The 2015 Formula One season is about to kick off this weekend with the opening race in Melbourne, Australia. Here are 52 facts you may or may not know about the circuits, participants, teams and hosting nations.
- 20: The number of races and circuits that will be raced in the 2015 season.
- TBA: The location for the German Grand Prix has still yet to be decided.
- Longest lap: 7.004km per lap at the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps. Back in the good ol’ days, the Spa circuit was 15km long.
- Shortest lap: Each lap of the Monte Carlo circuit (Monaco) is just 3.34km long.
- Most laps: 78 for the Monaco GP in Monte Carlo.
- Fewest laps: Just 44 for the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.
- Most turns: 21 each at Singapore and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
- Fewest turns: Just 9 at the Austrian GP in Spielberg.
- Oldest Grand Prix circuits: The Monte Carlo (Monaco), Monza (Italy), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and Silverstone (UK) tracks each held their first F1 GP race back in 1950.
- Youngest Grand Prix circuit: Sochi (Russia) held its first Formula One race in 2014. Austin (USA) isn’t that much older, with its first F1 race held in 2012.
- Race length: All F1 races are between 305km and 310km long, except for Monaco, which, in deference to its large elevation changes, has an overall race length of 260.52km.
- Hermann Tilke: All 7 circuits that have been introduced since 1999 have been designed by the German. The current Singapore track was completed by KBR, but is based on a Tilke design.
- Street circuits: Just 4 street circuits are part of the 2015 F1 season (Melbourne, Australia; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Singapore; and Sochi, Russia).
- Euro-centric: 9 of this year’s races take place in Europe, 5 happen in Asia, 3 in North America, 2 in the Middle East and 1 in South America. Africa and Antarctica miss out.
- Under lights: Singapore is the only race that takes place under lights and at night.
Drivers
Note: We’re talking about first choice contracted drivers here. We’re not taking into account Gierdo van der Garde, who has just won his court cases against Sauber and is legally entitled to a starting berth with the team.
- Youngest: Max Verstappen (Torro Rosso, the Netherlands) is a baby at just 17.
- Oldest: 35-year old Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, Finland) is probably beginning to think about rocking chairs. Jensen Button is also 35 years old, but is slightly younger than ol’ Kimi.
- Most F1 experience: Button holds the distinction, in this year’s field, of having started in the most F1 races (268). He’s also participated in the most number of seasons (16). For this distinction, jensen can thank Kimi for spending a few years on the world rally circuit.
- Virgins: 3 drivers with starting berths on this year’s grid have never raced an F1 car in anger. They are Max Verstappen (Torro Rosso, Germany), Carlos Sainz Jr (Torro Rosso, Spain), and Felipe Nasr (Sauber, Brazil).
- World champions: 5 contracted drivers in this year’s Formula One circus have previously been a world champion.
- Most successful driver: Love him or loathe him, out of this year’s field, Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari, Germany) has won the most championships (4), the most races (39), the most pole positions (45) and has the best win ratio (28 percent of all races entered).
- Least successful driver: Sergio Perez (Force India, Mexico) holds this distinction having raced 77 times, and scoring zero wins and zero pole positions.
- Best represented homeland: Germany (Rosberg, Vettel, Hulkenberg) edges out Finland (Bottas, Raikkonen), the UK (Hamilton, Button) and Brazil (Massa, Nasr).
Teams
- 9: That’s the number of teams participating from the first race of the year.
- 2: Each team is fielding two cars at every race.
- -2: The Marussia and Caterham teams are no more, and have not been replaced for the 2015 season.
- Oldest team: Ferrari first participated in the F1 Grand Prix scene in 1950, Formula One’s inaugural season.
- Most race wins: Ferrari with 221 victories.
- Most constructors’ championships: Ferrari, again, with 16.
- Least successful team: Force India has participated in 131 races, but has yet to win a race. It does have 1 pole position to its name, though.
Host nations
- Most populous: China, naturally, with its 1.36 billion inhabitants.
- Least populous: Monaco, with a mere 36,000-odd people. The runner up, Bahrain with 1.3 million folks, just isn’t close.
- Largest country: Russia, which has over 17 million square kilometres, wins by many, many country miles.
- Smallest country: Monaco at just 2 square kilometres.
- Most densely populated: Monaco manages to cram in 18,186 people per square kilometre.
- Least densely populated: Australia has just over 3 people per square kilometre. Sounds luxurious, but most of the country is desert.
- Richest host: Monaco, again. GDP (gross domestic product) per person is a whopping US$153,177. That’s way ahead of second placed Singapore on US$78,762.
- Poorest host: China, where GDP per person is US$11,868.
The cars
- 702kg: The minimum weight for each race car.
- Pirelli: Not just famous for calendars, the Italian company will be supplying all teams with tyres this year.
- 4: The number of engines each driver is allowed to go through in a season. Grid penalties apply if more engines are required.
- 100kg: That’s the limit for the amount of fuel a race car can carry. And refuelling isn’t permitted during a race.
- 1.6-litre V6 turbo: All teams’ vehicles use this engine layout.
- Engine suppliers: Mercedes is supplying motors to 4 teams this year, ahead of Renault (2), Ferrari (2) and Honda (1).
- KERS: 5 teams will use hybrid powertrains.
The championship
- x2: Double points are no longer awarded for the final race of the season.
- Shortest gap between races: 5 days; this occurs three times throughout the season, between China and Bahrain, Germany and Hungary, and the USA and Mexico.
- Longest break between races: 28 days between the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix.
Money
- Sponsors: Only 8 of this year’s races have a title sponsor (so far).
- Home town support: 4 of those race sponsors (Petronas, Gulf Air, Singapore Airlines and Etihad) are from the home nation.
- €22 million: That’s how much Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were each paid last year by Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel took home a similar amount too from Red Bull.
- Bargain: Paid just €750,000 last year by Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo, in his first full year on the grid, managed an impressive 3 race wins, finishing third overall. Hopefully he’s on significantly more money now.
Circuits
Apologies for the last two facts being about 2014, rather than 2015, but we’d rather not quote the Daily Mail about the possible salaries of this year’s drivers.
If you have any extra facts you’d like to contribute or corrects you’d like to make, please let us know in the comments section below.
