The 2011 Formula One season will be the 62nd FIA Formula one season. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix. Pirelli returns to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, taking over from Bridgestone. Red Bull Racing is the reigning Constructor's Champions. Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel will be the defending Driver's Champion.
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which all participants' cars must comply. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grand Prix (literally translated into English as "Big Prizes"), held on purpose-built circuits and public roads. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual World Championships, one for the drivers and one for the constructors, with racing drivers, constructor teams, track officials, organizers, and circuits required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA.
Formula One cars are considered to be the fastest circuit-racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to 360 km/h (220 mph) with engines limited in performance to a maximum of 18,000 revolutions per minute (RPM). The cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of 5 g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension and tyres. The formula has had much evolution and change through the history of the sport. Europe, the sport's traditional base, is where about half of each year's races occur. That said, the sport's scope has expanded significantly during recent years and an increasing number of Grands Prix are held on other continents.
Formula One had a total global television audience of 527 million people during the course of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. The Formula One Group is the legal holder of the commercial rights. With annual spending totalling billions of US dollars, Formula One's economic effect is significant, and its financial and political battles are widely reported. Its high profile and popularity make it a merchandising environment, which results in great investments from sponsors and budgets in the hundreds of millions for the constructors. However, mostly since 2000, due to the always increasing expenditures, several teams, including works teams from car makers and those teams with minimal support from the automotive industry, have become bankrupt or been bought out by companies wanting to establish a team within the sport; these buyouts are also influenced by Formula One limiting the number of participant teams.
The number of Grands Prix held in a season has varied over the years. Only seven races comprised the inaugural 1950 world championship season; over the years the calendar has almost tripled in size. Though the number of races had stayed at sixteen or seventeen since the 1980s, it peaked at nineteen in both 2005 & 2010, though the 2011 season is expected to have 20 races.
Six of the original seven races took place in Europe; the only non-European race that counted towards the World Championship in 1950 was the Indianapolis 500, which, due to lack of participation by F1 teams, since it required cars with different specifications from the other races, was later replaced by the United States Grand Prix. The F1 championship gradually expanded to other non-European countries as well. Argentina hosted the first South American grand prix in 1953, and Morocco hosted the first African World Championship race in 1958. Asia (Japan in 1976) and Oceania (Australia in 1985) followed. The nineteen races are spread over the continents of Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America and South America.
Even more recent additions to the calendar include the Valencia Street Circuit, which became the host of the European Grand Prix in 2008, giving Spain two Grands Prix. In September 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix, hosted the first night race ever held in Formula One, in order to be held at a time better suited to the sport's core European audience. Another recent addition to the calendar is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which hosted the final race of the 2009 season, becoming the first day-to-night race. The newest event was the Korean Grand Prix, which was held in October 2010. Soon to come is the Indian Grand Prix which will be held in Delhi, India in October 2011. The United States Grand Prix will be hosted in Austin, Texas from 2012 to 2021. Russian Grand Prix will be hosted in Sochi from 2014 to 2020.
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