[V1.23 January 2001] This FAQ is posted approximately every 2 weeks. The subject should be the same. If you do not want to retrieve it, kill the subject. *NOTE* The FAQ has been split into two parts to avoid it being too long for some people's rules. Thanks to the following people who, amongst others, have had contributions culled to make the FAQ. Martin Schmidt, Lutz Goerke, Mark Jackson, Jon Petersson, Pete Fenelon, David Betts, Kim Andrews, Rob, Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro, Thomas Gmuer, Paul Winalski, Ken Fletcher, Ian Hill, Brian Lawrence, Mark J Frusciante, Paul Harman, Paul B, BF Dehay, GD, Emma Crawley, Alan Jones, Doug Farrow, Jak, Simon "Bumble Bee Boy" Cossar, Peter Scoular, Alan Gauton, Barry Posner, Johan V, Jeff "Eskimo Joe", Lord Tim Brent, Mike Whooley, Stênio F. Campos, Andrew Cosstick. A big thanks must go to Mark Jackson for his regular error checking. Apologies to anyone who's name I've missed - it's not deliberate! The FAQ may not have answers to everything you need (and some sections may currently be totally empty) - it is just a collection of *frequently* asked questions and their answers, not the answers to everything ;-) Corrections and additions are especially welcome. I do try to keep up with the newsgroup, but to make sure of something getting in the FAQ, mail me at step...@motorsport.org.uk as I don't *always* have chance to check the group. The FAQ is divided into several sections. 1. Rules, regulations and governing body 2. The teams and cars 3. The drivers 4. The races (Part 2) 5. The circuits (Part 2) 6. Television (Part 2) 7. Sponsors (Part 2) 8. Manufacturers (Part 2) 9. Technical stuff (Part 2) 10. Miscellaneous (Part 2) 1. Rules and Regulations and Governing Body =========================================== Q: Who is the governing body of Formula 1? A: The FIA, who are based in Geneva. Q: Where can I find the regulations to Formula 1? A: The FIA's web site has the technical and sporting regulations. See http://www.fia.com Q: What are the main changes for 2001? A: The FIA has released a number of adjustments to its technical regulations for the 2001 Formula One season. The following is a summary of these changes: Front wing will be raised 10 mm from the ground Rear wing will be limited to three different downforce profiles Nosecone testing standards will increased to double the currrent ones for vertical and lateral impact resistance Roll bar testing standards will be increased to four times the current ones for vertical and lateral impact resistance Wheels will now have two tethers, rather than one, to further reduce the number of stray wheels in accidents Rain tires will be increased in diameter by 1 cm to reduce aquaplaning Cockpit will be slightly enlarged in order to accommodate a new removable seat Q: Where can I see the Concorde Agreement? A: The Concorde Agreement is a secret document between the teams and the FIA that governs how the money is divided amongst other things. The text of the agreement is kept secret. Q: What is the Concorde Agreement? A: The original Concorde Agreement (so-called because it was signed at the FIA headquarters on the Place de Concorde in Paris) was between the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) and the Federation Internationale de Sport Automotive (FISA). FISA, chaired by Jean-Marie Balestre, was the arm of the FIA directly involved in sanctioning motor sport and had direct sanctioning responsibility for F1. FOCA was, as its name implies, an organization representing most of the F1 teams (but not all of them--Tyrrell and, I think, Ferrari were not FOCA members). Its president was Bernie Ecclestone, then owner of the Brabham F1 team. Through the 1970s the FIA had gradually allowed FOCA to take a greater hand in the financial, promotional, and organizational aspects of the F1 Championship. By 1980 FOCA was organizing the races and the FIA's role was limited to rules-making and officiating. When Balestre took over as head of FISA he set about trying to get control of F1 back from FOCA. FOCA baulked at some of Balestre's proposed rule changes, particularly the ones limiting ground effects, and a very ugly dispute ensued that threatened to split the sport. The sponsors and manufacturers (engines, tires, fuel) had the last say and forced both sides to hammer out the Concorde Agreement, which covers the whole financial and organizational side of F1 racing, collection and distribution of monies, etc. FISA is no longer, its duties now being performed by the FIA World Motor Sports Council. FOCA has evolved into Bernie's Company, Formula One Administration / SLEC. Since the original Concorde Agreement there have been several revisions to it. The exact terms of the Concorde Agreement are not public, but what it amounts to is that in return for contracting to show up at the GPs that make up the World Championship the teams receive a cut of the monies that FOA/SLEC takes in. Bernie's company guarantees to the promoters of each F1 race that at least 12 cars will show up for the race (currently 22 do). The latest version of the CA limits the size of the field for F1 championship GPs to 24 cars. Q: Who owns F1? A: The FIA owns Formula 1, but a lot of its commercial side is licenced to Formula One Administration. The television rights are owned by Formula One Administration, which in turn is owned by SLEC. SLEC is owned in turn by a family trust for the Ecclestone family, and nominally Slavica Ecclestone. Recently a 12.5% stake in SLEC was sold to Morgan Grenfell. Morgan Grenfell had an option for a further 37.5% stake, but declined the option. This was taken up by Hellman & Friedman, who purchased the stake for stlg 600m (apx $1b). Both of these stakes were then sold on to EMTV for around stlg £1.2 bn (apx $2b). In December, EMTV sold half of it's holding to the Kirch Gruppe for $550m, and has an option to purchase the other 25%. FOA is run by Bernie Ecclestone. Q: Who runs F1? A: The FIA. The president of which is Max Mosley. 2. The teams and cars ===================== Q: When was the last time a privateer won a race? A: The last privateer to win a GP was Jo Siffert in the Walker Lotus at Brands Hatch in 1968. There has never been a privateer World Champion. Moss came closest in the Rob Walker-entered Cooper in 1959 when he finished third. Walker was the first privateer entrant to win a World Championship Grand Prix with Moss in a Cooper Climax, in the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix. The current Mugen-Honda engine in the back of the Jordan is a factory engine in all-but-name. The last World Champion to use an off-the-shelf engine was Keke Rosberg. Q: Who owns which team in 2000 McLaren - As of January 2000, TAG McLaren is 40% owned by DaimlerChrysler and 30% each by Ron Dennis and TAG Group S.A. (Mansouer Ojjeh). Prost - Alan Prost is thought to own a majority, though this is no longer clear. LVMH bought around 20% of the team in 2000, whilst the Diniz family have purchased a share - believed to be around 30% Jordan - Eddie Jordan and Warberg Pincus. Williams - Frank Williams and Patrick Head (said to be 80/20). BMW is believed to now own a stake in the team, but this has been denied by all. Minardi - Gabrielle Rumi owns most of the team (70%). The rest is known as the "Minardi Holding" and the ownership of this is unknown. Giancarlo Minardi is believed to have a stake in it. BAR - Depending on the source, you can perm any of BAT (c.80%), Craig Pollock, Jacques Villeneuve, Adrian Reynard, and Jerry Forsythe. Craig Pollock and JVs stake is through Mount Eagle (according to press reports). Ferrari - FIAT 88%, Piero Lardi Ferrari 10%, "Italian banks" 2% Arrows - Tom Walkinshaw (25%) and Morgan Grenfell (50%) with 20% awaiting a buyer. TWR Group is a technical partner. 5% is to be used for incentivisation. Jaguar - Ford Sauber - Red Bull Holdings and Peter Sauber - the former is reported to be interested in selling. Benetton - Renault Q: Who is supplying engines & tyres to which team in 2001? McLaren - Mercedes [F][B] Ferrari - Ferrari [F][B] Jordan - Honda [F][B] Williams - BMW [F][M] Jaguar - Cosworth [F][M] Benetton - Renault [M] Prost - Ferrari [C][M] Sauber - "Petronas" Ferrari [C][B] Arrows - AMT (ex-Peugeot V10) [F/C][B] Minardi - Subject to confirmation [C][M] BAR - Honda [F][B] [F] Factory [C] Customer Tyres [B]ridgestone and [M]ichelin. Minardi have yet to test anything. Q: How much does x team get a year in sponsorship & telly money? A: According to EuroBusiness magazine, April 2000. Team Cash PiK FIA Total Ferrari 130.1 86.5 23.0 239.6 McLaren 102.1 101.6 21.0 224.7 BAR 100.5 84.5 6.0 191.0 Jag 65.3 88.9 14.0 168.2 Williams 71.2 53.8 18.0 143.0 Prost 55.0 60.2 16.0 131.2 Jordan 57.5 28.5 17.5 103.5 Benetton 67.9 8.1 16.2 92.2 Sauber 29.5 26.8 15.5 71.8 Minardi 25.5 14.7 15.0 55.2 Arrows 17.5 12.0 15.0 44.5 Legend: "Cash" refers to cash paid by sponsors to teams. "PiK" refers top "payment in kind", the furnishing of goods and services by sponsors to teams. "FIA" refers to TV money paid to the teams by the FIA. All figures in US$M McLaren's engine deal is valued at $88M. BAR's at $80M, Williams' at $46M, Jag's at $80M, Prost's at $48M. Q: Is it true that there was a 6-wheel F1 car that won a race? A: It's a Tyrrell - the P34. Just the one win, at Anderstorp (Swedish Grand Prix) in 1976, for Jody Scheckter with Depailler second. A development of the was car raced in '77 by Depailler (best result 2nd in Canada) and Ronnie Peterson (best result 3rd in Belgium). The Tyrrell project 34 had small, 10 inch diameter front wheels that could be completely hidden behind the front cowling then in common use on F1 cars. This removed the front wheels from the airstream and thus reduced drag significantly, resulting in the car going faster. The problem was that the tiny front wheels didn't provide enough surface area for proper braking. The way around this was to use 4 front wheels instead of the usual 2. The car was pretty successful in its first year and actually won 1 race. It was less successful in its second year because the more complicated 4-wheel front suspension assembly added a lot of weight, and Goodyear wasn't keeping up on tire development of the 10" tires. Tyrrell went back to a conventional, 4-wheel car the next year. March also made some experiments with a 6 wheel car in 1977. The Williams 6-wheeler was developed in 1980. The idea this time was to extend the area under the car available to venturi tunnels and to allow the rear wing to be mounted further back on the car. The cars were built and tested, but right about the time that they were ready to race the FIA came out with new regulations restricting F1 cars to 4 wheels mounted on 2 axles, so it never raced for the FIA World Championship. The cars still exist and have appeared in several historic races. If I recall correctly, a Williams 6- wheeler won a historic race sometime in the last few years. Photos of the Williams at: http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~dolomite/f1/willmus/Wilmus9.jpg http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~dolomite/f1/willmus/Wilmus8.jpg Q: Is it true about a "fan car"? A: This was an idea borrowed from Jim Hall's Chaparral CanAm cars. The idea was to put skirts on the sidepods to seal the undercar area, then to mount an extractor fan at the back to remove the air under the car, thus sucking it down onto the track. To get around the "moveable areodynamic device" ban, Brabham claimed that the fan was there to help cool the engine. Whilst this wasn't false, it wasn't the full reason behind the fan; the car actually squatted down onto the track if you blipped the throttle while it was stationary. But its biggest problem is that it was very successful, so all the other teams protested. There was also one legitimate (IMO) concern--the fan tended to pick up debris from the track and blow it into the face of a driver following closely. In any event, the car was very soon banned by the FIA because the fan was ruled to be an aerodynamic aid not in a fixed position relative to the sprung part of the car. Q: Why were Tyrrell thrown out of the 1984 championship? A: This is from Autocourse: "In the afterglow of 1984's chase-the-McLaren story, the FISA-versus-Tyrrell affair still rankles as being as distasteful as it was ill-considered. Whether or not Tyrrell was plying his 012 cars with lead ballast during a late-race pit stop or - and this is more far-fetched - mixing additive to the water injected into the engine to ward off piston and valvegear failures has become a moot case. What is more relevant is not only the way that FISA conducted his trial - for example, introducing fresh evidence at an appeal hearing and barring Tyrrell from approaching expert witnesses who had analysed water samples for FISA - but also the severity of the fine. If Andrea de Cesaris and Niki Lauda have their practice times discounted on the days at Dijon and Dallas where the Ligier was found to be running with an empty fire extinguisher bottle and the McLaren declared to have a rear wing 2mm too wide, then excluding Tyrrell from the World Championship for infringements committed during Martin Brundle's gutsy drive to second in Detroit ranks as a kneejerk reaction of an inappropriate magnitude. But the decision was final, costing Tyrrell his FOCA membership and USD 1,000,000 in concessionary travel arrangements to transcontinental races. Underlying the season had been the backstage arguments over the proposed 195-litre fuel capacity maximum intended for 1985: to stick at the current 220-litre allowance required team unanimity - and Ken Tyrrell was the only dissenting voice. Naturally, after he was barred from the Championship, so 220 litres became a fixed part of the '85 technical regulations, neatly, tidily and with no outward fuss." Q: Who won the constructors championship in the year....? A: 2000 - Ferrari (I) 1999 - Ferrari (I) 1998 - McLaren (GB) 1997 - Williams (GB) 1996 - Williams (GB) 1995 - Benetton (GB) 1994 - Williams (GB) 1993 - Williams (GB) 1992 - Williams (GB) 1991 - McLaren (GB) 1990 - McLaren (GB) 1989 - McLaren (GB) 1988 - McLaren (GB) 1987 - Williams (GB) 1986 - Williams (GB) 1985 - McLaren (GB) 1984 - McLaren (GB) 1983 - Ferrari (I) 1982 - Ferrari (I) 1981 - Williams (GB) 1980 - Williams (GB) 1979 - Ferrari (I) 1978 - Lotus (GB) 1977 - Ferrari (I) 1976 - Ferrari (I) 1975 - Ferrari (I) 1974 - McLaren (GB) 1973 - Lotus (GB) 1972 - Lotus (GB) 1971 - Tyrrell (GB) 1970 - Lotus (GB) 1969 - Matra (F) 1968 - Lotus (GB) 1967 - Brabham (GB) 1966 - Brabham (GB) 1965 - Lotus (GB) 1964 - Ferrari (I) 1963 - Lotus (GB) 1962 - BRM (GB) 1961 - Ferrari (I) 1960 - Cooper (GB) 1959 - Cooper (GB) 1958 - Vanwall (GB) 3. The drivers ============== Q: Who is driving for whom in 2001? A: Scuderia Ferrari x. Michael Schumacher (D) x. Rubens Barrichello (BR) T. Luca Badoer (I) McLaren x. Mika Häkkinen (SF) x. David Coulthard (GB) T. Alex Wurz (A) Williams x. Ralf Schumacher (D) x. Juan Pablo Montoya (CO) T. Marc Gené (E) Benetton x. Giancarlo Fisichella (I) x. Jenson Button (GB) T. Mark Weber (AUS) British American Racing x. Jacques Villeneuve (CDN) x. Olivier Panis (F) T. Darren Manning (GB) D. Patrick LeMarie (CDN) T. Anthony Davidson (GB) T. Takuma Sato (JPN) Jordan x. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (D) x. Jarno Trulli (I) T. Ricardo Zonta (BR) Sauber x. Nick Heidfeld (D) x. Kimi Raikonnen (SF) T. ? Arrows x. Pedro de la Rosa (E) - tbc x. Jos Verstappen (NL) - tbc T. ? Jaguar x. Eddie Irvine (GB) x. Luciano Burti (BR) T. Tomas Scheckter (ZA) Minardi x. ? x. ? T. ? Prost x. Jean Alesi (FR) x. Gaston Mazzacane (RA) T. ? T = Test Driver, D = "Development Driver" Q: Who won the drivers championship in the year ....? A: 2000 Michael Schumacher, (D) 1999 Mika Hakkinen, (SF) 1998 Mika Hakkinen, (SF) 1997 Jacques Villeneuve, (CDN) 1996 Damon Hill, (GB) 1995 Michael Schumacher, (D) 1994 Michael Schumacher, (D) 1993 Alain Prost, (F) 1992 Nigel Mansell, (GB) 1991 Ayrton Senna, (BR) 1990 Ayrton Senna, (BR) 1989 Alain Prost, (F) 1988 Ayrton Senna, (BR) 1987 Nelson Piquet, (BR) 1986 Alain Prost, (F) 1985 Alain Prost, (F) 1984 Niki Lauda, (A) 1983 Nelson Piquet, (BR) 1982 Keke Rosberg, (SF) 1981 Nelson Piquet, (BR) 1980 Alan Jones, (AUS) 1979 Jody Scheckter, (ZA) 1978 Mario Andretti, (USA) 1977 Niki Lauda, (A) 1976 James Hunt, (GB) 1975 Niki Lauda, (A) 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi, (BR) 1973 Jackie Stewart, (GB) 1972 Emerson Fittipaldi, BR 1971 Jackie Stewart, (GB) 1970 Jochen Rindt, (A) 1969 Jackie Stewart, (GB) 1968 Graham Hill, (GB) 1967 Denny Hulme, (NZ) 1966 Jack Brabham, (AUS) 1965 Jim Clark, (GB) 1964 John Surtees, (GB) 1963 Jim Clark, (GB) 1962 Graham Hill, (GB) 1961 Phil Hill, (USA) 1960 Jack Brabham, (AUS) 1959 Jack Brabham, (AUS) 1958 Mike Hawthorn, (GB) 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio, (RA) 1956 Juan Manuel Fangio, (RA) 1955 Juan Manuel Fangio, (RA) 1954 Juan Manuel Fangio, (RA) 1953 Alberto Ascari, (I) 1952 Alberto Ascari, (I) 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio, (RA) 1950 Giuseppe Farina, (I) Q: How many races has y won? A: It's probably best to have a look at Forix (http://www.forix.com) Part 2 of 2 of the FAQ 4. The races ============ Q: Who won x race? Who raced car y in z? A: The best source for this is Forix at http://www.forix.com - it has all the race results for the races since 1950. Q: What is the calendar for 2001? A: This is the calendar issued by the FIA on October 4th. 04 Mar Australia (Melbourne) 18 Mar Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) 01 Apr Brazil (São Paulo) 15 Apr San Marino (Imola) 29 Apr Spain (Barcelona) 13 May Austria (Spielberg) 27 May Monaco (Monaco) 10 Jun Canada (Montreal) 24 Jun Europe (Nürburgring) 01 Jul France (Magny-cours) 15 Jul Great Britain (Silverstone) 29 Jul Germany (Hockenheim) 19 Aug Hungary (Budapest) 02 Sep Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps) 16 Sep Italy (Monza) 30 Sep USA (Indianapolis) 14 Oct Japan (Suzuka) Q: Why does the Monaco Grand Prix move around in the calendar? A: The Thursday of the Monaco meeting is Ascension Day, and therefore moves with Easter. Q: What time is qualifying and the race? A: Qualifying is 13:00 local time, and the race begins at 14:00 local time. The only exception has been Monaco, which had different times to fit in with Prince Ranier's lunch, but this year also the US Grand Prix will be running at 13:00 local time. More information, including race starting times, can be found at http://www.atlasf1.com/news/2000/features/calendar.htm Q: Where can I get lap charts for races on the web? A: You can't AFAIK. there are some sites that post differences between the top 10 (in 10th of seconds), e.g www.galeforcef1.com 5. The circuits =============== Q: What circuits are rumoured to be getting races? A: Recently we've had rumoured races in Sweden, China, South Africa, Holland, Portugal and Lebanon. The most recent is Sheremetevo Airport, Moscow. The races proposed for 2001 are, however, unchanged from 2000. Q: Where can I find maps of the circuits used this season? A: http://www.atlasf1.com/news/2000/features/calendar.htm is one source. 6. Television ============= Q: I've heard about digital or pay-per-view F1. How does that work? A: In Germany they have 5 feeds - Supersignal (similar to the world feed) - Back Field - Cockpit (the whole race from different cockpits; very interesting angles, e.g. in the rear mirror showing the driver) - Pits/Highlights/Interviews (already during the race) - Race data (the same as the teams and commentators at the track have) You can also switch off the commentary and enjoy the pure sound (in dolby surround). And you get all sessions live including the press conferences. There is also a Highlights Channel on PremiereWorld. You have to pay 60 DM (it`s more expensive now after premiere joined DF1) and have to pay for tons of B-Movies and shows you don`t want to see. The number of shots is rumoured to be reduced to 3 next year (but that might depend on the country). Bernie is losing an awful lot of money with Digital TV currently and might decide to cut costs. Q: How come the television viewing figures for F1 are bigger than the world population? A: It is a figure used for comparison by the advertising industry and has no value as an absolute. That's the way the Olympic Games is counted and it's the way the Football World Cup is counted, so it's the way F1 is counted. The most recent figures suggest that the viewers for 1999 were 57,754,361,716. This starts to make more sense when you realise that every "viewing" counts. If you watch the race, and the repeat/highlights, that's 2 for a start. Then remember it's 16 times a year (17 this year...), so that's 34. Do you watch the qualifying? Add another 17... Did you see any clips on the news? Several? Add another 60 or so. OK, so you alone viewed F1 probably 100 times last year... 7. Sponsors =========== Q: When did the CSI(FIA forerunner) allow outside sponsorship for F1 cars? A: For the 1968 season. Q: Which team first had a sponsor,the first race with sponsor,and the sponsor's name? A: At the 1968 Spanish GP,Lotus appeared in the red and gold livery of Gold Leaf Cigarettes. Q: What team brought Marlboro into F1 and when? A: Marlboro came into F1 as teams sponsor in 1972 with the BRM team. They 'eased' their way in with a low-key personal contract for Jo Siffert in 1970. Seppi carried logos on helmet and overalls for two seasons, as did his STP March in '70 and his Yardley BRM in '71. This may well have been the genesis of Marlboro's 'World Championship Team' concept, the umbrella name for individual driver sponsorships which were additional to team contracts. Q: What is the longest running team/sponsor conection(current and all-time)? A: Currently,,the Marlboro/Ferrari partnership is in its 17th season(sponsor since 1984,title sponsor since 1997).The longest all-time is 23 seasons for Marlboro and McLaren(1974-1996). Q: Who are the current primary sponsor for each F1 team? A: McLaren-West (cigarettes) Ferrari-Marlboro (cigarettes) Jordan-Benson & Hedges(cigarettes) Jaguar-HSBC(banking) Williams-BMW,Compaq(computers) Benetton-Mild Seven(cigarettes) Prost-Gauloises(cigarettes) Sauber-Red Bull (energy drink) Arrows-Orange(telecommunications) Minardi-Telefonica(Spanish telecommunications) BAR-Lucky Strike(cigarettes) 8. Manufacturers ================ Q: Has Jaguar ever been in F1 before? A: Clemente Biondetti drove a Jaguar-engined Ferrari 166 in the 1950 Italian GP. He qualified it 32 seconds (27%) behind Fangio, and retired from the race on lap 17 with a blown engine. When Moss, Dean Delamont and John "Autocar, not Cooper" Cooper were casting about for bits for a new F2 car for him (the project that eventually became the two Cooper-Altas) there was apparently an attempt to secure an experimental 2.0l 4-cyl Jaguar engine for that. Paul Emery fitted a 2.4 Jag engine with fuel injection to his Emeryson special, and did one F1 clubbie in '57. (The car had started life with a linered-down Aston Martin engine for 2.0l F2, then acquired a bored-out Alta for 2.5l F1...) Q: Who owns... ? A: Ilmor - 50% Illien & Morgan, 25% Daimler-Chrysler, 25% Roger Penske. The former have one more vote. 9. Technical Stuff ================== Q: What is a desmodromic valve? A: "Desmo" rides the cam both up and down--- no spring, no air, no lag. It's like if you hold your finger right next to your nose. Now swivel your neck, back and forth... your finger gets knocked to the right, but you have to return it to your nose with your arm. You arm is the valve spring or compressed air drive.... Now put your finger in your nose and swivel.... Voila! it comes right back. That's what the "desmo" does--- rides the top and bottom of the cam, thus is driven at all times with zero lag. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/5056/desmo.htm Q: What is the fuel made of? A: Essentially the fuel must be made from the same components as pump fuels and with limits on the proportions of individual components which are currently more stringent than those applied to pump fuels in Europe. Within those strict parameters, the fuel companies can - and do - tailor the fuels to specific engines, engine maps and circuit configurations. There is constant research and as many as three or four different blends may used throughout a season, in line with engine developments and circuit requirements. A sample of each new batch of fuel is sent to the FIA to be tested to ensure that it complies with the rules and is then 'fingerprinted'. Samples are taken at the circuits to ensure that the fuel being used in the cars matches this 'fingerprint'. 10. Miscellaneous ================= Q: What colour is British Racing Green? A: There isn't just one colour. See David Betts photos for many examples: http://www.zing.com/album/ff/ff/a7/9/ffffa799.html Q: What are the national racing colours? A: country; car colour; number colour Egypt; light-lilac; red on white Argentina; car:blue/bonnet: black; red on white Belgium; yellow; black Brazil; light-yellow/green; black Bulgaria; car: green/bonnet: white; red on white Chile; car: red/bonnet: blue/rear end: white; half blue and half red on white or entirely red Germany; white (yes, white was indeed Germany's official colour); red Finland; black; blue on white France; blue; white Great Britain; green; white Ireland; green (horizontal orange stripe); white Italy; red; white Luxemburg; grey; white on red Monaco; white (horizontal red stripe); black on white Netherlands; orange; white Poland; white/rear end: white; red Romania; navy blue/rear end: red; yellow Sweden; lower part: blue/upper part: yellow/3 yellow stripes on the bonnet; white Switzerland; car: red/bonnet: white; black Spain; car: red/bonnet: yellow; black on yellow/white on red Thailand; car: light-blue/wheels: light-yellow/horizontal yellow stripe; white on blue Czechoslovakia; car: white/bonnet: blue and white/rear end: red; blue Hungaria; car: white/bonnet: red/ rear end: green; black USA; car: white/rear end: blue; blue on white Q: What about drug testing in F1? A: From an FIA statement on 1/10/99 "For several years, the FIA and the FIM have strictly applied the regulations of the International Olympic Committee, with numerous and repeated controls. Both federations are fully prepared to intensify checks should the need arise." Q: What are those strips sticking out of the ground in the pit lane? A: They are there to ground the static electricity that builds up in the car during a race, and try and prevent a pit lane fire. Q: Who is Nazir Hoosein? A: Nazir Hoosein is the steward (from India. The (in)famous movie theater owner from Munbai) who was the president of the (3) stewards in Brazil 98, and so he was the one behind the decision to disallow McLaren braking system. Nazir Hoosein was also the president of the stewards in Brazil '97, when the drivers had problems with a white line on the pit entry (they were told at first to not cross it, but they managed to convince the stewards that it was more dangerous to avoid it). You might have noticed that the pit entry since 98 was much longer and the reason is probably to avoid that "problem", which seemed to exist only on Hoosein's head. After the administrative mistake at the British GP in 98, he voluntarilty gave up his Steward licence. He has since had it given back. Q: What was the music the BBC used for the Grand Prix? A: "The Chain", by Fleetwood Mac, on the album "Rumo(u)rs" Q: Are there any novels based on Formula 1? A: Alistair Maclean's "The Way to Dusty Death" is one of the better known ones. Bob Judd wrote a series of "throbbing groin and motor racing" novels called "Formula 1", "Phoenix", "Indy", "Monza", "Silverstone" and "Juice" in the UK, but they have slightly different names in the US (Silverstone is known as Spin in the states, and "Phoenix" as "Burn" for example). Sally Armstrong wrote a novel called "Racers" which it claims was researched with help of Williams Grand Prix Engineering. It is very much a throbbing groins novel, and does beg the question exactly what was going on at Williams in the early 90s... Another few are "Eye of the Cobra" by Christopher Sherlock and "White Death" by Andrew Neilsen, "The Last Open Road" by B.S. Levy, and "Oversteer" & "Dead Pedal" by Ken Vose, plus "Fine Tune" by Gerald Hammond. Douglas Rutherford wrote a whole series of books in the 1950s, including "Grand Prix Murder", "The Gilt-Edged Cockpit" and "The Chequered Flag". Q: What is a "Jordan Stopwatch" and a "Ferrari Ruler"? A: These two terms refer to the old practice of Jordan having stunning testing times, only to falter during the season. It is sometimes used as a ruse to increase sponsorship in a team, as a fast car is easier to sell to corporate bods. A Ferrari Ruler, on the other hand, is the idea that if you measure something in a specific way then it is legal. It comes about from the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix, where if you measured the bargeboards in a specific way, then they were legal.