1.
Brackley
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Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. It is about 19 miles from Oxford and 22 miles from Northampton, historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the English Midlands and between Cambridge and Oxford. Brackley has connections with Formula 1 as it is close to Silverstone, Brackley, originally also known as Brachelai or Brackele, was held in 1086 by Earl Alberic. After this it passed to the Earl of Leicester, and to the families of De Quincy, in the 11th and 12th centuries Brackley was in the Hundred of Odboldistow and in the Manor of Halse. Richard I named five official sites for jousting tournaments so that events could not be used as local wars. The tournament site is believed to be to the south of the castle where the A422 now passes, henry III attacked and destroyed the castle in 1173. The site was granted to the Hospital of SS. The town was the site of an important meeting between the barons and representatives of the King in 1215, the year of Magna Carta, Magna Carta required King John to proclaim rights, respect laws and accept that the Kings wishes were subject to law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the Kings subjects, whether freemen, serfs, King John and the barons were to have signed Magna Carta at Brackley Castle, but they eventually did so at Runnymede. Market day was on Sundays until 1218, when it was changed to Wednesdays and it is now on Friday mornings. The Tudor antiquary John Leland visited Brackley, where he learned a Lord of the Towne named Neville had had the parish vicar murdered and this he had done by having the man buried alive. The writer Daniel Codd observed that in the grounds of St Peters Church, in 1597 the town was incorporated by Elizabeth I. It had a mayor, six aldermen and 26 burgesses, in 1602, the metaphysical poet John Donne was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Brackley. Brackley used to be known for wool and lace-making, in 1901 the population of the town was 2,467. Brackley used the house at Culworth until 1834, when Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act. A workhouse for 250 people was built in 1836, southwest of the town on Banbury Road and it was demolished in the 1930s. Brackley Castle was built soon after 1086 and its earthwork remains lie between Hinton Road and Tesco. It comprised a motte mound 10 feet high and approximately 44 yards in diameter with a bailey to the east
2.
Northamptonshire
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Northamptonshire, archaically known as the County of Northampton, is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 629,000, the county is administered by Northamptonshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Northamptonshire is the southernmost county in the East Midlands region, apart from the county town of Northampton, other large population centres include Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Daventry. Northamptonshires county flower is the cowslip, there are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill and Thenford. In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the Catuvellauni, a Belgic tribe, the Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the Romans in 43 AD. The Roman road of Watling Street passed through the county, there were other Roman settlements at Northampton, Kettering and along the Nene Valley near Raunds. A large fort was built at Longthorpe, after the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the pagan king Penda, Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements, the county was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as Hamtunscire, the scire of Hamtun. The North was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south, Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place, the now-ruined Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656. George Washingtons ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of Northampton on several occasions and it was George Washingtons great-grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northants to Virginia. Before Washingtons ancestors moved to Sulgrave, they lived in Warton, King Charles I was imprisoned at Holdenby House in 1647. In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to a pure and wholesome air because of its dryness. Its livestock were celebrated, Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes, in summer, the county hosted a great number of wealthy families. Country seats and villas are to be seen at every step, Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of spires and squires because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches. In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the area became industrialised
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
David Richards (motorsport)
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David Pender Richards CBE is the chairman of Prodrive, former chairman of Aston Martin, and a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Warwickshire and has three children, in the 2005 New Year Honours List Richards was appointed a CBE for his services to motorsport. Richards grew up in North Wales, attending Brynhyfryd School in Ruthin, on his 17th birthday, he passed his driving test in a Lotus Cortina. At the age of only 17 years and 3 months he became the then youngest person in the UK to hold a pilots licence and was awarded an RAF university scholarship. After completing his first year of A-Levels, he left school to five years studying for his articles as a British Chartered Accountant. It was during this period that he established his career as a professional rally co-driver winning his first national rally championship with Tony Drummond in 1974. In the same year, he married his wife Karen, the following year he took up the position of team manager for Fiat, before returning to competition with the Ford factory team in 1979. Here he formed a successful and long-standing partnership with the Finnish rally driver, the two won both the British and Scandinavian Championships before going on to win the World Rally Championship in a Ford Escort RS1800 in 1981. In 1984, the Porsche Rothmans Rally Team won the Middle East Rally Championship, rapid expansion of his new Prodrive company led to a move to a new facility at Banbury, Oxfordshire in 1986. The same year, Richards team ran a privately entered MG Metro 6R4 in the British and Irish rally championships, the following year saw Prodrive begin a six-year relationship with BMW in both rallying and touring car racing. A pivotal meeting with Fuji Heavy Industries at the Safari Rally in 1989, under Richards direction the team embarked on an ambitious programme, initially in the British, and subsequently the Asia-Pacific and World Rally Championships. It was Richards who, in 1990, saw the raw talent of young driver Colin McRae and he personally oversaw the development of their early careers, leading to two British titles for Subaru and McRae in 1991 and 1992, and a further title for Burns in 1993. Drivers such as Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankkunen, Possum Bourne, Markku Alen, Ari Vatanen, the teams highlight came in 1995 when the Subaru World Rally Team and Colin McRae achieved the double of the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ World Rally titles. Under Richards direction, the team went on to win two further Manufacturers’ titles, in 1996 and 1997, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg won further Drivers titles in 2001 and 2003, respectively. At the end of 2008, Subaru decided to withdraw from the World Rally Championship after 18 years, in 1987 Prodrive entered into what was to become a long-standing partnership with BMW in the British Touring Car Championship. They took the Class B title three times, from 1988 to 1990, winning outright in 1988 with Frank Sytner, BMW UK ended the partnership with Prodrive at the end of the 1992 season following a change in the technical regulations. After two years away, Prodrive returned to the British Touring Car Championship in 1995 with the Alfa Romeo, in 1997 and 1998 Prodrive ran the Honda Touring Car Team, before working with Ford in 1999 and 2000. After re-engineering the Ford Mondeo, the won the BTCC title in 2000 with Alain Menu
5.
Nick Fry
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Nicholas Richard Nick Fry, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, having previously served in similar roles at previous incarnations of the company. His career in motoring started with the Ford Motor Company in 1977, working first in Sales and then Market Research, in 1978, he was moved to Product Development as Product Planner. He helped develop a variety of models over the next 12 years, including several performance models like the Ford Escort Cosworth, the RS200 and others. Fry joined Prodrive as Managing Director in January 2001, upon the persuasion of David Richards and this expansion saw Fry become Group Managing Director overseeing both the companys engineering and racing operations. In January 2002, he was appointed Managing Director of BAR F1 in addition to his Prodrive responsibilities, Fry achieved his first victory as a manager/chief executive of a Formula 1 team when Jenson Button took the chequered flag at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. On the 15 June 2012 Nick Fry received an Honorary Doctorate from Cranfield University in recognition of his services to motorsport, Profile - from Mercedes GP official website Profile - from Phil Huff, Sport Network
6.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
7.
Jacques Villeneuve
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Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve, OQ, is a Canadian professional auto racing driver and amateur musician. He is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle, as of 2016, no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the Formula One Drivers title. Following two successful years in CART, Villeneuve moved into Formula One with the front running Williams team, alongside Damon Hill. In his debut season, Villeneuve challenged Hill for the title, winning four races and taking the fight to the round in Japan, where Villeneuve retired and Hill won the race. Villeneuve, however, did win the years title, this time challenging Michael Schumacher and once again taking it to the final round in Jerez. 1997 would be the last year in which Villeneuve would win a championship level race, for 1998, Villeneuves Williams team had to fare with less competitive Mecachrome engines, and Villeneuve moved to the newly formed British American Racing team in 1999. He stayed there for the four seasons but, following poor results he was replaced by former British Formula Three Champion Takuma Sato. Villeneuve also drove for Renault at the end of 2004, and Sauber in the 2005 season, Villeneuve was replaced by Robert Kubica and soon BMW and Villeneuve parted company. As a musician, he has released an album titled Private Paradise and he was inducted into Canadas Walk of Fame in 1998. Villeneuve was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, to aspiring Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve and his wife Joann and he has a sister Melanie and a half sister Jessica. His uncle, Jacques Sr. was also a racing driver, when Villeneuve was eleven years old, his father was killed during the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder following a collision with Jochen Mass. Villeneuves first girlfriend was Sandrine Gros dAillon and they dated until the late 1990s. Villeneuve was also engaged to Australian singer Dannii Minogue in the late 1990s and was engaged to American ballerina Ellen Green. He married his Parisienne girlfriend Johanna Martinez on May 29,2006, after the ceremony, it was announced the Villeneuves were expecting a baby in November. Johanna gave birth to a son, Jules, on November 14,2006 and their second son Joakim was born on December 23,2007. The couple divorced in July 2009, in June 2012, Villeneuve married Camilla Lopez, with whom he has had two more sons, Benjamin and Henri. Villeneuve was among the first group inducted into Canadas Walk of Fame, also he was inducted into Canadas Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named Canadas Athlete of the Year, receiving the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1995 and 1997, in 1998, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec
8.
Jenson Button
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Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE British racing driver currently under contract with McLaren-Honda, as a reserve driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship, driving for Brawn GP, Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 for the 2000 season, the following year he switched to Benetton, which in 2002 became Renault, and then for the 2003 season he moved to BAR. In 2004 he finished 3rd in the World Drivers Championship, with only the two Ferraris ahead of him, BAR was subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races. For 2010, he moved to McLaren, partnering fellow British racer and former World Champion Lewis Hamilton, after finishing fifth for the team in 2010, Button finished the 2011 season as runner-up. In 2012 he took his first pole for McLaren at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix and he spent a fifth season with the McLaren team in 2014, his fifteenth in Formula One. From the 305 races that Button has started he has won 15, Button was born on 19 January 1980 in Frome, Somerset and brought up in nearby Vobster. He was named after his fathers Danish friend and rallycross opponent Erling Jensen and he was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. After his parents divorced when he was seven, he and his three sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome. However, after a while the boy moved to his stepmother Pippa Kerr, when Jenson was 19 years of age John Button and Pipa Kerr divorced. Button junior failed his first driving test for getting too close to a parked vehicle, in 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship, further successes followed, including three triumphs in the British Open Kart Championship. In 1997, he won the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup, aged 18, Button moved into car racing, winning the British Formula Ford Championship with Haywood Racing, he also triumphed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. At the end of 1998, he won the annual McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award and his prize included a test in a McLaren Formula One car, which he received at the end of the following year. Button entered the British Formula 3 Championship in 1999, with the Promatecme team and he won three times —at Thruxton, Pembrey and Silverstone—and finished the season as the top rookie driver, and third overall. He finished fifth and second respectively in the Marlboro Masters and Macau Grand Prix, at the end of 1999, Button had his McLaren test prize at Silverstone, and also tested for the Prost team. This made him Britains youngest ever Formula One driver, however some had misgivings about his lack of experience and ability to cope with the pressures of Formula One. Making his début in Australia, Button crashed during practice and qualified second-last on the grid, however, he performed strongly in the race and was set to score a point before his engine failed 11 laps from the finish
9.
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
10.
Mika Salo
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Mika Juhani Salo is a Finnish professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between 1994 and 2002 and his best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher at Ferrari for six races, scoring two podiums. He also won the GT2 class in the 2008 and 200924 Hours of Le Mans, in 1989, Helsinki-born Salo competed in the British Formula 3 Championship, racing for Alan Docking Racing. He raced with the Reynard Toyota package which was not the seasons best, staying with Alan Docking Racing for 1990 and moving to a more competitive Ralt chassis, he raced against countryman and fierce rival Mika Häkkinen in Formula Three, finishing second to him. In 1991 Salo headed to Japan to race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and his initial aim was to race in Europes Formula 3000 but did not garner enough funding to compete. A budget would have spanned from £200.000 to £500.000 to drive in Europe and Salo had only collected a fraction over £200.000, not enough to stay competitive. While in Japan, Salo landed a seat and got also paid for driving for AD Racings in their single car team. The Japanese Formula 3000 Championship in 1991 had increased thanks to the aggrieved Johnny Herbert raising the calibre of the championship. After a few years racing in Japan he made his first Formula One start at the round of the 1994 season in Japan for the ailing Lotus team. He was kept on for the finale in Australia. Following the collapse of Lotus following the end of the season and he was to spend three years with the team, scoring points several times. In the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix he completed the race without refuelling, taking fifth place ahead of the faster Giancarlo Fisichella as a result. Despite a promising 1998 with Arrows, he had no drive in 1999. Following an injury to BAR driver Ricardo Zonta, Salo took his place for three races whilst the Brazilian recovered, however a greater opportunity arose when Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash during the 1999 British Grand Prix. Salo was selected as his substitute to partner Eddie Irvine at Ferrari, following the race, Irvine handed his victory trophy over to Salo as a gesture of gratitude. He also finished third at Monza, ahead of Irvine and these podium finishes were critical in helping Ferrari win their first Constructors title since 1983. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2002, after getting fired from Toyota. During his Formula One career, he achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 33 championship points and he raced in four CART races for PK Racing during the same year, his best finish being third in Miami in his second series start
11.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
12.
Olivier Panis
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Olivier Panis is a French professional racing driver. Panis drove in Formula One for ten seasons, scoring one win at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for the Ligier team, as of 2016, he is the last French driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. He is the father of racing driver Aurélien Panis, born in Oullins, Lyon, Panis, like many Formula 1 racing drivers, raced karts early in his career. After graduating from karts, Olivier raced several years in a number of junior series before racing in French Formula 3 and he won a championship in Formula Renault in 1989 and finished second in French Formula 3 in 1991. He eventually found himself in Formula 3000, and he won the championship there in 1993. The 27-year-old Panis earned an F1 drive in 1994 for the French-based Ligier team and he made his debut at Brazil, finishing eleventh. He earned a second place that season at Hockenheim ahead of teammate Éric Bernard. He finished every race except France and he was however disqualified in Portugal for illegal skid block wear. Panis took a win in the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Starting 14th on a wet track, Panis passed other rivals on the circuit, including Martin Brundle, Mika Häkkinen and Johnny Herbert. He overtook Eddie Irvine at the Lowes Hairpin and was running in place before the Williams-Renault of Damon Hill. One of only 3 cars to finish the race, Panis held off a charge from Coulthard to win. The race finished on 75 of the 78 scheduled laps due to the time limit being reached. Panis victory was the Ligier teams first victory in 15 years, however, it was the only highlight to his 1996 season, and he otherwise failed to do any better than 5th place in Hungary. Panis had the potential for a big season in 1997 while driving for Alain Prost, on Bridgestone tyres, he took the tyre companys first podium at Brazil. He was running second in Argentina before retirement, after 6 races, he stood third in the championship thanks to another podium finish with second place in Spain. A win could have been possible in that race had he not been held up lapping backmarkers for seven laps, at the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix, he broke both legs in a high-speed accident, causing him to miss the next seven races of the season. His place in the team was taken by Jarno Trulli, until he returned for the three races of the season
13.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
14.
Takuma Sato
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Takuma Sato is a Japanese professional racing driver. He currently races full-time in the IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, in 2002 Sato graduated to Formula One with the Honda-powered Jordan team, and was paired with Giancarlo Fisichella. His low point was a crash in Austria, caused when Nick Heidfeld lost control of his Sauber under braking and hit the side of Satos car. Throughout he showed flashes of speed but also wild driving, nevertheless the teams faith in Sato was repaid by a drive to fifth at his home Grand Prix in Suzuka. With Hondas focus shifting solely to British American Racing for 2003 Sato joined the Brackley-based outfit as a test driver, for the final round in Japan Sato replaced Jacques Villeneuve and scored the second points finish of his career with sixth, despite a collision with Michael Schumacher. He was signed to race full-time in 2004 and his season was blighted by numerous engine failures, suffering no less than six. He finished eighth in the championship with 34 points and helped the team to second in the Constructors championship, Sato was retained by BAR-Honda for the 2005 season, but the 2005 car was not as close to the front of the pack as the previous years design. The Court did not find that this was deliberate, Sato joined the new Super Aguri F1 team for 2006, run by former Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki. The new outfit was in effect a Honda B-team but ran the first half of the season with a version of a 2002 Arrows A23 chassis. Nevertheless, Satos reputation improved thanks to his attitude and competitive spirit. The team introduced a new car, the SA06 at the German Grand Prix, at the season finale in Brazil Sato finished tenth just two places short of a points finish and comfortably ahead of both Toro Rossos and the Spyker MF1s. For 2007, Super Aguri ran a version of the previous years Honda RA106 chassis. Their performance improved drastically as Sato made it through to Q3 at the Australian Grand Prix and he then scored the first point for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix. Financial problems began to affect the team in the winter break. The team used a modified Honda RA107 chassis, which was launched just before the first Friday Practice session that weekend, the car was just as uncompetitive as the Honda had been in 2007 and the team withdrew from Formula One after the Spanish Grand Prix. In late 2008, Sato took part in tests at Jerez with Scuderia Toro Rosso and he was competing against former Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Bourdais and Red Bull Racing test and reserve driver Sébastien Buemi for one of the two race seats. Bourdais eventually won the seat and in March 2009 it was announced that Sato would not be the reserve driver for the Red Bull team. Sato visited the Indianapolis 500 in May 2009 and he signed with KV Racing Technology to drive in the 2010 IndyCar Series season finishing in 21st place, he signed for the same team for 2011
15.
Anthony Davidson
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Anthony Denis Davidson is a British racing driver from England currently racing for Toyota Hybrid Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He has raced in Formula One for Minardi and Super Aguri, and has been a test or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and he is also an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, and a simulator and demonstration driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas. Davidson was the 2014 WEC World Champion, alongside his teammate, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Davidson began kart racing in 1987, competing in various British, European and North American championships. He won three British championships, one Italian championship and was runner-up in the Formula A European championship in 1996, in 1999, he moved to single seater cars, racing Formula Fords and winning the 1600 cc Kent engine class of the British Formula Ford festival that year. In 2001, Davidson competed in the British Formula Three championship with the Carlin team and his performance improved throughout the season and he outscored Sato from June until the seasons end. He also won the Formula Three Pau Grand Prix, the Spa Masters, in late 2000, Davidson became the test driver for the British American Racing Formula One team for the 2001 season. Minardi had originally planned to put Justin Wilson in the car, Davidsons qualifying times were within 0. 6s of teammate Mark Webber at his two starts in Hungary and Belgium, but he spun out of both events. He was not given a chance to race in 2003 and remained as test driver at BAR, race drivers were Takuma Sato and Davidsons countryman Jenson Button who joined the team from Renault. When Sato was promoted to the team following the departure of Jacques Villeneuve. This was especially useful in 2004 as BAR were able to run a car in Friday morning testing. Given BARs long-term contract on Davidson, his chance of securing a seat for 2005 was therefore called into serious doubt. He was given the opportunity to fill in for an unwell Sato at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix, in 2006 Davidson resumed his role as test driver for BAR, now owned by Honda and renamed Honda Racing F1. As BAR had failed to be one of the top four constructors the previous season Honda were able to run a car on Friday. In 2008 Davidson returned to Honda as test driver for the testing at Spains Circuit de Catalunya whilst Honda test driver Alexander Wurz was racing at Le Mans, on 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed that Davidson would partner Takuma Sato for the 2007 Formula One season. Thus, he became a regular Formula One driver for the first time, at the Hungarian Grand Prix Davidsons rear suspension was broken during a collision with Giancarlo Fisichella, which forced him to retire. Davidson finished the season in 23rd place having scored no points, amid financial problems which threatened their continued participation in Formula One, Super Aguri retained Davidson alongside teammate Sato for 2008. However, on 6 May 2008 Super Aguri withdrew from the Championship leaving Davidson without a race seat, Davidson was announced as a Honda test driver for the remainder of 2008. On 5 December 2008 Honda pulled out of Formula One due to financial problems, ross Brawn bought out the team and formed Brawn GP and Davidson signed on as a test driver
16.
Tyrrell Racing
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The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three Drivers Championships and one Constructors Championship with Jackie Stewart. The team never reached such heights again, although it continued to win races through the 1970s and into the early 1980s, the team was bought by British American Tobacco in 1997 and completed its final season as Tyrrell in 1998. Tyrrell Racing first came into being in 1958, running Formula Three cars for Ken Tyrrell, throughout the 1960s, Tyrrell moved through the lower formulas, variously giving single seater debuts to John Surtees and Jacky Ickx. But the teams most famous partnership was the one forged with Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell ran the BRM Formula Two operation throughout 1965,1966 and 1967 whilst Stewart was signed to the Formula One team. Tyrrell then signed a deal to run Formula Two cars made by French company Matra, Stewart was a serious contender, winning several Grands Prix in the Tyrrell-run Matra MS10. The cars most innovative feature was the use of aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks and these allowed the chassis to be around 15 kg lighter while still being stronger than its competitors. The FIA considered the technology to be unsafe and decided to ban it for 1970, for the 1969 championship, the Matra works team decided not to compete in Formula One. Matra would instead focus its efforts on Ken Tyrrells Matra International team and build a new DFV powered car with fuel tanks. Stewart won the 1969 title easily, driving the new Cosworth-powered Matra MS80 which corrected most of the weaknesses of the MS10, stewarts title was the first won by a French chassis, and the only one won by a chassis built in France. It was an achievement from a team and a constructor that had only entered Formula One the previous year. For the 1970 season following Matras merger with Simca, Tyrrell were asked by Matra to use their V12 rather than the Cosworth, Simca was a subsidiary of the American company Chrysler, a rival of Ford. Stewart tested the Matra V12 and found it inferior to the DFV, Tyrrell was still sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Tyrrell would retain the traditional French blue racing colours for most of the rest of its existence. Tyrrell and Stewart ran the March-Fords throughout 1970 with mixed success, while Derek Gardner worked on the first in-house Tyrrell Grand Prix car at the woodshed in Ockham, the Tyrrell 001, which bore much resemblance to the MS80, emerged at the end of 1970. It earned Stewart a pole position in the Canadian GP but suffered mechanical failures in all of its 3 race starts, the nearly identical Tyrrell 003 won both Drivers and Constructors Championships in 1971, with strong driving from Jackie Stewart and François Cevert. Stewarts 1972 challenge was ruined by an ulcer, but he returned to full fitness in 1973. He and Cevert finishing 1st and 4th in the Championship, tragedy struck on 6 October 1973, as Cevert was killed in practice for the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Stewart, who was to retire at the end of the season, at the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that was already made before the US Grand Prix
17.
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
18.
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
19.
1999 Australian Grand Prix
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The 1999 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 March 1999 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. The 57-lap race was the first round of the 1999 Formula One season – the 50th World Championship season in the history of Formula One. Michael Schumacher also had problems during this race, which gave his Ferrari team mate Eddie Irvine the opportunity to take his first Grand Prix victory. He made no mistakes and beat Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher to the finish by a few seconds, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the first car on track and initially topped the list, but Mika Häkkinen took the lead halfway through the first session. After several improvements he ended the session with a time of 1 minute and 33.213 seconds, the Stewart team performed well, Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert ended the session in sixth and seventh position, behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli. Both had technical problems and completed only a few laps, damon Hill, Alexander Wurz and Badoer had small off-track moments, but were able to continue without problems. Coulthard was fastest for a short while in the second session, on his next attempt, Häkkinen spun and crashed into the wall in the last turn before the main straight, causing the first red flag of the season. The session was stopped for 15 minutes, Häkkinen was unhurt, in the final minute Coulthard beat his time by one hundredth of a second. Stewart and Jordan were still looking good with Barrichello in third, ahead of Frentzen, Herbert and Hill. After the break Michael Schumacher had been the first to go out, several drivers went off the track again including Coulthard, Frentzen, Hill, Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi. The Sauber team had more serious problems, Pedro Diniz stopped on track as a precaution when warning lights lit up. Zanardi and Zonta also stopped on track, Zonta’s transmission broke and he ended the session last because of it, just behind De la Rosa, Gené and Badoer. The first quick time on Saturday was set by Ralf Schumacher, after three improvements his best time was 1 minute and 31.140 seconds, but Häkkinen went marginally quicker just before the break. Gené and Hill spun off into the gravel, while Zonta stopped on track again with transmission problems, after the break Wurz spun into the tyre barriers and caused a red flag. Despite that, the dominance of McLaren took on breath-taking form, Häkkinen was fastest with a time of 1 minute and 30.324 seconds, six-tenths quicker than team mate Coulthard and a full 2.2 seconds faster than third man Herbert. The next second covered another 11 cars, down to Ralf Schumacher in 15th place, Hill was fourth, followed by Jacques Villeneuve, who beat Michael Schumacher and did better than his BAR team mate Zonta, who completed only three laps and ended the session last, again. The results of the session were basically the same as the year before, Häkkinen beat Coulthard. After ten minutes, Herbert was the first to go out and set a time, after that, Barrichello took over first place, until the McLarens came out
20.
Pole position
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In motorsport the pole position is the position at the inside of the front row at the start of a racing event. This position is given to the vehicle and driver with the best qualifying time in the trials before the race. This number-one qualifying driver is referred to as the pole sitter, historically, the fastest qualifier was not necessarily the designated pole-sitter. Different sanctioning bodies in motor sport employ different qualifying formats in designating who starts from pole position, often, a starting grid is derived either by current rank in the championship, or based on finishing position of a previous race. In contrast to contemporary motorsport, where only a participant is designated pole-sitter, prior to World War II. The term has its origins in horse racing, in which the fastest qualifying horse would be placed on the part of the course. Originally in Grand Prix racing, grid positions, including pole, were determined by lottery among the drivers, prior to the inception of the Formula 1 World Championship, the first instance of grid positions being determined by qualifying times was at the 1933 Monaco Grand Prix. Since then, the FIA have introduced many different qualifying systems to F1, between 1996 and 2006, the FIA made 6 significant changes to the qualifying procedure, each with the intention of making the battle for pole more interesting to an F1 viewer at home. Traditionally, pole was always occupied by the fastest driver due to low-fuel qualifying, the race-fuel qualifying era between 2003 and 2009 briefly changed this. Despite the changing formats, drivers attempting pole were required between 2003 and 2009 to do qualifying laps with the fuel they would use to start the race the next day. An underfuelled slower car and driver would therefore be able to take pole ahead of a better, in this situation, pole was not always advantageous to have in the race as the under-fueled driver would have to pit for more fuel before their rivals. With the race refueling ban introduced, low-fuel qualifying returned and these decisions are no longer in play. Since the reintroduction of the rule in 2011, this applies to the quickest first session time. Since 2014, the FIA has awarded a trophy to the driver who wins the most pole positions in the season, indicates that the driver won the World Championship in the same season. IndyCar uses four formats for qualifying, one for most oval tracks, one for Iowa Speedway, one for the Indianapolis 500, and another for road and street circuits. Oval qualifying is almost like the Indianapolis 500, with two laps, instead of four, averaged together with one attempt, although with just one session. At Iowa, each car takes one qualifying lap, and the top six cars advance to the race for the pole position. The result of the race determines positions 1–10
21.
2005 Chinese Grand Prix
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The 2005 Chinese Grand Prix was the final Formula One motor race of the 2005 Formula One season which took place on 16 October 2005 at the Shanghai International Circuit. This was the second Chinese Grand Prix to be held since the events 2004 inception, the race was won by the new World Champion, Renaults Fernando Alonso. McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen was four seconds behind in second position, toyota driver Ralf Schumacher was third. Renault won the Constructors Championship at this race, they had led McLaren by two points before the start of the race and this was the final race for Antônio Pizzonia, the Minardi and Jordan teams, although both teams continued into 2006 under different names. This was also last win for a car equipped with a 6-speed gearbox, during a warm up lap as the cars were lining up on the grid from the pit lane, Christijan Albers and Michael Schumachers cars collided. Both were forced to start from the pits in their teams spare car, Alonso dominated the race, taking a lights-to-flag victory, capping a best ever season for Renault which included victories in both titles. Renaults number two driver Giancarlo Fisichellas chances of making the podium ended when he received a penalty for obstructive driving in the pits during the second safety car period. He ended the race less than a second behind Ralf Schumacher, red Bull Racings Christian Klien had a career best drive to take fifth position with Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Jenson Button completing the point scoring finishers. Räikkönen recorded the races fastest lap, a record equalling tenth for the season, qualifying took place on October 15. Bold text indicates the World Champions, note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
22.
British American Tobacco
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British American Tobacco plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the five largest tobacco companies. BAT has a position in over 50 countries and operations in around 180 countries. Its four largest-selling brands are Dunhill, Lucky Strike, Kent and Pall Mall, with others including Kool, Benson & Hedges, BAT has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The parent companies agreed not to trade in each others domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses, in China, BAT inherited a factory in the Pudong district of Shanghai from W. D. & H. O. Wills, one of the companies of Imperial Tobacco. Under the management of James Augustus Thomas from Rockingham, North Carolina, USA, Thomas worked closely with the local Wing Tai Vo Tobacco Company, which developed into BATs principal Chinese partner after its success with the Ruby Queen cigarette brand. In 1911 the American Tobacco Company sold its share of the company, Imperial Tobacco gradually reduced its shareholding, but it was not until 1980 that it divested its remaining interests in the company. At its peak, in 1937 BAT manufactured and distributed 55 billion cigarettes in China, the companys assets were seized by the Japanese in 1941 following their 1937 invasion. In 1953 the company was ejected from China following the foundation of the Peoples Republic, in 1976 the group companies were reorganised under a new holding company, B. A. T Industries. In 1994 BAT acquired its parent, American Tobacco Company. This brought the Lucky Strike and Pall Mall brands into BATs portfolio, in 1999 it merged with Rothmans International, which included a share in a factory in Burma. This made it the target of criticism from human rights groups and it sold its share of the factory on 6 November 2003 after an exceptional request from the British government. In 2002, BAT lost a lawsuit about the right to sell cigarettes under the Marlboro brand name in the UK and it had acquired Rothmans, which had previously bought a licence to use the name from Philip Morris. Philip Morris attorneys invoked a clause for the case of a major change of ownership. In 2003, BAT acquired Ente Tabacchi Italiani S. p. A, the important acquisition would elevate BAT to the number two position in Italy, the second largest tobacco market in the European Union. The scale of the operations would bring significant opportunities to compete and grow ETIs local brands
23.
Lucky Strike
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Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco groups. Often referred to as Luckies, Lucky Strike was the cigarette brand in the United States during the 1930s. Lucky Strike brand was introduced in 1871 by the company R. A, patterson in the USA as chewing tobacco. The founder of Luckies was inspired by the rush for gold searching. Only some of the diggers were fortunate enough to find gold. By choosing this expression as the name, it meant consumers who were choosing the brand were lucky. Lucky Strike was a brand of chewing tobacco, and by the early 1900s, the brand was first introduced by R. A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco, in 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company. In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women, one typical ad said, sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion sold in 1930, Lucky Strikes association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. By 1928, the bandleader and vaudeville producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on radio and recording as B. A. Rolfe, in 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey Speed Riggs. The weekly radio shows countdown catapulted the brands success, remaining popular for 25 years, the shows capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase Sold, American. Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Bennys radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Program, the brands signature dark-green pack was changed to white in 1942. American Tobacco actually used chromium to produce the ink. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab, the war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time. Famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy was challenged by company president George Washington Hill to improve the green and red package. Loewy changed the background from green to white, making it attractive to women. He also placed the Lucky Strike target logo on both sides of the package, a move that increased both visibility and sales, the message L. S. M. F. T. was introduced on the package in 1945
24.
State Express 555
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State Express 555, simply known as 555, is a brand of cigarette originally manufactured in the United Kingdom by the Ardath Tobacco Company. The overseas rights to the brand, excluding the United Kingdom, were acquired by British American Tobacco in 1925 and it was sold widely throughout the world. Today, the brand is very popular in Asia, especially in the Greater China area, the Philippines, Vietnam. The idea for the State Express brand came from the U. S. in 1893, Sir Albert Levy, a London tobacco merchant, was visiting the United States. It was the first train to break the 100 m. p. h. mark, Levy liked the name so much that he registered the words State Express on his return to Britain. The word trademark was first registered in Ireland on 10 March 1896, the numerals forming the other part of the trademark were registered under UK Registration No.290529 on 18 February 1907. All of these numbers were used as different brands, each with a different blend or mix of tobacco,444 was made with Macedonian leaf, the numeric ranges for State Express cigarettes were not the only available variants in the market at that time. Other mark names included My Darling and Astorias, available in export catalogues, in addition to the cigarette business, cigars and tobaccos were available in the State Express range. But by far the most successful of these was the Virginia tobacco blend of State Express 555 and it went on to become Ardaths flagship brand. Levy, Sir Albert, born in England in 1864 and he became a successful tobacco trader, cigarette manufacturer and exporter. After a successful career as founder, chairman, and managing director of the Ardath Tobacco Co. he retired in 1931 to devote himself to philanthropy. The brand was owned by Ardath Tobacco Company. The company was created in the late 19th century in London, England, the Ardath Tobacco Company Limited was originally located at 62 Leadenhall Street in London and called La Casa de Habana until 1895, when it changed its name to the present day version. It is said that Sir Albert Levy derived the name Ardath from a book of the name written by Marie Corelli. The title of the book is derived from numerous references in the Books of Esdras to the Field of Ardath, the State Express brand proved to be a boon for B. A. T. Where it was a success in China until the rise of communism there. Ardaths brands continued to be sold in Britain, they were granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1946, in 1961, British American Tobacco bought out Imperial Tobaccos share of Ardath, thus gaining full control of Ardaths trademarks. In the Second World War Ardath supplied 555 cigarettes to General Montgomerys 8th Army, montgomery organized their distribution and sent a personal letter of appreciation
25.
Honda
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Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, aircraft, motorcycles, and power equipment. Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001, Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world behind General Motors, Volkswagen Group, Toyota, Hyundai Motor Group, Ford, Nissan, and PSA Peugeot Citroën in 2011. Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a luxury brand, Acura. Aside from their automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and they have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which began production in 2012. Honda has three joint-ventures in China, in 2013, Honda invested about 5. 7% of its revenues in research and development. Also in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to be a net exporter from the United States, exporting 108,705 Honda and Acura models, throughout his life, Hondas founder, Soichiro Honda had an interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars, in 1937, with financing from his acquaintance Kato Shichirō, Honda founded Tōkai Seiki to make piston rings working out of the Art Shokai garage. After initial failures, Tōkai Seiki won a contract to supply piston rings to Toyota, Honda also aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of military aircraft propellers. The relationships Honda cultivated with personnel at Toyota, Nakajima Aircraft Company, with a staff of 12 men working in a 16 m2 shack, they built and sold improvised motorized bicycles, using a supply of 500 two-stroke 50 cc Tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines. When the engines ran out, Honda began building their own copy of the Tohatsu engine and this was the Honda A-Type, nicknamed the Bata Bata for the sound the engine made. In 1949, the Honda Technical Research Institute was liquidated for ¥1,000,000, or about US$5,000 today, at about the same time Honda hired engineer Kihachiro Kawashima, and Takeo Fujisawa who provided indispensable business and marketing expertise to complement Soichiro Hondas technical bent. The close partnership between Soichiro Honda and Fujisawa lasted until they stepped down together in October 1973, the first complete motorcycle, with both the frame and engine made by Honda, was the 1949 D-Type, the first Honda to go by the name Dream. Honda Motor Company grew in a time to become the worlds largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964. The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck, powered by a small 356-cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car and its chain-driven rear wheels pointed to Hondas motorcycle origins. Over the next few decades, Honda worked to expand its line and expanded operations. In 1986, Honda introduced the successful Acura brand to the American market in an attempt to ground in the luxury vehicle market
26.
2006 FIA Formula One World Championship
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The 2006 Formula One season was the 60th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March, the Drivers Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault F1 for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring multiple world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up,13 points behind, the Constructors Championship was won by Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, which defeated Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro by five points. The season was highlighted by the rivalry between Alonso and Schumacher, who won seven races. Renault and Ferrari drivers dominated the field, victorious in all but one race, during this season for the first time since the 1956 season no British constructor won any race and like 1956, only factory teams won all the races during this year. This season marked the beginning of the usage of 2. 4L V8 engines in Formula One from the 3. 0L V10 engines that were used in the previous seasons, which continued till the end of the 2013 season. The season saw several changes occurring in the market starting already in December 2005 as Alonso sealed a move to McLaren for 2007. Among other notable departures included Juan Pablo Montoya, who left McLaren mid-season to pursue a career in NASCAR, the following teams and drivers competed in the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. Four prominent names in the sport disappeared for this season, with Minardi, Sauber, BAR and Jordan withdrawing, Minardi were taken over by Red Bull, and named after the Italian for Red Bull, becoming Toro Rosso. The Sauber name remained, although largely as a sentiment, as BMW owned 80% of the team to Peter Saubers 20%, Jordan became MF1 Racing, as Midland started afresh after a disappointing first season under the Jordan name. Late in the season, the team was bought by Spyker, Honda, who already owned a 45% stake in the BAR team, completed their takeover of the team and changed its name to Honda Racing F1 Team at the start of the season. Super Aguri F1 also entered their first season after having problems entering and they received backing from Honda Racing F1 including technology and engines, due to them running Honda driver Takuma Sato. Williams introduced numerous changes for 2006, particularly changing to Cosworth V8 engines after they, Red Bull Racing had Ferrari engines, replacing the Cosworth power which gained them seventh in the standings in 2005. Williams and Toyota changed tyre suppliers to Bridgestone, due to Michelins desire to supply fewer teams in the championship, despite this Toro Rosso who under the Minardi name ran Bridgestone tyres switched to Michelin in line with parent team RBR. Ferrari replaced Michael Schumachers longtime teammate Rubens Barrichello with fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa, Massa had previously tested with Ferrari in 2003. Massa was replaced at the newly renamed BMW Sauber team by Nick Heidfeld, polands Robert Kubica took up the third drivers role at BMW Sauber. Barrichello moved to Honda where he replaced the outgoing Takuma Sato, the Honda-backed Super Aguri team started the season with Sato and Yuji Ide, an all-Japanese driver line up. Franck Montagny moved from his Renault testing role to become Super Aguris third driver and his position at Renault was taken by the GP2 runner-up Heikki Kovalainen
27.
Tobacco advertising
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Tobacco advertising is the advertising of tobacco products or use by the tobacco industry through a variety of media including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. It is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing, some or all forms of tobacco advertising are banned in many countries. The first known advertisement in the United States was for the snuff, lorillard and Company and was placed in the New York daily paper in 1789. Advertising was a concept, and tobacco-related advertisements were not seen as any different from those for other products. Local and regional newspapers were used because of the production and transportation of these goods. The first real name to become known on a bigger scale in the USA was Bull Durham which emerged in 1868. The development of lithography in the late 1870s allowed the companies to create attractive images to better present their products. This led to the printing of pictures onto the cards, previously only used to stiffen the packaging. By the last quarter of the 19th century, magazines such as Punch carried advertisements for different brands of cigarettes, snuff, Advertising was significantly helped by the distribution of free or subsidized branded cigarettes to troops during World War I and World War II. The second invention was a machine developed in the 1880s. Modern advertising was created with the techniques used in tobacco advertising beginning in the 1920s. Advertising in the leading up to World War II consisted primarily of full page, color magazine. Many companies created slogans for their cigarettes and also gained endorsements from famous men and women. Some advertisements even contained children or doctors in their efforts to new customers to their specific brand. Much of these advertisements sought to make smoking appear fashionable and modern to men and women, also, since the health effects of smoking werent entirely proven at this time, the only real opposing argument to smoking was made on moral grounds. However, there were still a number of doctors and scientists who believed there was a health risk associated with smoking cigarettes. During World War II, cigarettes were included in American soldiers C-rations since many tobacco companies sent the soldiers cigarettes for free, after World War II, cigarette companies advertised frequently on television programs. After the television ban, most cigarette advertising took place in magazines, newspapers, restrictions on cigarette companies became even tighter in 2010 with the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
28.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
29.
Reynard Motorsport
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Reynard Motorsport was at one time the worlds largest racing car manufacturer. Adrian Reynard formed an effective working partnership with friend and Formula Ford rival Rick Gorne. Naturally given Reynards involvement with BAR there were expectations for the teams F1 debut. Reynards success in F3 was transitory, with Dallara and a revived Ralt obliterating them from the market in 1992, Adrian Reynard sought to buy Ralt and their success in ChampCar and F3000 was more lasting, though. Outside motorsport, in the 1990s the company involved in a project to build lightweight carbon-fibre seats for Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic airline. The deal came about through friendship between Reynard and Branson, the joint-venture company that built manufactured these seats was located at Reynard HQ in Brackley. As a result of its success the company was awarded the Queens Awards for Export Achievement in 1990 and 1996, the company started preparing a Formula 1 program in 1989, to debut in 1992. Engineers were hired, such as Rory Byrne from Benetton, in 1991, Reynard was not able to push through, so the entire program, including the Enstone factory, was sold to Benetton. Reynards research data was sold to Ligier, some Reynard components were used by Keith Wiggins Pacific Racing in their unsuccessful F1 car. Reynard was also involved in the construction of the DAMS GD-01 car, toward the late 1990s Reynard was primarily involved in Champ Car, Formula Nippon and Barber Dodge racing series. The company also engineered sports and touring cars, the success in Champ Car was highly profitable and led the company to diversify. In 1999 Reynard purchased Gemini Transmissions and US racing car manufacturer Riley & Scott, the company also opened an R&D facility in Indianapolis called the Auto Research Center under the guidance of Bruce Ashmore. This facility soon came to house a 50% scale wind tunnel, Adrian Reynard is still involved with ARC. Adrian Reynard and his chief designer Malcolm Oastler became involved with the BAR F1 team, Reynard worked in partnership with West Surrey Racing to design and build Ford Mondeo chassis for the British Touring Car Championship from 1996 to 1998. WSR was running the works Ford programme, and ran the team while Reynard handled the technical side. The project was funded by Ford, but had only limited success throughout its three season stint with the Mondeo. Following an aborted IPO on the NYSE and the purchase of Riley & Scott. In 2002 the assets were distributed among three buyers, BAR acquired the buildings at Brackley and the Advantage CFD aerodynamics engineering business
30.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering
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Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Martini Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and is run by team owner Sir Frank Williams, the team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams two earlier unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Wolf-Williams Racing. All of Williams F1 chassis are called FW then a number, Williams first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the year, and Switzerlands Clay Regazzoni won Williams first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. Williams won nine Constructors Championships between 1980 and 1997 and this stood as a record until Ferrari surpassed it in 2000. Each of these drivers, with the exception of Senna and Button, have captured one title with the team. Of those who have won the championship with Williams, only Jones, Rosberg, Williams have worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault, Williams won five of their nine constructors titles with the French company. Williams F1 also has business interests beyond Formula One racing, in April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power were sold to GKN. Williams Advanced Engineering had a centre in Qatar until it was closed in 2014. Frank Williams started the current Williams team in 1977 after his previous outfit, Frank Williams Racing Cars, despite the promise of a new owner in the form of Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, the team rebranded as Wolf-Williams Racing in 1976, the cars were not competitive. Eventually Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Frank recruited young engineer Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the Williams-Head partnership. In February 2011, Williams F1 announced their intention to float via a public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Swiss-based Bank am Bellevue AG will act as sole global co-ordinator of up to 27. 39% of existing shares, Sir Frank Williams will remain majority shareholder and team principal after the IPO. The shares are valued at between 24 and 29 euros, which values the Williams F1 team at 265 million euros. In February 2017 the shares are divided in this way, Frank Williams 52, 25%, Brad Hollinger 14, 75%, Patrick Head 9%, 20% on the market place. Williams entered a custom March 761 for the 1977 season, lone driver Patrick Nève appeared at 11 races that year, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix, for the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams car, the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season for a devastated Shadow team following the death of their lead driver, Tom Pryce
31.
1999 FIA Formula One World Championship
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The 1999 Formula One season was the 53rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship, which commenced on 7 March, Ferrari won the Constructors Championship, which paved the way for the Michael Schumacher era of Ferrari dominance beginning in 2000. However, Schumachers participation in the 1999 championship was cut due to injury at the British Grand Prix. He returned for the last two races of the season in order to assist Irvine in his championship run and this ensured that Irvine had the title lead before the final race and if Schumacher won in Japan, as low as fourth would be enough to seal Irvines title. Schumacher took pole but lost the start to Häkkinen who then drove away at the front never being troubled for position by Schumacher in spite of him running close all race. Had Ferrari switched their cars Irvine would have still lost the title on countback due to Häkkinens five wins compared with Irvines four, in the end Irvine finished a distant third and fell short in his only championship title bid. The championship saw the introduction of a new event, the Malaysian Grand Prix, Ferrari won their ninth Constructors title, the first since the 1983 season. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship, † All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration. The Mecachrome engines used by Williams in 1998 were rebadged as Supertec units, goodyear, who had supplied Williams, Ferrari, Jordan, Sauber and Tyrrell throughout 1998, left Formula One at the end of the season, leaving Bridgestone as the only tyre supplier. The grooved tyres introduced in 1998 now had four grooves on all tyres, wheels also were required to be tethered to the chassis in order to prevent them flying off in a crash, a feature which remains in place as of 2016. Williams entered the season with an all-new driver pairing, in the meantime, the Italian had won the 1997 and 1998 CART titles for Chip Ganassi Racing. Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed a straight swap with the younger Schumacher, taking the vacant seat at Jordan alongside 1996 champion Damon Hill, frentzens 1998 teammate, the 1997 World Drivers champion Jacques Villeneuve, moved to the newly founded BAR team, who also utilised a completely new lineup. Villeneuve was partnered with the 1998 McLaren test driver and FIA GT1 champion Ricardo Zonta, pedro Diniz left Arrows to sign for Sauber. Johnny Herbert, whose Sauber seat was taken by Diniz, joined Rubens Barichello at Stewart. A wrist injury to Badoer meant that Prost test driver Stéphane Sarrazin made his F1 debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship comprised the following 16 races. The Malaysian Grand Prix was added to the calendar, held at a newly built circuit in Sepang, the first round of the championship was in Australia and unsurprisingly, the two McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard started 1–2 ahead of Ferraris Michael Schumacher. Schumacher, for the second race, stalled on the parade lap. The McLarens were first and second into the first corner, and this left Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari to take his first ever career win ahead of Jordans Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher in the Williams
32.
Ricardo Zonta
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Ricardo Luiz Zonta is a Brazilian professional racing driver. Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Zonta began karting in 1987, the following year, he was runner-up for the Curitiba Karting Championship, and in 1991, he won the title. He continued karting until 1992, finishing fourth in the São Paulo Karting Championship before progressing to single-seaters for 1993 and he finished 6th in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship, and then in 1994, came fifth in the Brazilian Formula Three Championship. A year later, Zonta won both the Brazilian and South American Formula Three Championships, moving to Europe in 1996, Zonta competed in the International Formula 3000 Championship for Draco Racing, winning two races and finishing fourth overall. In the same year, he became the first Brazilian to compete in International Touring Cars, in 1997, he won three races and the Formula 3000 championship. He also took home the Golden Helmet award for best international driver for his efforts, the Jordan Formula One team signed him as their official test driver following his championship, and in 1998, he was signed by McLaren boss Ron Dennis. Zonta tested with the McLaren Formula One team in 1998, and concurrently won the FIA GT Championship, in October 1998, immediately after winning the FIA GT championship, Zonta signed up with the B. A. R. Formula One racing team as one of its drivers for the 1999 season, after rejecting offers from Jordan. In 1999, Zonta started as a Formula One racing driver alongside 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve at new team B. A. R, Zonta injured his foot in an accident during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, and was forced to miss three races. He also had an accident at Spa-Francorchamps, and finished the season with no championship points. Zonta remained with B. A. R for the 2000 season, in 2002, he decided to focus on the Telefónica World Series, which he won. Zonta was then hired as test driver for the Toyota F1 team in 2003, towards the end of the season, the team sacked Cristiano da Matta from a race seat, and Zonta drove in four Grands Prix. In Belgium a brilliant fourth place went beckoning when engine failure three laps from the finish. In Suzuka the team hired Jarno Trulli and Zonta had to sit the event out, however the team allowed him to compete in his race, the Brazilian Grand Prix. He continued as a test driver for Toyota in 2005, alongside veteran French pilot Olivier Panis,2006 saw Zonta continue with Toyota as the teams third and test driver. Ricardo Zonta was confirmed as test driver for the Renault Formula One team for the 2007 season on 6 September 2006, in 2007, Zonta entered the Stock Car Brasil series in parallel with the work for the Renault team. In 2008, Zonta kicked off his career by contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Peugeot Sport, driving the #9 car alongside Franck Montagny. He is also driving in the Grand Am Championship in America with Krohn Racing, † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance
33.
Renault in Formula One
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Renault are currently involved in Formula One as a constructor, under the name of Renault Sport Formula One Team. They have been associated with Formula One as both constructor and engine supplier for various periods since 1977, in 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in its first car, the Renault RS01. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams, although the Renault team won races and competed for world titles, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault continued supplying engines to other teams until 1986, then again from 1989 to 1997, Renault returned to Formula One in 2000 when it acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team. In 2002 Renault re-branded the team as Renault F1 Team and started to use Renault as their constructor name, for the 2011 Formula One season the team competed under the name Lotus Renault GP but retained the Renault constructor name. In 2012, the changed their constructor name to Lotus and operated as Lotus F1 Team until the end of 2015. Renault has also supplied engines to teams, including Red Bull Racing, Benetton Formula. In addition to its two own F1 World Constructors Championships and two Drivers Championships, as a supplier, Renault has contributed to nine other World Drivers Championships. It has collected over 160 wins as engine supplier, ranking third in Formula One history, Renaults first involvement in Formula One was made by the Renault Sport subsidiary. Renault entered the last five races of 1977 with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car, the Renault RS01 was well known for its Renault-Gordini V61.5 L turbocharged engine, the first regularly used turbo engine in Formula One history. The first race the team, under the name Equipe Renault Elf, entered was the 1977 French Grand Prix, the round of the season. The teams début was delayed until the round, the British Grand Prix. The cars first qualifying session was not a success, and Jabouille qualified 21st out of the 30 runners and 26 starters,1.62 seconds behind pole sitter James Hunt in the McLaren. Jabouille ran well in the race, running as high as 16th before the turbo failed on lap 17. The team missed the German and Austrian Grands Prix as the car was being improved after its British disappointment and they returned for the Dutch Grand Prix, and the qualifying performance was much improved as Jabouille qualified tenth. He had a start, but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40. The teams poor qualifying form returned in Italy, as Jabouille qualified 20th and he ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability. After this, Renault did not travel to the finale in Japan
34.
2000 FIA Formula One World Championship
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The 2000 Formula One season was the 54th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2000 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on 12 March 2000, Michael Schumacher became Ferraris first World Drivers Champion for 21 years having clinched the Drivers title at the penultimate race of the season. Ferrari successfully defended its Constructors title and this season marked the first for future world champion Jenson Button. The season was for the year running a close battle between Ferrari and McLaren since 1998. Schumacher won the first three races and dominated the first part of the season as McLaren had reliability issues, then misfortune struck Schumacher, who retired from three consecutive races with both Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard scoring big. Häkkinen then surged to win two races in a row, leaving him six points clear of Schumacher who faced a fifth season at Ferrari without titles since 1996. Schumacher fought back winning the four races of the season in convincing fashion. The title was sealed in Japan on 8 October, after a straight fight between Schumacher and Häkkinen, with Schumacher passing Häkkinen at the final pit stop and then holding out in front. The following teams and drivers competed in the 2000 FIA Formula One World Championship, † All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration. After being bought by Ford, the Stewart team was renamed Jaguar Racing, the Ford V10s used by Minardi were rebadged as Fondmetal engines, in deference to Gabriele Rumis financial input to the team. The Ford name, ever-present on the Formula One grid since the debut of the Ford Cosworth DFV in 1967, was absent for the 2000 season. Williams switched to BMW engines, replacing the Supertec units of the previous season, the contract, which had been signed back in 1998, marked BMWs return to Formula One after over a decade of absence. BAR, who had also used Supertecs in 1999, signed a deal with Honda to use their engines for the 2000 season, hondas previous stint as an engine supplier had ended in 1992, when their highly successful collaboration with McLaren came to a conclusion. Following the departure of engine designer Brian Hart — who had responsible for the teams Hart, Yamaha. Rubens Barrichello, who scored three podiums for Stewart in 1999, signed for Ferrari, replacing Eddie Irvine, the previous seasons runner-up joined the newly established Jaguar team, in what was essentially a straight swap with Barrichello. 1996 champion Damon Hill retired from Formula One at the end of the 1999 season, Jarno Trulli moved from Prost to Jordan, filling Hills vacant seat. Prosts other driver Olivier Panis left the team to become the test driver for McLaren. The two seats at the French team were taken by Jean Alesi, who moved from Sauber, and 1999 International Formula 3000 champion Nick Heidfeld, who had previously been a test driver at McLaren
35.
1999 Canadian Grand Prix
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The 1999 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 June 1999 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the race of the 1999 Formula One season. The race was notable for the four crashes that occurred in turn 13, turn 13, the final chicane, had four separate crashes in which a driver either went wide or spun into the wall. Three of the drivers who crashed there had previously won the Drivers Championship, the front runners got off the line cleanly, with Michael Schumacher maintaining first place after starting on pole for the first time in 1999. Jarno Trulli, starting ninth, went off the track trying to pass Heinz-Harald Frentzen up the inside into turn one, Trulli spun across turn one, collecting Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello. Trulli and Alesi retired, and the safety car was deployed, Alexander Wurz also retired with transmission problems. Ricardo Zonta retired on lap 3 after spinning into the wall at turn 13 and he stopped just off the track, missing his right rear wheel, which brought the safety car out again. Zonta was the first of four drivers to hit the “Wall of Champions” in this race, on lap 15, Damon Hill became the second driver to hit the turn 13 wall. Hill was able to pull off the track in a location. Michael Schumacher hit the wall on lap 30, giving the lead to Mika Häkkinen, the fourth and final driver to hit to wall was Jacques Villeneuve on lap 35, bringing the safety car out for the third time. Hill, Schumacher, and Villeneuve were three of the four Formula 1 Driver’s Champions competing in the race, on the lap 41 restart following Villeneuve’s crash, David Coulthard tried to go around the outside of Eddie Irvine into turn one, then the inside on turn two. They touched, and both spun off, both were able to rejoin, though Coulthard had to pit for a new nose. The fourth and final safety car of race came out on lap 66 after Heinz-Harald Frentzen, running in second place, the safety car pulled in at the end of the final lap, and Mika Häkkinen won the race. Eddie Irvine scored his first fastest lap and finished third behind Giancarlo Fisichella, statistics, 1st fastest lap for Eddie Irvine. 25th race entry for Alexander Wurz, 1st Formula One Grand Prix to end under safety car conditions, a circumstance which did not reoccur until the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
36.
1999 Spanish Grand Prix
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The 1999 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 May 1999 at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain. It was the race of the 1999 Formula One season. The 65-lap race was won by McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen after he started from pole position and his teammate David Coulthard finished second and Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher took third place. Mika Häkkinen, starting on pole for the time in 1999, got off the line quickly. David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve, starting third and sixth respectively, had great starts and were able to take second and third place by the first corner. Eddie Irvine, starting second, had a start and fell to fifth place after being passed by Coulthard, Villeneuve. Olivier Panis and Marc Gené failed to start, with Gené retiring, the McLaren duo of Häkkinen and Coulthard began building up a substantial gap, with the Ferraris being held up by Villeneuve. Eddie Irvine, on lap 23, became the first of the front runners to pit, Mika Häkkinen came in the next lap, and had built up such a lead that he only fell to second place. Villeneuve and Schumacher both stopped simultaneously, but Villeneuve’s stop was longer and Schumacher was able to pass Villeneuve in the pits, Irvine was also able to capitalize on Villeneuve’s slow stop to pass him. After pitting, Michael Schumacher was initially caught behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Schumacher closed to within a second of Coulthard on lap 41, but he pitted the next lap without making an attempt to pass. Mika Häkkinen pitted the lap after Schumacher, and Coulthard pitted on lap 45, Coulthard’s stop was slightly faster that Schumacher’s, and came out just ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher was able to close up behind Coulthard on cold tires, once Coulthard’s tires warmed up, he was able to pull away from Schumacher. Jacques Villeneuve pitted on lap 40, suffering from a rear wing element. The mechanics pulled the broken element off the wing, but first gear broke when Villeneuve tried to leave his pit box, Michael Schumacher made another late charge on David Coulthard as the two battled through the lap traffic of Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, and Toranosuke Takagi. Schumacher ran out of time, however, and finished the race in place behind Coulthard. Mika Häkkinen won the race by six seconds, marking the first time that both McLarens finished a race in 1999. Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings, Rubens Barrichello finished 8th but was disqualified for illegal undertray mounting. Only one on-track overtaking manoeuvre was reported
37.
1999 Belgian Grand Prix
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The 1999 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 August 1999 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. It was the race of the 1999 Formula One season. The 44-lap race was won by David Coulthard for the McLaren team, Mika Häkkinen finished second in the other McLaren, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third in a Jordan. Häkkinens second place promoted him into the lead of the Drivers Championship, Irvine was second, one point behind Häkkinen, while Coulthard was third. In the Constructors Championship, McLaren were promoted into the lead, nine ahead of Ferrari. The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in teams of two. The teams, also known as Constructors, were McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Arrows, Stewart, Prost, Minardi and BAR. Before the race, Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine was leading the Drivers Championship on 56 points, behind them in the Drivers Championship, David Coulthard was third on 36 points in the other McLaren, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher on 36 and 32 points respectively. In the Constructors Championship, Ferrari were leading on 94 points and McLaren were second on 90 points, following the Hungarian Grand Prix on 15 August, the teams conducted testing sessions at the Silverstone circuit on August 17–19. Häkkinen set the fastest time on the first, second and final days of testing, Ferrari traveled to their testing circuit at Mugello on August 18–20, running Schumacher on the final day after being cleared by doctors to test. After completing 20 laps, Schumacher suffered from ankle pain preventing him completing a training programme. Ferrari later announced that temporary replacement Mika Salo would continue to race for the team, several teams announced changes to their driver line-ups for the following season. Benetton confirmed that the team was retaining their driver line-up of Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz, Sauber announced that it would sign up Salo on a two-year contract and retain Pedro Diniz. Jordan confirmed that it was signing Prost driver Jarno Trulli on a two-year contract, four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and two on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted a hour. The third and final sessions were held on Saturday morning. The Friday sessions were held in dry and sunny conditions, Häkkinen was quickest in the first session, with a time of 1,54.396 that was less than half a second faster than Coulthard. Williams driver Ralf Schumacher was just off Coulthards pace, Salo, Irvine and Jean Alesi rounded out the top six, within 1.3 seconds of Häkkinens time
38.
BAR 002
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The BAR002 was the car with which the British American Racing Formula One team competed in the 2000 Formula One season. It was driven by the 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, and Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, the car proved a reassuringly competent runner after the 1999 disaster, the teams début season in which it embarrassingly failed to score any points. Villeneuve scored seven points finishes, whilst Zonta backed him up with three, however, the number two driver was dropped at the end of the year to make way for Olivier Panis, who had spent the season as McLarens test driver. The year also marked the season of a Honda engine supply. The team eventually finished fifth in the Constructors Championship, with 20 points and this tally was equal to the Benetton team, but Giancarlo Fisichellas podium finishes ensured that the Anglo-Italian team stayed ahead. Archived from the original on 21 April 2010
39.
2000 Australian Grand Prix
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The 2000 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 March 2000 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne. It was the first race of the 2000 Formula One season, the 58-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from third position. Schumachers new teammate for the 2000 season, Rubens Barrichello finished second in the other Ferrari, Mika Häkkinen started on pole position in a McLaren, with teammate David Coulthard alongside him, but both retired with pneumatic valve failures. Three drivers made their Grand Prix debut, future world champion Jenson Button in a BMW-Williams, Nick Heidfeld in a Prost, Mazzacane and Button retired from their debut race, and Heidfeld finished ninth, two laps behind. The last Drivers Champion for Ferrari, Jody Scheckter, who did so in the 1979 season, out of the 11 teams and 22 drivers on the starting grid, three drivers made their debut. Nick Heidfeld joined the Prost team alongside Jean Alesi, at the Minardi team, Gastón Mazzacane replaced Luca Badoer, who opted to continue as Ferrari test driver, a role he began in 1997. The third rookie driver in the 2000 driver line-up was Jenson Button, Button, at the time, became the youngest British driver ever to start a Formula One race. Many observers and fellow drivers alike had differing opinions of Williams choice to take Button on, Sauber driver Mika Salo stated that because of Buttons inexperience, he could hurt himself or somebody else. Mika Häkkinen took pole position by three tenths from teammate David Coulthard, after the pair locked out a McLaren front row to start the season, Michael Schumacher was disappointed with third after a spin by Coulthard had caused a red flag forcing him to abandon his final attempt. Coulthard said that it was not the intention for him to disrupt Schumacher on his flying lap. The top three qualifying places were identical to what they had been in the two years. Schumachers new Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, qualified fourth, with the Jordans of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, eddie Irvine qualified seventh for Jaguar, with Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella and Mika Salo completing the top ten. Ralf Schumacher was eleventh for the Williams-BMW, with rookie teammate Jenson Button qualifying 21st for his first race, behind Button was another rookie, Gastón Mazzacane, and in front was Jaguars Johnny Herbert. Button later described his qualifying session by saying It cant get worse than this,21 of the 22 cars started on the grid, with Prost driver Alesi the only car to start from the pit lane. Häkkinen converted his pole position from qualifying to lead into the first corner at the start of the race, Coulthard and Schumacher remained in second and third place respectively, but Barrichello was overtaken by Frentzen into turn one, dropping him down to fifth place. Trulli rounded out the top six places at the end of lap 1, at the back of the field, Button gained six positions, moving from 21st to 15th position. This was partially due to a collision between Minardi driver Marc Gené and rookie Heidfeld, which left Gené last in the order as he had to pit for repairs, Jaguar driver Johnny Herbert was the first person to retire, retiring with clutch problems on lap 2. By lap 4, the two McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard, along with Schumacher, were already pulling away from Frentzens Jordan, on lap 7, the front suspension on the Arrows car of Pedro de la Rosa failed, sending him into a tyre barrier
40.
Jordan Grand Prix
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Jordan Grand Prix was an Irish Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team is named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan, Jordan and his team were well known for a rock and roll attitude which added colour and character to Formula One in the 1990s. Eddie Jordan had a stint as a race driver in the late 1970s before founding Eddie Jordan Racing in the early 1980s. The team graduated to International Formula 3000 for 1988, winning its first race in the category with Johnny Herbert, in 1989, Jordan won the F3000 drivers championship with future Formula One star Jean Alesi. The team also ran future F1 drivers such as Martin Donnelly, Jordans success in lower formulae inspired the creation of a Formula One programme for the 1991 season and a change of name to Jordan Grand Prix. The first driver to test a Jordan F1 car was veteran Ulsterman John Watson, Jordan hired Italian veteran Andrea de Cesaris and Belgian Bertrand Gachot to race his first cars, which were powered by Ford. The team had a solid debut finishing 5th in the Constructors Championship. De Cesaris ran second for much of the Belgian Grand Prix, Gachot failed to end the season after being sent to prison for attacking a taxi driver. Despite Jordans signed agreement in principle with Mercedes for the remainder of the season, Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a contract. Future Champ Car title winner Alessandro Zanardi and ousted Benetton driver Roberto Moreno filled the second car afterwards, success for Jordan literally came at a high price. The team was forced to switch to cheaper Yamaha engines for the 1992 season, with Maurício Gugelmin and Stefano Modena driving, the team struggled badly and failed to score a point until the final race of the season. 1993 saw further changes, with the team again changing engine suppliers, again, the season started with two new drivers, Ivan Capelli and Brazilian rookie Rubens Barrichello. Capelli left after two races and Barrichello saw five other drivers become team mates of his during the 1993 campaign, Jordan only had moderate improvement, scoring three points. Signs of stability were beginning to show near the end of the season when Barrichello was joined by Eddie Irvine, the Ulsterman finished sixth and secured a point on his debut Formula One race at Suzuka. It was further memorable because Irvine unlapped himself against McLarens Ayrton Senna, Barrichello and Irvine returned for the 1994 season, as did the Hart engines, but Irvine had a bad start to the season, earning a three-race ban for reckless driving. Barrichello earned the team their first top three finish in Japan at the Pacific Grand Prix, but was killed during the following race in San Marino following a frightening qualifying crash. The team overcame these difficulties and returned to their form as they finished fifth in the Constructors Championship again. Barrichello earned Jordans first pole position after a gamble during a wet qualifying session in Belgium, Jordan switched to Peugeot power in 1995
41.
Mugen Motorsports
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Mugen Motorsports is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning Without Limit, Unlimited or Vast, is an engine tuner, the company tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and, additionally, sells aftermarket parts to amateur enthusiasts. The company has a strong racing heritage, as Hirotoshi Honda began building his own racing car in a workshop at his fathers house, the company specializes in tuning Honda engines. Beginning with the 1200 cc Honda Civic engine, it went on to develop, Mugen ultimately intends to build its own road cars and the first step towards this was the creation of bodykits for the Honda Ballade CR-X in 1984. Since then, the company has produced a number of kits for Honda machinery. Following Hirotoshi Hondas tax evasion allegation in late 2003, Mugen was restructured in early 2004 with the establishment of M-TEC. The new company retained the right to use the Mugen trademark and its headquarters in Asaka, Saitama, working with Honda, Mugen has gradually expanded its sporting involvement to all levels of the sport. In 1986, Formula 3000 was introduced into Japan and Mugen joined forces with Honda to build an F3000 engine and it was introduced in the 1987 season and leased to 14 teams. The following year, Mugen won four of the top five places in the Japanese F3000 championship, in 1989, Mugen entered European F3000 with the MF308 engine and won the championship with Jean Alesi, driving an Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard. The same year the company produced its own prototype 3. 5L V8 Formula One engine, in 1988, Mugen started tuning Honda engines for use in Formula Three, winning the Japanese series with Akihiko Nakaya, and in 1990 expanded their business to Europe. M-TEC lost the contract for the 2006 season, with the rules changing to allow Toyota associate TOMS to join Mugen as engine supplier. Mugen continues to enjoy success in the Formula Three circuit with its tuned 2.0 L Honda engines, having won 9 titles in Asia since 1988, as well as 19 titles in Europe, and 13 in Latin America. In 1993, Mugen remained affiliated with Footwork and created a B version of the MF351H, used by Aguri Suzuki, at the end of the year, Mugen switched to Team Lotus with plans for a new Lotus 109. The team - with drivers Johnny Herbert and Pedro Lamy - was underfunded, the 3.0 L engine, conforming to the new regulations, was codenamed MF301H. The connection with Ligier resulted in Mugens first Formula One victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix with Panis at the wheel. The team was taken over by Alain Prost in 1997, with Prost establishing a relationship with Peugeot in 1998, Mugen looked for a new partner and reached a two-year agreement with Jordan Grand Prix for which Mugen produced the MF301H-C engine. The 1998 season was not a success until Spa-Francorchamps, when Jordan drivers Damon Hill, Mugen pulled out of F1 at the end of the 2000 season leaving Honda to supply the engines to Jordan as well. In 1998, Mugen built four NSX models, two for the Mugen/Dome partnership, one for Team Kunimitsu and one for Nakajima Racing, the cars were fast but unreliable at first, until the Nakajima NSX scored the cars first win at the fourth round in Fuji
42.
2001 Canadian Grand Prix
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The 2001 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal on 10 June 2001. It was the round of the 2001 Formula One season. The 69-lap race was won by Ralf Schumacher driving for the Williams team, Michael Schumacher finished second, driving a Ferrari car, with Mika Häkkinen third for the McLaren team. Ralf Schumachers win was his second of the season and also marked the first time two brothers finished first and second in a race. As a consequence of the race, Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the Drivers Championship to 18 points over David Coulthard, in the Constructors Championship, Ferrari extended their lead over McLaren to 34 points. This race created history for it was the first time two brothers finished first and second in a race and this time Michael Schumacher was out-raced by his younger brother Ralf who had a much more powerful car for this race. However, with Michael finishing second it only strengthened his lead after his nearest challenger David Coulthard retired with mechanical problems. The race was decided when Ralf Schumacher drove a series of stunning laps after Michael had pitted, towards the end the Arrows team looked likely to score a valuable point but Jos Verstappen crashed when his brakes failed. It was also jubilant scenes at Prost when Jean Alesi finished 5th then threw his helmet into the crowd after the race and this was the first sibling 1-2 in the history of Formula 1. The Schumacher brothers would finish 1-2 in the 2003 edition as well and this race saw Mika Häkkinens first podium finish of the season. Pedro de la Rosa scored his first world championship point of the season, ricardo Zonta replaced Heinz-Harald Frentzen in this race due to heavy crashes. Marcel Fässler replaced Bernd Mayländer in the Safety Car due to an injury, note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
43.
Prodrive
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Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, MINI, the company employs nearly 500 in the UK at operations in Banbury and Milton Keynes. Prodrive was founded in 1984 by Ian Parry and David Richards, in 1986, Prodrive ran a MG Metro 6R4 in British and Irish rally championships. In 1987, they expanded into touring cars, running BMW M3 in the British Touring Car Championship and they were the outright 1988 champions, and class B champions in 1989 and 1990. There were plans for an entry with Mercedes during 1993 and into 1994, with Bernd Schneider slated to drive. Since then, Prodrive has run touring car programmes for Alfa Romeo for Honda, for Ford, in 1990, Prodrive started rallying with Subaru, a relationship which lasted until December 2008, when the global economic downturn forced their withdrawal from World Rallying. During the near 20-year partnership, the team won three drivers WRC titles for Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, as well as three manufacturers titles. In the winter of 1998, the company were approached by Russian oil company Lukoil to enable them to enter motorsports sponsorship, as a result, Arden signed Viktor Maslov as a driver under the Lukoil deal from 1999. In 1999, investment group Apax Partners bought 49% of Prodrive, horner hence exercised the option to buy back the Prodrive stake in Arden. In 2007 Apax sold their investment in the business and in 2008, The Investment Dar company, based in Kuwait, in 2000 Prodrive expanded out of its base in Banbury, UK and bought a private proving ground in Warwickshire to house its automotive technology business. In 2001 the company acquired Tickford and merged this automotive engineering business into its own operations, with Tickford came subsidiary businesses in North America and Australia. The businesses in North America were subsequently sold, while in Australia, Prodrive sold its 51% stake in Ford Performance Vehicles to Ford Australia in 2012. Prodrive also founded Ford Performance Racing in 2003, entering the V8 Supercar series in Australia after purchasing Glenn Seton Racing and this was sold in January 2013. In 2001, Prodrive entered sports car racing with its own privately developed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello, Prodrive raced the car until 2004 winning numerous races in the FIA GT and American Le Mans Series. The highlight for the programme was GTS class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003. The success of this led to a full works programme with Aston Martin and the creation of Aston Martin Racing in late 2004. The team won on its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005 with its new DBR9 GT1 car. Aston Martin Racing subsequently competed in the American Le Mans Series, in 2009 the team developed a new LMP1 car and won the 2009 Le Mans Series and was fourth at Le Mans and the fastest petrol powered car
44.
United States Grand Prix
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The United States Grand Prix is a motor race which has been held in the U. S. on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The race later became part of the Formula One World Championship, over 44 editions of the race have taken place at 10 locations in total. Since 2012, it has held at the Circuit of the Americas in Elroy. The Vanderbilt Cup soon became an institution on New Yorks Long Island, however, the race was plagued by crowd control problems, which led to spectator deaths and injuries, and the cancellation of the 1907 event. Upon its return for 1908, the American Automobile Association did not adopt the new Grand Prix regulations agreed upon by the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus. This led the rival Automobile Club of America, a group with strong ties to Europe, to sponsor the American Grand Prize. The Savannah Automobile Club of Savannah, Georgia about 2 hours north of Jacksonville, Florida had staged a successful stock car race in the spring, the Savannah Automobile Club laid out a lengthened version of their stock car course, totaling 25.13 mi. Georgia Governor M. Hoke Smith authorized the use of labor to construct the circuit of oiled gravel. The Governor also sent state troops to augment local police patrols in keeping the crowd in check. The entry for the race featured 14 European and six American entries, including factory teams from Benz, Fiat. In the race, held on Thanksgiving Day, Ralph DePalma led early in his Fiat, before falling back with lubrication, the race came down to a three-way battle between the Benz of Victor Hémery and the Fiats of Louis Wagner and Felice Nazzaro. Wagner won the race by the margin of 56 seconds. Despite the success of the Savannah event, it was decided that the 1909 race would be held on Long Island, however, only the Vanderbilt race was held and the Grand Prize pushed back to the next year. After the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup saw more issues, including the deaths of two riding mechanics and several serious injuries, the Grand Prize was cancelled once again. A last-minute request by the Savannah club saved the race for the year, a shorter 17-mile course was laid out, but due to the short notice, most European teams were not able to make the trip. The leading trio from 1908 did make it and American David Bruce-Brown joined the Benz squad, Bruce-Brown won another incredibly tight race over teammate Hémery, this time by only 1.42 seconds. The 1911 event returned to Savannah, and this time the Vanderbilt Cup came with it, despite the success of the events, public pressure started to mount on the organizers. The use of labor and the militia drew criticism, as did the nuisance of closing roads for the event
45.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, in the United States. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 and it is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles west of Downtown Indianapolis. Constructed in 1909, it is the original speedway, the first racing facility so named and it has a permanent seating capacity estimated at 235,000 with infield seating raising capacity to an approximate 400,000. It is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world, considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2. 5-mile-long rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. A modern infield road course was completed in 2000, incorporating part of the oval, including the mainstretch, in 2008, and again in 2014, the road course layout was modified to accommodate motorcycle racing, as well as to improve competition. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres on which the speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559 acres. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, in addition to the Indianapolis 500, the speedway also hosts NASCARs Brickyard 400 and Lilly Diabetes 250. From 2000 to 2007, the hosted the Formula One United States Grand Prix. On the grounds of the speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which opened in 1956, the museum moved into its current building located in the infield in 1976. Also on the grounds is the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside of the track, along the backstretch, the speedway also served as the venue for the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games. Fisher began thinking of a means of testing cars before delivering them to consumers. At the time, racing was just getting started on horse tracks, Fisher noticed how dangerous and ill-suited the makeshift courses were for racing and testing. He also argued that spectators did not get their moneys worth, Fisher proposed building a circular track 3 to 5 miles long with smooth 100–150-foot-wide surfaces. Such a track would give manufacturers a chance to test cars at sustained speeds, Fisher predicted speeds could reach up to 120 mph on a 5-mile course. He visited the Brooklands circuit outside London in 1907, and after viewing the banked layout, in December 1908, he convinced James A. Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank W. Wheeler to join him in purchasing the property for $72,000. Construction of the started in March 1909. Fisher had to downsize his planned 3-mile oval with a 2-mile road course to a 2. 5-mile oval to leave room for the grandstands
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Jacques Villeneuve
Jenson Button
Mika Salo
Olivier Panis
Takuma Sato
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Ricardo Zonta
