Portal:Formula One/Intro

In a battle for 7th place, Rubens Barrichello leads teammate Jenson Button, Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso, and Heikki Kovalainen at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the premier class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (translated to 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 most restrictive class of racing licence issued by the FIA.

The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules with which all participants' cars must comply. Formula One cars race at high speeds – up to 365 km/h – using hybrid power units, the performance of which is limited to a maximum of 15,000 revolutions per minute (RPM). The cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of 5g in corners.

The formula has had much evolution and change through the history of the sport. Europe, where all the Formula One racing teams are based, is the sport's traditional base. However, the sport's scope has expanded significantly during recent years and an increasing number of Grands Prix are held on other continents to where now more than half of all Grands Prix are run elsewhere in the world.