Belle Vue Stadium to watch various forms of motor racing. He moved south aged 11 as his father took a job near Reading, Berkshire and he went on to start an HNC in Mechanical Engineering, still funded by Harwell. Living in Reading he found an advertisement for Frank Williams Grand Prix, Williams were looking for a milling machinist which was one of the skills he learnt at Harwell. Brawn lives in Stoke Row, near Henley-on-Thames, in his spare time he enjoys gardening, fishing and listening to music. In 2006 Brawn received a degree of Doctor of Engineering from Brunel University for his services to motorsport. On 18 November 2011, Brawn received a honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University. His career in began in 1976 when he joined March Engineering in the town of Bicester as a milling machine operator. Soon afterwards he joined their Formula 3 racing team as a mechanic, Brawn was hired by Sir Frank Williams in 1978 as a machinist for the newly formed Williams team. He quickly moved up through the ranks, working in the R&D department with Frank Dernie, Brawn joined the Haas Lola team in 1985 and was part of Neil Oatleys design team at FORCE that produced both the Lola THL1 and THL2 cars used by the team. When the Haas team left F1 at the end of the 1986 season, there he designed the Megatron powered Arrows A10 and its update, the A10B for the 1987 and 1988 seasons respectively and the Ford V8 powered Arrows A11 used in 1989
29.
Brawn GP
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It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team clinched that years Constructors Championship, and Button took the drivers title, for 2010, the team again changed identity, becoming Mercedes GP. On its racing debut, the season-opening 2009 Australian Grand Prix, Button won six of the first seven races of the season and on 18 October at the Brazilian Grand Prix, he secured the 2009 Drivers Championship and the team won the Constructors Championship. Barrichello won twice and finished third in the Drivers Championship, the team won eight of the seasons seventeen races, and by winning both titles in its only year of competition became the first to achieve a 100% championship success rate. Brawn GP had its origins in the Tyrrell Racing Organisation, a team founded by Ken Tyrrell in 1958 which entered cars in various single-seater championships. After entering Formula One in 1968, the Tyrrell team won the Constructors Championship, the team kept racing in F1 until 1998, when declining results led to Tyrrell selling the team to British American Tobacco. While BAT bought the Formula One entry, they set up the British American Racing team in a new factory in Brackley, BAR competed for six years, with a high point of finishing second in the championship in 2004. Increasing restrictions on tobacco advertisement meant Honda, BARs engine partner, bought control of the team at the end of 2005. On 17 March 2009 the FIA officially agreed to the change from Honda Racing F1 Team to Brawn GP. It was also rumoured that the team would enter the 2009 season with backing from Bruno Senna, on 20 March it was confirmed that Brawn GP would be allocated the final pitlane slot, with Force India moving up one slot. Bernie Ecclestone suggested that this was due to the takeover involving a name change, whatever was due to Honda, they would have got. For this reason Brawn GP were initially assigned numbers 20 and 21 after Force India were assigned Hondas old numbers of 18 and 19 and this however was changed at the request of Force India because their promotional material had already been printed with numbers 20 and 21. Brawn had no objection and were reassigned numbers 22 and 23, the team started off strongly on the Friday practice of the Australian Grand Prix, finishing in the top five. In qualifying at Australia Jenson Button took pole, with teammate Rubens Barrichello coming second, Button won the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix from pole and picked up the fastest lap. Button won again at the Bahrain Grand Prix from fourth on the grid with Barrichello in fifth from sixth, Button ran most of the race in clean air and maintained the lead after the Toyotas pitted and fell down the order. This was the first time they were slower, with the fuel corrected qualifying times, at the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix, Brawn achieved their second 1–2 of the season with Button leading home Barrichello again. Brawns fourth win saw them overtake Honda on the all-time wins list, at the Monaco Grand Prix the same qualifying results as in Spain were achieved with Button on pole. Button led Barrichello, whod overtaken Kimi Räikkönen off the line, into the first corner with Button leading Barrichello, Räikkönen, Button took Brawns third 1–2 and his first hat trick of wins
30.
Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains
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Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains is a British Formula One engine manufacturer, owned by Mercedes-Benz. Their engines have won five Formula One Constructors Championships and seven Drivers Championships, Ilmor was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in 1983, as an independent British Formula One engine manufacturer. The company name was taken from the surnames of the founders and it originally started building engines for IndyCars with the money of IndyCar team owner and chassis manufacturer Roger Penske. Daimler-Benz acquired Chevrolets 25% share of Ilmor in 1993, in 2002, Daimler AG increased its share to 55% and renamed the company Mercedes-Ilmor. In 2005, Daimler became the owner of Ilmor and renamed the company first to Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines. In December 2011, the company was renamed to Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains along with the renaming of Mercedes GP to incorporate the Mercedes-AMG brand and this new company, which is totally independent of Mercedes, is once again known as Ilmor Engineering Ltd. In 1991, Ilmor entered Formula One as the supplier to the Leyton House team. In 1992, Leyton House changed its name back to March, Ilmor also delivered engines to Tyrrell Racing in that year. Powered by an Ilmor V10, Tyrrell scored 8 points, however, Mercedes stepped back from the project with the engines only carrying the slogan Concept by Mercedes-Benz and the engines were officially called Saubers. However, after an unexpectedly fast performance in 1993, Sauber convinced Mercedes to enter officially in 1994, in 1994, Ilmor also supplied the new Pacific GP team of Keith Wiggins with the old 1993 spec engines. Pacific only managed to qualify seven times in attempts, although the engine was not implicated in this poor display. Ilmor became the partner to McLaren in 1995. The partnership took its first win at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, mika Häkkinen picked up drivers championships in 1998 and 1999, and the team won the constructors championship in 1998. After a winless 2006 season, McLaren bounced back and won the championship in 2008 with Lewis Hamilton. In 2001, Paul Morgan was killed whilst landing his vintage aeroplane at Sywell Aerodrome and this led to Mercedes-Benz increasing their financial involvement in Ilmor, with the company being renamed Mercedes-Ilmor Ltd. The new Formula One regulations in 2014 saw Mercedes produce a hybrid 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine, the Mercedes engine started the season with a clear advantage, with Mercedes-engined cars scoring the majority of the points. Since the introduction of the new formula, there have only been two occasions where a car with a non-Mercedes power unit achieved pole position. Similarly, as of the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes-powered cars have won 51 out of 60 races during this period, Ilmor Mercedes-Benz in Formula One Mercedes-Benz in motorsport Official website Profile at Grand Prix Encyclopedia
31.
Racing slick
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A racing slick is a type of tire that has a smooth tread used mostly in auto racing. The first production slick tire was developed by M&H Tires in the early 1950s for use in drag racing, by eliminating any grooves cut into the tread, such tires provide the largest possible contact patch to the road, and maximize traction for any given tire dimension. Slick tires are not suitable for use on road vehicles. They are used in racing where competitors can choose different tires based on the weather conditions. Slick tires provide far more traction than grooved tires on dry roads, due to their greater contact area, wet roads severely diminish the traction because of aquaplaning due to water trapped between the tire contact area and the road surface. Grooved tires are designed to remove water from the area through the grooves. Since there is no pattern, slick tire tread does not deform much under load. The reduced deformation allows the tire to be constructed of softer compounds without excessive overheating and blistering and it is not uncommon for drivers in some auto sports to wear out multiple sets of tires during a single days driving. In Formula One, slick tires were not used from the 1998 to 2008 seasons, slick tires were reintroduced from the 2009 season. The first drag racing slick was developed by a company called M&H Tires in the early 1950s and it was the only company in the world that produced and sold original drag racing tires. Drag racing slicks vary in size, from slicks used on motorcycles to very wide ones used on Top Fuel dragsters, open wheel dragsters are freed from any such constraint, and can go to enormous tire sizes. Some use very low pressures to maximize the contact area. Inner tubes are used, to ensure that the air does not suddenly leak catastrophically as the tire deforms under the stress of launching. As speed builds, the force generated by the tires rotation unwraps the sidewall. Additionally, it causes the tires to expand radially, increasing their diameter and effectively creating a taller gear ratio, the development in cheater slick technology has affected the development of tires for racing series other than drag racing as well. These became known, loosely, as R compound tires, with additional years of progress, this class of tire has in its turn followed its own line of development, to the point where they have little in common with true street tires of the same brand. In contrast, many bicycle tires made for use are slick. This is clear not only from direct testing of tires, some grooveless designs have small holes or dimples embedded in the tread as a tire-wear indicator
32.
Formula One Management
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The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and exploitation of the sports commercial rights. Bernie Ecclestone, a former Formula One team boss, spent 40 years as executive of the company after gaining control of the commercial rights. It has subsequently been bought out by Liberty Media, the Group is currently run by Chase Carey as Chief Executive, with Ross Brawn serving as Managing Director and Sean Bratches serving as Managing Director. Bernie Ecclestone serves as Chairman Emeritus, in 1974, the Formula One Constructors Association was founded in order to increase commercial organisation of Formula One for the benefit of the racing teams. In 1978, Bernie Ecclestone became the executive of FOCA, disputes were settled by March 1981 when the Concorde Agreement gave FOCA the right to negotiate TV contracts. Under previous arrangements, TV contracts were not very lucrative and were risky, when the Concorde Agreement ended in 1987, Bernie Ecclestone ceased being a team owner, and established the Formula One Promotions and Administration, to manage TV rights for the teams. FOPA would later become known as Formula One Management, FOPA received 49% of TV revenues, 1% went to the teams, and 50% to the FIA. FOPA, however, received all the fees paid by promoters, in exchange for this, FOPA paid prize money to the teams. In 1995, the FIA decided to grant the rights of F1 to Formula One Administration for a 14-year period. In exchange, Ecclestone would provide an annual payment, team McLaren, WilliamsF1, Scuderia Ferrari and Renault F1 formed GPWC Holdings, and threatened to form a rival racing franchise in 2008 when their contracts ended in 2007. In October 1999, Morgan Grenfell Private Equity acquired 12. 5% of SLEC for £234 million, on 22 March 2000, German media company EM. TV & Merchandising purchased Speed Investments for £1.1 billion. EM. TVs acquisitions caused it financial difficulties, following its announcement that its 2000 earnings would be below expectations and it was struggling with its debts, the share price dropped 90%. In February, the Kirch Group agreed to rescue EM. TV in return for a stake in the company and control of Speed Investments. Alan Henry of The Guardian reported that the two also agreed to exercise EM. TVs option to purchase another 25% of SLEC for approximately £600 million in late-March 2001. To raise Speed Investments share of SLEC to 75% Kirch borrowed €1.6 billion, €1 billion from Bayerische Landesbank, due to the agreement associated with their shareholding, SLEC was controlled by Kirch, who hence controlled the board of Formula One Holdings. Due to huge losses and massive expenditure, Kirchs creditors put the company into receivership in 2002, Kirchs share of SLEC was retained by Bayerische Landesbank, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers. Before they could exercise their rights as shareholders, they had to seek clearance from the European Commission, a two-day court hearing began on 23 November, but after the proceedings had ended the following day, Justice Andrew Park announced his intention to reserve ruling for several weeks. On 6 December 2004, Park read his verdict, stating that In judgment it is clear that Speeds contentions are correct, however, Ecclestone insisted that the verdict - seen almost universally as a legal blow to his control of Formula One - would mean nothing at all
33.
2006 Spanish Grand Prix
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The 2006 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 May 2006 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. It was the round of the 2006 Formula One season. The 66-lap race was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team, Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari with Alonsos teammate Giancarlo Fisichella third. As a consequence of the race, Alonso stretched his lead to fifteen points in the Drivers Championship over Schumacher, Alonsos team, Renault, also increased their lead, but did so in the Constructors Championship standings. This put them nineteen points ahead of Ferrari, the Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams with two drivers each. The teams were Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Toyota, Williams, Honda, Red Bull, BMW, MF1, Toro Rosso, before the race, Renault driver Fernando Alonso led the Drivers Championship with 44 points, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher was second on 31 points. Behind Alonso and Schumacher in the Drivers Championship, Kimi Räikkönen was third on 23 points in a McLaren, with Giancarlo Fisichella, in the Constructors Championship, Renault were leading on 62 points and Ferrari were second on 46 points, with McLaren third on 42 points. Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race – two on Friday, and one on Saturday, the Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes, the third session, on Saturday morning, lasted for an hour. Saturday afternoons qualifying session was divided into three parts, the first part ran for 15 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th position or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of the session lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of the session ran for 20 minutes which determined the positions from first to tenth. Cars which failed to make the session could refuel before the race. Alonso clinched his first pole position of the season with a time of 1,14.648, Michael Schumacher took third place on the grid, with a qualifying time more than one-tenth slower than Alonsos. Notes ^1 – Jacques Villeneuve started 22nd after taking a 10 spot penalty for an engine change, the engine was damaged during transport to Barcelona. Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
34.
Bridgestone
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Bridgestone Corporation is a multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a translation and transposition of ishibashi. As of 2015, the company is the largest manufacturer of tires in the world, Bridgestone Group had 141 production facilities in 24 countries as of 2005. The very first Bridgestone tire was produced on 9 April 1930, One year later on 1 March 1931, the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, made the Tabi Socks Tyre Division independent and established the Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd. in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Bridgestone was named after the name of the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, foregoing dependence on European and North American technology, the Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd. set its eyes on manufacturing tires based largely on Japanese technology. The fledgling company experienced many difficulties in the areas of technology, production, eventually, improvements were achieved in quality and manufacturing processes which led to the business rapidly expanding in domestic and overseas markets. Wartime regulations were in effect throughout Japan, and tires also came under the jurisdiction of these regulations and this resulted in nearly all of the companys output being used to satisfy military demand. 1945 saw the end of armed conflict, but the company was devastated by the war, the Tokyo headquarters was destroyed during an aerial bombing raid, and all overseas assets were lost. Fortunately, the plants in Kurume and Yokohama escaped unscathed, brushing aside the problems caused by a labour union strike that lasted for forty-six days, the foundations of the company were further reinforced after this. In 1951, Bridgestone was the first company in Japan to begin selling rayon cord tires, and this year also saw another Bridgestone building opened in Kyōbashi, Tokyo, which contained the Bridgestone Museum. The company issued shares and was listed on the stock exchange in 1961. A new system of administration was ushered in by Shojiro Ishibashi as the chairman, also, additions were built onto the Tokyo plant in 1962 to house the new Technical Centre, and a progressive system of research and development was established. On the product front,1967 saw the sale of the companys first ever radial tire, Bridgestones first overseas plant since the end of the war was opened in Singapore in 1965, and production was also commenced in Thailand in 1969. Its Super Filler Radial was placed on the market in 1978, the company was actively engaged in overseas expansion activities at this time. The founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, died on 11 September 1976, on 1 March 1981, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. New production facilities were established in Thailand, India, Poland, China. The company changed the name from Bridgestone Tyre Co. Ltd. to Bridgestone Corporation in 1984, in 1988, Bridgestone purchased the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio. Placing considerable financial and personnel resources into rebuilding Firestone after the purchase, Bridgestone achieved surplus annual profits for the year 1992 with BFE, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd USA were amalgamated in 1990 and became Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd
35.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
36.
Ferrari F2008
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The Ferrari F2008 is a Formula One motor racing car, which Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro used to compete in the 2008 Formula One season. The car was unveiled to the public on January 6,2008 and it features a new standard Electronic Control Unit, which is the electronic system that controls all the cars, produced by McLaren Electronic Systems. This was included to comply with the new regulations, the ECU also removes most of the driver aids used in previous seasons, including traction control, engine braking and electronically assisted starting system. It also makes the management of the differential, engine and gearchanges easier, world champion Kimi Räikkönen gave the car its first shakedown at Ferraris Fiorano test track on January 7,2008. In the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa suffered nose cone, in the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen lost his front wing after sliding into the back of Adrian Sutil at the Nouvelle chicane. In the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, Räikkönen lost his wing in the pit lane. In the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, Räikkönen suffered front wing damage after running wide then spinning before the chicane. In the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Massa was unsafely released from his pit box with the hose still attached. In the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massas engine failed without warning, forcing him to retire from the lead three laps remaining. † Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance, räikkönens fastest lap at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is still the lap record as of 2016. Car Specs and photos Car Specs on F1Technical. net
37.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
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– Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
– Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.