FORMULA ONE FAQ
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This version was most recently updated on March 31, 1997.
The following list of Frequently Asked Questions has been put
together with the help many people and their input is greatly
appreciated. All contributors are acknowledged at the end of
this FAQ and sections which are substantially the work of one
person are denoted with that persons initials.
This FAQ is a work in progress and further submissions in the
way of questions and/or answers are encouraged. You can e-mail
me, Mitchell McCann, at mitchmcc@ultranet.com
Please note that there is also a r.a.s.* FAQ by Andrew Henry
which contains a lot of information that is of interest to F1
fans. Unfortunately, that FAQ is no longer being updated so some
of the information may be dated but it is still well worth
reading.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 1997 F1 schedule
1.2 What is Formula One? What is the FIA? What is FOCA?
2. THE TEAMS
2.1 Benetton
2.2 Ferrari
2.3 Jordan
2.4 Lola
2.5 McLaren
2.6 Minardi
2.7 Prost
2.8 Sauber
2.9 Stewart
2.10 TWR Arrows
2.11 Tyrrell
2.12 Williams
3. THE DRIVERS
3.1 Jean Alesi
3.2 Rubens Barrichello
3.3 Gerhard Berger
3.4 David Coulthard
3.5 Pedro Diniz
3.6 Giancarlo Fisichella
3.7 Heinz-Harald Frentzen
3.8 Mika Hakkinen
3.9 Johnny Herbert
3.10 Damon Hill
3.11 Eddie Irvine
3.12 Ukyo Katayama
3.13 Nicola Larini
3.14 Jan Magnussen
3.15 Shinji Nakano
3.16 Olivier Panis
3.17 Ricardo Rosset
3.18 Mika Salo
3.19 Michael Schumacher
3.20 Ralf Schumacher
3.21 Vincenzo Sospiri
3.22 Jarno Trulli
3.23 Jos Verstappen
3.24 Jacques Villeneuve
4. THE RULES
4.1 How many points are scored for a win?
4.2 Is that a brake light on the back of the cars?
4.3 The start.
4.4 The finish.
4.5 What is the safety car for?
4.6 What is a stop-go penalty?
4.7 What do the different colored flags mean?
4.8 Is mid-race re-fueling allowed?
4.9 What is the 107% rule?
5. THE CARS
5.1 Why V10 engines?
5.2 How big are the engines?
5.3 How much does a car weigh?
5.4 What is the tub made of?
5.5 How many gears do the cars have?
5.6 Interesting engine facts.
5.7 What are those red boxes on the Williams' mirror.
6. MISCELLANEOUS
6.1 What happens during a pit-stop?
6.2 Sponsorship.
6.3 What's the difference between F1 and Indy?
6.4 How many teams are there?
6.5 What is the connection between Ford and Cosworth?
6.6 What radio frequencies do the teams use?
6.7 How can you tell team-mates apart?
6.8 Why is Frank Williams in a wheelchair?
6.9 What's the best Formula One movie ever made?
6.10 What happened at Imola in 1994?
6.11 How can you tell team-mate's apart?
7. NETIQUETTE
8. WEB SITES
9. TICKET INFORMATION
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 1997 schedule
Date Grand Prix of City Winner
March 9 Australia Melbourne Coulthard
March 30 Brazil Sao Paulo Villeneuve
April 13 Argentina Buenos Aires
April 27 San Marino Imola
May 11 Monaco Monaco
May 25 Spain Barcelona
June 15 Canada Montreal
June 29 France Magny-Cours
July 13 Britain Silverstone
July 27 Germany Hockenheim
August 10 Hungary Budapest
August 24 Belgium Spa-Francorchamps
September 7 Italy Monza
September 21 Austria Zeltweg
September 28 Luxembourg Nuerburgring
October 12 Japan Suzuka
October 26 Portugal Estoril
1.2 What is Formula One? What is the FIA? What is FOCA? [AH]
FIA politics is really grungy stuff.
The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) is the
governing and sanctioning body for the FIA World Driver's
Championship, which is run to a set of technical and procedural
regulations and specifications known as Formula One. The FIA's
competition committee, which consists of representatives of the
motor sport organizing bodies of the member countries (eg ACCUS
represents the US, the RAC represents the UK, the FFSA
represents France), sets the F1 regulations, interprets them,
and judges any appeals or disputes.
The Formula One Constructor's Association (FOCA) is an
organization of the chassis builders (constructors) who design
and build the cars that race in the F1 Grands Prix. Since the
rules these days say that a constructor can supply cars to only
one team, constructor and team are more or less synonymous.
Max Mosley (son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley) is the
president of the FIA and is in charge of its day-to-day
operations. Bernie Ecclestone, who used to own and manage the
Brabham F1 team, is the president of the FOCA and also the
vice-president of marketing for the FIA. Originally, all the F1
Grands Prix were independent events, independently financed and
organized within their host countries. The FIA merely set the
technical regulations for F1, and designated certain Grands Prix
to be the qualifying rounds for the Driver's and Constructor's
Championships. Up until sometime in the 1970s, there were other
Grands Prix held besides those races included in the FIA
Championship. But the idea of non-Championship Grands Prix died
out as it became more and more expensive to hold F1 events. As
time went by, the Constructor's Association (FOCA) took on a
bigger and bigger role in the business side of Grand Prix
racing. They organized and coordinated the sponsorship of the
events, sold the television rights, and did the logistics and
financing of moving the Grand Prix `circus' from country to
country.
Then, in the late 1970s, Jean-Marie Balestre was elected as head
of the Committee du Sport Internationale (CSI), the committee of
the FIA directly involved in supervising F1. He decided that the
FIA should take back more control over the sport. When he tried
to impose his will autocratically, Bernie Ecclestone and the
other constructors in FOCA resisted. There was a big power
struggle between FISA (Federation Internationale du Sport
Automotive, Balestre's new name for the CSI) and FOCA in the
early 1980s. Some Grands Prix got cancelled or had their
championship status stripped as a result. In the end, FISA and
the FIA won out over the FOCA, mainly, I think, because the
teams were not unanimously behind the FOCA (not all constructors
were FOCA members), and because the sponsors, race organizers,
and others involved in Grand Prix racing prevailed on both sides
to settle things amicably. But for a while, the FOCA was talking
about forming a new F1 championship series comprising the races
that it organized, while the FIA of course was threatening to
refuse sanctioning for those races. There almost were two `World
Championship' series. Later on, Bernie Ecclestone was appointed
marketing director for the FIA, but he still retains his
presidency of FOCA. So Bernie is still in charge of the
organizational and financial side of Grand Prix racing, but now
officially as part of the FIA instead of in an independent
organization.
The agreement between FISA and FOCA over control of F1 is called
the Concorde Agreement. Among other things, it says that except
in the case of emergencies, changes to technical regulations
must be announced two years in advance of the date of adoption,
unless all constructors agree unanimously to adopt the
regulations earlier. This came up in 1994 because Max Mosley
wanted to introduce several major technical changes in the wake
of a series of fatal and near-fatal accidents in F1. He made
these changes without the unanimous agreement called for by the
Concorde Agreement, by claiming that this was an emergency
situation.
So Max Mosley, as FIA president, is responsible for setting
rules and policy for F1, but he's limited by the Concorde
Agreement in how quickly and how far he can push things his way.
Since Bernie Ecclestone still controls the purse strings for
Grand Prix racing, he still carries a lot of clout. As for `can
somebody take it away', the FIA president is elected by the
representatives from the member countries. When Max Mosley's
current term is up, he could be voted out. Similarly, I think
that the constructors could oust Ecclestone if they wanted to.
2. THE TEAMS
2.1 Benetton
Engine: Renault RS9
Nationality: Italian (nominally British until '96)
Key personnel: Flavio Briatore - Managing Director
Year formed: 1970 - Toleman
Formula 1 debut: 1981
1996 car/drivers: B196 - Alesi, Berger
1997 car/drivers: B197 - Alesi, Berger
Address: Benetton Formula Ltd.
Whiteways Technical Centre
Enstone, Chipping Norton
Oxfordshire OX8 6XZ
U.K.
Benetton entered Formula 1 as a sponsor of the Tyrrell team in
1983 and then Alfa Romeo in '84 and '85. On January 1st 1986
they made the leap from sponsorship to ownership, buying the
Toleman team and moving into their premises in Witney in
England.In their first season they achieved two poles, one
victory (Berger at the Mexican GP) and 6th place in the
constructor's championship and they have improved steadily ever
since.
From '87 - '90 they finished 5th, 3rd, 4th and 3rd in the
championship. In '91 Schumacher made his F1 debut and was signed
to a full time ride in '92 partnered by Martin Brundle.
Schumacher and Benetton finished their respective championships
in 3rd. They could not improve on their performance in '93 but
by '94 Schumacher had become a force to be reckoned with and he
took the driver's championship in controversial fashion at the
end of a controversial season. In 95 Benetton completed the
sweep of driver's and constructor's championships with relative
ease. 96 was a disappointing year with design problems, engine
failure and lack-lustre driving performances leaving the team
without a victory and only third place in the constructor's
championship.
2.2 Ferrari
Engine: Ferrari
Nationality: Italian
Key personnel: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo - Chairman
Jean Todt - Sport Director
Ross Braun - Technical director
Year formed: 1929
Formula 1 debut: 1950
1996 car/drivers: F310 - Schumacher, Irvine
1997 car/drivers: F310B - Schumacher, Irvine
Address: Ferrari SpA
Casella Postale 589
Via Emilia 1163
I-41100 Maranello (Modena)
Italy
Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, Ferrari is the oldest team in
F1 and the only one to have raced since the beginning of F1 in
1950. Scuderia Ferrari was initially formed as an
engineering-racing division of Alfa Romeo for whom Ferrari had
worked since 1920. Ferrari abandoned the Alfa connection in 1940
and after the war began designing and building the very first
Ferrari. In 1969 Fiat bought a 50% stake in the company and
became majority shareholder in 1988.
From 1950 - 1995, 86 drivers have driven for Ferrari, 31 winning
at least 1 GP, for a total of 105 victories, 114 pole positions,
9 driver's titles and 8 constructor's titles (since '58) - all
records.
Driver's titles went to: Ascari (52, 53), Fangio (56), Hawthorn
(58), P.Hill(61), Surtees (64), Lauda (75, 77) and Schekter
(79). Winningest drivers are: Lauda 15, Ascari 13, Ickx 6,
Villeneuve 6, Berger 5, Prost 5, Reutemann 5.
Ferrari won the constructor's championship in: 61, 64, 75, 76,
77, 79, 82 and 83.
Michael Schumacher's recruitment for the 1996 season seemed to
rejuvinate the team and, after a string of embarrassing
mechanical failures, the team managed three victories and 2nd
place in the constructor's championship.
Official Ferrari Home Page (Italian)
Official Ferrari Home Page (English)
2.3 Jordan
Engine: Peugeot
Nationality: Irish
Key personnel: Owner - Eddie Jordan
Chief Designer - Gary Anderson
Year formed: 1980
Formula 1 debut: 1991
1996 car/drivers: 196 - Barrichello, Brundle
1997 car/drivers: 197 - Fisichella, R.Schumacher
Address: Jordan Grand Prix
Silverstone Circuit
Towcester
Northamptonshire NN12 8TN
Eddie Jordan raced in karts, FF1600, Formula Atlantic, F3 and F2
and was a test driver for McLaren before establishing Eddie
Jordan Racing in 1980 initially to support his own racing
career. He retired from driving in 1981 to concentrate on
running the team. He signed David Sears to drive a Ralt-Toyota
in the 1981 British F3 series. The team started its first event
from the front row and ended up on the rostrum after finishing
second.
Between 1981 and 1989 the team ran several F3 cars in Britain,
Europe, France and in 1985 they also began competing in the
newly created F3000. During these years many drivers took a seat
in Jordan cars including Martin Brundle, Stefan Johansson, David
Hunt, Johnny Herbert, Jean Alesi and a first F3 test for Ayrton
Senna in August '82. The Jordan team was a consistent race
winner and narrowly missed out on the Championships before
securing the F3 title in 1987 with Herbert winning 5 races. They
won the F3000 championship in 1989 with Alesi beating out
Herbert.
As the move towards F1 gathered pace, Jordan concentrated his
efforts solely on F3000 in 1990, running three Mugen powered
Reynards for Eddie Irvine, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Emanuele
Naspetti. Irvine was the dominant of the three gaining 3rd place
in the championship with a race win at Hockenheim. Jordan was
still active in F3000 in 1991 with the two-car Team Barclay EJR
though an uncompetitive chassis prevented Damon Hill and
Vincenzo Sospiri from achieving better results than a 2nd at
Hockenheim (Sospiri) a third place at Nogard (Hill).
The fledgling F1 team however were to prove the success story of
the motorsport year. Jordan Grand Prix took the F1 establishment
by surprise in 1991 finishing an unprecedented 5th in the
Constructor's championship in their first season.
1992 was to be a frustrating year and the team only scored one
championship point at the final race in Adelaide. It was
announced at the Australian GP that Jordan had signed an
exclusive agreement with Brian Hart for the supply of his new
V10 engine for the 93 and 94 seasons. A few weeks later Rubens
Barrichello was signed to the team. The team did not score
points in 93 until the penultimate round in Japan with
Barrichello finishing 5th followed by F1 newcomer Eddie Irvine
making his GP debut.
The team was much improved in 94 retaining both drivers and
engine partner. Despite Irvine's three race ban for his
involvement in the incident at the Brazilian GP, the team
finished the year with 28 points, 5th place in the constructors,
a rostrum finish and a pole position - both courtesy of
Barrichello.
In October 94 Jordan announced that they had signed a three year
exclusive engine deal with Peugeot. The team maintained the same
driver line-up but the team did not live up to their promise
scoring just two rostrum finishes - 2nd and 3rd at the Canadian
GP. The same driver line-up was again announced for '96 but just
one week later Eddie Irvine was lured away by Ferrari - Jordan
receiving several million in compensation from the Italian team.
Martin Brundle has returned to the Jordan team taking Irvine's
place. Entering the season with high expectations, 96 turned out
to be a big disappointment. The Peugeot was rumored to be one
of the best engines but the chassis handled badly and both
drivers complained about it for pretty much the entire season.
Neither driver was retained for 97!
Jordan Grand Prix
2.4 Lola [MJ]
Engine: Ford EC4
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Eric Broadley
Year formed: 1959 (?)
Formula 1 debut: 1962
1996 car/drivers: None
1997 car/drivers: T97/30 - Rosset, Sospiri
Address: Lola Cars Ltd
Glebe Road
St Peter's Hill
Huntingdon
Cambs. PE18 7DS
U.K.
Lola cars have competed in F1 on and off (mostly off) since 1962,
when Bowmaker Racing commissioned Eric Broadley to design the Mk
4 for their use. The cars had limited success through 1963.
Lola reappeared in 1974 with the T370 built for Graham Hill's
Embassy Racing Team; the cars were rather slow, and Hill moved on
to his own GH1 chassis (with, however, enough Lola content to be
initially tagged 'Lola T371') during 1975.
In '85 and '86 they nominally took part in conjunction with Team
Haas. Carl Haas, who organized the effort, was (at the time and
until quite recently) the US importer for Lola cars. The design
was done by ex-Williams man Neil Oatley; construction and team
management were handled by Formula One Race Car Engineering
(FORCE - owned by Teddy Mayer and Tyler Alexander, late of
McLaren). I'd say the use of the Lola name was an irrelevancy
driven by Haas' desire to have a tie-in with his other business.
From 87 until '91 they teamed up with Larousse and Ford,
then Lambourghini, then Ford again. They took a year off in 92
before returning for one season in '93 with BMS Scuderia Italia,
Ferrari engines and Alboreto and Badoer driving. Since then they
have concentrated on their Indy chassis and 1997 marked their
very brief return to F1. After just one race, in which they
failed to qualify, they have pulled out for at least the rest of
the season due to "financial and technical reasons" believed to
be mainly the fact that the promised Mastercard sponsorship did
not produce enough money.
2.5 McLaren
Engine: Mercedes
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Managing Director - Ron Dennis
Chief Designer - Neil Oatley
Year formed: 1963 - Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.
Formula 1 debut: 1966 - Monaco
1996 car/drivers: MP4/11 - Coulthard, Hakkinen
1997 car/drivers: MP4/12 - Coulthard, Hakkinen
Address: McLaren International Ltd.
Woking Business Park
Albert Drive
Woking, Surrey GU 21 5JY
U.K.
Bruce McLaren founded the team that bears his name in 1963.
Their F1 debut came in 1966 and their first GP win was in 1968
in Belgium with Bruce himself at the wheel. Bruce McLaren died
in 1970 while testing a Can-Am sportscar at Goodwood. Having
signed up with Marlboro in '74, a partnership that persists to
this day, McLaren won driver (Fittipaldi) and constructor's
championships and then the driver's championship again in '76
(Hunt).
In 1980, at the urging of mutual sponsor Marlboro, the team
merged with Ron Dennis' Project Four to form McLaren
International (The MP4 in the car designation stands for
Marlboro Project Four). In '84, switching from Ford to Porsche
TAG, McLaren again won both driver's and constructor's
championships with Lauda beating Prost to the driver's title by
half a point. This marked the beginning of McLaren's domination
of F1 which was to last through the 91 season. Switching to
Honda in 1988, they won constructor's championships in 84, 85,
88, 89, 90 and 91. They were equally successful in the driver's
championship winning in 85 and 86 (Prost), 88 (Senna), 89
(Prost), 90 and 91 (Senna). Due to this long period of almost
complete dominance, McLaren is second only to Ferrari with 104
GP wins, 7 constructor's titles and 9 driver's titles.
Despite switching engines in 93 (Ford), 94 (Peugeot) and 95
(Mercedes), McLaren has not been able to re-create this success
and has not won a GP since 1993. They finished 95 and 96 in
fourth place but by the end of 96 they did seem to be making
some progress. Hakkinen began appearing on the podium regularly
towards the end of the season and they might have even won a
race had the pace car not ruined their one-stop strategy at Spa.
With the continuity of drivers and engines for 97, McLaren could
take some steps back towards the front of the pack.
McLaren Home Page
2.6 Minardi
Engine: Ford
Nationality: Italian
Key personnel: Owners - Flavio Briatore
- Gian Carlo Minardi
- Giuseppe Lucchini
Technical director - Mauro Gennari
Year formed: 1974
Formula 1 debut: 1985
1996 car/drivers: M195B- Fisichella, Lamy, Lavaggi,
Marques
1997 car/drivers: M197 - Katayama, Trulli
Address: Minardi Scuderia Italia
Via Spallanzani 21
Faenza (RA)
Italy
Based on the experience accumulated in motor racing with the
'Scuderia del Passatore' in 1972 and "Scuderia Everest' in 1974
Gian Carlo Minardi felt capable of constructing his own cars and
in 1979 he founded the Minardi team in association with Piero
Mancini and Giacomo Caliri. The first Minardi F2 cars, equipped
with BMW engines, got good results such as Alboreto's win at
Misano. In 1985 Minardi entered F1 with a car driven by
Pierluigi Martini and powered by a Motori Moderni turbo engine.
In 1986 a big jump was foreseen and the signing of qualified
drivers such as Andrea de Cesaris and Alessandro Nannini
testified to that. Unfortunately the sophisticated technology of
the turbo engines and reliability problems didn't allow the
achievement of significant results. In 1988 Minardi switched to
Ford Cosworth engines and signed Spanish drivers Luis Sala and
Adrian Campos. After the Canadian GP, Campos retired and was
replaced by Martini who scored Minardi's first championship
point with 6th place in Detroit.
In 1989 Martini and Sala scored top six finishes and Martini
started third on the grid twice. In 1990 Sala was replaced by
Paolo Barilla. The high point of the season, during which
Minardi did not score any points, was Martini's front row start
at the U.S. GP. In 1991 Minardi adopted the V12 Ferrari engine
and after struggling with it at the beginning of the season
finished 7th in the constructor's championship. In 92 they
switched drivers and engines going with the Lamborghini V12 and
Gianni Morbidelli and Christian Fittipaldi but scored only one
point. 93 was a slightly better year with Fittipaldi and
Fabrizio Barbazza both scoring points to give Minardi 8th place
in the constructor's championship.
In 1994 Minardi merged with the Scuderia Italia to form the
current team - Minardi Scuderia Italia. Powered by a Ford HB
engine and driven by Martini and Michele Alboreto the team
scored 5 points finishing 10th. 1995 represented another step
backwards with the driver combination of Martini, Badoer and
Lamy scoring just one point. 96 was no better and they were
forced to take on rent-a-driver Giovanni Lavaggi for several
races. On the bright side, Flavio Briatore has taken a financial
stake in the team and it remains to be seen how his influence
will affect the team.
Minardi Home Page
2.7 Prost
Engine: Honda
Nationality: French
Key personnel: Owner - Alain Prost
Technical Director - Andre de Cortanze
Year formed: 1969 (Ligier)
Formula 1 debut: 1976 (Ligier)
1996 car/drivers: JS43 - Diniz, Panis
1997 car/drivers: JS45 - Nakano, Panis
Address:
Technopole de la Nievre
58470 Magny Cours
France
As part of an effort to field an all-French team, Alain Prost
early in 1997 completed the purchase of the Ligier team for $30
million. They will continue to use the Mugen Honda engine for
this season but will take over the very promising Peugeot works
deal from Jordan for 1998. It is thought that this development
may prompt Michelin to make a return to F1.
2.8 Sauber
Engine: Ferrari V10 (badged as Petronas)
Nationality: Swiss
Key personnel: Owner - Peter Sauber
Chief Designer - Leo Ress
Year formed: 1968
Formula 1 debut: 1993
1996 car/drivers: C15 - Frentzen, Herbert
1997 car/drivers: C16 - Herbert, Larini
Address: Wildbachstrasse 9
CH-8340 Hinwil
Switzerland
1968 Founding of PP Sauber AG
1977 First start for a Sauber (C5) at the 24 Hours if Le Mans.
1984 Sauber and Mercedes-Benz commence motorsport co-operation.
1986 Sauber cars start five rounds of the Sports Car World
Championship; Sauber C8 wins Nurburgring 1000km race.
1988 Sauber cars win 5 out of 10 WSC races and the team finishes
second in the Team's World Championship.
1989 Sauber C9 "Silver Arrows" secure WSC Championship and
Teams' World Championship after taking 7 victories in eight
races (three double wins); Sauber C9s finish 1st, 2nd and
5th at Le Mans.
1990 Sauber C11 secures WSC Drivers' and Teams' titles for the
2nd consecutive year.
1992 February 4; Sauber announces commencement of F1 project.
1993 Sauber finishes in 7th place in the F1 Constructors'
championship.
1994 Sauber finishes in 8th place in the F1 Constructors'
championship.
1995 Sauber finishes in 7th place in the F1 Constructors'
championship.
2.9 Stewart
Engine: Ford
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Jackie Stewart
Year formed: 1997
Formula 1 debut: 1997
1996 car/drivers: N/A
1997 car/drivers: SF1 - Barrichello, Magnussen
Address: Stewart Grand Prix
16 Tanners Drive
Blakelands
Milton Keynes MK14 5BW
U.K.
2.10 TWR Arrows
Engine: Yamaha
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Tom Walkinshaw - owner
Year formed: 1977
Formula 1 debut: 1978
1996 car/drivers: FA17 - Rosset, Verstappen
1997 car/drivers: FA18 - Diniz, Hill
Address: TWR Leafield
Leafield
Nr. Shipton-upon-Witchwood
Oxfordshire, UK
Founded in 1977 by Jackie Oliver and Alan Rees, Arrows is
currently the oldest F1 team never to have a won a GP. Their
most successful season was 1988 when Eddie Cheever and Derek
Warwick took them to 5th place in the constructor's
championship.
In 1989 the team was bought by the Japanese courier company
Footwork. In 94 following Footwork's financial problems, Oliver
and Rees regained control of the team although the Footwork name
lingered on (as far as the car designation is concerned) due to
FOCA rules which meant that the team would have lost their
travel money from FOCA if they had switched names - this rule
could have been waived with the consent of all the teams but Ron
Dennis and at least one other refused to sign off on the waiver.
In 1996, having been unable to gain full control of Ligier, Tom
Walkinshaw bought the Arrows team bringing in many of his TWR
people from Ligier. The name of the TEAM has been changed to TWR
Arrows but the car is still designated as a Footwork.
In September, after Williams announced that they would not
retain Damon Hill, Arrows made the shock announcement that they
had secured the World Champions services for 1997. With a new
driver, engine supplier and tyre supplier, TWR Arrows looks set
to improve considerably on last years uninspiring 9th place
performance.
2.11 Tyrrell
Engine: Yamaha Judd
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Chairman - Ken Tyrrell
MD (Commercial) - Bob Tyrrell
MD (Engineering) - Harvey Postlethwaite
Year formed: 1968
Formula 1 debut: 1968
1996 car/drivers: 024 - Katayama, Salo
1997 car/drivers: 025 - Salo, Verstappen
Address: Long Reach
Ockham
Woking, Surrey GU23 6PE
Founded by Ken Tyrrell and owned by the Tyrrell family, the
Tyrrell Racing Organization history in F1 goes back to 1968
when it first entered the championship using Ford Cosworth
powered Matras. After winning both championships in 1969, with
Matra and Jackie Stewart, construction began on the first
Tyrrell GP car which made its debut at the 1970 Canadian GP. In
the next year, 1971, Tyrrell cars clinched the Constructor's
Championship and finished 1st and 3rd in the Driver's
Championship. Tyrrell has won a total of two Constructor's and
three Driver's titles as well as the 1987 Drivers and
Constructor's titles for normally aspirated cars.
2.12 Williams
Engine: Renault RS9
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Frank Williams - Owner
Patrick Head - Technical Director
Adrian Newey - Chief Designer
Year formed: 1977
1996 car/drivers: FW18 - Hill, Villeneuve
1997 car/drivers: FW19 - Frentzen, Villeneuve
Formula 1 debut: 1977
Address: Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd.
Grove
Wantage OX12 0DQ
U.K.
Frank Williams began his Formula 1 career in 1969 at the age of
27 with his close friend Piers Courage and a private Brabham.
They finished 8th overall in the Driver's Championship. Courage
died the next year at the Dutch GP driving a car Williams was
running for the de Tomaso factory.
After a disappointing partnership with Austro-Canadian oil man
Walter Wolf in 1976, his new team, Williams Grand Prix
Engineering, acquired a March for Patrick Neve to drive and
Williams recruited a promising engineer named Patrick Head.
Head's first GP design in 1978, the FW06, with Alan Jones at the
wheel, was extremely competitive. Williams first GP victory came
at the British GP in 1979 when Jones retired from the lead but
Clay Regazzoni took the victory for Williams.
Williams quickly became the team to beat taking the
Constructor's championship with ease in 1980, 1981, 1986 and
1987. Williams missed out on the constructor's championship in
1982 but Keke Rosberg did take the Driver's championship.
Williams responded slowly to the turbo era and struggled through
83 and 84. In 85 with Mansell joining Rosberg the team improved
through the year with the Williams-Honda FW10 taking the last
three races of the season. By 86 they were back on top with the
FW11 and, with Piquet replacing Rosberg, the team won 9 GPs
(Mansell 5, Piquet 4) giving Williams the constructor's
championship with ease although they lost the drivers
championship to Prost due to the in-team fighting. The modified
FW11 continued its dominance in 87 and Williams took 1st and 2nd
in the driver's championship and the constructor's championship.
1988 marked the end of the turbo era, Williams switched from
Honda to Judd for the FW12 and Mansell became the #1 driver
partnered by Ricardo Patrese. Williams suffered from mechanical
problems and in July 88 a three year deal was signed with
Renault for their new V10 engine.
Thierry Boutsen replaced Mansell for the 89 season and won two
GPs (Canada and Australia) in atrocious weather conditions.
Patrese finished 3rd in the driver's championship helping the
team to runner-up spot in the constructor's.
Having retired from Ferrari and been talked out of it by
Williams, Mansell returned to the team at the end of 1990. The
Canon Williams FW14 was McLaren's only competition and with 7
victories they finished 2nd in the constructors and 2nd and 3rd
in the driver's. The advent of the active FW14B put Williams in
a class by themselves in 1992. Mansell won the first five races
of the season on his way to a still unbeaten total of 9 wins and
14 poles. His win at the British GP was his 28th beating Jackie
Stewart's record for a British driver. Mansell and Williams won
their respective championships and Patrese finished 2nd in the
driver's.
In 93 Prost and Hill replaced Mansell and Patrese and retained
both constructor's and driver's (Prost) championships. Hill also
chalked up his first GP win in Hungary. Prost retired after the
season and was replaced by Senna in '94. At the third GP of the
year at Imola in Italy, Senna was killed when he crashed his
FW16 while leading the race. It remains to be seen whether the
Italian authorities are going to charge Williams personnel in
connection with Senna's death. The team went on to retain the
constructor's championship again but Hill missed out on the
driver's championship by one point to Michael Schumacher. In 95,
Williams lost both championships to Benetton.
Williams was dominant again in 96 with Hill and Villeneuve
finishing 1st and 2nd in the driver's championship and thereby
securing the constructor's championship with ease.
Williams Home Page
3. THE DRIVERS
3.1 Jean Alesi
Nationality: French
Age - DOB: 32 - June 11th, 1964
Born: Avignon, France
Resident: Nyon, Switzerland
Current team: Benetton
Former team(s): Tyrrell, Ferrari
Alesi was born in France to Sicilian parents. Like many of his
contemporaries he began his career in karts but at the
relatively late age of 17. He won two regional titles and moved
on to the Renault 5 Cup in 1983 finishing 7th with 1 win. 1984
and '85 saw Alesi in Formula Renault finishing 10th and 5th
respectively. In '86 he competed in the French F3 championship
finishing 2nd in '86 and 1st in '87. The next two years were in
F3000 with Oreca in 88, finishing 10th, and Eddie Jordan in '89
finishing 1st.
In addition to the F3000 championship, Alesi also made his F1
debut in '89 with Tyrrell. He finished 4th in his first GP
(France) and went onto score a total of 8 points for 9th place
from just 8 races. He was retained by Tyrrell for the 1990
season and finished in 9th place with 13 points. In 1991 Alesi
was signed by Ferrari where he has remained for 5 seasons with
rather disappointing results due no doubt to the unreliable
and/or uncompetitive cars that Ferrari has put out in the last
few years.
Between 1991 and 1994 Alesi has scored 13, 21, 18 and 16 points
respectively placing him 7th, 7th, 6th and 5th in the
championship. Ferrari was much improved in 95 and Alesi finished
the season with 42 points placing him 5th in the championship.
'95 also saw Alesi's first ever GP win in Canada. In an emotional
finish, Alesi brought the #27 Ferrari across the line first
before an adoring French-Canadian crowd in Montreal. Many thought
that 96 would be a break-out year for Alesi with reigning
champions Benetton, but a disappointing car, lack-lustre driving
performances, some bad luck and a few instances of classic Alesi
brain fade, meant no wins and only fourth place in the drivers
championship.
Jean is single with one child.
3.2 Rubens Barrichello
Nationality: Brazilian
Age - DOB: 24 - May 23rd, 1972
Born: Sao Paolo, Brazil
Resident: Monaco
Current team: Stewart
Former team(s): Jordan
Barrichello began his racing career at the age of 9, competing
in and winning various local and national karting championships
between 1983 and 1988. In 1989 he moved onto Formula Ford and
finished 4th in the Brazilian championship with the Arisco team.
In 1990 he moved to Europe and won the Opel-Lotus European
championship with the Draco team and in 1991 followed up by
winning the British F3 championship with West Surrey Racing. In
1992 he finished 3rd in the F3000 championship with Il Barone
Rampante. He joined Jordan in 1993 and despite high hopes , has
generally failed to fulfill his potential to this point. In '93
he gained 2 points, in '94 he finished 6th in the driver's
championship with 19 points, his first rostrum finish and pole at
Spa - the youngest pole-sitter ever at the age of 22. In '95 he
had an unspectacular season finishing 11th with 11 points and '96
was little better. After qualifying on the front row for the
Brazilian GP, he was running well before spinning out. This
marked the high-point of his season and from there on he managed
to accumulate 14 points but without a podium finish.
Rubens is married with no children.
3.3 Gerhard Berger
Nationality: Austrian
Age - DOB: 37 - August 27th, 1959
Born: Woergl, Austria
Resident: Monaco
Current team: Benetton
Former team(s): ATS, Arrows, Benetton, Ferrari, McLaren
Ferrari
Now in his 14th year of F1 racing, Berger is one of the elder
statesmen of the sport. His career began in saloon cars in 1979.
In 1981 he competed in the Alfasud European Cup (finishing 7th)
before moving onto F3 the next year. Berger spent 3 years in F3
and at the end of 1984 broke into F1 with ATS. He competed in 4
races that season gaining 1 point for a 6th place at the Italian
GP. Berger signed with Arrows for the 1985 season and has been a
permanent feature of F1 ever since driving for Benetton (86),
Ferrari (87-89), McLaren (90-92) and Ferrari again (93-95).
Although he has never managed to win it all, Berger has had
several successful seasons. His best championship finish was 3rd
in 1988, his best points total was 49 in '92 which was only good
enough for 5th place. He has a total of 9 wins in his career
with a high of 2 in a season in 87 and 92. '95 was a
disappointing year finishing 6th with 31 points. For the '96
season Berger returned to Benetton, the team for whom he scored
his, and Benetton's, first GP win in Mexico in '86. 96 was not so
kind though and an unreliable car, designed around Schumacher's
driving style, left Berger in 6th place in the championship
without a win - although he was leading at Hockenheim with only a
few laps to go when his engine blew.
Gerhard is married with one child.
3.4 David Coulthard
Nationality: British (Scottish)
Age - DOB: 25 - 27th March 1971
Born: Twynholm, Scotland
Resident: Twynholm and Monaco
Current team: McLaren
Former team(s): Williams
After a successful karting career, Coulthard rose rapidly to F1
through FF1600, F3 and F3000. As Williams test driver in 1994,
he took Senna's place at the Spanish GP and in the remaining
eight races he scored 14 points. He retained his seat in 95 and
has shown much promise, particularly since being released by
Williams and signed by McLaren midway through the season. He
joined the ranks of GP winners with a strong drive from pole
position at the Portuguese GP. He finished the '95 season with
49 points in 3rd place. 96 was a step back year for him as he
struggled with reliability and driver errors and managed only 7
place being consistently beaten by team-mate Hakkinen.
David is single with no children.
3.5 Pedro Diniz
Nationality: Brazilian
Age - DOB: 26 - May 22nd, 1970
Born: Sao Paolo, Brazil
Resident:
Current team: TWR Arrows
Former team(s): Forti, Ligier
Diniz raced karts for just two years before moving up to Formula
Ford in 1989. '90-92 were spent in F3, first in South America
and then Europe. He joined the Forti team in 1993 in F3000 where
he spent two years before moving up to F1 with Forti in 95. As a
paying driver, backed by his father's fortune, he has remained in
F1 but it must be said that he is one of the better ride-buyers.
He actually scored two points from a pair of 6th place finishes
in 1996. It is believed he will bring about $8 million to Arrows
where he will be a distinct and distant #2 to Damon Hill.
3.6 Giancarlo Fisichella
Nationality: Italian
Age - DOB: 24 - January 14th, 1973
Born: Rome, Italy
Resident: Monte Carlo
Current team: Jordan
Former team(s): Minardi
Fisichella won several karting championships between 1984 and
1991 before moving up to the Italian F3 championship in 1992. In
'93 he finished 2nd in Italian F3 and won the championship in
'94. In '95 he raced in DTM for Alfa Romeo and was also signed
as test driver for Minardi. He made his F1 debut with Minardi in
1996, sharing the drive with Tarso Marques.
Giancarlo is single.
3.7 Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Nationality: German
Age - DOB: 29 - May 18th, 1967
Born: Mochengladbach, Germany
Resident: Monte Carlo
Current team: Williams
Former team(s): Sauber
Frentzen began racing in karts, winning the German Junior
championship in 1981. From 85 - 87 he competed in FF2000
finishing 2nd in '87. In '88 he was German Formula Opel Lotus
champion and was 6th in the Opel Lotus Euroseries. He spent one
year in German F3, finishing 2nd, before moving onto F3000 in
1990. He spent one season each with Eddie Jordan and Vortex
before accepting a financially attractive offer to move to Japan
and race for the Nova team. In 1994, he made his F1 debut for the
Sauber team and scored a total of 7 points in 15 races. After
Senna's death at Imola, Frank Williams offered Frentzen Senna's
drive but he turned it down out of loyalty to Peter Sauber whose
other driver, Karl Wendlinger, had just been seriously injured.
Williams was reportedly very impressed by Frentzen's loyalty and
at some point, exactly when remains unclear, he was signed to
drive for Williams in 1997 replacing world champion Damon Hill.
Heinz-Harald is single with no children. (You will see posts
referring to the fact that he once dated Schumacher's wife -
before she was his wife, of course).
3.8 Mika Hakkinen
Nationality: Finnish
Age - DOB: 28 - September 28th, 1968
Born: Helsinki, Finland
Resident: Monte Carlo
Current team: McLaren
Former team(s): Lotus
Mika Hakkinen has been driving since he was six years old,
capturing 5 Finnish national karting championships between 1974
and 1986. He then progressed into FF1600 - a category which he
duly conquered by being crowned Finnish, Swedish and Nordic
Champion - the Lotus Euroseries and the British GM Lotus series,
becoming champion and runner-up respectively. A year after
entering the British F3 championship in 1989 he won the Macau
Grand Prix on his way to the overall title.
He broke into F1 in 1991 with Lotus where he stayed for two
years finishing the championship 15th and 8th with 2 points and
11 points respectively. He joined McLaren as Test and
Development driver in 93, being elevated to the position of race
driver for the final three rounds of the championship following
Michael Andretti's departure to return to Indy Car. In his first
race for McLaren at the Portuguese GP Hakkinen outqualified his
team-mate, Ayrton Senna. He scored his first ever F1 podium
finish with a 3rd place at the Japanese GP. In 94 he finished
2nd at the Belgian GP and 3rd in four other races ending the
season 4th in the championship with 26 points. He finished '95
with 17 points in 7th place - not to mention a nasty crash
during practice in Adelaide which almost ended his career, if
not his life. '96 showed that he has recovered, physically and
mentally, from the crash and he finished the championship 5th
after several podiums in the second half of the season.
Mika is single with no children.
3.9 Johnny Herbert
Nationality: British (English)
Age - DOB: 32 - June 27th, 1964
Born: Romford, England
Resident: Monaco
Current team: Sauber
Former team(s): Benetton, Tyrrell, Lotus, Ligier,
Benetton
One of the most popular figures in F1, Johnny Herbert began his
racing career in karts at the age of 10 winning two British
championships over the next 8 years. He moved onto FF1600 in
1983 and FF2000 and F3 in 1986. In 1987 he won the British F3
championship with Eddie Jordan Racing and was signed by Benetton
as a test driver. In 1988 he moved up to F3000 with Jordan,
winning his first race at Jerez before being seriously injured
at Brands Hatch. Despite not being fully recovered from his
injuries he started the 1989 season for Benetton in F1 scoring a
4th and a 5th place before being rested by the team at
mid-season. He returned briefly to F1 the same year with
Tyrrell.
In 1990 Herbert was the test driver for Lotus and raced
intermittently for the team for the next two years. He continued
with Lotus for 92 and 93 on a full time basis and finished 14th
and 9th respectively. He raced for three teams in 94 - Lotus,
Ligier and then Benetton for the last two races. He stayed with
Benetton for the 95 season and finished 4th in the championship
winning his first GP at the British GP. Towards the end of the
season, he complained bitterly about his treatment at the hands
of Benetton and Schumacher. 96 was a disappointing year mainly
due to the unreliability of the Sauber, not to mention the poor
performance of the Ford engine, although he did make it to the
podium in Monaco as the last of the finishers! Herbert has stayed
with Sauber for 97 and with their new deal with Ferrari, this
will be an important year for Sauber and Herbert.
He is married with two daughters.
3.10 Damon Hill
Nationality: British (English)
Age - DOB: 36 - September 17th, 1960
Born: London, England
Resident: Dublin, Ireland
Current team: TWR Arrows
Former team(s): Brabham, Williams
Damon is the son of two-time F1 champion, the late Graham Hill.
Damon Hill actually began his racing career on motorbikes in
1979. In '84, while still racing bikes, he had his first taste
of auto racing in Formula Ford. In 1985 he switched to FF full
time and finished 3rd in the Esso championship with 6 wins. He
moved onto F3 in 86 with Murray Taylor Racing and then with
Intersport in 87 and 88. From 89 to 91 he competed in F3000 with
Footwork, Middlemarch and Lola without great success except that
he did get a testing contract with Williams in 91 replacing Mark
Blundell.
Hill broke into F1 the next year, 1992, with Brabham, again
without great success. In eight attempts in an uncompetitive
car, he qualified just twice finishing 16th and 11th. His big
break came in 93 when he signed for Williams. That year he
scored he scored his first F1 win in Hungary, completing a
hat-trick over the next two races in Belgium and Italy. He
finished the season with 69 points for 3rd place in the
championship.
In '94, still with Williams, Hill came as close to winning it
all as is possible without actually doing it. Coming in to the
last race of the season in Adelaide, Hill trailed Michael
Schumacher by one point. Depending on your point of view they
either had a coming together or Schumacher drove into Hill
thereby securing the Championship by that one point margin.
Hill again challenged Schumacher for most of the '95 season but
fell apart somewhat in the second half of the season. He
finished 2nd in the championship with 69 points.
In 1996, still with Williams, he finally won the World
Championship with relative ease. His only real competition came
from team-mate Villeneuve who made a slow start to the season and
was unable to catch Hill despite some impressive results towards
the end of the season. The championship did go to the last race
of the season with Hill needing just a 6th place to secure the
title. Villeneuve gave himself very little chance after a bad
start and Hill took an easy lead. The matter was finally settled
when Villeneuve lost a wheel and crashed out. 96 was also a
significant year for Hill in that he was not re-signed by
Williams who announced half way through the season that he was
being replaced by Frentzen. With very few options, he turned down
offers from Jordan and Stewart and signed a one year deal with
TWR Arrows.
Damon is married with two sons and a daughter.
3.11 Eddie Irvine
Nationality: Irish
Age - DOB: 31 - November 10th, 1965
Born: Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Resident: Dublin, Ireland
Current team: Ferrari
Former team(s): Jordan
Irvine began racing in FF1600 and competed in Irish and British
FF1600 series between 1983 and 1987. In 1988 he placed 5th in
the F3 championship with West Surrey Racing. In 1989 he moved
onto F3000 with Pacific Racing and finished 9th in the
International Championship. He first teamed up with Eddie Jordan
in F3000 in 1990 when he finished 3rd (recording one win).
Between 1991 and 1993 he competed in the Japanese F3000
championship with Team Cerumo finishing 7th, 8th and 2nd with
one win each year. '93 also saw Irvine's F1 debut with 2 races
for Jordan scoring a point in Japan.
Irvine raced the entire 94 season for Jordan, with the exception
of a 3 race ban for an accident at the Brazilian GP, scoring 6
points placing him 16th. He finished '95 with 10 points having
suffered from unreliability including a fire from a re-fueling
accident. In a surprising, last minute move he was signed by
Ferrari for '96 over a gaggle of Italian drivers who thought
they were trying out for the role. Eddie has embraced, and been
embraced by, the team and its fans but with no testing and a
string of embarrassing mechanical failures (nine in a row at one
point), 1996 was extremely frustrating for him and he finished
10th in the championship.
Eddie is single with no children.
3.12 Ukyo Katayama
Nationality: Japanese
Age - DOB: 33 - May 29th, 1963
Born: Tokyo
Resident: Tokyo and Monaco
Current team: Minardi
Former team(s): Larrousse, Tyrrell
After graduating high school in 1982, Katayama trained as a
mechanic at the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan before switching to
driving, taking class and championships in FJ1600, after winning
his very first race from pole position. In 1985 he graduated to
the All Japan F3 Series with the Nissan Hasemi team and finished
6th in the championship. In 1986, he moved to France competing
in the National Formula Renault and French F3 series. In 1988 he
returned to Japan competing in the Japanese F3000 Championship
for Ba-Tsu Racing in '88, Footwork in '89 and Cabin in '90 and
'91 - winning the championship in '91.
1992 marked Katayama's Formula 1 debut with Venturi Larrousse
with two top 10 finishes. In 1993, he moved to Tyrrell where he
stayed for four seasons with somewhat limited success. He scored
5 points in 1994 but in 95 he finished 4 races and his best
finish was 7th in the German GP. Katayama was involved in a scary
accident at the start of the Portuguese GP when he locked wheels
with Badoer and was launched into the air, somersaulting down the
track. He did not sustain any serious injuries and missed only
one race. After a poor performance in 1996, high lighted by no
points and a suspended ban for his crash at Montreal, he has
moved a little further back on the grid to join the Minardi team.
Ukyo is married with two children.
3.13 Nicola Larini
Nationality: Italy
Age - DOB: 32 - March 19th, 1964
Born:
Resident:
Current team: Sauber
Former team(s): Coloni, Osella, Ligier, Modena, Ferrari
The consummate F1 journeyman, Larini has bounced around F1 teams
for 10 years since winning the Italian F3 championship with
Dallara Coloni and breaking into F1 in '87 with one drive for
Coloni. He has competed in a total of 44 races with one second
place to show for it (for Ferrari in '94). In 1996 he was
Ferrari's test driver and as part of the engine deal between
Sauber and Ferrari, Larini secured the second seat with the Swiss
team.
3.14 Jan Magnussen
Nationality: Danish
Age - DOB: 23 - July 4th, 1973
Born: Roskilde, Denmark
Resident: Silverstone, England
Current team: Stewart
Former teams(s): McLaren (test)
Jan Magnussen has been described by Jackie Stewart as "the most
promising youngster to come along since Ayrton Senna." He ended
his karting days in 1991 with a hat-trick of world championships
and moved to England to compete in the 1992 British FF1600
championship for Foundation Racing. Having become familiar with
the car and the circuits, he won 7 races in the second half of
the season, including the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at
Brands Hatch, and finished 3rd in the championship.
In 1993 after spells in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus and Opel
Lotus European Championship, he made his F3 debut competing in
two races for Paul Stewart Racing finishing 4th and 3rd. The
next season, still with Paul Stewart Racing, he clinched the
championship in the most dominant fashion ever achieved in the
history of F3 racing by winning 14 out of 18 races - that season
brought him the nickname of "Danish Dynamite."
In October 94, Magnussen drove the McLaren MP4/9 as a reward for
his achievement and was subsequently signed as the team's test
driver. Due to Hakkinen's appendicitis, Magnussen made his F1
debut at the '95 Japanese GP. He returns to the Stewart fold and
to F1 in 1997 with the new Stewart Grand Prix team.
Jan is single with one son.
3.15 Shinji Nakano
Nationality: Japanese
Age - DOB: 25 - April 1st, 1971
Born: Osaka
Resident:
Current team: Prost
Former team(s): None
3.16 Olivier Panis
Nationality: French
Age - DOB: 30 - September 2nd, 1966
Born: Lyon, France
Resident: Grenoble, France
Current team: Prost
Former team(s): None
After karting, Panis moved up to the French Formula Renault
championship in 1988 and won it in 1989. In 1990 and '91 he
competed in French F3 finishing 4th and 2nd before moving onto
F3000 in 93 winning the championship. In 1994 he broke into F1
with Ligier, where he has stayed ever since. 1996 marked his
first F1 victory at the Monaco GP when only 3 cars finished.
3.17 Ricardo Rosset
Nationality: Brazilian
Age - DOB: 28 - July 27th, 1968
Born: Sao Paolo
Resident: Cambridge, England
Current team: Lola
Former team(s): Arrows
Rosset did not take up karting until he was 22 and quickly moved
onto Formula Ford in '91, Opel-Lotus in '92 and British F3 in
'93. He scored his first F3 win in 1994 and 2 F3000 wins in 1995.
In 1996 he bought his first F1 ride with the Arrows team.
Ricardo is single.
3.18 Mika Salo
Nationality: Finnish
Age - DOB: 30 - November 30th, 1966
Born: Helsinki
Resident: London
Current team: Tyrrell
Former team(s): Lotus
Salo started racing 50cc karts at the age of 6, moving onto the
100cc Finnish championship by 9 and winning it at the age of 11.
After 11 months national service in the army, he competed in the
Finnish and Scandinavian F1600 Championships in 1987. In 1988 he
became European, Scandinavian and Finnish champion, winning all
14 races and setting new lap records at every circuit.
From 1989-1990 Mika lived in the UK competing in F3 with Alan
Docker Racing. From 1991-3 he competed in the All Japan F3000
championship with less than spectacular results. In 1994 he
joined Lotus for the final two races of the season recording
10th and a DNF in Japan and Australia respectively. He joined
Tyrrell in 1995 and has finished in the points three times - two
5ths and a sixth. He achieved identical results in 96 as he was
consistently let down by the Yamaha engine.
Mika is single with no children.
3.19 Michael Schumacher
Nationality: German
Age - DOB: 28 - January 3rd, 1969
Born: Hurth-Hermuhlhein, Germany
Resident: Geneva
Current team: Ferrari
Former team(s): Jordan, Benetton
Michael Schumacher began racing karts with some success from
1984 to 1987. In '88 he won the German Formula Konig
championship, finished 4th and 2nd in the German and European
FF1600 championships respectively. 1989 was an interesting year
competing in the German F3 championship - he finished 3rd behind
Wendlinger and Frentzen. He continued in F3 the next year and
won the championship with 5 wins.
1991 marked his F1 debut with Jordan and then with Benetton for
the rest of the season from Italy onwards. (There is still a
pending lawsuit filed by Eddie Jordan regarding Schumacher's
move to Benetton). He finished the year with 4 points.
Schumacher began to show his potential in 92 winning his first
GP and coming 3rd in the driver's championship. The next year
again produced one win and he finished 4th in the championship.
1994 of course marked Schumacher's first world championship
amidst much controversy and last year he easily repeated this
feat helping Benetton to the constructors title in the process.
In the biggest move of the 96 season, Schumacher took his number
1 to Ferrari, vowing to bring a championship back to the
Scuderia. 96 was a mixed year. He won three races, including a
spectacular drive in the "rain in Spain" but there was also a
string of mechanical failures including a parade-lap retirement
and a half-shaft falling off in the pit-lane. Despite this, he
managed to 3rd place in the championship - the 1st of the non-
Williams!
Michael is married with one child.
3.20 Ralf Schumacher
Nationality: German
Age - DOB: 21 - June 30th, 1975
Born: Hurth-Hermuhlheim, Germany
Resident:
Current team: Jordan
Former team(s): None
1996 Formula Nippon champion.
Ralf is single.
3.21 Vincenzo Sospiri
Nationality: Italian
Age - DOB: 30 - October 9th, 1966
Born:
Resident:
Current team: Lola
Former team(s): Benetton (test)
After karting from 1982-87, Sospiri moved up to Formula Ford in
1988 finishing 2nd in the British championship. In 89 and 90 he
competed in British F3 and the Opel-Lotus Euroseries. In 91 he
competed, without distinction in F3000, and in 92 he finished 5th
in the Italian F3 championship. From 93-95 he again competed in
F3000 finishing 7th and 4th before winning the championship in 95
earning himself the Benetton testing job in 1996. 1997 marks his
F1 debut with Lola.
3.22 Jarno Trulli
Nationality: Italian
Age - DOB: 22 - July 13th, 1974
Born: Pescara, Italy
Resident: Francavilla (Chieti)
Current team: Minardi
Former team(s): None
As with most F1 drivers, Trulli began his racing career in karts
at the age of 9. In 1995 he drove 6 F3 races for the MKS team and
the next year drove a full F3 season for the Benetton Junior
team, winning the championship. 1997 marks Trulli's F1 debut with
the Minardi team.
Jarno is single.
3.23 Jos Verstappen
Nationality: Dutch
Age - DOB: 25 - March 4th, 1972
Born: Montfort (Lb), The Netherlands
Resident: Monaco
Current team: Tyrrell
Former team(s): Benetton, Simtek (5 races), Arrows
Jos took up karting at the age of 10 winning four Dutch, as well
as Belgian and European, titles. In 1992 he graduated to Formula
Opel Lotus, winning 10 of 19 races on the way to becoming Dutch
champion, Benelux champion, International Nations Cup winner and
Dutch driver of the year.
In 1993 he raced Formula Atlantic in New Zealand over the winter,
winning 3 out of 10 races in an extremely outdated car and
finishing 4th in the International Championship. He returned to
Europe to win the German F3 championship, winning 8 of 20 races.
He was invited to test with the Arrows and McLaren teams.
In 1994 he was signed as a test driver by Benetton and made his
F1 debut in Brazil, stepping in for the injured JJ Lehto. In 10
races he had two 3rd places and one 5th. In 1995 he was
transferred by Benetton to the Simtek team and he drove five
races before the uncompetitive team folded. His best result was
12th in Barcelona. In 1996 he had another difficult season
scoring an early 6th place at Argentina but failing to score any
more points as the development of the car was halted with the
sale of the team to Tom Walkinshaw.
Jos is married with no children.
3.24 Jacques Villeneuve
Nationality: Canadian
Age - DOB: 25 - April 9th, 1971
Born: St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada
Resident: Monaco
Current team: Williams
Former team(s): Indycar - Team Green
Jacques Villeneuve, son of legendary F1 driver Gilles
Villeneuve, is the talk of the F1 world this year as he attempts
to become the first successful Indycar transplant since Mario
Andretti. His meteoric rise through motor racing's ranks
culminated last year when he became the youngest ever, and first
Canadian, PPG Indycar champion.
His career began in Italian Group N Saloons in 1988. He quickly
moved on to F3 in Italy in 1989 where he stayed for three
seasons. In 1992 he moved to Japanese F3 and finished the season
in 2nd place. In '93 he moved to the American Toyota Atlantic
Championship and had a very impressive season being named Rookie
of the Year. In 15 races he had seven poles and five wins and
finished third in the championship. Villeneuve moved with Team
Green to Indycar in '94. He finished the season with a win, 2nd
at the Indianapolis 500 and 6th place in the championship
earning him Rookie of the Year honors. He fulfilled his
potential in 95 winning the championship with four wins
including the Indianapolis 500.
In his F1 debut he took pole and was only prevented from winning
when a slight off caused an oil leak and he had to slow and allow
team-mate Hill to pass him for the win. He went onto win four
races and took the championship all the way to the last race
although a poor start had almost guaranteed Hill the championship
before a lost wheel took him out of the race altogether. He stays
with Williams for the 97 season and is the clear favorite to win
the championship.
Jacques is single.
4. THE RULES
4.1 How many points are scored for a win?
Currently points are awarded for the first six finishers as
follows: 10 - 6 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. This applies to both the
driver's and constructor's championships. Each team is required
to enter two cars and both cars scores are counted towards the
constructor's championship.
If a race is stopped, due to accident or weather, before
completion of 75% of the race distance, only half the points
will be awarded for that race.
4.2 Is that a brake light on the back of the cars?
No. The red light you will occasionally see on the back of the
cars is not a brake light and is required by the rules for
visibility in wet races. The light is required to be on whenever
the car is on treaded tyres.
4.3 The start
The starting procedure was changed for 1996. The countdown
begins 17 minutes before the parade lap with a series of lights
and horns. The parade lap is started with a green light. The
cars proceed in grid order returning to their spots on the
starting grid. Transponders in the car signal to the officials
when all the cars are in position and the actual start procedure
begins. There are now five red lights and NO green light. The
five red lights will come on one at a time at one second
intervals. When the fifth light comes on the jump start system
is activated. At a pre-set, but unpublished interval, all five
red lights will go out and that is the signal to start. NB There
is no green light. This system eliminates the potential problem
of the red light going out but the green light failing to come
on. Such a situation has happened in the past and causes
enormous confusion and is potentially very dangerous. Also,
disabling the jump start system until immediately before the
start eliminated some of the bogus penalties we saw prior to 96
when the system was activated as soon as the car stopped.
4.4 The finish [CS] & [HG]
When the leader crosses the line and the chequered flag is waved
at him, all drivers finish the lap which they are currently
driving. The top positions go to the drivers on the same lap as
the winner, in the order in which they crossed the line. The
next positions go to those drivers who completed one fewer lap
than the leader, in the order in which they crossed the line,
and so on. Should a driver fail to cross the line (due to an
accident, for example), his (or her) finishing position is based
on the race position the last time (s)he crossed the
start/finish line.
An example may help: It's the 50-lap US GP and the first 4
drivers at the end of lap 49 are Diniz, Hill, Schumacher and
Inoue. Fifth is Katayama, one lap down. Diniz crosses the line
at the end of lap 50 first to take the chequered flag and win
the race. Katayama is the next driver to cross the finish line
(albeit after only 49 laps) and is awarded 5th place, since
there were 4 drivers on the lead lap (who all completed 49 laps
before him). On lap 50, however, Hill and Schumacher collide and
both retire. Inoue is the only other driver to finish 50 laps
and is awarded 2nd place. Since Hill completed 49 laps ahead of
Schumacher, he gets 3rd place and Schumacher is awarded 4th.
All drivers who have completed at least 90% of the distance
driven by the winner are classified as finishers.
All finishers must get themselves weighed, put the car in the
'parc ferme' for scrutiny and submit to any other tests
required. Top three must attend the podium ceremony and give a
press conference afterwards, or get fined. Press conferences
take place in a variety of languages - all the top drivers speak
English fluently enough for an interview. Naturally none of the
English drivers speak anything else! (It is noticeable how much
improved Schumacher's English has become in the last two years -
he sounds more American than German now; Berger also is fluent
enough to tell jokes thanks to his long spell at McLaren)
4.5 What is the safety car for? [HG]
Once this is deployed, the 'SC' board is shown and drivers must
slow down and circulate in their current order. The car waves
past each driver in turn, until the race leader is behind him.
Then all circulate until the race is deemed safe to continue,
with the safety car displaying flashing amber lights. Switching
off these lights indicates that the safety car will pull off
next time it reaches the pit entrance; once it does, the race
continues.
It should be noted that, unlike Indy, safety cars are rarely
used in F1. In fact, in the semi-permanent "What's the
difference between F1 and Indy" thread, the excessive use of the
safety car to close up the field is the major criticism of Indy
racing by F1 fans.
4.6 What is a stop-go penalty?
Jump starts and pit lane speeding incur a 10 second 'stop-go'
penalty. Penalties are served in the team's own pit under the
supervision of the team manager. If the team does not administer
the penalty correctly and the driver leaves before the 10
seconds is up, then they will be called back for another 10
second penalty. The officials monitor the length of the stop by
means of the timing sensors buried in the pit box. They also send
an official onto the pitlane wall to ensure that no work is done
to the car during the stop.
Other offenses can incur fines, loss of points, disqualifications
or race bans. Decisions can be appealed but historically the FIA
has a propensity for increasing a penalty on appeal.
4.7 What do the different colored flags mean? [HG]
Yellow - caution; no overtaking/safety car out.
Yellow with red stripes - track is slippery (usually oil).
Blue - There is considerable controversy regarding the exact use
of blue flags. This is because the instructions given to the
marshals contradict the International Sporting Code. This
definition is based on written instructions from the clerk of
the course to marshals at at least two GPs this season.
During Practice
Stationary: A faster car is catching you. Give way.
Waved: A faster car is about to overtake you. Give way
urgently.
During the Race
Stationary: You are about to be lapped. Let the other car
through.
Waved: Let the other car through immediately. You are now
risking a penalty.
(NB: The International Sporting Code states that a blue flag may
be used to allow a faster car to overtake for position. However,
its use in races appears to be almost exclusively limited to
situations where a driver is being lapped).
Red - race stopped, slow down and return to pit lane.
Chequered - race finished.
Black, with a car number - car must return to pit lane within 3
laps and not restart race (this may mean a terminal rule
infringement, but it can also mean that there is something
dangerously wrong with the car that the driver does not know
about - hence it is grossly negligent to ignore this flag)
4.8 Is mid-race re-fueling allowed?
After being banned for 10 years for safety reasons, mid-race re-
fueling was inexplicably reintroduced for the 1994 season. The
re-fueling equipment used by all the teams is identical as the
FIA mandates that the equipment be bought from Intertechnique
and may not be modified by the teams. Fuel is pumped at a rate
of 12 liters (3.3 gallons) per second.
Apart from the FIA, almost everybody associated with F1, fans,
drivers and teams, believe that re-fueling is inherently
dangerous and that, if not before, it will finally be banned
when somebody is killed or seriously injured in a re-fueling
accident. Since its reintroduction in '94 there have already
been three pit-lane fires caused by re-fueling: Verstappen
(Benetton) in '94, Irvine (Jordan) and Gachot (Pacific) in '95
and Diniz's on-track fire in '96 was due to the re-fueling valve
becoming stuck open.
4.9 What is the 107% rule?
Introduced for the 1996 season, the 107% rule is designed to
weed out the slower cars in the field. Any driver whose best
qualifying time is more than 107% of the pole-sitters time will
not qualify for the race. For example, if the pole time is 1 min
40 secs (100 seconds), then any car slower than 1 min 47 seconds
(107 seconds) will not be in the race. The rule does allow for
some discretion on the part of the stewards and this discretion
has so far been exercised just once for Pedro Diniz at Melbourne
'97.
5. THE CARS
5.2 How big are the engines?
Although subject to change periodically, engines are currently
limited to 3 liter, reciprocating, normally aspirated with no
more than 12 cylinders. These engines produce approximately 750
bhp down from a high of about 1,200 bhp that could be produced
by the now banned V6, 1.5l turbo-charged engines.
5.3 How much does a car weigh?
The minimum weight for an F1 car is 600 kg (1,323lbs) including
the driver and 5kg (11 lbs) for either an on board camera or
mandatory ballast for those cars not carrying cameras.
Regulations define minimum weights to ensure that safety is not
compromised by the engineer's efforts to improve performance by
making the car lighter.
5.4 What is the tub made of?
The tub, the part that the driver sits in, is made of a
composite material consisting of an aluminum honeycomb
sandwiched between two sheets of carbon. The result is an
extremely strong, lightweight material. Smaller sections, such
as the nose-cone and engine cover, use a nomex honeycomb instead
of aluminum to allow greater flexibility.
5.5 How many gears do the cars have?
The regulations state that the cars must have at least 4 and no
more than 7 forward gears as well as a reverse gear. Most cars
have 6 forward gears, Jordan and Benetton being the only cars
with 7 speed gearboxes.
5.6 Interesting engine facts. (Based on a 1996 Ford Zetec-R).
*In an F1 engine revving at 14,500 rpm, one revolution
takes 4 thousandths of a second.
*Maximum piston acceleration is approximately 8,000g which
puts a load of over 3 tons on each connecting rod.
*Maximum piston speed is 47.2 meters per second - the
piston in a Ford Zetec-R accelerates from rest to that
speed in 1 thousandth of a second.
*If a connecting rod let go of its piston at maximum engine
speed, the released piston would have enough energy to
travel vertically over 100 meters.
*If a water hose were to blow off, the complete cooling
system would empty in just over a second.
5.7 What are those red boxes on the Williams' mirror.
Perhaps, one of the most annoying frequently asked questions.
Don't ask it in rasf1 unless you want to start a long, tedious
thread. The official answer is its to stop any potential health
hazards to the mechanics from the microwave transmitter which is
housed in the mirror. This transmitter sends telemetry data back
to the pits while the car is on the track. Several "news"
programmes and publications have reported claims that
microwaves, as used in cellular phones can cause cancer etc. etc.
While people more knowledgeable than me claim that this is
impossible, it remains the official explanation as to why they
put the box over the mirror when the mechanics are working around
the car.
6. MISCELLANEOUS
6.1 What happens during a pit-stop? [HG]
Cars must not exceed the pit lane speed limit, which is
different at each track. As driver comes in, one of the pit crew
indicates the location of the pit (it isn't easy to find in the
heat of the moment). The car stops on the marks and is lifted by
front and back jacks. Three mechanics are required for each
wheel; one to operate the tool to remove/replace the wheel, one
to take the old wheel off and one to put the new one on. In
addition, two are required to handle the fuel hose, and a couple
of spares wipe the drivers' visor etc. The operation is
controlled by the chap at the front who holds the 'brakes on'
sign, and he looks out for all the mechanics to raise their
hands as a signal that they are finished and out of the way.
Then he signals for the car to be dropped off the jacks and the
driver can leave. Due to the restrictions on the equipment,
re-fueling actually takes longer than the tyre change.
Crews rehearse before every Grand Prix to keep in practice. As
there is now fuel being thrown around in the pitlane, all
mechanics wear fireproof overalls, and sometimes helmets too. A
few near-disasters have stressed that the pit lane is a
dangerous place, and personnel there should be kept to a
minimum.(i.e. groupies, relatives, under-age royals etc should
be somewhere else!) The driver should keep his visor closed
during a pit stop in case of fire. IMHO there WILL be a
disastrous fire unless refuelling is banned.
6.2 Sponsorship [HG]
F1 teams could not continue to spend at current levels without
sponsors, among which the cigarette companies are major players.
Advertising regulations in Britain, France and Germany mean that
Williams appear there with 'Racing' rather than 'Rothmans'
written on them, and for McLaren it was 'McLaren' rather than
'Marlboro'. (Will they now use East instead of West as Zakspeed
use to do?) Sponsors can also rent out space on drivers as well
as cars, and all spaces are available right down to the back of
the mirrors. A six-inch wide patch on the front wing of a
Williams will cost you about 2 million dollars for the season.
Oh, and you won't be able to see it on the telly, but they'll do
you a nice package of sponsored events for the price. (!)
The best advert I saw was in 1993 when Sega sponsored Williams.
The Sega character, Sonic the Hedgehog, appeared at most of the
races, and the side of the car was painted so it appeared as a
cutout showing Sonic's legs doing the driving. McLaren responded
by sticking a squashed hedgehog logo to the side of their car
each time they won a race at the expense of a Williams. Senna's
incredible victory in the wet Donington GP of Europe was
headlined in Autosport as 'Senna's mega-drive'.
6.3 What's the difference between F1 and Indy?
Quite possibly THE most frequently asked question and the
subject of much debate in rasf1 which generally, after some
technical discussion, deteriorates into a slanging match between
European F1 fans and American Indy fans. Generally speaking,
Indy cars are bigger, faster and more durable whereas F1 cars
are more agile and accelerate faster. As to which is better and
which would win a head to head race? F1 cars are better under F1
regs at F1 circuits and Indy cars are better under Indy regs at
Indy circuits.
Tracks. Indy uses ovals as well as road and street courses - F1
does not. This, along with the use of the safety car, is the
most significant difference between the two series. Whilst
making for interesting discussion, the technical differences do
not have much of an impact from the spectators point of view.
However, Indy's detractors would say that the uniform ovals with
the resulting left turns only, produce a sterile racing
environment which allows no exciting passing. Furthermore, most
accidents will result in the safety car making an appearance
which will close up the field. Again, Indy's detractors would
argue that this produces an artificial racing environment
reducing the race to a series of short sprints which are merely
used to establish the grid order for the final sprint to the
finish.
On the other hand, F1 detractors would argue that because of the
wide difference in performance levels, and the fact that safety
cars are rarely used, there is very little close racing or
competitive passing in F1 and of course as a spectator you
cannot see the entire circuit at an F1 race.
(I must apologize if my cultural bias has become apparent in
this section but as a Brit living in the U.S., I am living proof
that F1/Indy preference is determined by genes not environment).
Weight. F1 cars minimum weight is 585 kg (1,287 lbs). Indy car
minimum weight is 1,550 lbs (704.5 kg).
Brakes. F1 cars use carbon fibre brakes which are lighter and
more durable than the steel brakes used by Indy cars. (Indy cars
are allowed to use carbon brakes on the 2.5 mile superspeedways
at Indianapolis and Michigan. Steel brakes are mandatory at all
the other races).
Ground effect. [AS] It is generally said that ground effect cars
are no longer allowed in F1 but this is not strictly true. All
cars generate ground effect, you cannot 'ban' it, only try to
design the rules to limit the downforce that can be obtained
from it. In F1 this is done by requiring flat bottoms between
the wheels (now with 50mm step). In Indycar they still allow
shaped ground effect tunnels, but with strictly controlled
dimensions and at a minimum height above the bottom of the
chassis.
Turbo charging. Banned in F1 but still allowed in Indy -
although at a much lower boost pressure than was used by F1 cars
in the 80's.
Semi-automatic gearboxes. Allowed in F1 but not in Indy.
Nationality. Indy is basically a domestic U.S. series as far as
teams, venues and drivers are concerned. However, there are 3
venues outside of the U.S. (Surfer's Paradise, Brazil, Toronto
and Vancouver) and an increasing number of foreign drivers. F1
is truly international in teams, engines, venues and drivers
although there is a strong European influence, particularly
British and Italian.
And according to Jacques Villeneuve (Electronic Telegraph
3/4/96): "In the last few months I've done over 5,000 miles of
testing with Williams and I've learned a lot about the
differences between Formula One and Indycars. An F1 car is
slower on the straights but much quicker in the corners. The
engine has less horsepower but the power comes on quicker and
because a Formula One car is lighter and more responsive it
reacts faster to the driver's input and the braking is much
better. Because of its extra weight an IndyCar is a bit more
physical to drive, it slides more easily and it's harder
work to hold it. A Formula One car is more twitchy and when it
slides you have to react faster to catch it. It has higher
limits but I find this really enjoyable.
6.4 How many teams are there?
With the addition of Stewart and Lola and the demise in mid-96 of
Forti, there are currently 12 teams, down from an all time high
of 20 in 1989.
6.5 What is the connection between Ford and Cosworth?
Ford and Cosworth first co-operated in 1959 when Cosworth
developed a lightweight iron crankcase engine for the new Ford
Anglia. Cosworth founders, Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin, then
tuned the new engine, code-named MAE (Modified Anglia Engine)
and it soon became the power unit of choice for drivers in
Formula Junior and later Formula 3.
Next came the Cosworth FVA racing engine and, impressed by the
potential of the new power unit, Ford commissioned the
Northamptonshire-based company to produce a roadgoing version to
suit its new high-performance Escort, the RS1600. The result was
the BDA (Belt-Driven A-series) which employed many of the
lessons learned in motor racing to achieve excellent levels of
performance and efficiency at relatively low cost.
The most successful Ford-Cosworth collaboration to date has been
the DFV (Double Four Valve) F1 engine.The 90 degree V8 stunned
the racing world when it appeared for the first time at the 1967
Dutch GP in the bank of Colin Chapman's highly effective Lotus
49 chassis and promptly powered Jim Clark to an historic win.
The Ford DFV went on to win 154 more GPs and 12 World
Championships in a career that spanned 15 years. During that
time, the DFV's power output climbed from 405 bhp to 520 bhp at
11,000 rpm.
The most recent development to issue from Cosworth is the Ford
Zetec-R F1 engine. Carrying the same "Zetec" name as the range
of double overhead camshaft, four-valve-per-cylinder engines
used in the current Fiesta, Escort and Mondeo model ranges, the
new 3.5 liter power unit was the highest-revving racing V8 ever
produced when it was unveiled prior to the start of the 1994
season at up to 14,500 rpm.
The new 3.0 liter Zetec-R is very similar to the larger 1994
engine with small differences to allow for the new stepped
floors and races at engine speeds up to 15,000 rpm. The Zetec-R
V10 is provided exclusively to Ford's chosen factory team -
Sauber - while customer teams will be supplied with last year's
V8 or the ED.
6.6 What frequencies do the teams use? [GD]
Contrary to popular belief, not all teams scramble their
transmissions. The following numbers are based on frequencies
actually monitored at the '97 Australian GP. Further comment,
either additions or confirmation that teams are/are not changing
frequencies at other races, is encouraged.
Berger 458.125
Alesi 467.075
Verstappen 422.025
Fisichella 456.725 on saturday, was telemetry on sunday.
Katayama 402.400 on saturday, 460.625 on sunday
458.125 and 168.400 were used by the Williams drivers, but was
encrypted (although can still tell it is a human voice)
6.8 Why is Frank Williams in a wheelchair? [HG]
Frank Williams broke his neck in a car crash in France in 1986.
He was driving home from the Paul Ricard circuit, lost control
and turned the car over. The injury was so severe that he was
not expected to live, and only survived due to his excellent
fitness; he used to run half-marathons regularly. For a while it
was thought that he would be unable to swallow or breathe
unaided, but he regained more movement than expected. He is
paralysed from the chest down, with some limited movement in his
arms. Among all the other obvious limitations, this means that
he needs 24 hour care, cannot travel on commercial aircraft and
even finds speaking an effort. Consider this when you wonder why
he is rarely seen to smile.
Virginia Williams, Frank's wife, has written a book called 'A
Different Kind of Life' which describes their lives before and
after the accident, up to about 1990.
Drive carefully.
6.9 What's the best Formula One movie ever made?
Sounds like a subjective question but almost universal opinion
seems to favour "Grand Prix" starring James Garner, directed by
John Frankenheimer. The plot may not be watchable but the racing
is. Actual race footage is combined with staged scenes which
were filmed during the GP weekends using Lotus F3's dressed up as
F1s. Graham and Phil Hill did some driving and Garner did a lot
of his own driving and was apparently quite fast.
6.10 What happened at Imola in 1994? [HG]
Formula 1 has become used to seeing drivers walk away from
terrible accidents, as car and track safety standards have
improved. But racing at 200 mph will always be dangerous, and
this was tragically proved over the weekend of the San Marino
Grand Prix in 1994. The events of that weekend are well
documented elsewhere, here are brief details.
In Friday qualifying, Rubens Barrichello lost control of his car
and hit barriers at speed. He was knocked unconscious and rushed
to the medical centre, but regained consciousness with no worse
than a broken nose.
On Saturday, new driver Roland Ratzenberger was attempting to
qualify his Simtek. The team advised that he had damaged the car
following a minor off. However, Roland did not come into the pits
to have the car checked. The front wing came away, Roland lost
control and hurtled into a barrier. His neck was broken and he
died instantly, the first Formula 1 fatality in 12 years.
A saddened field assembled for the race on Sunday. During the
start, JJ Lehto stalled his car and there was a tremendous
startline accident as an unsighted Pedro Lamy ran into him.
Neither driver was hurt, but a wheel was hurled over the safety
fencing into the crowd, injuring three people. The race ran under
the safety car, with Ayrton Senna leading in his Williams, while
the debris was cleared. The safety car peeled off after seven
laps. Passing Tamburello and running second behind Senna, Michael
Schumacher noticed the back of the Williams step out, until Senna
corrected it. On the next lap the Williams did not take the bend
at Tamburello, and crashed at full speed into the concrete wall,
11 metres from the track. The wheels came off (as they are
designed to do), but by a terrible mischance one wheel and its
steering arm hit and penetrated Senna's helmet, and he suffered
massive head injuries. He was airlifted to Bologna hospital and
placed on life-support, but was pronounced dead later that day.
The race was stopped, and restarted, and eventually won by
Michael Schumacher. Gerhard Berger, who had lost a fellow
countryman and a good friend on successive days, retired from the
race shortly afterwards. Erik Comas, who was mistakenly waved out
of the pits following Senna's accident, drove round the track
believing it to be clear until he came to Tamburello and found
the paramedics frantically trying to revive Senna. Understandably
he was too distraught to continue. Finally, a pitlane accident
also injured several mechanics.
Ratzenberger's accident was adjudged to be due to 'driver error',
as he should have come in to have his car checked for safety.
However, the cause of Senna's crash has not been determined.
Under Italian law, Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Roland
Brunseyrade (the race director) and two Imola track officials are
to face manslaughter charges in a trial which was opened, and
adjourned, on February 20th 1997. Theories continue to abound as
to the cause of the crash.
Following the weekend, the following measures were implemented:
- changes to the cars for that season and next
- radical changes to many of the circuits
- Grand Prix drivers association revived
Ayrton Senna was buried at home in Brazil, with full state
honours. When his car was examined, a furled Austrian flag was
found inside. The great Brazilian champion had intended to
dedicate his 42nd victory to Roland Ratzenberger.
6.11 How can you tell team-mates apart? [RM]
Once again, poorly placed car numbers and helmet-obscuring
cockpit padding have made it virtually impossible to distinguish
between teammates while watching races on TV. I believe the
guide below is now complete; I was able to get a few more bits of
info watching the race from Sao Paulo today. The changes from
the one I posted after Melbourne are:
1) Data for Stewart team now available
2) Data about Minardi front suspension now modified
3) Complaints about Benetton markings being virtually
invisible deleted. You don't think they're reading
r.a.s.f1, do you?
Please note that this information may change during the year, and
that drivers occasionally make re-starts in cars with their
teammate's marks. In '96 Jordan abandoned distinguishing marks
after the first few races. If anyone else has additional or new
info, please e-mail it to me at: rmalbon@cs.umb.edu
The current list is:
Arrows:
1 Hill: Orange nose-tip
2 Diniz: Plain (blue/white) nose tip
Williams:
3 Villeneuve: Blue front wing hangers, yellow "Hype"
sticker on right barge-board, orange on left
4 Frentzen: Orange front wing hangers; orange "Hype"
sticker on right barge-board, yellow on left
Ferrari:
5 M. Schumacher: Black/ white front wing
6 Irvine: 2 yellow stripes on black/ white front wing
Benetton:
7 Alesi: Orange nose-tip
8 Berger: Plain (lt. blue) nose-tip
McLaren:
9 Hakkinen: Silver mirrors
10 Coulthard: Orange mirrors
(Note: BOTH McLarens have orange nose-tips, a feature used
as a distinguishing mark by several other teams)
Jordan:
11 R. Schumacher: Red leading edge on black front wing element
12 Fisichella: All-black front wing
Prost:
14 Panis: Blue cockpit padding
15 Nakano: Yellow cockpit padding
Sauber:
16 Herbert: Yellow mirrors
17 Larini: Red mirrors
Tyrrell:
18 Verstappen: 3 yellow stripes on rear wing
19 Salo: 3 orange stripes on rear wing
Minardi:
20 Katayama: All-yellow front wing, black front upper
wishbones
21 Trulli: Orange center on yellow front wing, orange
front upper wishbones
Stewart:
22 Barrichello: Red cockpit padding
23 Magnussen: White cockpit padding
7. NETIQUETTE [HG]
7.1 Read 'welcome to rec.autos.sport hierarchy', posted monthly
or so. This covers most of the points made below, which are
standard netiquette. Please read it.
7.2 Don't post jpegs,gifs or any other big files. Many people
download all messages in the newsgroup to be read off-line. If
you pay for connect time it is very annoying to find that you
have spent 10 minutes downloading a 7000 line binary. Post
pictures to alt.binaries.pictures.vehicles and then you can just
post a short message on r.a.s.f1 telling people what you posted
and where you posted it.
7.3 Please don't get offensive - a driver can't help his
appearance or that of his wife, but their behaviour on or off
track is fair game. Also; ANYONE CAN MAKE A MISTAKE!!! Posts on
the lines of 'xxx is a complete yyyy' just get tedious.
Reasonable analysis please, we can buy junk newspapers if we
want rantings. Remember also that F1 is really easy from your
armchair, rather less so from the driving seat.
7.4 Great drivers and world champions come from all countries,
please keep down the nationalistic bias.
7.5 Not everyone on this group is male; chauvinist pig behaviour
will be spotted and rebuked! Drivers are good or bad on their own
merits, not those of their chromosomes. I'll let you get away
with sexism, so long as it is in a humorous vein; I too think
that the swimsuit clad girlies on the grid are unlikely to be
filling in time between rocket-science engagements.
7.6 Not everyone on this group has English as a first language -
don't slag off someone for poor grammar or spelling. However
English is the language of the group, please try to post in it.
7.7 Spoilers; if you are posting within two days of a Grand
Prix, don't put the result in the header, just something like
'Hungarian GP - SPOILERS'; not 'Schumacher wins in Germany' as
this upsets people. On the other hand, it is almost certain that
somebody will violate the spoiler rule so read the group at your
peril - I have never seen the result of a race NOT given away in
at least one subject line!! Please don't perpetuate the regular
post-race argument about whether spoilers should or shouldn't be
used. We all know the arguments for and against spoilers so it is
REALLY, REALLY BORING and you cannot add anything original to
previous discussions.
7.8 Don't ask people to post results, practice times, starting
grids etc. All of these will be posted dozens of times so it is
not necessary to ask - you will even see Friday's practice times
still being posted on Tuesday afternoon. And if you're tempted to
post times, results etc. yourself, ask yourself this: out of the
tens of millions of people who just watched exactly the same
thing that you did, do you really, really think that you will be
the very first to get to your computer?
7.9 Don't post test messages. There are many news groups set up
specifically for test messages - use them. (If you post to
alt.test you will even get automatic responses from a couple of
sites around the world telling you how long it took your post to
get to their site).
7.10 If you're responding to a long post, please use the delete
key liberally to edit the original message. People don't want to
page through a three page message to see your "I agree" reply.
7.11 Please ensure that your software restricts your post to 72
character per line. Most people will not read messages which
spill off the edge of their screen.
8. F1 WEB SITES
My personal list of bookmarks includes the following sites:
For daily news:
Nando
For race previews and reports as well as results and times by e-
mail:
Atlas F1
For feature articles:
Daily Telegraph
(British)
For statistics:
FORIX
This is just my personal list and there are a lot of very good F1
sites out there. Check the web version of the FAQ for a few more.
Jordan Home Page
The Racing Line: auto racing news, commentary and web links
The Anastasia Utendorf F1 Page - multi-media F1 program.
McLaren Home Page
News,Reviews,Results,Drivers,Teams,History.If its F1,its
there.
Comprehensive coverage of F1 and other motorsports worldwide
The Formula One Links Page
Official Ferrari Home Page (Italian)
Official Ferrari Home Page (English)
9. TICKET INFORMATION
(Editor's note: I would like to expand on this section and
possibly make it a separate posting. Anybody who has this sort
of information on any regular and/or future venues, please let
me know).
Canada - Grand Prix Molson du Canada
Phone: (514) 350-0000
Fax: (514) 350-4709
1997 prices - Gold 3 day Can$335
Silver 3 day Can$275
Bronze 3 day Can$135
G.A. 3 day Can$75
G.A. daily Can$20, 35 and 50
Consensus seems to be that the stands at the hairpin, silver or
bronze, are the best value for money. Golds are over-priced.
General Admission - can be OK but get there very early. Circuit
accessible by public transport - subway to Ile St-Helene
station.
Belgian Grand Prix
Spa Francorchamps
(usually held at last weekend of August)
R.F.P.
Route du Circuit 55
B-4970 Francorchamps
Tel +32 87-27.51.46 / 27.51.38
Fax +32 87-27.55.51 / 27.52.96
1997 prices
Sunday Weekend
Gold 3 BEF 12500
Gold 1,2,4 BEF 11000
Gold 1,2,4 Child BEF 7000
Silver 1,2,3,4 BEF 8500
Silver 1,2,3,4 Chd BEF 6000
Bronze BEF 5000 6000
Bronze Child BEF 2500 3000
Green is limited access only, which means you allowed to stand
on the banking along the 'Kemmel' straight. Bronze gives you
access to (practically) all around the circuit. There are some
pretty fast corners at Spa, which are a must to be seen {Usually
a spin or two occurs at well :-)}. A Silver ticket buys you a
place at the open tribunes, while Gold either gives you right to
sit at the covered tribune at the finish line or the tribune
facing the awesome 'Eau Rouge' corner.
Looking for a place to stay? The Tourist Office might help you
out:
Spa Office du Tourisme
Place Royal 41
B 4900 Spa
Tel (+32) 87 77.17.00
Fax (+32) 87 77.07.00
Monaco Grand Prix
Always held at the weekend following Ascension day.
The following information about the event in 1996 was found on
the Webpages at http://www.monaco.mc/monaco/gprix/stand.html
Prices
Thursday Saturday Sunday
Stand Situation 16-May 18-May 19-May
A1 Saint Devote - Tabac 250F 600F 1400F
A3 Viaduc Saint Devote 250F 600F 1400F
A4 Ave de la Costa - 300F 500F
B Casino 250F 700F 1400F
E Chicane - 600F 1400F
K Quai Albert 1er 300F 750F 1500F
M Route de la Piscine 300F 700F 1400F
N Piscine panne Nord 200F 450F 900F
O Piscine Plongeur 200F 600F 1400F
P Piscine panne Sud 200F 450F 900F
L Piscine Rainier III 200F 450F 900F
T Cale de halage 150F 300F -
U Virage Rascasse 250F - -
V Virage Anthony Noghes 250F 600F 1400F
W Courbe des Gazometres 250F 600F 1400F
Z1 Av J.F. Kennedy 100F 200F 300F
Z2 Virage Anthony Noghes 150F 300F 600F
R Rocher de Monaco - 150F 200F
Seating Notes
General:
Stands K,M have the best view of the large TV screen (positioned
above and behind stand Z1.) Stand R is a large grass bank with a
view down over the port. There are no official seats. The large
TV can also be seen from this stand.
Thursday:
The tickets do not reference a seat number. You are free to sit
anywhere in the stand you have chosen.
Stands K,M: The ticket allows access to K and M.
Stands N,O,P: The ticket allows access to N,O and P.
Friday:
The stands are free. The circuit is only operational in the
morning and there is no Formula 1 action.
Saturday:
The tickets for all stands except Z,Z1,R are numbered to
specific
seats.
Sunday:
The tickets for all stands except Z,Z1,R are numbered to
specific
seats.
Buying Tickets
The Monaco Grand Prix tickets are on sale at the Automobile Club
of Monaco Reservations Office *) or at the accredited agents:
France:
Voyages Kuoni
2 rue Marechal Joffre
06000 Nice
Tel: 93.16.08.02, FAX: 93.16.15.45
Great Britain:
Page and Moy
136 London Road
Leicester LE2 1EN
Tel: (116) 252.4344, FAX: (116) 252.4283
Italy:
Bononia Viaggi
Galleria del Toro 3
40121 Bologna
Tel: (51) 26.39.85, FAX: (51) 23.93.17
Switzerland:
A.C. der Schweiz
Birsigstrasse 4
4011 Basel
Tel: (61) 272.39.33, FAX: (61) 281.36.57
*) Automobile Club de Monaco
23, Bd. Albert 1er
MC98012 Monaco
Tel: +377.93.15.26.00
FAX: +377.93.25.80.08
PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX
Contact info:
ACP (Automovel Clube de Portugal)
R. Rosa Araujo, 24 P
1250 Lisboa
Tel: 351 1 3563931
351 1 7936899
Fax: 351 1 577708
351 1 7930597
1996 PRICES
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Grandstand | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Weekend |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| A | - | - | - | 40 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| B | - | - | - | 35 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| C | 6 000$ | 10 000$ | 20 000$ | 23 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| E | 6 000$ | 10 000$ | 12 000$ | 16 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| H | 6 000$ | 12 000$ | 20 000$ | 25 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|K (no seats)| - | - | 10 000$ | 12 000$ |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Paddock Vip | - | - | - | US $1300 |
+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
Prices in Portugueses escudos (except Paddock in US dollars).
Some exchange rates:
1 UKP ~= 239$
1 US $ ~= 158$
1 DM ~= 103$
1 FF ~= 30$
Check http://bin.gnn.com/cgi-bin/gnn/currency?Portugal for other
exchange rates.
In 1995, in the C/E/H/K grandstands children up to age of 12
years accompanied by an adult payed 50% of adult price.
Check Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro's home page
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/f1/ for a map of the track, with the
position of the grandstands.
A - In the start-finish line
B - Just after the A
C - On the outside of the first bend
K - On the inside of the track, from the first bend to the
beginning of the fourth.
E - On the inside of the track, near the new chicane. Moving
around it is possible to see from the inside parabolica to the
chicane and the Ss (there are more than one grandstand in this
area).
H - On the outside of the Parabolica Senna.
17TH GRAN PREMIO DI SAN MARINO 1997
25/26/27 April 1997 in Imola (Italy)
Contact Info:
SAGIS s.p.a.
Via Fratelli Rosselli 2
I-40026 Imola (Italy)
phone: (+39) 0542 / 31444
fax: (+39) 0542/ 30420
Ticket Office:
SAGIS s.p.a.
Piazzale Leonardo Da Vinci, 1
I-40026 Imola (Italy)
phone: (+39) 0542 / 34116
fax: (+39) 0542/ 34159
Ticket prices for 1997:
Friday Saturday Sunday
Weekend
Stand Situation 25-April 26-April 27-May
Prato (No seats) 50'000 70'000 80'000
130'000
Prato Tosa (No seats) 50'000 80'000 100'000
160'000
A Start/Finish 100'000 200'000 500'000
B (TV) Tosa 80'000 130'000 280'000
C (TV) Acque Mineali 50'000 70'000 250'000
D (TV) Acque Mineali 50'000 70'000 250'000
E (TV) Acque Mineali 50'000 70'000 250'000
F (TV) Acque Mineali 50'000 70'000 250'000
G Variante Alta 50'000 70'000 220'000
H Rivazza 50'000 70'000 200'000
I Marlboro 50'000 130'000 300'000
L Agip Petroli 240'000
M Exit Marlboro 50'000 130'000 350'000
P (TV) Panoramico Al 80'000 130'000 250'000
P (TV) Panoramica Ba 80'000 130'000 220'000
68th Gran Premio d'Italia 1997
5/6/7 September 1997 in Monza (Italy)
Ticket prices for 1997:
Friday Saturday Sunday Weekend
Stand Situation 5-Sept 6-Sept 7-Sep
General admission 50'000 75'000 75'000 130'000
F (TV) Central Grandstand 100'000 Sold out
H (TV) Left Lateral 320'000
C (TV) Right Lateral 100'000 400'000
J Inner Goodyear 300'000
K (TV) Outer Goodyear 100'000 380'000
L Second Variant 220'000
M Roggia Stand 220'000
N1 Serraglio 200'000
P Ascari 3 Stand 250'000
Q (TV) Ascari 2 Stand 100'000 350'000
S (TV) Rombo Stand 100'000 350'000
T1 Junior Stand 200'000
Y (TV) Parabolica Lateral 200'000
Z (TV) Renault Parabolica 320'000
Z1 Inner Parabolica 220'000
Daily Car Parking Pass 30'000
Daily Car Parking Pass & General admission 190'000
*Note: The prices have a surplus of 3% for booking in advance.
Ticket are not sold before May!
All prices in Italian Lira
Check http://www.olsen.ch/cgi-bin/exmenu for exchange rates.
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The contribution of the following individuals is very gratefully
acknowledged. This FAQ would not have been possible without
them.
Harald Bloche [HB] bloche@postix.gmd.de
David Byrne [DB] yr39401@cs.may.ie
Glenn Durden [GD] alfa@melb.alexia.net.au
Tim Downie [TD] trd@fisher.stats.bris.ac.uk
Darryl Ellson [DE] darryl@trigger.ch.umist.ac.uk
Helen Gerald [HG] geraldh@logica.com
Thomas Gmuer [TG] tgmur@tinet.ch
Andrew Henry [AH] rasfaq@bath.ac.uk
Tom Herre [TH] therre@online.no
Chuck Ingene [CI] caingene@u.washington.edu
Mark Jackson [MJ] mjackson@wc.eso.mc.xerox.com
RP Mendes Salgueiro[RM] rps@mat.uc.pt
Randy Malbone [RM] rmalbon@cs.umb.edu
Kim Meijs [KM] kh.meijs@via.nl
Hans Molenaar [HM] hmolenaa@hbg.nl
Hugh Rankin [HR] hrankin@ibm.net
AJ Samuels [AS] ajsamuels@dolomite.win-uk.net
Chris 'Bart'Simpson[CS] simpson@stsci.edu
Ulrich Teichert [UT] krypton@netzservice.de
A big thank you also to McLaren, Jordan, Tyrrell, Sauber,
Benetton, Ferrari and Minardi for their assistance. Especially
Tyrrell, who are really, really nice people and you should buy
everything their sponsors are trying to sell you. :->
Copyright (c) 1997 by Mitchell McCann
Last revised on March 31, 1997 at 11:55 by Mitchell McCann