"Did you know? F1 racing suits must also have two large ‘handles’ on the driver’s shoulders. These straps must be capable of supporting the combined weight of the driver and his seat, which in the event of an accident can be removed from the car by marshals ‘as one’, in order to minimize the risk of complicating injuries."

More clothing specs: http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/safety/helmets_hans_clothing/7436.html

"First ever Safety Car in Formula 1 was on September 23, 1973, Canadian Grand Prix saw the use of safety car in Formula 1 for the first time. After few practice laps in the previous Grand Prix at Osterreichring in Austria, the safety car driver, Eppie Wietzes was ready in his Porsche 914 along with his co passenger and FOCA representative Peter Macintosh. The race ended up as the most controversial race in the history of Formula 1.

The introduction of the safety car was enforced by the number of crashes in the 1973 season. Clay Regazzoni had a horrific crash at Kayalami in South Africa while two months ago Roger Williamson succumbed to his injuries after his crash at Zandvoort in Netherlands. In both the incidents, the rescue measures were hampered by the speeding cars on the track. So, something was needed to slow down the cars...Read much much more: http://www.aaformula1.com/2012/02/first-ever-safety-car-in-formula-1.html

Number 1 of F1 world champions.

1950 Giuseppe Farina became the first world FIA champion winning in his Alfa Romeo.

"The first ever Formula One World Champion came from a privileged background and had a stylish driving technique that was adopted by many drivers. A hard and determined racer, Farina relied on a combination of profound self belief and raw courage to compensate for the superior skills possessed by many of his more naturally talented opponents. Yet he also drove recklessly and few Formula One drivers ever competed with such apparent disregard for their personal safety. Somehow surviving an accident-strewn racing career, he was eventually killed in a road accident."

More info and source: http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/hall_of_fame/261/

Ferrari has been ingrained in F1 since the beginning.

"Ferrari is the oldest surviving team in Grand Prix racing, having competed since 1932, and statistically the most glorious and successful Formula One team in history with a record of 15 drivers' championships and 16 constructors' championships."

See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/history#sthash.GIvkR3nv.dpuf

Japan entered the world of F1 for the first time in 1964.

"The Honda RA271E made its debut at Nurburgring in 1964 with young American Ronnie Bucknum driving.

The RA272 gave around 230bhp, estimated to be 10% more than its rivals, and allowed ex-Ferrari driver Richie Ginther to win the company’s 11th race, the 1965 Mexican GP."

See more at: http://www.influx.co.uk/wordpress/features/the-impossible-dream/#sthash.uWGfFhEB.dpuf

Motorsports celebrities usually earn nicknames. Here are 90 to whet your appetite.

Little Godfather - Bernie Ecclestone
The Professor - Alain Prost
Walker the Talker/Muddly Talker - Murray Walker
Andrea de Crasheris - Andrea de Cesaris
The Flying Dentist - Tony Brooks
The Black Prince/Emmo/Rato - Emerson Fittipaldi
Black Jack - Jack Brabham
The Maestro - Juan Manuel Fangio
Uncle Ken - Ken Tyrell
The Madman/The Rainmaster/Magic/Track Brat/São Paulo taxi driver - Ayrton Senna
The Bear - Denny Hulme
Niki/The Rat/The Computer - Andreas Lauda
Monza Gorilla/Tino - Vittorio Brambilla
Air Canada/The High Priest of Destruction - Gilles Villeneuve
Il Commendatore/The Pope of the North/The Old Man - Enzo Ferrari
Captian Nice - Mark Donohue
Il Leone/Our Nige/Red Five - Nigel Mansell
Keke/The Moustache of the Year ‘82 - Keijo Rosberg
The Joker - Nelson Piquet
Son of the Devil - Tazio Nuvolari
Iceman - Kimi Raikkonen
Magic Alonso/El Nano/Nando - Fernando Alonso
The Bike - Mike Hailwood
Ciccio (Italian, “butch”) - Alberto Ascari
Clay - Gianclaudio Regazzoni
Count von Crash/Taffy - Wolfgang von Trips
Fletcher - Jody Scheckter
Hunt the Shunt - James Hunt
Koby/Cowboyashi - Kamui Kobayashi
Jackie - John Y. Stewart
Il Grande John (Italian, “John the Great”) - John Surtees
John Bute - John Crichton
Johnny Carwash - Giovanni Lavaggi
Wunderkind - Sebastian Vettel
Johnny Dumfries - John Crichton-Stuart
Jos/Jos the Boss - Johannes Verstappen
Kamikaze - Ukyo Katayama
King of Monaco/Mr. Monaco - Graham Hill
Felipe Baby - Felipe Massa
Lella - Maria Grazia Lombardi
Lill Lövis (Swedish, “The Little Leaf”) - Stefan Johansson
El Lole (Spanish, “The Bull”) - Carlos Reutemann
Mad Ronald/Super Swede - Ronnie Peterson
Mr. Innovator - John Barnard
Mr. Motor Racing - Stirling Moss
Webbo - Mark Webber
Quick Nick - Nick Heidfeld
Schumi/Schu/Schuey/Red Baron/Rain Master - Michael Schumacher
Steady/Fast Eddie - Eddie Irvine
Under-A-Cheever - Eddie Cheever
Vyborg Rocket - Vitaly Petrov
Greek God - Heikki Huovinen
Hulk - Nico Hulkenberg
Glockdog - Timo Glock
Rubinho - Rubens Barrichello
The Kube - Robert Kubica
Checo - Sergio Perez
JB - Jenson Button

Wikipedia has an impressive list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motorsports_people_by_nickname

Most will recognize the chequered flag, but what do the other flags mean?

"Marshals at various points around the circuit are issued with a number of standard flags, all used to communicate vital messages to the drivers as they race around the track."

Source: http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/5282.html

Watch and learn.

"The first time a live onboard camera was used in a Formula One race was at the 1985 German Grand Prix, where one was attached to François Hesnault's Renault. Previously, cameras had only been mounted to F1 cars during testing, but since then, more and more cameras have been fitted. Since 1998, all Formula One cars have been fitted with at least three onboard cameras (usually more) and they form an integral part of the television coverage."

Meet Renault's f1 power plant.
A 760 horsepower 1.6L turbocharged power-unit.

"With an era of the 2.4 liter naturally aspirated V8 powered engine now behind us, renault sport F1shared some fotos of their 760 horsepower 1.6 liter V6 hybrid ‘energy f1-2014 power unit’ to the world.

From this year onwards, each F1 car will be powered by advanced powertrain technology, with a turbocharged internal combustion engine coupled to sophisticated energy recovery systems.

Renault’s internal combustion engine will produce power through consumption of traditional carbon-based fuel, while electrical energy will be harvested from exhaust and braking by two motor generator units. the two systems will work in harmony, with teams and drivers balancing the use of the two types of energy throughout the race."

Want to learn everything about this engine and how it works? Then visit designboom.com and learn more: http://www.designboom.com/technology/renault-f1-presents-760-horsepower-1-6l-power-unit-ahead-of-2014-season-01-24-2014/

"Among the raft of changes to Formula One in 2014, one of the most popular with drivers and fans alike concerns identity. Drivers have picked their own personal racing numbers - to keep for their whole careers as shown on this chart.


Gilles Villeneuve's 27, Dale Earnhardt's 3, Valentino Rossi's 46, or even the 53 adorning Disney's racing VW Beetle, "Herbie." Race numbers can become part of a driver or team's identity, as is already customary in series like NASCAR and MotoGP. For the new season, Formula One is seeking this personal touch instead of its former, rigid numbering system based on the previous year's results.


For the first time, drivers have been asked to choose a permanent, personalized competition number from 2 to 99, with the number 1 reserved as usual for the defending world champion. Despite the flurry of 22 near-simultaneous applications when the system was introduced from scratch over the off-season, most drivers were able to secure their first choice."

Read more behind the number choices: http://www.dw.de/drivers-show-superstitious-side-as-f1-introduces-permanent-personal-numbers/a-17485884

"Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel explain the New 2014 Formula One regulations -- which are arguably the most complex the sport has ever seen.

Watch the exploded view transform into the new RB10 F1 car.

As well as providing information on the new technical changes for 2014, the clip also presents a unique view of the technology at work inside this year's Formula One cars."

A sound comparison between 2013 and 2014 F1 cars on the pit straight at Albert Park as they complete the first lap.

Combustion engines:
2013 - 2.4L V8
2014 - 1.6L V6 Turbo

Source: krookzeh https://www.youtube.com/user/krookzeh/videos

"An audio recording of Mercedes-Benz new turbo 1.6-litre V6 engine - driven this season by Messrs Hamilton and Rosberg - set against the simulated backdrop of the legendary Monza GP circuit, which you can listen to below.

It was recorded using a development engine at Mercedes AMG's High Performance Powertrains (HPP).

The capacity drops from 2.4-litres to 1.6, but also the rev limit is now just 15,000rpm (the current ones scream to around 18,000rpm), while the single turbo spins at speeds of up to 125,000rpm. Keen readers of the Internet will appreciate that this marks the return of turbocharged engines in F1 after many, many years; the last turbo era was in the 1980s.

So why now? Well, as mentioned, those regulations will change, setting engineers the challenge of completing 300km race distances on a 100kg fuel load. Mercedes tells us this requires a 30 per cent increase in energy efficiency. Along with the switch from free-breathing V8s to turbo'd 1.6 V6s then, is the introduction of more powerful energy recovery systems (ERS) - able to deploy ten times more energy that the current KERS setup.

The new ERS systems will recover energy from the exhaust turbine and the rear axle, and will be able to apply the recovered energy back to both.

Which is all fine, important business, but - and this is more important - does it sound good to you?"

Text source: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/mercedes-amg-formula-one-turbo-v6-engine-noise-2013-08-05

Caterham CT05 3D printed car body. "

"Most F1 teams use 3D printed parts
in an industry where you need to assess something and change it as frequently as once a week, you need to be able to produce those parts frequently. Unlike most consumer 3D printers, these parts are made out of steel and not plastic. Previously, these parts had only been used in testing but in 2014 they will be used on the real car."

Text Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/design/six-things-you-didnt-know-about-formula-1/story-fnjwucvh-1226856241458

Using the force.

When braking, an F1 driver handles up to 5G on their body, that’s more than double the g-force you feel when crashing your car into a wall at 100km/h.

Text Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/design/six-things-you-didnt-know-about-formula-1/story-fnjwucvh-1226856241458

F1 in 2014: Mark you calendar for the 2014 Formula 1 season.

On street circuits like Monaco and Singapore, the manhole covers require welding shut prior to F1 races.

It's not for a fear of large rats AKA R.O.U.S. It's because the amount of suction created by a Formula 1 car when it travels over a road, is enough to rip a manhole cover off.

Image source: http://sports.xin.msn.com/photogallery.aspx?cp-documentid=4736957&page=4

F1 suffers from triskaidekaphobia:
An abnormal fear of the number thirteen.

"The last time is was used in F1 was by she-racer Divina Galica was a well-known Olympic skier.

In 1976 she was entered for the British Shellsport International Group 8 series and after some promising performances, Nick Whiting decided to enter her for the British Grand Prix. It was the first time in 13 years a car with the No. 13 had been seen at a race, but Galica failed to qualify."


Source: http://en.espnf1.com/hesketh/motorsport/driver/1011.html#IaWTiWbpBYDXL3Lw.99

We're not done pronouncing the word Sochi.

"Russia saw the opportunity to use the Sochi Olympic Park infrastructure to create an F1 opportunity. A 5.9-kilometre circuit has been designed around the Olympic Park, with the street circuit also making use of 1.7km of public roads.

Another track designed by Hermann Tilke. The circuit has a seven-year deal to host a grand prix, and at 5.872km it will be the third longest track on the calendar behind Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone."


Image & text source: http://en.espnf1.com/russia/motorsport/circuit/138647.html#oJQo5uQiYWeBYJew.99

"The Computer" Has Spoken-

The Formula One world championship will not be decided by speed in 2014 but by the team who can produce the most reliable car, according to F1 legend Niki Lauda.

"Who will have the least failures this year will be world champion," Lauda said in an interview with his former team Ferrari.
The Austrian, won two of his three world titles with the Prancing Horse."

" The oldest track in F1 motor sports is for many the highlight of the F1 calendar.

Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a functioning monument to the history of Formula 1 and motor sports.

Built in 1922 by 3,500 workers it has been an ever-present date on the motor sports calendar apart from the war years when racing was suspended. It would be impossible to recount the many historical Formula One moments that occurred on the tarmac of this track but Giuseppe Farina winning the first world championship for Alfa Romeo in 1950, Juan Manuel Fangio claiming Maserati’s first world championship win in 1953, Mario Andretti’s great come back for
Ferrari in 1982 and the list goes on."

Text source: http://www.swide.com/food-travel/pocket-guide/5-reasons-why-italian-grand-prix-monza-rules-formula-1-history/2012/9/6

Image source: http://www.delcampe.net/page/list/language,E,cat,9414,submitted,Y,action,startedtodaynorenew,startedtodaynorenewval_dd,28,sort,id_enchere_DESC,page,1,rs_count,37,sessionToken,sslLogin_ce7fc0954ee6a93b561b6b8229d13eb3.html