1.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
2.
Marcus Ericsson
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Marcus Ericsson is a Swedish race car driver currently racing for Sauber in Formula One, where he is contracted to the end of the 2017 season. After a successful début in car racing in 2007 which saw him take the British Formula BMW title with Fortec Motorsport, he moved up into the British teams British Formula Three Championship squad. After finishing as one of the top rookies in the category, in 2010, he moved up to the GP2 Series where he secured one victory during his maiden campaign for Super Nova Racing. Between 2011 and 2012, Ericsson drove for iSport, Ericsson completed the 2013 GP2 season with DAMS, and debuted in Formula One in 2014 with Caterham F1. Born in Kumla, Örebro County, Ericssons first taste of motorsport came when he was nine years old racing in karts, I got a call from Fredrik Ekblom, whom I ran in British Formula 3000 and Indy Lights. He now runs a circuit and he told me about a nine-year old kid whod walked in off the street and nearly broke the lap record recalled Richard Dutton. Ekblom managed to convince Ericssons father, Tomas, to buy his son a kart and my family didnt have the money for me to race formula cars so we never thought about it Ericsson recalled. In 2006 Ericssons career got backing from former Champ Car driver and 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Bräck. I spotted Marcus at a race in Gothenburg Bräck said, He didnt win the race because his engine blew up two laps to go but he was clearly the best out there. He didnt get caught in any battles when passing – hed just wait for the opportunity, then he pounced. He has such patience but when he does go for it, it measures so perfectly and he reminded me of watching Alain Prost Bräck added. Bräck convinced Richard Dutton, who ran Bräck in the British Formula Three Championship in 1989, to race Ericsson for his Fortec Motorsport teams 2007 Formula BMW UK title challenge. Ericsson said of his chances during the season, I was thinking that I should be around top eight to start with, trying for podiums and maybe wins by the end of the year. Ericssons first win came at the first meeting of the series at Brands Hatch where he took place in the first race. Following his win, Ericsson was described by Autosport as the best young talent Bräck had ever seen, Ericsson was in the title race for the whole season, challenging Czech Josef Král and Brit Henry Arundel. Following his win of the Formula BMW title, Ericsson began aiming for a seat in Formula Three, tests followed with British Formula 3 team Räikkönen Robertson Racing as part of his prize for winning the title that year. Afterwards Ericsson had a test with frontrunning Formula 3 Euro Series team ASM, despite an offer to join ASM, Ericsson opted to stay in England and join Fortecs British Formula 3 team. Ericsson received with two positions and a handful of podium finishes, but no victories, which gave him fifth overall in the championship
3.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
4.
Giedo van der Garde
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Giedo van der Garde is a Dutch racing driver. He drove for the Caterham F1 team in 2013 and joined Sauber as a driver in 2014. The matter ended by mutual consent with a cash settlement paid by Sauber, Van der Garde has a successful karting career, winning the Dutch championship in 1998. In Super A he was best rookie in 2001 and world champion in 2002, the following year he joined the Formula Renault 2000 Championship and finished sixth, driving for Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing. On the strength of his performance he became part of the Renault F1 Driver Development programme and he joined the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004 with Signature-Plus but after finishing the year ninth he was dropped by Renault Driver Development. A move to Team Rosberg for 2005 yielded another ninth in the series, for 2006 he joined the ASM team, which had dominated the season in 2005 with Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. The team claimed the top two places in the once more in 2006 – but it was van der Gardes team mates Paul di Resta. The Dutchman ended the sixth with a single victory. Van der Garde had podium positions in mind for the season and he finished the season 6th, 3rd in the Rookie of the year standings. He received several offers for tests in GP2, from teams like DAMS, during his first tests, he impressed. He eventually signed with P1 Motorsport to compete in the 2008 season, in the first race of the 2008 FR3.5 season in Monza, van der Garde managed to qualify on pole for the feature race. Due to regulations, he started 8th in the sprint race because of the grid order in the sprint race. He came through the field to clinch victory in the sprint race, in the second race at Spa, he narrowly missed out on pole by 0.033 seconds after previously topping the tables at all practice sessions. In the sprint race, Julien Jousse collided into him forcing van der Garde into retiring from the race, having qualified second for the feature race, he lost a position at the start. He immediately overtook Mikhail Aleshin on the first lap to regain his position, after this strong start to the season, van der Garde was never headed in the championship and duly won it with two races remaining. Van der Garde signed to drive for the iSport International team in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, at the Hungaroring, he took his first victory, in the sprint race. He added two wins before the end of the season en route to seventh in the championship standings. He had not been due to compete in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia season and he drove for the same team in the 2010 GP2 Series season, equalling his seventh place in the drivers championship, whilst team-mate Sergio Pérez was runner-up
5.
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
6.
Kamui Kobayashi
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Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Racing. He also previously competed in the GP2 Series, the GP2 Asia Series, and Formula One from 2009 to 2012, Kobayashi was born in Amagasaki, near Kobe. His father owns a sushi restaurant and he began his career in motorsport in 1996 when he was nine years old, finishing third in his first season of karting in the SL Takarazuka Tournament Cadet Class. During the following seven years, Kobayashi took four karting titles, in 2004, he signed for Toyotas Driver Academy and soon began his career in open wheel racing. His next step was Formula Renault, entering the Asian, German, Italian and Dutch championships, Kobayashi continued in the Formula Renault class, entering the Italian and European championships and with six wins in both championships, he won both titles. In 2006, Kobayashi entered the Formula 3 Euro Series with ASM Formule 3 alongside Paul di Resta, Giedo van der Garde and he took three podium positions in his debut season, coming eighth in the Drivers Championship and first in the Rookies Championship. Kobayashi also entered the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula 3, Kobayashi started in 10th place and finished the race a place lower in 11th, while at the Macau Grand Prix, he started the race in pole position but finished in 19th place. At the beginning of 2007, Kobayashi, with Kohei Hirate, was named as one of the Toyota Formula One teams test drivers and he finished fourth in the Drivers Championship. Following a successful GP2 Asia Series campaign in early 2008, Kobayashi won his first GP2 Series race in only the race of the season. After a strong start from pole in the sprint race at the Circuit de Catalunya and this was after a controversial piece of defensive driving from his former Euro Series team-mate Romain Grosjean after a safety car period. At the end of the pit straight, Kobayashi attempted a pass on Grosjean, however, the Frenchman moved more than once to defend his position, forcing Kobayashi into evasive action. This resulted in a drive through penalty for the Frenchman, handing the win to Kobayashi, however, he only finished in the points on one further occasion, restricting him to sixteenth in the championship. Another successful GP2 Asia campaign followed over the months of 2008 and 2009. Kobayashi could not repeat his form in the series, finishing sixteenth again. On November 16,2007 it was confirmed that Kobayashi would replace the departing Franck Montagny as the Toyota F1 teams third driver and he was the teams test and reserve driver during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. At the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, Kobayashi competed in the first two practice sessions in place of Timo Glock, who was ill. Glock recovered in time to part in the third free practice session and qualifying. Kobayashi made his Formula One debut at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix and he qualified 11th in a chaotic session that lasted for over two and half hours and was red-flagged twice due to accidents caused by torrential rain
7.
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
8.
Heikki Kovalainen
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Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver. He raced in Formula 1 between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus and Lotus F1 teams. He was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship. Renault signed him on as a full-time Formula One test driver for 2006 and he gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix that year. He moved to McLaren for the 2008 season, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton and his second season saw him achieve his first pole position at Silverstone and his first victory at Hungaroring, becoming the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. He remained with the team for the 2009 season, in 2010, he moved to the newly created Team Lotus where he also remained for 2011 and 2012, with the team renamed Caterham F1 for 2012. 2012 was his last full season in Formula One, Kovalainen competed in the last two races of the 2013 season for Lotus F1 as a short-notice stand-in for regular driver Kimi Räikkönen. In 2015, Kovalainen moved to Japan to compete in Super GT in the GT500 class, born in Suomussalmi, Finland, Kovalainens career began in kart racing, much like that of many other Formula One drivers. He competed in karting from 1991 to 2000, during which time he finished runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000. Kovalainen began his car racing career in the British Formula Renault Championship, Kovalainens apprenticeship in the junior categories of motor sport was more conventional, but he used Renault power at every step along the way. He finished fourth in the championship with two wins, two positions, five podiums and three fastest laps, earning the Rookie of the Year award. He also took part in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, Kovalainen attracted the support of the Renault Driver Development programme and in 2002 moved up to the British Formula 3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport who used Renault engines. He became one of the most competitive drivers on the grid by the half of the season. With three pole positions and three fastest laps, Kovalainen finished third overall in the championship behind Robbie Kerr and James Courtney and he also demonstrated strong form in the international non-championship rounds, with second place in Macau and fourth place at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort. Kovalainen moved into the Renault-owned World Series by Nissan in 2003 –, Montagny had already spent two seasons in the World Series and had won the championship in 2001. Montagny won the 2003 title with nine wins to Kovalainens one, Kovalainen continued in the series in 2004, but moved to Pons Racing, where he won the championship ahead of Tiago Monteiro, with 192 points and six wins. With Kimi Räikkönen finishing seventh in Formula One and Marcus Grönholm fifth in the World Rally Championship, in 2005, Kovalainen entered the GP2 Series, the new feeder series for F1 and the successor to Formula 3000. Driving for the Arden International team, Kovalainen began the season with results by winning the first round of the championship in Imola
9.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
10.
Vitaly Petrov
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Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Caterham in 2012 and Renault in 2010 and 2011. Born in Vyborg, he is known as the Vyborg Rocket in Russia and he was the first Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship. Unlike most top drivers, Petrov did not begin his career in karting and he began competing in motorsport in 1998, when he took part in rally sprints and ice races. Afterwards he began competing in the Russian Lada Cup in 2001 and he remained in the series for 2002 dominating the championship, winning each round to amass the maximum points total of 500. In 2003, Petrov began racing in the Formula Renault championships and his main campaign was in the Italian Formula Renault Championship for Euronova Racing, finishing 19th overall. He also made his debut in Euro Formula 3000 at Cagliari, in 2004, Petrov turned his attention to the inaugural season of the Russian Lada Revolution championship. He started every race from pole position, but finished as runner-up and he also made selected appearances in Formula Renault and Euro F3000. Petrov remained in Russia for 2005, winning the Lada Revolution Championship with ten wins, in 2006, Petrov raced in Euroseries 3000 with Euronova Racing. He finished third in the standings, scoring nine podiums in eighteen races including four wins at Hungaroring, Mugello Circuit, also he participated in the Brno round of the 2006 F3000 International Masters season, where he took a pole position. During the 2006 season Petrov made his debut in the GP2 Series for David Price Racing and he replaced French driver Olivier Pla, who lost his sponsorship from Direxiv in the team from the German round onwards. In 2007 he moved to Campos Grand Prix, where he joined Giorgio Pantano and he scored five point-scoring positions from 21 races and took his first victory at Valencia on his way to finishing 13th in the standings. He competed in several Le Mans Series races throughout the year, the car completed 198 laps before retiring from the race, being classified in 38th. Petrov finished in position with one win at Sepang International Circuit in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season for Campos, behind champion Romain Grosjean. In the main series Petrov remained with the Campos team and he finished seventh in final standings, taking a win at the Valencia Street Circuit. He finished fifth, with a win in the Sepang sprint race, Petrov was linked to joining Sauber, Renault F1 and Campos for the 2010 season. He was announced as a Renault driver on 31 January and thus he has become the first Russian driver in the Formula One World Championship and he was signed for a one-year deal, with an option for a further two. He was very close to signing for Campos but he felt Renault was the best option for him and he also mentioned that he had no major sponsors from Russia backing him just his dad and some of his friends. Petrov stated that his goal is to start scoring points by mid-season and his teammate for his debut season was Robert Kubica, who like Petrov – who stands at 185 cm tall – is one of the tallest drivers on the grid
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.
Charles Pic
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Charles Pic is a professional racing driver, who drove in Formula One for two full seasons in 2012 and 2013, racing for Marussia F1 Team in the first season and then for Caterham in the second season. Born in Montélimar, France, Pic entered karting at an age of 13 years. With the help of his godfather Éric Bernard, Pic achieved strong results in Italian, in 2006, Pic made his Formula Renault debut, racing for La Filière. He finished the season as third and also became the rookie champion, for 2008 Pic moved to Tech 1 Racing to contest the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. He was partnered by Julien Jousse and finished sixth in the thanks to two wins at Circuit de Monaco – having dominated the entire weekend with pole position and fastest lap –. He remained with Tech 1 for the season and won twice more, at Silverstone and the Nürburgring. In 2009 he was also a member of the Renault Driver Development, at the end of 2009 Pic switched to the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season with Arden International, and remained with the team into the 2010 GP2 Series season. Pic won on debut with the British outfit during the Asia Series season-opener at Bahrain and he eventually finished 10th in the drivers standings. For 2011 Pic moved to the Barwa Addax squad alongside future Formula 1 team-mate Giedo van der Garde. Despite failing to score any points in the preceding Asia Series campaign, another victory, this time on the streets of Monaco, helped move him up to third place in the drivers championship. In November 2011 Pic made his debut at the wheel of a Formula One car, driving for Marussia Virgin Racing at the young driver test held at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. He was due to drive for a day and-a-half of the test, during the test, several news sources reported that Pic had agreed a deal to race with the team in the 2012 season. After the conclusion of the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix it was confirmed that Pic would indeed partner Timo Glock at the renamed Marussia F1 in 2012 and it was also confirmed that Pic would be mentored by ex-F1 driver and fellow countryman Olivier Panis. It was reported at the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix that a feud was brewing between Pic and his team-mate after Pic blocked Glock during qualifying and he made his debut in the Australian Grand Prix finishing 15th. He however, retired in three races in Bahrain Grand Prix, Spanish Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix. In the next race, the Canadian Grand Prix, Pic finished 20th, in the British Grand Prix, Pic was given a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox. In the season Pic was overtaken 70 times, which is a F1 record, modenas Brabham, the previous record holder, was overtaken no fewer than 68 times in 1989. Pic made his Caterham debut at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, finishing in 16th place, Pic would equal his season-best result at the Korean Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag in 14th spot and within striking distance of Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas
Marcus Ericsson
Giedo van der Garde
Kamui Kobayashi
Heikki Kovalainen
Vitaly Petrov
Charles Pic
Will Stevens
André Lotterer
Media related to Caterham F1 Team at Wikimedia Commons
