I can explain what Formula 1 is, but to see what this sport is. It'll give you a picture of the complexitites of Formula 1. Thanks to YouTube, this is a video history of the greatest, funniest, and unfortunately tragic moments in Formula 1.
This was a cute video from Canada a few years ago where a groundhog tries to cross the track during a practice session.
Keeping up with the animal theme, former F1 driver and current NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya, talks to his team manager about a deer on the track at Austria in 2001
The next two videos had to do people running onto the track. It isn't funny as much as it's stupid. This happened once in the 70's where a track worker was hit while running across the track trying to attend to a wreck. Both the driver and worker were killed instantly. The first video features a former Mercedes worker protesting the company after he was laid off with the commentary of the legendary Murray Walker of British TV. The second video was of Irish priest Neil Horan, who has interupted numerous sports events with his "message."
Starts at 9:27
ends at 4:00
In one of the greatest races, in Brazil last year, a fierce championship battle pitted Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton for the World Championship. This final race was in Massa's home country of Brazil and even his home track. He was born about 50 feet from the track. For Massa to win the championship, he needed to win and Hamilton needed to finish 6th or worse. In a strange race with weather, it went from sunny to monsoon-like weather to sunny in about 30 seconds at the start and it started to rain at the end of the race. With cars with different strategies and tires, it creates drama in Formula 1. Here is the last lap of this legendary race.
In one of the greatest last lap duels, Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve battle it out for 2nd place in the 1979 French Grand Prix.
In one of the more stranger starts, the teams know rain is coming, but the track is still dry. Only one person, Markus Winkelhock, who drives the very slow Spyker in his home race and in his first start takes the risk and starts with wet tires. This is what makes Formula 1 exciting.
Winkelhock fell back after the safety car and the car eventually broke later on, but in his only Formula 1 race, he was able to lead in front of his home fans and was able to give some hope for the absolute underdog. Also note, during the wrecking in the first turn, the Safety Car has the sense to speed up because it almost got plowed by a spinning Vitantonio Liuzzi.
There are many more great moments, but you can find them out yourself. I decided that there will be a part 3 about the safety and tradegy of Formula 1. I hope to get it posted on Friday for a very special reason. The 15th anniversary of the darkest day in Formula 1, a day that should never be forgotten.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Formula 1: The Most Popular Sport You May Never Seen Part 1
Part 1 is all about an introduction of Formula 1 and the future storylines sourrounding Formula 1. Part 2 will be a video history of some of the greatest, funniest, and sometimes tragic moments in this sport.
NASCAR is easily the most popular and most successful auto racing series in the United States. But what many people don’t know is that Formula 1 racing is one of the most popular and most exciting sports in the world. Formula 1 is a racing organization that schedule races from all around the world. There are no races in the United States (although maybe in 2011). Rumors are that the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) would like to have the race at night on the Las Vegas strip or Times Square. I doubt either happens, but there will probably be a race somewhere in the U.S. There are races in France, England, China, and even on the streets of Monte Carlo. Formula 1 is different than NASCAR because all the cars are different. Teams, or constructors, do their own research to create the best engines and most aerodynamic cars in order to win. Now, the cars are closer together aerodynamically because of lack of testing due to the economy, but there are still ways to gain an advantage. One of which I'll explain later. Some teams spend upwards to $400 million to have 2 competitive cars. Due to the economy, it's inevitable that costs must come down and there's a proposal next season on a cap of all teams to only spend $64 million. This has allowed for the formation of a new team in the United States in 2010. Ken Anderson and Speed F1 Pit Reporter Peter Windsor will form an "All-American" F1 team now called United States Grand Prix Engineering (USGPE), formerly USF1. They claim that except for some parts, the employees and the two drivers will be American.
The lack of American drivers and teams has led to a reason that Formula 1 isn't popular in the United States. Other reasons include that the races are usually shown live between 12 o’clock and 8 o’clock on Sunday mornings in North America. Races are usually shown on tape-delay Sunday afternoon and since there isn’t much TV highlight coverage, ESPN won’t spoil you with the results. Also, Brazil has the same problem with the time of races, but Brazil is one of the countries that have the most Formula 1 fans. Other reasons are that there isn’t a lot of passing because of the technological advances and racing on road courses. Currently the FIA has instituted different wings, tires, and a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that uses wasted energy from the car while under braking and use it as a sort of turbo and get an extra 80 horsepower for 6 seconds per lap, but the system weighs 50 pounds and has had reliability problems. Really there isn't really a need for Formula 1 to have a lot of passing to make it exciting. Because of this, drivers must be able to go all out in every moment of the race and must be able to race in the rain which at times can cause a driver to not be able to see because of the mist. Keep in mind that NASCAR races are about four or five hours and since there are always cautions throughout, there’s no need to take risks until the absolute end of the race. A Formula 1 race only lasts about an hour and a half and there are hardly any cautions, or safety car periods. Add in the lack of passing mentioned earlier and that’s why Formula 1 drivers need to take risks throughout, even when there are dangerous situations like rain or debris. When there’s debris, like a broken wing or part, on the track and you run over it and blow a tire or crash in Formula 1, it’s your own fault. The FIA will not stop the race to remove the debris, unlike NASCAR. Formula 1 has track marshals that remove the debris when there are no cars near. There’s also always a points battle because of how points are awarded. The points are awarded 1st-10, 2nd-8, 3rd-6, 4th-5, 5th-4, 6th-3, 7th-2, and 8th-1. It goes the same for drivers and constructors. A constructor has 2 identical cars and drivers and the drivers points get added to for the constructor points.
Here is a list of drivers and constructors:
# Driver (Country) Constructor (Country)
#1 Lewis Hamilton (Great Britan) Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes (GBR)
#2 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes (GBR)
#3 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (ITA)
#4 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (ITA)
#5 Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber F1 Team (GER)
#6 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber F1 Team (GER)
#7 Fernando Alonso (Spain) ING Renault F1 Team (FRA)
#8 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brazil) ING Renault F1 Team (FRA)
#9 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Panasonic Toyota Racing (JPN)
#10 Timo Glock (Germany) Panasonic Toyota Racing (JPN)
#11 Sebastien Bourdais (France) Scuderia Toro Rosso (ITA)
#12 Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Scuderia Toro Rosso (ITA)
#14 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull Racing (AUT)
#15 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull Racing (AUT)
#16 Nico Rosberg (Germany) AT&T Williams (GBR)
#17 Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) AT&T Williams (GBR)
#20 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India F1 Team (IND)
#21 Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India F1 Team (IND)
#22 Jenson Button (Great Britain) Brawn GP F1 Team (GBR)
#23 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn GP F1 Team (GBR)
A couple of sites I recommend in finding out more about Formula 1 http://www.formula1.com/ and the highly detailed and accurate Wikipedia entries on Formula 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_1. Part 2 will be posted sometime in the next week.
NASCAR is easily the most popular and most successful auto racing series in the United States. But what many people don’t know is that Formula 1 racing is one of the most popular and most exciting sports in the world. Formula 1 is a racing organization that schedule races from all around the world. There are no races in the United States (although maybe in 2011). Rumors are that the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) would like to have the race at night on the Las Vegas strip or Times Square. I doubt either happens, but there will probably be a race somewhere in the U.S. There are races in France, England, China, and even on the streets of Monte Carlo. Formula 1 is different than NASCAR because all the cars are different. Teams, or constructors, do their own research to create the best engines and most aerodynamic cars in order to win. Now, the cars are closer together aerodynamically because of lack of testing due to the economy, but there are still ways to gain an advantage. One of which I'll explain later. Some teams spend upwards to $400 million to have 2 competitive cars. Due to the economy, it's inevitable that costs must come down and there's a proposal next season on a cap of all teams to only spend $64 million. This has allowed for the formation of a new team in the United States in 2010. Ken Anderson and Speed F1 Pit Reporter Peter Windsor will form an "All-American" F1 team now called United States Grand Prix Engineering (USGPE), formerly USF1. They claim that except for some parts, the employees and the two drivers will be American.
The lack of American drivers and teams has led to a reason that Formula 1 isn't popular in the United States. Other reasons include that the races are usually shown live between 12 o’clock and 8 o’clock on Sunday mornings in North America. Races are usually shown on tape-delay Sunday afternoon and since there isn’t much TV highlight coverage, ESPN won’t spoil you with the results. Also, Brazil has the same problem with the time of races, but Brazil is one of the countries that have the most Formula 1 fans. Other reasons are that there isn’t a lot of passing because of the technological advances and racing on road courses. Currently the FIA has instituted different wings, tires, and a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that uses wasted energy from the car while under braking and use it as a sort of turbo and get an extra 80 horsepower for 6 seconds per lap, but the system weighs 50 pounds and has had reliability problems. Really there isn't really a need for Formula 1 to have a lot of passing to make it exciting. Because of this, drivers must be able to go all out in every moment of the race and must be able to race in the rain which at times can cause a driver to not be able to see because of the mist. Keep in mind that NASCAR races are about four or five hours and since there are always cautions throughout, there’s no need to take risks until the absolute end of the race. A Formula 1 race only lasts about an hour and a half and there are hardly any cautions, or safety car periods. Add in the lack of passing mentioned earlier and that’s why Formula 1 drivers need to take risks throughout, even when there are dangerous situations like rain or debris. When there’s debris, like a broken wing or part, on the track and you run over it and blow a tire or crash in Formula 1, it’s your own fault. The FIA will not stop the race to remove the debris, unlike NASCAR. Formula 1 has track marshals that remove the debris when there are no cars near. There’s also always a points battle because of how points are awarded. The points are awarded 1st-10, 2nd-8, 3rd-6, 4th-5, 5th-4, 6th-3, 7th-2, and 8th-1. It goes the same for drivers and constructors. A constructor has 2 identical cars and drivers and the drivers points get added to for the constructor points.
Here is a list of drivers and constructors:
# Driver (Country) Constructor (Country)
#1 Lewis Hamilton (Great Britan) Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes (GBR)
#2 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes (GBR)
#3 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (ITA)
#4 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (ITA)
#5 Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber F1 Team (GER)
#6 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber F1 Team (GER)
#7 Fernando Alonso (Spain) ING Renault F1 Team (FRA)
#8 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brazil) ING Renault F1 Team (FRA)
#9 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Panasonic Toyota Racing (JPN)
#10 Timo Glock (Germany) Panasonic Toyota Racing (JPN)
#11 Sebastien Bourdais (France) Scuderia Toro Rosso (ITA)
#12 Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Scuderia Toro Rosso (ITA)
#14 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull Racing (AUT)
#15 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull Racing (AUT)
#16 Nico Rosberg (Germany) AT&T Williams (GBR)
#17 Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) AT&T Williams (GBR)
#20 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India F1 Team (IND)
#21 Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India F1 Team (IND)
#22 Jenson Button (Great Britain) Brawn GP F1 Team (GBR)
#23 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn GP F1 Team (GBR)
A couple of sites I recommend in finding out more about Formula 1 http://www.formula1.com/ and the highly detailed and accurate Wikipedia entries on Formula 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_1. Part 2 will be posted sometime in the next week.
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