1.
Lyon
–
Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
2.
France
–
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
3.
Formula One
–
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
4.
1994 FIA Formula One World Championship
–
The 1994 Formula One season was the 48th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on 27 March 1994, the season is remembered as one of the most tragic and controversial seasons in the sports history. Schumacher had built up a championship lead, winning six of the first seven races. British constructor Williams-Renault won the Constructors Championship, however, the 1994 season will also be remembered for the deaths of three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna and Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix. Forty-six drivers competed in the 1994 World Championship, including fourteen who made their F1 debut, mercedes-Benz also returned to the sport for the first time since 1955 as an engine supplier to Swiss team, Sauber. The season also saw the first win for Ferrari since 1990 – whilst McLaren failed to win a race following the departure of Senna. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship, ^1 With the retirement of reigning champion Alain Prost, car number 1 was not assigned, Damon Hill ran with number 0. Ayrton Senna was among several observers who said that, with such features removed,1994 also saw the reintroduction of refuelling during the race for the first time since 1983. After Sennas fatal crash at Imola, several changes were introduced to slow the cars. In Spain, front wing endplates and rear diffusers were reduced in size, for the following race in Canada, the effectiveness of the airbox was reduced by means of holes cut into the engine cover, resulting in less power. Wear was permitted on the plank up to 1mm by the end of the race, after winning in Belgium, Michael Schumacher would be disqualified after the plank on his Benetton was deemed to have excessive wear. It was commonly thought that Sennas move to Williams was a factor behind Prosts retirement, Williams retained Damon Hill to partner incoming Ayrton Senna. Test driver David Coulthard would replace the Brazilian following his fatal accident, nigel Mansell took over the car alongside Hill in France and the final three races of the season. McLaren, having lost iconic driver Ayrton Senna to Williams, promoted Mika Häkkinen to team leader, following a year with customer Ford power, the team had works Peugeot engines for 1994. Benetton kept Michael Schumacher on board, pairing him with JJ Lehto, the teams Dutch test-driver, Jos Verstappen, and Johnny Herbert also drove for the team during the season. Ferrari retained their 1993 driver line-up of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, Jordan retained their final line-up of 1993 with Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine. Larrousse, now powered by Ford HB engines, signed Olivier Beretta to partner Érik Comas, tyrrell retained Ukyo Katayama and replaced Andrea de Cesaris with Mark Blundell. Footwork faced a year, having lost the Footwork sponsorship
5.
1999 FIA Formula One World Championship
–
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
6.
2001 FIA Formula One World Championship
–
The 2001 Formula One season was the 55th season of FIA Formula One racing. It featured the FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on 4 March 2001, Michael Schumacher won the Drivers title with a record margin of 58 points, after achieving nine victories and five second places and Ferrari won the Constructors award. The season marked the reintroduction of traction control, with the FIA permitting its use starting at the Spanish Grand Prix, traction control had been banned since 1994. Schumacher also broke the all-time Formula One Grand Prix wins record during the season, future world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen made their grand prix debuts in Melbourne, for Minardi and Sauber respectively. Colombian former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya also made his F1 debut at Williams, there were new beginnings for French companies Renault and Michelin. At the other end of the spectrum fellow French company Peugeot withdrew from the sport after six years since 1995 following a season in 2000 as engine supplier to Prost. The assets of Peugeots Formula One programme were purchased by Asia Motor Technologies France, at the end of the season, double world champion Mika Häkkinen announced his intention to take a one-year sabbatical in 2002, eventually this became full-time retirement. Also racing for the last time in 2001 was Jean Alesi, veteran British commentator Murray Walker gave his final commentary at the United States Grand Prix. The championship was won with ease by Michael Schumacher, who finished 58 points clear of David Coulthard in second place and it was Schumachers fourth world championship, equalling Alain Prosts total. With Michael Schumachers team mate, Rubens Barrichello, tallying 11 podiums throughout the season, unlike the previous title-winning season, Schumacher was very consistent throughout the campaign and scored his nine wins more spread evenly out through the season. His title was sealed with four races remaining after a win in Hungary. Coulthards title challenge looked strong early on, winning two of the first six races and being neck and neck with Schumacher for the title lead and he also qualified on pole position in Monaco, only to stall on the grid. With Schumacher winning the race and Coulthard recovering only to fifth, Coulthard would not win again for the rest of the year and had dropped off massively by mid-season as Schumacher kept either winning or finishing second with few exceptions all season. Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya both scored their maiden wins in the sport, at San Marino and Italy respectively. The younger Schumacher added victories in Canada and Germany, giving the four wins in total. The Schumacher brothers also scored historic family 1–2 finishes in Canada, McLaren secured four wins during the season. These were shared equally among their drivers, Häkkinen winning in Britain, the following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship. † All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration, Ricardo Zonta lost his BAR drive to Panis, and took up the position of test driver with Jordan
7.
2004 FIA Formula One World Championship
–
The 2004 Formula One season was the 58th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship, which was contested over an eighteen event series which ran from 7 March to 24 October 2004, also notable were the success of BAR and Renault, and the relatively poor performance of Williams and McLaren. Michael Schumacher won 12 of the first 13 races and eventually scored 13 race victories, breaking his own record of 11 race wins in a season, set in 2002. He also won a record seventh Drivers Championship with his teammate Rubens Barrichello winning two of the last four races and finishing second in the title. Jenson Button, though failing to win a grand prix, secured ten podium finishes, along with Japanese team mate Takuma Sato, Button delivered BAR an impressive second place in the Constructors Championship behind Ferrari. Four of the ten teams, Ferrari, Renault, Jaguar, Williams and McLaren, both privately owned teams, had engine supply agreements with major car companies, BMW and Mercedes-Benz respectively, and Honda produced engines for BAR. The other three teams, Jordan, Sauber and Minardi, were privately owned but received little substantial sponsorship. Sauber received Ferrari engines badged under the Petronas name, and also received sponsorship from the Malaysian oil and this season saw the Minardi team score their first points since 2002, with Zsolt Baumgartner finishing 8th at the 2004 United States Grand Prix. The 2004 Canadian Grand Prix was a dramatic race. First, Timo Glock replaced Giorgio Pantano in this race, due to personal circumstances for Pantano, then, Williams and Toyota were excluded from the race due to an irregularity in the brake ducts. That meant the Jordan team was the beneficiary of the disqualifications, with Nick Heidfeld. Immediately before the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, Giorgio Pantano was dropped by the Jordan team, Ralf Schumacher had a difficult season. He suffered an accident during the 2004 United States Grand Prix and was out of action for 6 races. Marc Gené and Antônio Pizzonia replaced him during his absence, Jarno Trullis relationship with the Renault team deteriorated after his first victory at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix. He left the team after the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, which was also Pantanos last race for the Jordan team, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve replaced Jarno Trulli at Renault for the final 3 races. Trulli missed the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, but he returned in the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix and that meant the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix was Jarno Trullis first race with the new team. Cristiano da Mattas string of disappointing results during the season led to his replacement by test driver Ricardo Zonta from Hungary onwards except the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix, Da Matta did not race for Toyota again and in 2005 he returned to Champ Car racing. This was Olivier Paniss last season as he decided to retire from the seat after 2004 Japanese Grand Prix
8.
Equipe Ligier
–
Equipe Ligier is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from 1976 to 1996. The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a car manufacturer. After retiring from racing following the death of his friend Jo Schlesser, the Cosworth-powered JS1 took wins at Albi and Monthlery in 1970, but retired at Le Mans and from the Tour Automobile de France. For 1971, Ligier had the JS1 developed into the JS2, the JS2 was homologated for road use and used a Maserati V6 engine, while the JS3 was an open-top sports-prototype powered by a Cosworth DFV V8 engine. The JS3 won at Monthlery in 1971 but failed to finish the distance in Le Mans. Therefore, it was retired, and Ligier installed the Cosworth DFV in the JS2 road car, Guy Ligier then switched his efforts into Formula One. Following the acquisition of the Matra F1 teams assets, Ligier entered Formula One in 1976 with a Matra V12-powered car and this is generally considered to have been the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship. The deal with Matra ceased in 1979 and Ligier built a Cosworth-powered wing-car, the JS11 began the season winning the first two races in the hands of Laffite. However, the JS11 faced serious competition when Williams and Ferrari introduced aerodynamically modified cars, the rest of the season was less successful for the French marque. The JS11 and its successors made Ligier one of the top teams through the early 1980s, despite substantial sponsorship from Talbot and public French companies - mainly SEITA, Gitanes and Française des Jeux) - the competitiveness of the team began to decline around 1982. Around this time, they were testing a Matra V6 turbocharged engine, thanks to the political support of Ligier long-time friend François Mitterrand, in the mid-1980s, the team benefitted from a free Renault turbo engine deal. This, along with sponsorship from companies such as Loto and Elf Aquitaine, made the more competitive. When Renault left the sport in 1986, Ligier was left without a bona fide engine supplier, an abortive collaboration with Alfa Romeo was followed by customer engine deals with Megatron, Judd and Cosworth and then works contracts with Lamborghini, Renault and Mugen-Honda. Surprisingly, the team was more competitive during this period, in part due to the talents of aerodynamicist Frank Dernie. They scored eight podium finishes over the four years, contrasting sharply with their failure to secure a single top three position between 1987 and 1992. In the last years Ligier had little support and lacked funds. In 1995, de Rouvre sold the team to Flavio Briatore, the Mugen Honda-powered JS43 turned out to be a well balanced car, if not on par with the Williams entries. It became a winner as well, with the team taking the chequered flag with Olivier Panis at the Monaco Grand Prix, albeit in a race of heavy attrition
9.
Prost Grand Prix
–
Prost Grand Prix was a Formula One racing team owned and managed by former world champion Alain Prost. The team participated in five seasons from 1997 to 2001, Alain Prost completed the purchase of the Ligier team in early 1997, and immediately changed the name to Prost. An exclusive contract for Peugeot engines was announced for 1998, as there was no time before the season started to design and build a new car, the team simply used the Ligier JS45 designed by Loïc Bigois and renamed it the Prost JS45. Podium finishes in Brazil and Spain for Olivier Panis promised much, with its lead driver forced to miss much of the season, Prost struggled with novices Jarno Trulli and Shinji Nakano until Paniss return at the Luxembourg Grand Prix. 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve later remarked that in the year of his title victory, had Panis completed the full year, Prost may well have won a race. After such a promising 1997, things took a turn for the worse in the following seasons, to back this up, Panis had been fastest in Spain, and was running right behind Villeneuve in Argentina when his car gave up on him. He was close to winning in Canada too as his Bridgestone tyres were better equipped than the Goodyear tyred cars around him, after serious gearbox problems in testing, the team almost did not start the 1998 season-opener as their car still had to pass a crash-test. They made it to the Australian Grand Prix, but the season proved to be a failure, only Trullis sixth at Spa kept the team from last in the standings. 1999 saw an improvement, several points finishes achieved and a second place coming by way of Trullis strong drive at the Nürburgring, in the first few races, the team also ran with X-wings. At times the car looked genuinely competitive with strong qualifying displays, yet the results often failed to materialise. At Magny-Cours Panis had started third, but was unable to capitalise, Trulli was under contract for 2000, but the teams relative lack of success enabled him to leave for Jordan. Panis was dropped and went on to become McLarens tester, in 2000 the team began its sharp decline into oblivion. Veteran racer Jean Alesi, Prosts former teammate at Ferrari in 1991, was signed to the team, the team also signed up rookie F3000 champion Nick Heidfeld for 2000. Despite a promising driver lineup, Prost finished last in the Constructors Championship, Heidfeld was disqualified from the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring for his car being two kilos underweight. At the Austrian Grand Prix their two drivers crashed into other, putting them both out of the race. The relationship between Prost and Peugeot collapsed, in 2001 the cars now ran with Acer-badged Ferrari engines. It was his best finish with the team, a fallout after the British Grand Prix, however, saw Alesi walk out after the German Grand Prix. For his final race with Prost, Alesi scored another point in that race of attrition
10.
McLaren
–
McLaren Racing Limited, competing as McLaren Honda, is a British Formula One team based at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has competed in and won the Indianapolis 500. The team is the second oldest active team after Ferrari and they are one of the most successful teams in Formula One history, having won 182 races,12 drivers championships and eight constructors championships. The team is an owned subsidiary of McLaren Technology Group. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972, the combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant—together they won all but one race in 1988—but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams offered the most consistent challenge during this period, however, by the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing the role to longtime McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the teams worst season since 2004, McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren-Honda for the first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a driver for the British Formula One team Cooper with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 world championship. In 1964 and 1965, McLaren were based in New Malden, then Feltham, during this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, but did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that teams form to be waning, Bruce made the teams Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race. His race ended after nine laps due to an oil leak. Neither car brought great success, the best result being a fourth at Monaco, for 1968, after driving McLarens sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme, who was already racing for McLaren in Can-Am. That years new M7A car, Herds final design for the team, was powered by Cosworths new and soon to be ubiquitous DFV engine, Hulme also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the constructors championship. The year 1970 started with a place each for Hulme. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over control of the team, Hulme continued with Dan Gurney. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left the team mid-season, and Gethin took over from there
11.
British American Racing
–
British American Racing was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year, subsequently, they formed a partnership with Honda which lasted for the next six years. The team was named after British American Tobacco plc, which owned and sponsored it in order to display its Lucky Strike and 555 brands, the headquarters were in Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. In mid-November 2004, Japanese car manufacturer Honda purchased 45% of the team, consequently, BAR Honda became Honda Racing F1 Team for the 2006 Formula One season. British American Tobacco had been involved in Formula One for many years, in 1997 the corporation was convinced by Craig Pollock to provide most of the equity to purchase the Tyrrell Formula One team for GB£30 million. Pollock, Adrian Reynard and Rick Gorne were the minority partners, the deal was announced on 2 December 1997. The team was officially known as Tyrrell in 1998, before it became BAR the following year. On 23 July 1998 BAR announced the signing of World Champion Jacques Villeneuve away from Williams with a contract for the 1999 season. Pollock had managed Villeneuve throughout his racing career, Villeneuve was joined by F1 rookie Ricardo Zonta. The cars chassis was built by Reynard Motorsport at a new factory in Brackley and was powered by Supertec engines. At the launch of their new car BAR unveiled separate liveries for their cars, Villeneuves car painted in a white and red Lucky Strike livery and Zontas carrying a blue and yellow 555 livery. The FIA deemed the dual liveries illegal under F1 regulations which state that a teams cars must carry largely identical liveries, BAR lodged a complaint with the International Chamber of Commerce but simultaneously lodged a complaint with the European Commission. Pollock was summoned to the World Motor Sport Council to explain the team behaviour and he also apologised to the Council and reiterated his acceptance of the FIAs authority. To get around the ban BAR ran one side of their cars painted in the Lucky Strike colours, BAR reverted to a more traditional style of livery for 2000 onwards. BAR had the slogan of A tradition of excellence, which was viewed as humorous by pundits as the team had no history, Adrian Reynard also made an ambitious claim that the team would win a race in their debut season. In a disastrous maiden season BAR failed to score a point in the Constructors Championship. The car was quick and often qualified in the midfield. However the car suffered from unreliability, Villeneuve started the year with 11 straight retirements
12.
Toyota Racing
–
Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101. The new team grew from Toyotas long-standing Toyota Motorsport GmbH organisation, which had competed in the World Rally Championship. Despite a point in their race, Panasonic Toyota Racing never won a Grand Prix, their best finish being 2nd place. Toyota drew criticism for their lack of success, especially after the 2006 Formula One season, Toyota was a well-funded team, but despite this, strong results had never been consistent. On 4 November 2009, Toyota announced its withdrawal from Formula One. Toyota made an entrance into motorsport when a Toyopet Crown entered the Round Australia Trial in 1957. The Formula One teams roots can be traced to a development in 1972. The team was later renamed Toyota Team Europe and then, after being bought by Toyota in 1993, the rally team won four World Rally Championship drivers titles, most notably with Carlos Sainz, as well as three constructors titles. The FIA banned the team competition for 12 months in 1995 for running illegal parts. Toyota continued to win rallies after their return in 1997, in 1997 the team moved into track racing with a sports car project, twice failing to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. On 21 January 1999 Toyota announced its move into Formula One, the company ended its rallying program in order to concentrate on Formula One. On 30 June 2000 the team secured its place as the 12th entry for the 2002 Formula One season, originally intending to enter F1 in 2001, Toyota forfeited an $11Million deposit by delaying their entry. Unusually, Toyota opted to start their own works team rather than partner with a specialist race team, the team was also set up away from Formula Ones traditional manufacturing centre in Motorsport Valley in the United Kingdom. During 2001, Toyota tested with their prototype TF101 car and drivers at 11 F1 circuits, the idea was to gain telemetry data for the races, which allowed them to make aerodynamic changes for the TF102, and for the drivers to experience the tracks in the new cars. Finn Mika Salo, who can communicate in Japanese, and Scotsman Allan McNish, Toyota F1 made their Formula One debut in 2002, with McNish and Salo driving the Toyota TF102, designed by Gustav Brunner. Despite reportedly having one of the biggest budgets in Formula One and their first point was scored in their first race, the Australian Grand Prix, when half the field was eliminated by a first corner accident caused by Ralf Schumacher colliding with Rubens Barrichello. The team could have scored another point in the race at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but Salo suffered an electrical misfire
13.
1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
–
The 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 March 1994 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the first race of the 1994 Formula One season, the 71-lap race was won by Benetton driver Michael Schumacher after he started from second position. Damon Hill finished second for the Williams team and Ferrari driver Jean Alesi came in third, with it being the first race of the season, new drivers made their debuts. Roland Ratzenberger, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Olivier Beretta and Jos Verstappen made their debuts and Simtek, Ayrton Senna took pole position from Michael Schumacher, with Jean Alesi over a second further behind. Debutant Heinz-Harald Frentzen impressed with taking the 5th spot on the grid in his very first race, at the start Ayrton Senna maintained his lead, while Jean Alesi overtook Michael Schumacher. Schumacher retook second place on lap 2 and started chasing after Senna, before the pit stops Schumacher had reduced the gap to just over a second, and on lap 21 the leading pair entered the pit lane together. Despite both teams running the fuel strategy, Benettons stop was much faster than Williams stop. On lap 35 there was a four-car pile-up as Eddie Irvine, Irvine forced Verstappen on to the grass, Verstappen then lost control of his car and somersaulted over Martin Brundles McLaren. Irvine was penalized for this maneuver by a one race ban, Irvine was already under investigation due to an incident with Ayrton Senna in Suzuka the year before. Schumacher increased his lead to 10 seconds after the round of pit stops. By lap 55 the pair had lapped third-place runner Damon Hill and the gap was down to 5 seconds, after Sennas retirement Schumacher won comfortably. Damon Hill finished second and Jean Alesi third, note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
14.
1996 Monaco Grand Prix
–
The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 19 May 1996. It was the race of the 1996 Formula One season. The race was run in wet weather, causing significant attrition, olivier Panis scored his sole career Formula One victory, earning the last ever Formula One victory for the Ligier team after switching to slick tyres in a well-timed pitstop. As of 2016, this is the most recent race won by a French driver, michael Schumacher had taken pole position but had caused minor controversy on his slowing down lap when he impeded Gerhard Berger right at the end of the session. Coming out of the tunnel Schumacher was cruising slowly, acknowledging the crowd, Schumacher tried to get out of Bergers way but the Austrian was going too fast and had to spin at high speed to avoid the Ferrari, entering the chicane backwards. The Ligiers were 14th and 17th in qualifying, both below their expectations after the team had mis-firing issues, preventing a top six position, olivier Panis was fastest in the warm-up. Jacques Villeneuve was 18th after running a wet-setup in preparation for the expected rain, between the warm-up session and the race, heavy rain fell at the circuit. An additional 15-minute session was added to allow the drivers to get used to the conditions as it was the first time rain had fallen over the race weekend. The session took place at 13,15 CEST, several drivers went off during the session, including Pedro Lamy, Pedro Diniz and Giancarlo Fisichella, but all continued. The only two drivers to escape with damage were Mika Häkkinen and Andrea Montermini, who suffered damage to their car, jean Alesi suffered a puncture at the end of the session, but was able to return to the pitlane. Several drivers opted to skip the session, the Footwork team chose not to participate as they did not have any spare parts, and any crash would have marked the end of their weekend. Häkkinen was fastest, setting his time before his crash, with Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, the two Williams cars were 7th and 8th, Villeneuve ahead of Damon Hill with Schumacher behind them in 9th. The race started at 14,30 CEST, in the warm-up Montermini crashed his Forti coming out of the tunnel, and the teams lack of a spare car meant the Italian was unable to start the wet race, therefore 21 cars would take the start. Hill got the jump on Schumacher into Ste Devote while further back there was trouble already, jos Verstappen, who had opted to start the race on slicks, slid straight into the wall. The two Minardis were then eliminated when they tangled coming out of the first corner, and so 18 cars climbed the hill on the first lap. Hill began to pull away while polesitter Schumacher lost control coming out of Lower Mirabeau and hit the wall, coming into the Rascasse, Barrichellos race was over as he spun. After five laps, there were only 13 cars remaining as Ukyo Katayama, Ricardo Rosset, a significant gap began to open between the leaders and Eddie Irvine in fourth. Indeed, there was a queue of eight cars behind the slow Ferrari, on lap 31, Martin Brundle spun off, which left only 11 cars in the race
15.
2004 Japanese Grand Prix
–
The 2004 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 October 2004 at the Suzuka Circuit. All the running on Saturday was cancelled due to Typhoon Ma-on, the grid was shaken up due to rain, Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber taking fortunate grid positions due to being allotted early running in the session. Ralf was behind him, taking his first podium since breaking his back at Indianapolis and it was the last time the Schumacher brothers finished in one-two formation. At Suzuka in 2003 BAR upset the form book with a points finish – in 2004 this was commonplace. Contact between David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello ended the race for both drivers, Webber retired in bizarre circumstances – part of the seat had overheated, causing burns to his buttocks. This was Jarno Trullis first race with the Toyota team and this was Olivier Paniss last race as he decided to retire from the race seat. But he stayed with the Toyota team, as the test driver and this was Rubens Barrichellos only DNF of the season after colliding with David Coulthard on lap 38. Qualifying was held on Sunday morning due to conditions on Saturday Bold text indicates the World Champions. Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
16.
24 Hours of Le Mans
–
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the worlds oldest active sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France. It is one of the most prestigious races in the world and is often called the Grand Prix of Endurance. The event represents one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, other events being the Indianapolis 500, since 2012, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. In 2017, it will be the round of the season. The race has over the years inspired imitating races all over the globe, popularizing the 24-hour format at places like Daytona, Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, and Bathurst. The American Le Mans Series and Europes Le Mans Series of multi-event sports car championships were spun off from 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations. At a time when Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe, Le Mans was designed to present a different test. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines and this encouraged innovation in producing reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles, because endurance racing requires cars that last and spend as little time in the pits as possible. At the same time, the layout of the track necessitated cars with better aerodynamics, while this was shared with Grand Prix racing, few tracks in Europe had straights of a length comparable to the Mulsanne. Additionally, because the road is public and thus not as meticulously maintained as permanent racing circuits, racing puts more strain on the parts, increasing the importance of reliability. The oil crisis in the early 1970s led organizers to adopt a fuel economy formula known as Group C that limited the amount of each car was allowed. Although it was abandoned, fuel economy remains important as new fuel sources reduced time spent during pit stops. Such technological innovations have had an effect and can be incorporated into consumer cars. This has also led to faster and more exotic supercars as manufacturers seek to develop road cars in order to develop them into even faster GT cars. Additionally, in recent years hybrid systems have been championed in the LMP category as rules have changed to their benefit. The race is held in June, leading at times to very hot conditions for drivers, particularly in closed vehicles with poor ventilation, the race begins in mid-afternoon and finishes the following day at the same hour the race started the previous day. Over the 24 hours, modern competitors often cover distances well over 5,000 km, the record is 2010s 5,410 km, six times the length of the Indianapolis 500, or approximately 18 times longer than a Formula One Grand Prix. Drivers and racing teams strive for speed and avoiding damage, as well as managing the cars consumables, primarily fuel, tires
17.
2008 24 Hours of Le Mans
–
The 200824 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de lOuest. The test day was on June 1, the race was attended by 258,000 spectators. The Audi teams progress and victory was documented in the 2008 film Truth in 24, on 20 December 2007, the ACO confirmed the previously announced rule changes for the 2008 race and 2008 Le Mans Series season. Petrol engined Le Mans Prototype cars received a 3% larger air restrictor to increase power output, the ACO also added rules regarding the types of engines and fuels which can be used. Production engines which meet the GT1 and GT2 class regulations can now be installed in LMP1, the use of biofuels will also be allowed in the prototype categories, with petrol engines allowed to run 10% ethanol, and diesel teams allowed to use biodiesel. The GT1 and GT2 categories remained unchanged in the new rules, the official list of automatic invites was published by the ACO on 16 November 2007, with confirmation of entries accepted by teams published on 18 January 2008. On 19 February, the ACO published their full list of fifty-five entries plus eight reserves, the fifty-five main entries were required to appear at the Le Mans test day in order to compete. Eight cars were granted reserve entries, if any selected team from the main entry list withdrew, a reserve entry would take their place. On April 10, the #81 Tafel Racing Ferrari withdrew and was replaced by the #4 Saulnier Pescarolo-Judd, although several teams withdrew their reserve entries, none of the remaining reserve entries were promoted to the primary entry list. On Tuesday, June 10, Racing Boxs Lucchini-Judd failed official scrutineering and was withdrawn, the first remaining reserve, Epsilon Euskadis second entry, was allowed to take its place at the start of Wednesday qualifying. Drivers, team, and equipment for fifty-five cars arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 1 to participate in a mandatory test session, two sessions were held running four hours each, with an hour break for lunch. Rain dominated the weather during the two sessions, with the drying out only for brief periods of time before heavy rains dampened the circuit once more. Stéphane Sarrazin, in the #8 Peugeot, was able to set the fastest lap during a dry period in the second session. By the end of the test day, Sarrazins time remained unbeaten, and was in nearly four. Several hundredths of a second slower still was the #1 Audi, the fastest car not running a diesel engine was the #17 Pescarolo, recording a time of 3,33.939, over eleven seconds behind the overall leader. The other Porsche RS Spyder of Team Essex was second fastest, the Grand Touring categories were led by the previous years winner in GT1 class, the factory Aston Martin squad. The #009 DBR9 set a lap time of 3,53.531, larbre Compétitions Saleen set the second fastest lap in the class, nearly two seconds behind. The two factory Corvettes were third and fourth, with the #64 team a few tenths faster than the #63, for the GT2 class, American teams lead the session
18.
2011 24 Hours of Le Mans
–
The 201124 Hours of Le Mans was the 79th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 11–12 June 2011 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and organised by the Automobile Club de lOuest. The race was attended by 249,500 spectators, Audi Sport Team Joests Benoît Tréluyer earned Audi their first pole position in five years while the teams sister car locked out the front row.8 seconds. 2011 marked the first major revisions in Le Mans regulations since 2007, the new ACO rules meant that the previous LMP1 cars were rendered obsolete. New prototypes would have to be created, engines in the LMP1 cars were similar to the engines in the LMP2 cars prior to 2010. For 2011, cars raced during the 2010 season in an ACO-sanctioned event could participate, but would need to run smaller air restrictors, less boost pressure, LMP2 engines were reduced to those similar to GT2, the engines would be production-based. LMP2 were also focused on lower costs, the cap for an LMP2 car was set at €400,000. Hybrid vehicle drivetrain systems were allowed with the new regulations. All LMP cars were to weigh in at 900 kg, the 2011 regulations allowed for 2010-spec GT1 cars to take part on GTE Am class, although none were entered. With the construction of a 56th pit that was designed for the 56th entry in the 2010 race, unlike 2010, the 56th pit from 2011 onwards will not be accepted to normal LMP/GT competitors. On 9 February 2011, the ACO released the entry list of 56 cars plus ten reserves. On April 12, the second Signatech entry in LMP2 was withdrawn from the entry list, on May 16, Highcroft Racings entry in LMP1 was withdrawn from the entry list. The team cited a lack of support as the cause, while at the same time announcing their partnership with Honda. The Kronos Racing Lola-Aston Martin was promoted to the entry list, as in the previous years Le Mans, ten cars were selected as reserves. These ten are divided evenly with five LMPs and five GTs, rather than the first reserve replacing a car of any class, a withdrawing LMP can only be replaced by another LMP and the same applies to GTs. The specific classes within LMP and GT are not considered in this process, reserve entries are added in the order specified below. Even though Audi has collected many Le Mans victories,2011 was the first year where Audi started on pole since 2006. Despite the capacity reduction to just 3. 7L, the new R18 and 908 managed to run several seconds faster than the original LMP1 diesel, the Audi R10 TDI, the new prototype qualifying speed is also quicker than the Audi R10 in 2007. Again, despite the capacity reduction, the new Peugeot 908 managed a top speed of 341 km/h, before the race began, many teams were already adopting different strategies
19.
Oreca
–
ORECA is a French racing team, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. In the 2000s, Oreca assisted Renault Sport in building the new Megane V6 for the Renault Eurocup Megane Sport, also for 2006 Oreca ran the Saleen S7R in the Le Mans Series. The Oreca Saleen S7R had already won the 2006 Spa-Francorchamps Le Mans race, Oreca worked closely with Dodge on the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, producing well over 100 customer cars in the period 2006–2007 to GT3 specification. In 2011, Oreca won the 12 Hours of Sebring race despite still using a 2010-spec car versus the new for 2011 Peugeot 908s, in 2012 Oreca was selected to run the Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 car with support from Toyota Motorsport GmbH in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car showed promising speed but did not finish at Le Mans due to a crash involving one car. In 2008 Oreca became a sports manufacturer, producing the Oreca 01. The 01 was made for the LMP1 category and was first raced at the 20091000 km of Spa with two entries, during 2009 Oreca started producing the Formula Le Mans FLM09. The idea was to give a platform for smaller teams to get into endurance racing. The Oreca 03 was launched to accommodate the new LMP2 regulations for 2011, in 2015, the Oreca 05 was unveiled, winning the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Oreca was selected as one of the four 2017 LMP2 manufacturers, and launched the Oreca 07
20.
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans
–
The 200924 Hours of Le Mans was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance auto race run over 24 hours. A test day was scheduled for 31 May that year. The race was attended by 234,800 spectators, Audi, who had won eight of the last ten Le Mans, finished third in their new R15 TDI. Team Essex gave Porsche their second LMP2 victory in a row, Risi Competizione Ferrari led the GT2 category for their second straight victory in the class. Events for the 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 8 June with technical inspections, due to the cancellation of the May test session, the Wednesday track session has been altered to free practice only, with no qualification times being recorded in the mostly wet session. Qualifying therefore only took place on Thursday, which remained dry, new for 2009 was an automatic invitation awarded to the team which accumulated the most points in the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge, as part of the Le Mans Series. The award was based on economy of competitors during each event. On 20 January 2009, the ACO announced that 15 of the 29 automatic invitations had been accepted by their recipients, entries with a blue background were granted entries, but did not accept their invitations. Prior to the deadline for applications,82 separate entries by teams representing 17 countries were received by the ACO and this amount is only six less than the total of applications received for the previous running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. On 26 February, the ACO announced their list of 55 entries which will be invited to take part in the 200924 Hours of Le Mans. 21 cars within the LMP1 category include Audi, Peugeot, and Aston Martin with three each, as well as private entries for the Kolles Audis, Pescarolo Peugeot. This also made a total of nine cars which would be using diesel fuel, LMP2 featured previous race winners Team Goh in a previous winning car, the Porsche RS Spyder, joined by last years runner-up Team Essex. Mazda supplied engines for four entries, split amongst the Lola, the GT1 category was fought amongst three manufacturers, as Corvette Racing and Luc Alphand Aventures attempted to overcome the two private Aston Martin and Lamborghini entries. GT2 was once dominated by the Ferrari and Porsche battle. Sole entries from Spyker and the Drayson Aston Martin completed the GT2 field, ten entries are granted a reserve entry, in case an entry from the list of 55 withdraws prior to the event. These ten entries will be allowed to join the race entry list in the order they are listed here, on 31 March, Gigawave Motorsport withdrew their Aston Martin from the GT1 category of the entry list in order to concentrate on their development of the Nissan GT-R program. This promoted Advanced Engineering/Team Seattle from the reserve list to the entry list, three days later Epsilon Euskadi withdrew their LMP1 entry which was replaced by the Endurance China Team. Epsilon Euskadi also withdrew their entry from the reserve list
21.
Formula One drivers from France
–
There have been 71 Formula One drivers from France, the most successful of them being Alain Prost who won the World Drivers Championship four times. The title has been won by a French driver on four occasions, eleven other drivers have won at least one race, though they are all far behind Prosts tally of 51 wins. Alain Prost debuted with McLaren in 1980 and he finished in the points on four occasions but only finished 16th overall, moving to Renault for the following season. After three successful years, including finishing the 1983 season as the championship runner-up, he returned to McLaren, Prost drove with the team between 1984 and 1989, winning the championship three times and coming second twice. During this time McLaren introduced a new team-mate for Prost – Ayrton Senna and their relationship was difficult and the pair clashed on and off the track, leading to it being described as one of the sports greatest ever rivalries. Prost joined Ferrari in 1990 and resumed his battle with Senna, in 1991 the Ferrari was uncompetitive and for the first time since his debut season Prost was unable to win a race. He publicly slated the team for their performances and was fired before the end of the year. He took a year off in 1992 and returned for one last season in 1993, rené Arnoux won seven races during a career than spanned 12 years, having made his debut in 1978 with Martini. The team folded part way through the season, and he secured a drive with Renault for the following year, for some of his time there he partnered Alain Prost, and he controversially ignored team orders to win the 1982 French Grand Prix ahead of his favoured team mate. He moved to Scuderia Ferrari and enjoyed his most successful season, Ligier signed Arnoux for four seasons from 1986 and he retired after several years of poor performance. His Formula One career began in 1974 and ended with an accident at the 1986 British Grand Prix. Didier Pironi started his Formula One career in 1978 with Tyrrell and he moved to Ligier in 1980 alongside compatriot Jacques Laffite, frequently outpacing the team leader. He won that years Belgian Grand Prix and finished fifth in the championship and he signed with Ferrari as partner to Gilles Villeneuve but could not keep pace with the French-Canadian. In 1982, the year of Villeneuves death, Pironi looked set to win the championship having won two races and finished on the six times. At the German Grand Prix he crashed during a session, breaking his legs. Patrick Tambay made his Formula One debut in 1977 with Ensign and he signed for McLaren for his second year in the sport but the car was never particularly competitive. He left the team at the end of 1979, being replaced by Alain Prost for his first year in the sport, Tambay returned in 1981 after a year in the US but was dropped at the end of the season. He announced his retirement but was asked to drive for Ferrari for the half of the 1982 season after the death their driver
22.
Kart racing
–
Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports. Karts vary widely in speed and some can reach speeds exceeding 260 kilometres per hour, American Art Ingels is generally accepted to be the father of karting. A veteran hot rodder and a car builder at Kurtis Kraft. Instantly popular, Karting rapidly spread to countries, and currently has a large following in Europe. The first kart manufacturer was an American company, Go Kart Manufacturing Co, in 1959, McCulloch was the first company to produce engines for karts. Its first engine, the McCulloch MC-10, was an adapted chainsaw two-stroke engine, later, in the 1960s, motorcycle engines were also adapted for kart use, before dedicated manufacturers, especially in Italy, started to build engines for the sport. The chassis are made of steel tubing, there is no suspension, therefore chassis have to be flexible enough to work as a suspension and stiff enough not to break or give way on a turn. Kart chassis are classified in the USA as Open, Caged, all Commission Internationale de Karting - Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile or CIK-FIA approved chassis are Straight and Open. Open karts have no roll cage, Caged karts have a roll cage surrounding the driver, they are mostly used on dirt tracks. In Straight chassis the driver sits in the center, Straight chassis are used for sprint racing. In Offset chassis the driver sits on the left side, Offset chassis are used for left-turn-only speedway racing. The stiffness of the chassis enables different handling characteristics for different circumstances, typically, for dry conditions a stiffer chassis is preferable, while in wet or other poor traction conditions, a more flexible chassis may work better. The best chassis allow for stiffening bars at the rear, front, braking is achieved by a disc brake mounted on the rear axle. Front disc brakes are used in most shifter kart classes and are popular in other classes, however. Shifter karts have dual master cylinders, one for the front, professionally raced karts typically weigh 165 to 175 lb, complete without driver. Avanti, Tony Kart, Trulli, Birel, CRG, Gillard, Intrepid, Kosmic, Zanardi or FA Kart, emmick, Coyote, Bandit, Shadow, MGM, Titan, PRC and Margay are American companies producing kart chassis. Amusement park go-karts can be powered by 4-stroke engines or electric motors and they are adequate for racing and fun kart applications
23.
Formula Three
–
Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America, F3 is not cheap, but is regarded as a key investment in a young drivers future career. Success in F3 can lead directly to a GP2 seat or even a Formula One test or race seat, Formula Three evolved from postwar auto racing, with lightweight tube-frame chassis powered by 500 cc motorcycle engines. Cooper came to dominate the formula with mass-produced cars, and the income this generated enabled the company to develop into the senior categories, other notable marques included Kieft, JBS and Emeryson in England, and Effyh, Monopoletta and Scampolo in Europe. John Cooper, along with most other 500 builders, decided to place the engine in the middle of the car, the 500cc formula was the usual route into motor racing through the early and mid-1950s. Other notable 500 cc Formula 3 drivers include Stuart Lewis-Evans, Ivor Bueb, Jim Russell, Peter Collins, Don Parker, Ken Tyrrell, from a statistical point of view, Don Parker was the most successful F3 driver. Although coming to motor racing late in life, he won a total of 126 F3 races altogether, and was described by Motor Sport magazine as the most successful Formula 3 driver in history. Although Stirling Moss was already a star by 1953, Parker beat him more than any driver, and was Formula 3 Champion in 1952, again in 1953. He took the title for a time in 1959. In 1954, Parker took on a man named Norman Graham Hill as his mechanic and general assistant. Some years later, now using his name of Graham. Parker retired from Formula Three after the 1959 season, and chose not to move to Formula 2 or Formula 1 because of his age. However, he did race for one season, representing Jaguar in the British Saloon Car Championships. As a retirement gift in 1961, Jaguars Lofty England presented him with a specially-designed 3.8 litre Jaguar Mark 2 and it was claimed to be the fastest Mark 2 Jaguar had built, being tested at 140 mph on the newly opened M4 motorway in 1963. 500cc Formula Three declined at an international level during the late 1950s, although it continued at a level into the early 60s. A one-litre Formula Three category for four-cylinder carburetted cars, with heavily tuned production engines, was reintroduced in 1964 based on the Formula Junior rules and these engines tended to rev very highly and were popularly known as screamers, F3 races tended to involve large packs of slipstreaming cars. The screamer years were dominated by Brabham, Lotus and Tecno, early one-litre F3 chassis tended to descend from Formula Junior designs but quickly evolved. For 1971 new regulations allowing 1600 cc engines with an air intake were introduced
24.
International Formula 3000
–
Formula Two had become too expensive, and was dominated by works-run cars with factory engines, the hope was that Formula 3000 would offer quicker, cheaper, more open racing. The series began as a specification, then tyres were standardized from 1986 onwards, followed by engines. The series ran annually until 2004, and was replaced in 2005 by the GP2 Series, Formula 3000 replaced Formula Two, and was so named because the engines used were limited to 3000cc maximum capacity. Initially, the Cosworth DFV was a choice, having been made obsolete in Formula One by the adoption of 1.5 litre turbocharged engines. The rules permitted any 90-degree V8 engine, fitted with a rev-limiter to keep power output under control, as well as the Cosworth, a Honda engine based on an Indy V8 by John Judd also appeared, a rumoured Lamborghini V8 never raced. In later years, a Mugen-Honda V8 became the thing to have, eclipsing the DFV, costs, not unlike the senior series, were getting out of control. The first chassis from March, AGS and Ralt were developments of their existing 1984 Formula Two designs, although Lolas entry was based on and looked very much like an IndyCar. The form book was rewritten in 1988 with the entry of the ambitious Reynard marque with a new chassis. Dallara briefly tried the series before moving up to Formula One, at least one unraced F3000 chassis existed—the Wagner fitted with a straight-six short-stroke BMW. This was converted into a car, however. The series was not without controversy, definitive rules for the 1985 season did not appear until the championship was well under way. In 1987 questions were asked about the ability of some of the drivers, in 1989 the eligibility of the new Reynard chassis was challenged - it was raced with a different nose to the one that had been crash tested. This season also saw problems with driver changes - the cost of F3000 was escalating to the point that teams were finding it difficult to run drivers for a whole season. A badly implemented two driver changes per car per season rule meant that cars had to sit idle while drivers with budgets could not race them. In 1991 the performance of some Italian teams attracted attention - they had started using Agips jungle juice Formula One fuel, worth an estimated 15 bhp—giving their drivers a significant advantage. Formula 3000 races during the open chassis era tended to be of about 100–120 miles in distance, held at major circuits, the jewel in the crown of the F3000 season was traditionally the Pau Grand Prix street race, rivalled for a few years by the Birmingham round. Most major circuits in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, in 1996, new rules introduced a single engine and chassis, to go along with tyre standardization introduced in 1986. The following year the calendar was combined with that of Formula One, the series grew dramatically through the late nineties, reaching an entry of nearly 40 cars - although this in itself was problematic as it meant many drivers failed to qualify
25.
Hockenheimring
–
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it hosts the German Grand Prix. The circuit has very little change in elevation, the circuit has FIA Grade 1 license. The Hockenheimring was originally built in 1932 using roads in the forest as an alternative to the Wildpark-Circuit in Karlsruhe, the Hockenheimring was used for motorcycle racing and was expanded to be used as test track for Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union in 1936. In 1938 it was renamed the Kurpfalzring and that name was used until 1947, after World War II, former DKW and NSU factory rider and world record setter Wilhelm Herz promoted the track successfully. Grand Prix motorcycle racing events were held, with the German motorcycle Grand Prix alternating between Hockenheim and other tracks, the original circuit was almost eight kilometres long and consisted of two long straights with a long Eastern corner in the forest and a U-turn inside Hockenheim joining them together. In 1965, when the new Autobahn A6 separated the village from the part of the track. After Jim Clark was killed on 7 April 1968 in a Formula 2 racing accident, a small memorial was placed near the first chicane, at the site of his accident. In 1982, another chicane was added at the Ostkurve, after Patrick Depailler was killed there in 1980, and the first chicane was made slower as well. The long track length also meant that a typical Formula One race had only 45 laps, prost ran out at the end of the 1986 race, pushing his McLaren towards the line before giving up. He was placed 3rd when he ran dry and was eventually classified 6th, many problems came to light during the 2000 German Grand Prix, where Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello won from having started 18th on the grid, in changeable weather conditions. All the overtaking moves that took place during the race were in the chicanes of the forest sector, a former Mercedes employee, who had been dismissed, breached the tracks security barriers on the first main straight, showing vulnerable security facilities in the forest. The state government of Baden-Württemberg secured the financing for the redesign by Hermann Tilke for the 2002 German Grand Prix, the stadium section remained mostly intact, despite a new surface and a tighter Turn 1. However, the circuit was shortened, with the long. In an extremely controversial move, the old forest section was torn up and replanted with trees, several drivers and team principals, including Ron Dennis, Jarno Trulli and Juan Pablo Montoya, criticised the changes and stated their preference for the old circuit. The new track has a capacity of 120,000. The complex also features a track for drag racing. The Hockenheim Circuit hosted the German Grand Prix for the first time in 1970 when the F1 drivers decided at the French Grand Prix to boycott the Nürburgring unless major changes were made
26.
1994 French Grand Prix
–
The 1994 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 July 1994 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours near Magny-Cours in France. The 72-lap race was the round of the 1994 Formula One season. It was won by Benetton driver Michael Schumacher, who extended his drivers championship lead to 37 points by taking his sixth victory in seven races for the second highest possible points total. His main rival for the title, Williams driver Damon Hill finished the race in place and was also second in the standings. Gerhard Berger finished in position for Ferrari to complete the podium. Nigel Mansell made his return to Formula One, driving for Williams-Renault in place of David Coulthard and he had left F1 at the end of 1992 to race in IndyCar. Oliver Panis and Gianni Morbidelli collided on lap 29 and this was the only retirement of the season for Panis. Michael Schumacher won the race ahead of Damon Hill and Gerhard Berger, heinz-Harald Frentzen finished fourth, Pierluigi Martini was fifth and Andrea de Cesaris finished sixth. These would prove to be the last world championship points that Martini, lap leaders, Michael Schumacher 65, Damon Hill 7
27.
1994 Portuguese Grand Prix
–
The 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 September 1994 at the Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril. It was the race of the 1994 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Damon Hill driving for the Williams team, David Coulthard finished second in the other Williams, with Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren car. Hills win was his fifth of the season and his third consecutive win having won both the preceding Belgian and Italian Grand Prix, as a consequence of the race, Hill reduced the gap to drivers championship leader Michael Schumacher to one point. In the Constructors Championship, Williams took over the lead from Benetton and this was the last race for David Coulthard of 1994 before Nigel Mansell took his seat for the last 3 races. This race was proved to be the race for Johnny Herbert with the Lotus team. Olivier Panis finished 9th but he was disqualified because of an illegal skidblock wear, on lap 28, David Coulthard was trapped behind by Érik Comas and ran wide onto the marbles. Damon Hill passed him to take the lead and this is the last race to date where there was no former world champion in the field. There were only three former winners, Hill, Berger and Alboreto. Bold text indicates who still has a chance of becoming World Champion
28.
1995 British Grand Prix
–
The 1995 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 1995 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the round of the 1995 Formula One season. The 61-lap race was won by Johnny Herbert for the Benetton team after he started from fifth position, Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a Williams car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Olivier Panis, Mark Blundell, herberts victory was his first in Formula One, and the Benetton teams fifth of the season. The race was dominated, however, by the fight between World Drivers Championship protagonists, Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, four laps later, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, but the two collided and were forced to retire from the race. This promoted Herbert and Coulthard, who were battling for third place, Coulthard passed Herbert, but dropped to third, behind Alesi, after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The Constructors Championship was closer, with Benetton on 48 points leading Ferrari, after a hesitant start to the season, Schumacher had won three of the previous four Grands Prix, and arrived at Silverstone as the man to beat. Hill, on the hand, had won the 1994 British Grand Prix and was eager to repeat the feat in front of his home fans. The McLaren, Jordan, Footwork and Pacific teams also took part in these test sessions, Hill was also under some additional pressure going into the weekend, as his wife, Georgie, was due to give birth to their third child imminently. Morbidelli was kept on as the teams test driver, and later returned to racing action at the Pacific Grand Prix later in the year. Pre-race discussion centred on the following years driver line-up, with Schumacher rumoured to be moving to Ferrari to replace Berger, Hills future was also uncertain, as was his team-mate David Coulthards, due to the McLaren team possessing an option on his services for 1996. Sauber driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was also linked to a vacant position for 1996 in the Williams team. Despite taking a podium finish earlier in the year, Herbert had rarely been close to Schumachers pace and had completed two laps in the two previous Grands Prix. A potential new entry was also being discussed, the Japanese racing car constructor Dome was in the process of building a Formula One car with which to enter the World Championship in 1997, several teams had made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Ferrari made changes to the 412T2 chassiss sidepods to improve airflow around the tyres, team principal Ron Dennis also re-hired experienced designer Steve Nichols, who had worked for the outfit in the 1980s, in the week before the race. Footwork also arrived with revised suspension, whilst the Jordan team ran with brake disc sensors on its car, further down the field, the Forti team introduced the revised version of its FG01 chassis for Roberto Moreno. Lead driver Pedro Diniz had first driven the car in its specification at the preceding French Grand Prix. The revised aerodynamic package included a nose and new sidepods
29.
Australian Grand Prix
–
The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually in Australia currently under contract to host Formula One until 2023. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing held in Australia having been held 79 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985, the race has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship and is held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne. Prior to its inclusion in the World Championship, it was held at a multitude of venues in state of Australia. It was a centrepiece of the Tasman Series in most years between 1964 and 1972 and was a round of the Australian Drivers Championship on many occasions between 1957 and 1983. It became part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985 and was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia, from year to 1995. The Australian Grand Prix is the first round of the Championship, having been the first race of each year, excluding 2006 and 2010, since the event moved to Melbourne. During its years in Adelaide, the Australian Grand Prix was the round of the Championship. As the final round of the season, the Grand Prix hosted a handful of memorable races, most notably the 1986 and 1994 races which saw the 1986 and 1994 World Drivers Championships decided. Frenchman Alain Prost is the driver to win the Australian Grand Prix in both non-championship and World Championship formats, having won the race in 1982,1986. The current naming rights sponsor of the event is Swiss watchmaker Rolex, the most recent race, the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, was won by Sebastian Vettel driving for Ferrari. The Australian Grand Prix is contracted to remain at its current Melbourne location until at least 2023, the inaugural race was won by Arthur Waite in what was effectively an entry supported by the Austin Motor Company, a modified Austin 7. For eight years, races, first called the Australian Grand Prix in 1929 and this was the era of the Australian special, mechanical concoctions of disparate chassis and engine that were every bit as capable as the Grand Prix machines imported from Europe. For all the ingenuity of the early Australian mechanic-racers, Bugattis dominated the results, the last Phillip Island race was in 1935 and the title lapsed for three years. One more race was held, at the Lobethal Circuit near theSouth Australian town of Lobethal in 1939, in the immediate post-war era, racing was sparse with competitors using pre-war cars with supplies cobbled together around the rationing of fuel and tyres. Mount Panorama held the first post-war Grand Prix in 1947, beginning a system between the Australian States, as fostered by the Australian Automobile Association. Grand Prix machinery had already been filtering through in the shape of older Maserati and OSCAs, the end of the Australian specials was coming, but the magnificent Maybach-based series of specials driven exuberantly by Stan Jones would give many hope for the next few years. Jack Brabham took his first of three AGP wins in 1955 at the short Port Wakefield Circuit in South Australia, the race is significant in that Brabham was driving a Bristol powered Cooper T40, the first ever rear-engine car to win the Grand Prix
30.
Damon Hill
–
Damon Graham Devereux Hill, OBE is a British former racing driver. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg and he started racing on motorbikes in 1981, and after minor success moved on to single-seater racing cars. But although he progressed steadily up the ranks to the International Formula 3000 championship by 1989, Hill became a test driver for the Formula One title-winning Williams team in 1992. He was promoted to the Williams race team the year after Riccardo Patreses departure. During the mid-1990s, Hill was Michael Schumachers main rival for the Formula One Drivers Championship and their collision at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill became champion in 1996 with eight wins, but was dropped by Williams for the following season and he went on to drive for the less competitive Arrows and Jordan teams, and in 1998 gave Jordan their first win. Hill retired from racing after the 1999 season and he has since launched several businesses and has made appearances playing the guitar with celebrity bands. In 2006, he became president of the British Racing Drivers Club, Hill stepped down from the position in 2011 and was succeeded by Derek Warwick. He presided over the securing of a 17-year contract for Silverstone to hold Formula One races, Hill currently works as part of the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting team. Hill was born in Hampstead, London, to Graham and Bette Hill, Graham Hill was a racing driver in the international Formula One series. He won the drivers championship in 1962 and 1968 and became a well-known personality in the United Kingdom. Graham Hills career provided a comfortable living, by 1975 the family lived in a 25-room country mansion in Hertfordshire and Damon attended the independent The Haberdashers Askes Boys School. The death of his father in a crash in 1975 left the 15-year-old Hill, his mother. Hill worked as a labourer and a courier to support his further education. Hill is married to Susan George and they have four children, Oliver, Joshua, Tabitha, Oliver was born with Downs syndrome and Hill and Georgie are both patrons of the Downs Syndrome Association. In 2008, Hill also became the first patron of St. Josephs Specialist School and College, Joshua started racing in 2008, competing in the British Formula Renault Championship in 2011. On 9 July 2013 Joshua announced his retirement from motor racing, Hill started his motorsport career in motorcycle racing in 1981. He used the simple, easily identifiable helmet design as his father
31.
Martin Brundle
–
Martin John Brundle is a British racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports from 2012. Brundle contested the 1983 British Formula Three Championship, finishing a second to Ayrton Senna. Brundle failed to win a race at the top level of single seater racing and he was the 1988 World Sportscar Champion, with a record points score, and won the 199024 Hours of Le Mans race for Jaguar Cars in a Jaguar XJR-12. Brundle had a route to Formula One. He began his career at the age of 12, competing in grass track racing. In 1975, he moved to Hot Rod racing and received Star grade status, in 1979, he started single seater racing in Formula Ford. During this time he also raced Tom Walkinshaws BMW touring cars and he won the BMW championship in 1980, and partnered Stirling Moss in the TWR-run BP/Audi team during the 1981 British Saloon Car Championship season. In 1982, he moved up to Formula Three achieving five pole positions and he won the Grovewood Award as the most promising Commonwealth driver. The next year, he competed with Ayrton Senna for the Formula Three championship, in 1984, he was offered a Formula One entry. His Formula One career began with the Tyrrell Racing Organisation in 1984 and he put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race in Brazil and then second in Detroit. While Brundle did recover, the damage would leave him with permanent injuries, preventing him from running, later in the year Tyrrell were disqualified from the World Championship due to a technical infringement and Brundles achievements for that season were wiped from the record books. For the next two seasons he remained with Tyrrell, and despite the switch from the Cosworth DFV to the turbocharged Renault engines in mid-1985. He scored only eight points in his time with Tyrrell, all in the 1986 season. In 1987 he left Tyrrell and moved to the struggling West German team Zakspeed, the Zakspeed 871 car was unable to compete with the front runners. The two points scored by Brundle in 1987 were the points the Zakspeed team scored in their five-year run in Formula One. Ironically, the driver he replaced at Zakspeed, fellow Englishman Jonathan Palmer, four years of Formula One racing for underfunded teams led Brundle to seek a new challenge, and thus in 1988 he took a year out. Brundle had been associated with Jaguar since 1983, when he drove TWR-prepared Jaguar XJS touring cars in the European Touring Car Championship, from his two starts with the Jaguar team Brundle took two victories, the second in partnership with TWR owner Tom Walkinshaw. When Jaguar decided to return to the World Sportscar Championship and the American IMSA championship, in partnership with TWR, the team performed well in the 1988 World Sportscar Championship season, and Brundle won the world sportscar title with a record points haul
32.
Johnny Herbert
–
John Paul Johnny Herbert is a British racing driver. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for 7 different teams and he also raced sports cars winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1991 driving a Mazda 787B. He enjoyed much success in motor racing. During the mid-1980s, Herbert was widely regarded as a man of motor racing. Winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1985, Herbert caught Eddie Jordans attention, Herberts team mate, the highly rated Italian Alessandro Nannini, finished in 6th place,7.7 seconds behind Herbert. Herbert returned to Formula 3000, this time in the highly regarded Japanese series and it wasnt long before he received another call from Formula One racing, this time with Tyrrell. From 1990 to 2000, Herbert was a fixture in Formula One, switching to the dwindling Lotus team, during 1991, he also drove two rounds of the Fuji Long Distance Sports Car Series, co-driving a Mazda 787B, finishing fourth both times. His decision, at the July round, to stop his car and aid a fellow competitor, after 3 years of frustration, Herbert left Lotus in mid-1994, joining Ligier and then Benetton for the last few races of the season. Although he failed to any points in 1994, he was retained as Michael Schumachers team-mate for 1995. At the British Grand Prix, he inherited a hugely popular Grand Prix win after Damon Hill and he followed this in similar circumstances at Monza, finishing 4th in the championship. After being dropped by Benetton, Herbert drove for Swiss team Sauber in 1996–1998, since retiring from Formula One racing, Herbert has concentrated on Sports Cars, trying to repeat his Le Mans 24 Hours overall win of 1991. Recent years have seen him as one of the front runners in the American Le Mans Series, in 2004, Herbert, along with Jamie Davies won the Le Mans Series championship at the wheel of an Audi R8 winning the races at Monza and Spa along the way. In 2005, Herbert was appointed to the post of Sporting Relations Manager at Jordan Grand Prix, however, in September of that year Spyker Cars bought the team, and renamed it Spyker MF1. Another of the new owners decisions was to not renew Herberts contract, in 2007, Herbert entered the Le Mans 24 Hours driving for the factory Aston Martin team at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBR9 in the GT1 class. Herbert, along with Peter Kox and Tomáš Enge drove the 007 numbered car to a 9th placed overall finish, in 2008, Herbert won the first season of the Speedcar Series. In 2009, Herbert made his debut in the British Touring Car Championship for Team Dynamics at the wheel of a Honda Civic at round eight of the championship and he qualified 17th for the first race, and after moving up the order, finished in 13th. In the second race, he finished inside the points in eighth place, in the final race of the day, a reverse starting grid is operated. The first six, seven, eight, nine or ten cars to race two, start race three in reverse order
33.
Eddie Irvine
–
Edmund Eddie Irvine Jr. is a retired British racing driver from Northern Ireland. He was a Formula One driver between 1993 and 2002, and runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He began his career at the age of seventeen when he entered the Formula Ford Championship, achieving success, before progressing to the Formula Three. He made his Formula One debut in 1993 with Jordan Grand Prix and he scored his first podium in 1995 with Jordan, before moving to Ferrari in 1996. His most successful season was in 1999 when he took four victories and he moved to Jaguar Racing in 2000, scoring the teams first podium in 2001 and his final podium in 2002. Irvine retired from motorsport at the end of the 2002 season. Since retiring, Irvine became a personality in Great Britain. He was linked with the takeover of the Jordan and Minardi Formula One teams in 2005, Irvine also expanded his interests in the property market, having built up an investment portfolio during his racing career. Irvine was born on 10 November 1965 in Newtownards, County Down in Northern Ireland, to Edmund Sr. and he grew up in the village of Conlig and was educated at Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards. He has one sister, Sonia, who acted as Irvines physiotherapist until 1999. Irvines first taste of motorsport came when his family spent their holidays attending the British Grand Prix and his father also raced in single-seaters for fun. His childhood hero was countryman John Watson, Irvine began to compete with racing cars in 1983. He was initially interested in racing, but his parents thought the sport too dangerous and was encouraged by his father to race in Formula Ford. Irvine worked unpaid in his fathers scrapyard, in return for which and he won his first race at Brands Hatch in 1984, and an award for best driver. In 1987 he joined the Van Diemen team and won the Esso Formula Ford series, the RAC Formula Ford series, in the winter of 1987, Marlboro organised a test in which the fastest driver would be offered a drive for the following British Formula 3 season. Irvine was that driver and joined West Surrey Racing for 1988 and it was a season without any success and Irvine ended it in fifth place. He raced at the Macau Grand Prix for the first time and started the race from pole position, in 1989 Irvine competed in the International Formula 3000 Championship with Pacific Racing. Irvine finished the season in place, ahead of teammate JJ Lehto in thirteenth
34.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering
–
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
35.
Renault in Formula One
–
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
36.
Benetton Formula
–
Benetton Formula Ltd. commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from 1986 to 2001. The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for the 2000 and 2001 seasons, in 2002 the team became Renault F1. The Benetton Group entered Formula One as a company for Tyrrell in 1983, then Alfa Romeo in 1984 and 1985. Benetton Formula Ltd. was formed at the end of 1985 when the Toleman team was sold to the Benetton family, the team began with BMW engines and then later switched to Ford then Renault and finally Playlife. The team was managed by Flavio Briatore from 1990 until 1997, in about 1991, TWR acquired a one-third stake in the team, bringing in Tom Walkinshaw and Ross Brawn to run the engineering operations. Rocco Benetton, the youngest son of Luciano Benetton joined the team as Chief Executive in 1998 and he replaced him with Prodrive boss David Richards, who lasted only for a year when he too was fired, due to a disagreement with the Benetton family about future strategy. Following Richards departure, Rocco Benetton managed the team for three years until its sale to Renault, the Benetton team is best known for its success with Michael Schumacher, who accounts for 19 of the teams 27 career victories and their 2 drivers championships. After switching to Renault engines, they won the constructors championship in 1995 with Schumacher. After 1995, Schumacher moved to Ferrari along with Ross Brawn, on 16 March 2000, the team was sold to Renault for $120 million US. As part of their restructuring, Renault brought back Flavio Briatore as team manager, the team still used the Playlife engines they had been using for the last two years. The drivers were Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz, the team scored 20 points, as well as 3 podium finishes in 2000 at Brazil, Monaco and Canada. During their final season in 2001 the drivers, Jenson Button and this was in part attributed to the new 111-degree wide angle engine. But continued development allowed Benetton to leave Formula 1 on something of a high, Button and Fisichella scored 10 points for the team, including a podium finish for Fisichella in Belgium. During the 1994 season, some teams claimed Benetton had found a way to violate the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids, including traction control. On investigation, the FIA discovered start sequence software in the Benetton B194 cars, FIA had no evidence the software was ever used, so teams found with the software received little to no punishment. No traction control software was found to be in the Benetton cars, Flavio Briatore, Benettons chief in 1994, said in 2001 that Our only mistake was that at the time we were too young and people were suspicious. During the 1994 season Benetton removed a fuel filter from the rig used during pit stops
37.
Jean Alesi
–
Jean Alesi is a French racing driver of Italian origin. His father, Franco, was a mechanic from Alcamo, Sicily, during his time in Formula One, Alesi was particularly good in the wet, and was a mercurial and passionate racer, whose emotions sometimes got the better of him. After leaving Formula One, from 2002 to 2006 Alesi raced in the DTM championship, winning some races and he raced in the Speedcar Series in 2008 and 2009, and raced at Le Mans in 2010. He raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 2012 and became the oldest professional driver to perform the rookie test for admission to the competition, for several years he was also a commentator for the Italian TV show Pole Position. In 2006 Alesi was awarded Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, giovanni Alesi was born Avignon, Vaucluse, to expatriate Sicilian parents. His father ran an automotive bodywork repair garage in the town, to avert this, they decided to change their names to Jean and José, respectively. In addition to spending time in the garage, Alesis father also provided his first taste of motorsport, being a keen amateur competitor in rallying. He won the 1987 French Formula 3 title before moving up to International Formula 3000 in 1988, the 1988 season was a disappointment, finishing tenth in the championship with two podium finishes, not helped by problems within the team. However, in 1989 he joined the Jordan Formula 3000 team, both crowns were after duels with his rival Érik Comas. In 1989 Alesi tied on points for the F3000 title with Comas and he also raced in the Le Mans 24 hours in the same year, but a fire forced him to retire in the fourth hour of the race. Alesi debuted in the 1989 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard in a Tyrrell-Ford, replacing Michele Alboreto and finishing fourth, Ken Tyrrell was sufficiently impressed to give him an eighteen-month contract. He drove most of the rest of the season for Tyrrell while continuing his successful Formula 3000 campaign, scoring again at the Italian. While Alesi was seen as a talent of the future, his start as a Formula One driver was somewhat fortuitous, prior to the 1989 French Grand Prix, Ken Tyrrell had signed a deal to run Camel cigarette sponsorship on his previously unsponsored cars. However this caused problems for Michele Alboreto who was sponsored by rival cigarette brand Marlboro. The sponsorship clash forced Tyrrell to release Alboreto and find another driver, second place in the Monaco Grand Prix followed the second place gained in Phoenix, and by mid-season, top teams were clamouring for his services in 1991. A very confused situation erupted, with Tyrrell, Williams, the results dropped away during the rest of the 1990 season, and Alesi finished ninth in the championship, with 13 points. There were signs of Alesis talent such as the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where he qualified the under powered Tyrrell in 5th place less than a slower than Sennas pole time. At both the original and re-start, Alesi passed the more powerful V12 Ferrari of reigning World Champion Alain Prost for 3rd place, unfortunately however, this race also showed his relative inexperience when on lap 5 he ended his race by spinning into the barriers at the Rettifilo chicane
38.
United Kingdom
–
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
39.
David Coulthard
–
David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver turned presenter, commentator and journalist. He was runner-up in the 2001 Formula One World Drivers Championship, Coulthard began karting at the age of eleven and achieved early success before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the Formula 3000 series. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 in the 1994 season succeeding the late Ayrton Senna, the following year he won his first Grand Prix in Portugal, and then for the 1996 season he moved to McLaren. After winning two races in the 1997 season, he finished 3rd in the World Drivers Championship in the 1998 season and he won five races throughout 1999 and 2000 before finishing 2nd in the Drivers Championship to Michael Schumacher in 2001. Two more victories followed between 2002 and 2003 before he left McLaren at the end of 2004 and he moved to Red Bull in 2005 and secured their first podium a year later. Coulthard retired from Formula One racing at the end of 2008, after retiring from Formula One Coulthard continued working with Red Bull as a consultant and joined the BBC as a commentator and pundit for their coverage of Formula One. He returned to motorsports in 2010 joining Mücke Motorsport in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Coulthard has also participated in the Race of Champions, finishing runner-up in the Drivers Cup in 2008, since 2016 he has worked as a commentator and analyst for Channel 4 after they took over the BBC’s terrestrial television rights. Coulthard was born on 27 March 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire and his family was connected to motor racing, his grandfather competed in the Monte Carlo Rally and his father drove karts, becoming Scottish National Champion. From an early age motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell, Coulthard was educated at Kirkcudbright Academy, achieving eight O Grades. Coulthard began karting when his father presented him with his first kart for his eleventh birthday, Coulthard graded each race he entered on a scale of 1 to 10, with an additional column headlined Performance. He later gave credit to David Leslie, senior and junior for allowing his career to develop, in 1990, Coulthard travelled to Belgium to compete in the EFDA Nations Cup for Great Britain and was partnered with Nicky Hart, where they finished 9th. During the year, Coulthard was selected by Vauxhall Motorsport to race in an appearance in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. He did not return to the series after suffering a leg injury in a Formula Vauxhall race at Spa-Francorchamps, for 1991, Coulthard signed with Paul Stewart Racing to compete in the British Formula 3 series, taking five victories and finishing second in the Championship behind Rubens Barrichello. Coulthard won the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula Three and he later traveled to the Fuji Speedway to compete in the annual Formula Three Fuji Cup, taking pole position and finished second behind Jordi Gené. In 1992, he moved to the International Formula 3000 series, for 1993, Coulthard joined Pacific Racing, taking one victory and finishing third in the series. He entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside John Nielsen, the trio won the GT Class, although they were later disqualified for a technical infringement. He moved to the Vortex team in 1994, which received investment from a private investor, in his first and only race for the team held at Silverstone, Coulthard finished third
40.
1996 Hungarian Grand Prix
–
The 1996 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 11 August 1996 at the Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Budapest, Hungary. It was the round of the 1996 Formula One season. The 77-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after starting from second position and his team-mate Damon Hill finished second and Jean Alesi was third in a Benetton. This was Williamss fifth 1–2 finish of the season, and it secured their fourth Constructors Championship in five years, bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion. Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
41.
Alain Prost
–
Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion dhonneur is a French former racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers Champion, only Sebastian Vettel, Juan Manuel Fangio, from 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix victories. Schumacher surpassed Prosts total of 51 victories at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, in 1999, Prost received the World Sports Awards of the Century in the motor sport category. Prost discovered karting at the age of 14 during a family holiday and he progressed through motor sports junior ranks, winning the French and European Formula Three championships, before joining the McLaren Formula One team in 1980 at the age of 24. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Prost formed a fierce rivalry mainly with Ayrton Senna, but also Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. In 1986, at the last race of the season, he beat Mansell and Piquet of Williams to the title after Mansell retired late on in the race, and Piquet was pulled in for a late precautionary pit stop. Senna joined Prost at McLaren in 1988 and the two had a series of clashes, including a collision at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix that gave Prost his third Drivers Championship. A year later at the venue they collided again, but this time Prost, driving for Ferrari. Before the end of a winless 1991 season Prost was fired by Ferrari for his criticism of the team. After a sabbatical in 1992, Prost joined the Williams team, with a competitive car, Prost won the 1993 championship and retired from Formula One driving at the end of the year. In 1997, Prost took over the French Ligier team, running it as Prost Grand Prix until it went bankrupt in 2002. From 2003 to 2012 he competed in the Andros Trophy, which is an ice racing championship, taking 38 race victories, Prost employed a smooth, relaxed style behind the wheel, deliberately modeling himself on personal heroes like Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark. He was nicknamed The Professor for his approach to competition. Though it was not a name he particularly cared for, he would later that it was an appropriate summation of his approach to his racing. Skilled at setting up his car for race conditions, Prost would often conserve his brakes and tyres early in a race, Prost had one younger brother called Daniel, who died of cancer in September 1986. Although short, standing at 1.67 m Prost was an active, athletic child, in doing so he broke his nose several times. He considered careers as a gym instructor or a professional footballer before he discovered kart racing at the age of 14 while on a family holiday and this new sport quickly became his career of choice. They have two sons, Nicolas and Sacha Prost, Prost also has a daughter, Victoria
42.
Bridgestone
–
Bridgestone Corporation is a multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a translation and transposition of ishibashi. As of 2015, the company is the largest manufacturer of tires in the world, Bridgestone Group had 141 production facilities in 24 countries as of 2005. The very first Bridgestone tire was produced on 9 April 1930, One year later on 1 March 1931, the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, made the Tabi Socks Tyre Division independent and established the Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd. in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Bridgestone was named after the name of the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, foregoing dependence on European and North American technology, the Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd. set its eyes on manufacturing tires based largely on Japanese technology. The fledgling company experienced many difficulties in the areas of technology, production, eventually, improvements were achieved in quality and manufacturing processes which led to the business rapidly expanding in domestic and overseas markets. Wartime regulations were in effect throughout Japan, and tires also came under the jurisdiction of these regulations and this resulted in nearly all of the companys output being used to satisfy military demand. 1945 saw the end of armed conflict, but the company was devastated by the war, the Tokyo headquarters was destroyed during an aerial bombing raid, and all overseas assets were lost. Fortunately, the plants in Kurume and Yokohama escaped unscathed, brushing aside the problems caused by a labour union strike that lasted for forty-six days, the foundations of the company were further reinforced after this. In 1951, Bridgestone was the first company in Japan to begin selling rayon cord tires, and this year also saw another Bridgestone building opened in Kyōbashi, Tokyo, which contained the Bridgestone Museum. The company issued shares and was listed on the stock exchange in 1961. A new system of administration was ushered in by Shojiro Ishibashi as the chairman, also, additions were built onto the Tokyo plant in 1962 to house the new Technical Centre, and a progressive system of research and development was established. On the product front,1967 saw the sale of the companys first ever radial tire, Bridgestones first overseas plant since the end of the war was opened in Singapore in 1965, and production was also commenced in Thailand in 1969. Its Super Filler Radial was placed on the market in 1978, the company was actively engaged in overseas expansion activities at this time. The founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, died on 11 September 1976, on 1 March 1981, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. New production facilities were established in Thailand, India, Poland, China. The company changed the name from Bridgestone Tyre Co. Ltd. to Bridgestone Corporation in 1984, in 1988, Bridgestone purchased the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio. Placing considerable financial and personnel resources into rebuilding Firestone after the purchase, Bridgestone achieved surplus annual profits for the year 1992 with BFE, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd USA were amalgamated in 1990 and became Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd
43.
1997 Brazilian Grand Prix
–
The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos, Brazil on 30 March 1997. It was the race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position, gerhard Berger finished second for the Benetton team and Prost driver Olivier Panis was third. The Lola team arrived in Brazil still not having received any money from major sponsor MasterCard, already several million dollars in debt, the team returned to base without even completing a lap of the circuit. A few days later, the team withdrew from the championship. Jacques Villeneuve took his third consecutive, and his fifth, pole position after a 1,16.004. Gerhard Berger and Mika Häkkinen completed the second row, the race was red-flagged after several incidents at the original start. As in Australia, Jacques Villeneuve went off the track at the first corner, behind this, an incident involved several drivers including Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jan Magnussen. Irvine took some blame for the incident, additionally, Rubens Barrichellos car failed on the line, and the track blockage was what ultimately caused the red flag. Barrichello took the restart in the spare Stewart, causing Magnussen to miss the race, the race was restarted with all 72 laps still remaining. Villeneuve had a start, as did the rest of the field. At the end of the first lap Villeneuve passed Michael Schumacher to retake the lead, later before the first pit stops Berger would also pass Schumacher down the pit straight into the first corner. Irvine came into the pits mid-race, having suffering from enormous pain due to his belts tightening up in the cockpit. Damon Hill was once affected by reliability issues, his engine failing with four laps remaining. He was running in place at one point, but had slipped down the field before retiring in the pits with an engine bay fire caused by an oil leak. The winner of the race, David Coulthard, was off the pace. Race Note Race stopped after first lap accident and restarted for total original distance, Jan Magnussen did not take the race restart. Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
44.
1997 Argentine Grand Prix
–
The 1997 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 13 April 1997. It was the race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 72-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position, Eddie Irvine finished second for the Ferrari team and Jordan driver Ralf Schumacher came in third. Most of the talk before the grand prix was about Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine, despite going out of business, Lola Team Principal Eric Broadley was confident that the team could be up and running again by the San Marino Grand Prix, albeit with a new main sponsor. The Tyrrell team also caused a stir after arriving at the grand prix with four new wings on the car and they resembled x-wings and this was soon used as their nickname. The practice session bought no surprises with the two Williams cars first and second, as with the practice session, both Williams were once again on the front row, with Jacques Villeneuve on pole. The first real surprise of the weekend was the performance of Olivier Panis in the Prost, another strong performance was the fifth place of Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart. As expected, both McLarens qualified low down the field, complaining of poor handling on the bumpy surface, interestingly, slowest qualifier Pedro Dinizs lap time would have still been comfortably fast enough to have put him on pole for the previous years race. As the red lights went out, Jacques Villeneuve cleanly navigated the first corner, Michael Schumacher almost collided with Panis, but the Frenchman moved off line to drop a few places rather than to collide with the Ferrari. Going into the first corner, Michael Schumacher was alongside his teammate Irvine, however, Michael then understeered and crashed into the back of Barrichellos car causing the Brazilian to spin and getting himself to retire. Barrichello would eventually change his front nose and get going again, but in the melee, Coulthard crashed into the back of Ralf Schumachers Jordan, ripping of his front wheel and putting him out of the race. The track was unpassable with the back of the taking to the grass to get round the incident. At the restart after 4 laps, Villeneuve once again pulled away from Frentzen and Panis, the chance of victory for Prost ended on lap 18, also with throttle problems. On lap 24 the two Jordans collided with Giancarlo Fisichella retiring from the race, hill, who was up to 4th at one point, retired with engine failure on lap 33. Although in the final few laps Irvine closed the gap to Villeneuve, Irvine finished second, the highest finish of his career at that point, with Ralf Schumacher scoring his first podium in third. The talk before the race was on the futures of both Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine, but both were reassured after the race. A strong performance from the German improved the relationship with Williams, on the podium the organisers mistakenly flew the Irish flag instead of the Union Jack, as was usually displayed, for Eddie Irvine. Records, Ralf Schumacher was the youngest ever driver on the podium and this was the 600th Grand Prix in Formula One history
French
Marcel Fässler
