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.