Basics of Formula 1?

May be...

A place to start is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_1
It has links to all the sites below:

Official sites

* Formula1.com вЂ" The official site of Formula One Management; contains schedules, race results, live timing during each race, the official F1 shop, and some news
* Current regulations вЂ" from the FIA website
* Drivers Hall of Fame вЂ" A list of World Champions with links to short biographys from the official Formula 1 website.

News and reference

* autosport.com вЂ" Motorsport news, articles and analysis. Formerly known as AtlasF1
* GrandPrix.com вЂ" F1 news and a Grand Prix encyclopedia
* F1 at itv.com вЂ" News, pictures, and commentary from ITV, F1's British broadcasters; also from Matt Bishop and F1 Racing magazine
* Animated F1 Car Guide
* 2008 F1 Spotters Guide вЂ" free download PDF

History

* AutocourseGPA.com вЂ" historical results and statistics and images since 1950
* F1DB вЂ" Results, statistics
* 4mula1 вЂ" Results and statistics since 1950

I'm wanting to get interested in the sport, and was wondering if someone could explain the basics in a very understandable way. I have almost no experience with the construction of cars, but am nonetheless intelligent, so if someone would please explain the basics of how the cars are set up, the rules of races, when the seasons start and end, average speeds, terminology, et cetera, it would be greatly appreciated.

Please take the time to write a detailed and informative description, and not a simple 3 sentence depiction.

Well, I think we should start by mentioning that Formula One is one of the most popular sports in the world today; in fact, following a survey conducted in 2003, F1 is the third most popular professional sport behind the Olympic Games (summer & winter) and the FIFA World Cup; however, since both the Olympics and the World Cup take place only every four years, that leaves F1 to be the most popular sport to take place on a yearly basis.

The Formula One World Championship is organized by its governing body, the sometimes controversial FIA or FГ©dГ©ration Internationale de l'Automobile since 1950.

In 2008, the Formula One season will count 18 rounds, of which 5 have already contended. More than 50% of the Grand Prix Calendar takes place in Europe, however, there is a fast moving shift to Asia which should claim the majority of races in the next few years. Furthermore, there are two new entries for the 2008 season, a race in the harbor of Valencia, Spain and a night race premiere in the streets of Singapore.

As of 2006, Formula One cars are running on 2.8 Litres V8 Engines (8 cylinders), with a top speed exceeding 310 km/h and a limit set at 19'000 rpm's (engine rounds per minute). Between 1996 and 2005, F1 cars ran 3 L V10 engines.

Formula One is exciting, although perhaps not as much as in the 1980's and early 90's because of the thrill and excitement of the speed. A difference of a hundredth of a second may mean the difference between 1st and 10th place for a driver.

Aerodynamics is a very important factor in Formula One, a car needs to be set-up to fit the conditions of a track. For example, on a fast track, you will want maximum Downforce on the car, as well as maximum cooling for the engine. Slower tracks, such as the mythical Monte Carlo Circuit in Monaco, where the slowest corner averages a top speed of 60 km/h, as opposed to the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit which hosts the Belgian Grand Prix, on which the top speed can go up to 319 km/h. On a slow track, you want low downforce and minimum cooling for the engine, as high downforce would slow down the car significantly and maximum cooling would tamper with the efficiency of the car's aerodyanmics.

Formula One cars have adjustable wings, however they may not be movable parts; meaning that wings can be adjusted manually during pit stops to increase or decrease downforce and the wings have to be fixed, not allowed to bend, which would give the car and driver an unfair advantage.

The number of laps in F1 varies from race to race, being that each track covers a different distance, however, a race must cover 300 km in average and the number of laps are set in retrospect to this value. In extreme conditions, a race may be ended before covering the full distance of 300 km or 2 hours, for as long as 75% of the race has been completed. For a distance inferior to 75%, the race can be interrupted, however, it must be restarted to cover at least the minimal distance.

A Grand Prix weekend includes two free practice sessions on Friday morning and afternoon (1h30mins each), one free practice session on Saturday morning (1 hour), a Qualifying session on Saturday afternoon (1 hour - see below for details) and the race on Sunday afternoon...all local times to where the race takes place.

In order to qualify for a race, a drivers best time in qualifying practice must be within 107% of the best time overall by the driver on Pole Position (the driver who will start first in the next day's race). If a driver cannot achieve a fastest lap under 107% of the leader's best time, he does not qualify. However, this rule is outdated nowadays, but was last used in 1994 and has remained on the books since then.

Qualifying sessions are divided into three portions: Q1, Q2 and Q3.

In Q1, all 22 cars (now 20 with the recent withdrawal for the season of the Super Aguri Racing team) have 20 minutes to record at least one time. When the 20 minutes expire, the drivers in the last 6 (now 5 positions) are eliminated from the rest of the session, the remaining 16 (now 15) cars proceed to Q2.

Q2 has the same procedure as Q1, also 20 minutes with the bottom 6 (now 5) cars eliminated and the top ten cars proceed to Q3.

Q3 thus only includes the top 10 cars, who now have 10 minutes to fight for the Pole Position. These top ten cars, have to start the session with the amount of fuel they will embark on the first stint of the race, from position 11 to 22 (or 20) still retain the option of adding or retracting fuel before the race.

During a race, each driver has a unique and secret strategy (as far as the public is concerned, other teams are not told of another driver's strategy, however, they usually make accurate estimates). During a race, drivers will need to change tires and refuel, however, where it gets interesting is how teams and drivers can play with amounts of fuel to gain an advantage on an opponent.

Finally, Formula One is the benchmark in technology, although the FIA is constantly changing regulations in the interest of a more interesting spectacle and thus coerces teams to invest further funds into development, it remains the measuring point for the technology we have on our road cars today, as well as the technology that will be standard on road cars in the future.