F1 FREAK

Fernando Alonso

2008-08-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Fernando Alonso's father Jose Luid originally tried to get his daughter Lorena, five years older than Alonso, interested in karting. But she never took to it and her kart was passed on to three year-old Fernando.

Karting
He won all eight races in the first series he entered in 1988. His continuing good results at Santo Angel de la Guarda school meant his parents were happy for him to continue karting. In 1993 he won the Spanish karting championship with the Genikart team. Two years later he finished third in the World Championships and won the Junior World Championship in 1996. That year he was spotted by former Formula One driver Adrian Campos at the Marlboro Masters race in Barcelona, with Alonso won. It was Campos that gave Alonso his first test in a racing car, with Campos' Formula Nissan team, at Albacete in October 1998.

Formula Nissan & F3000
Although he crashed twice during the test by the third day he had matched Campos' race driver Marc Gene's pole position time from the race at the track earlier that year. Alonso was confirmed with Campos racing for the 1999 Euro Open Movi Star by Nissan series (often known more simply as Formula Nissan, which later became the World Series by Nissan and then the World Series by Renault). The Spaniard took his first win in the series in the second round at Albacete. Entering the final round of the season he trailled championship leader Manuel Giao 144 points to 125. He needed a win plus fastest lap (which gave an extra point) to claim the title at the final round in Valencia - which he duly delivered. This led to his first ever F1 test at the end of the year with Minardi. He impressed sporting director Cesare Fiorio, beating the other young test drivers by 1.5 seconds. Fiorio said: "The first thing I did was to call [Minardi boss] Gabriele Rumi to draw up a 10-year contract for him before word got round F1 about Fernando and someone stole him from us." For 2000 he progressed up the motor sport ladder to Formula 3000 with Team Astromega, following an impressive test for Coloni at Jerez. He had arrived in the closest series to Formula One in only his second year of racing cars. He was the youngest driver to contest F3000 that year by 11 months. But it would be a difficult season. Alonso improved his English to communicate better with his mechanics and only at the end of the season did the results start to come. He scored his first point in the seventh round of ten (the A1-Ring) but took second in the penultimate race the Hungaroring and won the season finale at Spa-Francorchamps. Thus, with only three points finishes, he nevertheless finished fourth in the championship behind Bruno Junquiera, Nicolas Minassian and Mark Webber.

Minardi
Alonso's arrival in F1 came at the expense of Gene, who left Minardi as Rumi's team was taken over by Australian Paul Stoddart. Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore had taken charge of Alonso's career and steered him into the team. A race against time to prepare Minardi for the 2001 season was won, and Alonso made his Grand Prix debut alongside Tarso Marques. The Brazilian Marques had 12 Grand Prix appearances under his belt, but Alonso put him in the shade from the first qualifying session of the year. Alonso took 19th on the grid, displacing Gaston Mazzacane and Luciano Burti's faster machinery, and beating Marques by 2.6 seconds. That set the pattern for the year. The Minardi PS01 rarely had the speed to let Alonso display his talent over a race distance - and the team suffered poor reliability after the re-introduction of traction control early in the season. So Alonso demonstrated his speed in qualifying: 18th in Imola ahead of both Benettons, which he repeated at the A1-Ring. Marques' qualifying position in these races? 22nd and last. The only real hiccup came when driving a two-seater Minardi at a fans' day at Donington Park. With ITV-F1 presenter Louise Goodman on board, Alonso's car was struck by that of 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell (with businessman Jonathan Frost). The collision pitched Mansell's Minardi into the air. The final round of 2001 was at Suzuka - a track Alonso had never raced on before, renowned as one of the most difficult on the calendar. Alonso's responded beautifully to the challenge. He qualified 18th and finished 11th - not because of retirements or accidents. He beat home Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Ferrari-powered Prost, Olivier Panis' BAR-Honda, both Arrows and his new team mate Alex Yoong.

Benetton & Renault
Briatore was eager to slot Alonso in at Benetton (which was being taken over by Renault) in place of British driver Jenson Button, who in his second season had fared poorly compared to team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. But Button kept his place, Fisichella traded places with Jarno Trulli, and so Briatore moved Alonso into a test role. Twelve months and 1,642 laps of Silverstone, Valencia, Jerez and Catalunya later, Alonso was promoted to the Renault race team for 2003, replacing Button. He did not disappoint. At the second race of the season in Malaysia he became the youngest ever pole position holder. Then, at Hungary, the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, lapping eventual champion Michael Schumacher en route. When Ferrari dominated the 2004 season Alonso had only one opportunity to take a win, at Monte-Carlo. And, unusually, he was beaten to it by his team-mate, Jarno Trulli, who took a flawless victory from pole, while Alonso crashed in the tunnel lapping Ralf Schumacher. But before the end of 2004 Trulli was out, falling out of favour with Briatore and being replaced for 2005 by a returning Fisichella.

The first championship
Alonso was merciless in his domination of his new team mate - and in his pursuit of the championship. Although Fisichella won first time out at Melbourne, Alonso had stormed to third from thirteenth having suffered from rain on his qualifying lap. It was Alonso who did the rest of the winning that year, taking seven victories and the championship. His Renault often trailled Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren for speed, but it was usually more reliable. That, allied to Alonso's unrelenting speed which forced costly mistakes from Raikkonen at least twice, made him a worthy champion. But there was no ignoring the fact that his championship had come in a season of atypical misfortune for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, largely due to regulations that prohibited tyre changes. This was reversed for 2006, and a resurgent Schumacher presented a wholly different threat to Alonso. On top of which, Alonso revealed in December of 2005 that he would leave Renault for McLaren in 2007. Even Briatore hadn't seen that one coming.

The second championship
The 2006 season came in three phases - early domination by Alonso, a massive resurgence by Schumacher, and then an impossibly tense and often controversial fight to the final race of the season. It could not have been scripted better. After nine races Alonso had 84 points from a potential 90 - more even that Schumacher had scored in his dominant 2004 campaign. But Ferrari fought back - with a revised aerodynamic package, with improved Bridgestone tyres, and with a Schumacher resolved to retire at the end of the season and determined to take the title with him. They had more than that on their side. Renault's innovative mass damper system was banned amid accusations of pro-Ferrari bias from the governing body. Then came an extraordinary penalty handed to Alonso at Monza for allegedly blocking Schumacher's team mate Felipe Massa. Alonso fumed on Sunday morning before the race, telling the press: "I no longer consider F1 a sport." That afternoon Schumacher won and went public with his retirement plans. Alonso also retired - from the race, when his engine blew after he had strained the Renault to its limits dragging it into third place. At the Japanese Grand Prix Bridgestone appeared to have found an enormous new advantage in qualifying - for both Ferraris and both Toyotas were ahead of Alonso. But the Spaniard was to produce another virtuoso showing reminiscent of his first time there in 2001. He sliced past Trulli's Toyota on the first lap. Ralf Schumacher's Toyota fell next - Alonso not hesitating for a moment as he laced him championship chances on the line with every passing move. He drew to within five seconds of his nemesis in the Ferrari and could get no closer. The two screamed around Suzuka at full pelt. Alonso's car had already let him down twice this year - now, incredibly, unbelievably, it was Schumacher's turn. Alonso punched the air as he passed the stationary, smoking Ferrari at Degner 2, and won the race. He won the championship at the final round where Schumacher again ran into car trouble. Alonso had beaten the seven-time champion and 91-time race winner, and become the youngest driver ever to win back-to-back titles. And he had done it with a team that had known all season that he, their number one driver, was off to rivals McLaren for 2007.

Fall-out with McLaren - and Hamilton
Alonso came very close to taking a third consecutive championship in 2007 – finishing third in the title race, one point behind victor Kimi Raikkonen, and tied with team mate Lewis Hamilton. But Alonso found himself at the centre of an acrimonious dispute with the McLaren team and opinion is divided over whether he was the instigator or the victim. There were signs early in the season that Alonso was unhappy with Hamilton’s early run of success. He became increasingly vocal with his demands that the team concentrate on backing his title bid, even as Hamilton moved into the lead of the championship. Relations within the team broke down completely at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton refused an instruction from the team to allow Alonso past during qualifying, so Alonso retaliated by delaying Hamilton in the pits, preventing his team mate from setting a final lap time. The stewards punished Alonso for baulking Hamilton and McLaren for failing to provide an adequate explanation of what happened. During the course of the season McLaren had been defending itself against allegations that it had obtained confidential information about Ferrari’s car. Ron Dennis claimed that on the morning of the Hungarian race Alonso threatened to expose compromising information about the alleged espionage of Dennis did not rein Hamilton in. McLaren persisted with its policy of giving both drivers equal treatment and Alonso alienated himself further from the team, increasing his public complaints about their operation. At the final round, at the request of the Spanish racing authority, an independent adjudicator was stationed in the McLaren pit during qualifying to ensure there was no foul play. He found none. Shortly after the season ended McLaren terminated their contract with Alonso and he returned to Renault for 2008. Latest F1 Fanatic articles about Fernando Alonso

Lewis Hamilton

2008-08-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

Lewis Hamilton set himself on a path to Formula One when he introduced himself to McLaren team boss Ron Dennis at the 1994 Autosport Awards. The nine year-old from Tewin, Hertfordshire, walked up to Dennis, asked for his autograph and then said: gHi. Ifm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars.h

It earned Hamilton the patronage and support of one of the top Formula One teams which, 13 years later, would result in an F1 drive.

Before all that there was the small matter of graduating through the lower echelons of motorsport, which Hamilton achieved with considerable aplomb and some astonishing successes.

RC Racing
Hamiltonfs first contact with a form of motor sport came through driving remote controlled (RC) cars. His father Anthony bought him one in 1991 and aged six Hamilton was runner-up in a national RC racing championship. gI was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults,h remembered Hamilton. After that Anthony wondered if Lewisfs skills might transfer to full-size motorsport.

Karting
He began karting aged eight and two years later won the British karting championship (cadet class) and STP karting championship.

Hamilton remained in cadet class karting in 1996, winning the Champions of the Future series and becoming Sky TV KartMasters Champion and Five Nations Champion.

The following season he raced in Junior Yamaha and won the Champions of the Future series again, plus the Super One series, and was British Champion again.

At their first meeting Dennis had written in Hamiltonfs autograph book, gPhone me in nine years, wefll sort something out then.h In 1998 he was officially signed to the McLaren Driver Development Support programme. At 13, he was the youngest such driver to have been contracted by an F1 team. The contract guaranteed financial and technical support and even included a future option for entry into Formula One.

That year he graduated to the Junior Intercontinental A level and finished second in the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future and raced in the Italian Open Championship, finishing fourth.

More Junior Intercontintal A success came in 1999. He was Vice European Champion, Trophy de Pomposa winner and finished fourth in the Italian Open Championship again.

That year he also raced in Intercontinental A and won the Italian gIndustrialsh Championship.

The next year of karting brought an even greater haul of wins. He was European Champion in Formula A, winning all four rounds.

To that he added the World Cup Championship in Japan, was World Number One, won the Elf Masters at Bercy in France and the second round of the Italian Open. Recognising his success the British Racing Driversf Club made him a eRising Starf� Member.

In 2001 he came up against Michael Schumacher who made a guest appearance at the Germanfs home track at Kerpen. Hamilton finished behind the Ferrari star, who by then had four world championships to his name.

Formula Renault
This marked the end of his karting apprenticeship and he stepped up into car racing. But his first test in a racing car for Manor Motorsport didnft begin well, as team boss John Booth explains: gMcLaren asked us to give Lewis a test in our Formula Renault and tell them what we thought. We took him to a general test day at Mallory Park. He;d never driven a car before, not even a road car - and he crashed our Renault after three laps! But the boys put it back together again, and he went back out and went very quickly. It hadnft fazed him in the slightest.h

He finished fifth overall in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2002 he finished third in Formula Renault UK with Manor Motorsport, winning three races plus one Formula Renault Eurocup race. He scored 274 points to champion Danny Wattsf 333, and was five points adrift of second-placed Jamie Green.

He remained in the series the following year but took until the fifth round, at Silverstone, to take his first win. But from here on he dominated, winning all but one of the next ten races. Hamilton stormed to the title with ten wins, nine fastest laps, eleven pole positions, and 419 points to runner-up Alex Lloydfs 371. Having wrapped up the championship early he skipped the last two races.

Formula Three
Hamilton also made an ill-starred appearance in the final round of the British Formula Three championship with Manor. He went off in the first race and, in the second, collided with team mate Tor Graves and having been knocked unconscious was taken to Sidcup Hospital.

Nonetheless he would race Formula Three in 2004 but in the European series (fEuroseriesf) rather than the British Championship. He stayed with Manor for their first appearance in the series and won one round, at the Norising. This left him fifth overall behind champion Green, Alexandre Premat, Nicolas Lapierre and Nico Rosberg.

That year he also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and race one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix. He had his first test in a McLaren F1 car in December, alongside Green and Lloyd.

Hamilton switched teams to champions ASM for 2005, which was a prelude to another destruction of the opposition just as he had in Formula Renault two years earlier. He won 15 of the 20 races (plus a 16th at Spa-Francorchamps after which he and several other drivers were disqualified for technical reasons), beating team mate Adrian Sutil to the championship by 172 points to 94.

That same year he won the F3 Marlboro Masters in Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, from pole position. He also won both the prestigious Monaco F3 Grand Prix races from pole position and both the Pau F3 Grand Prix in France from pole position.

For these achievements, British magazine Autosport ranked him 24th in their gTop 50 Drivers of 2005 feature.

GP2
This left GP2 as the most practical route to Formula One, and Hamilton joined champions ART (sister outfit to his F3 team ASM) who had just helped Rosberg on his way to F1. There he would face Premat, who was with the outfit for a second season.

But his main championship rival would be another driver in his second year of GP2 - Nelson Piquet Jnr. The very first round set the tone for the season with Piquet winning from Hamilton.

The Briton found form quickly and won his first race at round five, at the Nurburgring. But this was more than just a win. It was a crushing display of superiority where, lapping over a second quicker than his rivals, even a penalty for speeding in the pit lane couldnft stop Hamilton.

At Monte-Carlo he won again and he won both his home rounds at Silverstone. There he delivered a crucial blow to Piquet by flying past the Brazilian - and Clivio Piccione - in a celebrated move at the 150mph Becketts complex which saw the crowd roar in approval.

Piquet rallied later in the year but couldnft keep Hamilton from the title. It came in unusual circumstances following the penultimate race at Monza when he inherited a bonus point for fastest lap from Giorgio Pantano, who was penalised for a yellow flag infringement.

The time was ripe for Hamilton to graduate to Formula One.

Formula One
A vacant slot existed at McLaren for 2007 alongside Fernando Alonso following the departures of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. But few expected Dennis to fill the space with Hamilton, as McLaren had not started a season with a rookie driver since employing Michael Andretti in 1993 - who struggled terribly.

Despite facing competition from Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who had substituted for Montoya in 2006, and fellow McLaren tester Gary Paffett, it was Hamilton who got the drive. He was told on September 30th but the news wasnft made public until November 24th as McLaren did not want the announcement to be overshadowed by Michael Schumacherfs retirement.

Dennis explained his decision was simply because he did not feel any drivers other than F1fs ebig threef (Alonso, Schumacher and Raikkonen) were sufficiently impressive:

We reviewed the whole grid and when we looked at the drivers other than the top three there was no-one that really shone. [Hamilton] has been in the family for a long time and he deserves the opportunity wefre giving him.

Hamiltonfs astonishing debut season brought him instant fame beyond the motor racing world. He finished on the podium at his first race and kept it up for nine races in a row, winning at Montreal and Indianapolis.

That propelled him into the lead of the world championship by 12 points before Alonso mounted a fightback.

But the season turned nasty - McLaren were accused of obtaining and using Ferrari information illegally. At the Hungarian Grand Prix Hamilton ignored an instruction to allow Alonso past in qualifying, and the Spaniard reacted by holding Hamilton up in the pits so the Briton couldnft get his final qualifying lap in.

Alonso was punished, and it later emerged that on the same weekend he had threatened Dennis that he would expose his own role in the spying affair unless he was given number one status in the team over Hamilton.

Dennis refused, the working relationship between Alonso and the team crumbled, and McLaren were hit with a massive fine and exclusion from the constructorsf championship while Alonso edged closer to Hamilton in the driversf standings.

Hamilton seemed to have Alonso beat after winning in the wet at Fuji as his team mate crashed out. But Hamilton suffered a string of calamities, some self-inflicted, in the final two races, handing the title to Kimi Raikkonen. He retired from the Chinese Grand Prix when he slid off on worn tyres, and his gearbox cut out during the Brazilian Grand Prix, causing him to slip down the field and finish seventh.

Even then there was a brief hope that he might become champion on appeal after several teams were suspected of using illegally cool fuel in the final race, but the appeal was rejected.

Hamilton remained at McLaren for 2008, with Fernando Alonso leaving to be replaced by Heikki Kovalainen.

Ethnicity
Although much attention surrounded Hamiltonfs ethnic background on his arrival in F1, he largely steered clear of commenting about it at length. In October 2007 he told Black History Month magazine:

Outside of Formula One my heroes are foremost my father, then Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Being black is not a negative. Itfs a positive, if anything, because Ifm different. In the future it can open doors to different cultures and that is what motor sport is trying to do anyway.

[Winning the championship] will show that not only white people can do it, but also black people, Indians, Japanese and Chinese. It will be good to mean something.

During practice for the 2008 season there was controversy following an incident where several Spanish fans shouted racial abuse at Hamilton during testing. The sports governing body, the FIA, launched a campaign against racism in response

Super Aguri

2008-08-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Active years: 2006-present

History
When Honda dropped Takuma Sato in 2005 it found itself facing a public backlash in Japan. So it took the unusual step of forming a new team – Super Aguri - to keep Sato in F1.

Despite being put together in a very brief time ahead of its inaugural year, and using four-year old cars to begin with, the team managed a respectable showing. In 2007 with ex-Honda cars it even scored points.

Headquarters
Leafield, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Team principal: Aguri Suzuki
Managing director: Daniel Audetto
Technical director: Mark Preston
Sporting director: Graham Taylor
Chief designer: Peter McCool
Engineering director: Mark Ellis
Head of research and development: Gerry Hughes
Team manager: Michael Ainsley-Cowlishaw
Race engineers: Richard Connell and Antonio Cuquerella

Previous identities: None

Scuderia Toro Rosso

2008-08-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

Active years: 2006-present

History
Toro Rosso is the second Red Bull-operated team (‘Toro Rosso’ is Italian for ‘Red Bull’) which was formed after Red Bull purchased Minardi. Red Bull and Toro Rosso use substantially similar chassis developed by Red Bull Technologies, but different engines.

Headquarters
Faenza, Italy

Major team personnel
Team principal: Franz Tost
Technical director: Giorgio Ascanelli
General manager: Gianfranco Fantuzzi
Chief engineer: Laurent Mekies
Team manager Massimo Rivola
Technical co-ordinator: Sandro Parrini
Logistics manager: Domenico Sangiorgi
Chief mechanic: Paolo Piancastelli
Race engineer (car no. 1): Riccardo Adami
Race engineer (car no. 2): Claudio Balestri

Previous identities: Minardi

Red Bull

2008-08-15T07:14:00.001-07:00

Active years: 2005-present

History
Red Bull soft drinks billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz formed the team in 2005 having bought the remnants of Jaguar Racing from Ford. Red Bull has made several major signings both of technical staff and drivers, showing its determination to success in F1.

Headquarters
Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Team principal: Christian Horner
Chief technical officer: Adrian Newey
Technical director: Geoff Willis
Race team manager: Jonathan Wheatley
Head of research and development, rig testing and vehicle dynamics: Andrew Green
Head of race and test engineering: Paul Monaghan
Chief aerodynamicist: Peter Prodromou
Chief designer: Rob Marshall

Previous identities: Stewart, Jaguar

Renault

2008-08-15T07:13:00.001-07:00

Active years: 1977-1985; 2002-present

History
Renault first entered Formula 1 in 1977, bringing with it the radical innovation of turbo power. Despite being the first team to win a race with a turbo engine, it failed to deliver a championship and economic pressures forced the dissolution of the team in 1985.

It remained as an engine supplier and won a string of championships in the 1990s before returning as a constructor by taking over Benetton. Led by Flavio Briatore the team won both titles in 2005 and 2006 before drivers’ champion Fernando Alonso departed the team.

Headquarters
Enstone, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Managing director: Flavio Briatore
Technical director, chassis: Bob Bell
Deputy technical director: James Allison
Vehicle technology director: Tad Czapski
Chief designer: Tim Densham
Executive director of engineering: Pat Symonds
Deputy managing director, engine: Rob White
Head of engine and track operations: Denis Chevrier
Director of aerodynamic technology: Dino Toso

Previous identities: Toleman, Benetton

Williams

2008-08-15T07:12:00.001-07:00

Active years: 1978-present

History
Frank Williams had run an earlier team using customer cars. But his entry as a constructor in the late 1970s proved more successful, the team winning its first championship in 1980.

More titles followed in the 1980s thanks to Honda turbo power before the Japanese manufacturer switched to McLaren. Williams eventually turned to Renault, with which it won a swathe of further titles, before they too left.

A new partnership with BMW brought race wins but not championships, and since the two split Williams has struggled to escape the midfield.

Headquarters
Grove, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Team principals: Sir Frank Williams
Director of engineering: Patrick Head
Technical director: Sam Michael
Chief executive officer: Adam Parr
Chief operations engineer: Rod Nelson
Chief designer: Ed Wood
Chief operating officer: Alex Burns
Head of aerodynamics: John Tomlinson
Senior systems engineer: John Russell
Team manager: Tim Newton
Chief mechanic: Carl Gaden
Race engineer (Car no. 1): Tony Ross
Race engineer (Car no. 2): Xevi Pujolar

Previous identities: None

Toyota

2008-08-15T07:11:00.001-07:00

Active years: 2002-present

History
Toyota entered Formula 1 in 2002 after an exhaustive testing programme and with enormous financial support from its parent company. But it has been conspicuously short on success. It owns the Fuji Speedway racing circuit which returned to the F1 calendar in 2007.

Headquarters
Cologne, Germany

Major team personnel
Team principal and chairman: Tadashi Yamashina
Team president: John Howett
Executive vice-president: Yoshiaki Kinoshita
Team manager: Richard Cregan
Senior general manager, chassis: Pascal Vasselon
Senior general manager, engine: Luca Marmorini
Director, technical co-ordination: Noritoshi Arai
Chief engineer, race and test: Dieter Gass
Head of aerodynamics: Mark Gillan

Previous identities: None

HONDA

2008-08-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Active years: 1964-1968; 2006-present

History
Honda made a brief appearance in Formula 1 in the sixties and scored a couple of victories. But it achieved more prolonged success as an engine supplier to Williams and McLaren in the 1980s and 1990s.

It pulled out after 1992 but versions of its engines were developed by tuners Mugen Honda. The company then returned to full-time engine supply with BAR in 2000 before taking over the team ahead of the 2006 season.

The Japanese Grand Prix was held at Honda’s track Suzuka from 1987-2006 before moving to Toyota’s Fuji circuit.

Headquarters
Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Chief executive officer: Nick Fry
Team principal: Ross Brawn
General manager, Honda motorsport: Yasuhiro Wada
President of Honda racing development: Hiroshi Abe
Head of aerodynamics: Loic Bigois
Head of race and test engineering: Steve Clark
Deputy technical managing director: Shuhei Nakamoto
Deputy technical director: Jorg Zander
Director of strategy and business planning: Otmar Szafnauer
Director of advanced research: Jacky Eeckerlaert
Sporting director: Ron Meadows
Chief engineer: Craig Wilson
Senior race engineer (car no. 1): Andrew Shovlin
Senior race engineer (car no. 2): Jock Clear

Previous identities: Tyrrell, BAR

Force India F1 Team

2008-08-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Active years: 2008-

History
A new team for 2008, Force India F1 Team owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya has taken over from the former Spyker team.

Headquarters
: Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Co-owners: Vijay Mallya, Michel Mol
Team principal: Colin Kolles
Chief technical officer: Mike Gascoyne
Technical director: James Key
Design director: Mark Smith
Project leader, 2008 car: Akio Haga
Project leader, 2009 car: Ian Hall

Previous identities: Jordan, MidlandF1, Spyker

BMW

2008-08-15T07:07:00.001-07:00

Active years: 2006-present

History
BMW only became an official F1 constructor in 2006, but this followed two spells as an engine supplier. The first, in the 1980s, saw it break ground with the first turbo engine to power a driver to world championship success in 1983.

It returned in 2000 with Williams and was winning Grands Prix the following year. But the partnership failed to deliver a championship, so the Munich marque took over the ailing Sauber team.

Headquarters
Hinwii, Switzerland

Major team personnel
Motorsport director: Mario Theissen
Technical director: Willy Rampf
Head of powertrain: Markus Duesmann
Chief designer: Christoph Zimmermann
Head of aerodynamics: William Toet

Previous identities: Sauber

Ferrari

2008-08-15T07:06:00.001-07:00

Active years: 1950-present

History
The only team in Formula One today to have been present at the first World Championship Grand Prix in 1950. To many, Ferrari and Formula 1 are inseparable.

The first decade and a half of the world championship saw a string of Ferrari championships won by the likes of Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill and John Surtees.

Ferrari struggled from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies, before the new partnership of Niki Lauda and Mauro Forghieri delivered more titles in 1975 and 1977. There would have been another in 1976 but for Lauda’s horror crash at the Nürburgring – and surely more had he and team founder Enzo Ferrari not fallen out.

Enzo died in 1988, nine years since the team’s last drivers’ title and five years since its last constructors’ championship. Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s they looked like a spent force - although Alain Prost came close to winning the title for them in 1990.

It was only when Jean Todt recruited a swathe of staff from outside Italy – including Michael Schumacher – that the team began to taste championship success again. It began the 21st century with an unprecedented five consecutive championship doubles, and even after Schumacher’s departure the team claimed another double in 2007.

Headquarters
Maranello, Italy

Major team personnel
Team principal: Stefano Domenicali
Technical director: Aldo Costa
Engine and electronics director: Gilles Simon
Operations director: Mario Almondo
Chief designer: Nikolas Tombazis
Head of vehicle performance and research and design: Marco Fainello
Head of aerodynamics: John Iley
Team manager: Luca Baldisseri

Mclaren

2008-08-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Active years: 1963-present

History
The second-oldest team in Formula 1 today, McLaren was formed by New Zealand racer Bruce McLaren before his death in 1970. Four years later the team won its first world championship with Emerson Fittipaldi, and a second came in 1976 courtesy of James Hunt.

But the Teddy Mayer-run outfit fell down the grid before a takeover by Ron Dennis in the early 1980s. The outfit pioneered the carbon fibre chassis and became the dominant force in F1 from 1984 until the early nineties. After splitting with Honda it found a new engine partner in Mercedes and added further championships in 1998 and 1999.

More might have followed in 2007 but the team was implicated in a scandal over alleged spying on rivals Ferrari. Given a record fine of $100m the team were thrown out of the constructors’ championship and both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso lost the drivers’ title at the last round by one point each.

Headquarters
Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom

Major team personnel
Chairman and chief executive: Ron Dennis
Chief operating officer: Martin Whitmarsh
Managing director: Jonathan Neale
Engineering director: Paddy Lowe
Chief engineer: Tim Goss
Head of aerodynamics: Simon Lacey
Mercedes-Benz director of motorsport: Norbert Haug
Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines managing director: Ola Kallenius
Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines chief engineer: Andy Kowell

Previous identities: None

2008 F1 Drivers & teams

2008-08-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

2008 F1 Drivers & teams

Scuderia Ferrari
1. Kimi Raikkonen (confirmed 2008 driver
2. Felipe Massa (confirmed 2008 driver)
T. Luca Badoer (2007 driver)
T. Marc Gené (2007 driver)

BMW Sauber F1 Team
3. Nick Heidfeld (confirmed for 2008)
4. Robert Kubica (confirmed for 2008)
T. Christian Klien (confirmed for 2008)
T. Marko Asmer (confirmed for 2008)

Renault F1 Team
5. Fernando Alonso (confirmed for 2008)
6. Nelson Piquet Jnr. (confirmed for 2008)
T. Romain Grosjean (confirmed for 2008)
T. Sakon Yamamoto (confirmed for 2008)

Williams
7. Nico Rosberg (confirmed for 2008)
8. Kazuki Nakajima (confirmed for 2008)
T. Nico Hülkenberg (confirmed for 2008)

Red Bull Racing
9. David Coulthard (confirmed for 2008)
10. Mark Webber (confirmed for 2008)
T. Sebastien Buemi (confirmed for 2008)

Toyota Racing
11. Jarno Trulli (confirmed for 2008)
12. Timo Glock (confirmed for 2008)
T. Kamui Kobayashi (confirmed test driver for 2008)
T. Kohei Hirate (2007 driver)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
14. Sebastien Bourdais (confirmed for 2008)
15. Sebastian Vettel (confirmed for 2008)

Honda Racing F1 Team
16. Jenson Button (confirmed for 2008)
17. Rubens Barrichello (confirmed for 2008)
T. Alexander Wurz (confirmed for 2008)
T. Mike Conway (confirmed for 2008)
T. Luca Filippi (confirmed for 2008)

Super Aguri F1 Team
18. Takuma Sato (expected for 2008)
19. Anthony Davidson (expected for 2008)

Force India
20. Adrian Sutil (confirmed for 2008)
21. Giancarlo Fisichella (confirmed for 2008)
T. Vitantonio Liuzzi (confirmed for 2008)

McLaren-Mercedes
22. Lewis Hamilton (confirmed for 2008)
23. Heikki Kovalainen (confirmed for 2008)
T. Pedro de la Rosa (2007 driver)
T. Gary Paffett (2007 driver)

2008 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar

2008-08-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

2008 F1 calendar
The 2008 Formula 1 season will have 18 rounds, one more than 2007.
The United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis has been dropped. But two new events appear on the schedule. The European Grand Prix will be held at a new street circuit in Valencia. And the first ever Singaporean Grand Prix will also be held on a street circuti and run under floodlights at night.
The German Grand Prix returns to the calendar after a one-year absence, with the Hockenheimring hosting the race.

Rnd Date Event Circuit
1. 16th March Australian Grand Prix Albert Park, Mebourne
2. 23rd March Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit
3. 6th April Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
4. 27th April Spanish Grand Prix Montmelo, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
5. 11th May Turkish Grand Prix Istanbul Park
6. 25th May Monaco Grand Prix Monte-Carlo
7. 8th June Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
8. 22nd June French Grand Prix Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours
9. 6th July British Grand Prix Silverstone
10. 20th July German Grand Prix Hockenheimring
11. 3rd August Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring
12. 24th August European Grand Prix Valencia Street Circuit
13. 7th September Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps
14. 14th September Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale Monza
15. 28th September Singapore Grand Prix Singapore Street Circuit (night race)
16. 12th October Japanese Grand Prix Fuji Speedway
17. 19th October Chinese Grand Prix Shanghai International Circuit
18. 2nd November Brazilian Grand Prix Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, Sao Paulo