Date vigilance of headlines! The safety of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals

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Many people think that drug and beauty, a "medicine", which is the skin Security , Especially sensitive skin. In fact the current drug cosmetics market is chaotic, not imagined it safe.






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Regulations define non-standard The definition of drug cosmetics provision is not good, most of the products is through Advertisement Advertising or so-called "drug store cosmetics" in the recommendation of introducing pharmacists may in the end what is drug and cosmetic products is not very clear understanding. The more a lot of cosmetics under the banner name of drug and cosmetic products to attract Consumption Who's eye, may not have the quality of their internal medicine effectiveness of cosmetics, and even have many side effects. This phenomenon is difficult to change within a short time, and only by the consumer paint bright eyes see clearly ah, we should pay attention to cosmetic ingredients to see whether there are arranged according to concentration, is consistent with international certification, it has marked the effective ingredients and active element and so on, all domestic items should have some understanding of the provisions.
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Perfect certification body Cosmetics are a lot of drug effects are just propaganda by the manufacturer's description, not really a test of academic institutions to study the characteristics of these drugs and the efficacy of cosmetics. Most of the market to exaggerate or exaggerated propaganda. In addition to the toxicity of cosmetics and domestic foreign no relevant functional testing and component Test Standards and certification, such as: low-allergy, Whitening Sex, natural sex, by skin testing.








So to control Pharmacy Cosmetics as real phenomenon, the certification body played an essential role, it can be a professional makeup products, drug detection function, composition and characteristics of some fish in troubled waters to eliminate the false products.








Mixed breeds That many consumers are inclined to drug and cosmetic products, so many brand began emerging, and many cosmetics products are branded drug reputation may be something good or bad do not know. Some products may claim that the effectiveness of how amazing, but some of them are Ok, makes the man, not the makeup of the effectiveness of drugs. Some pharmacists are not very professional point of view from the evaluation of these products, but random recommendation, it goes on credit cosmeceutical products will be greatly reduced, then the future will not believe this type of product consumers also had.








So confused as real ones to control the phenomenon of drug and cosmetic products, certification agencies played an essential role, it can be a professional makeup products, drug detection function, composition and characteristics of some fish in troubled waters to eliminate the false products.








Transmitted without verification report Variety of modern media, the spread of fast, Network Particularly rapid, but news reports quickly though, but if the correctness of the same high efficiency? Earth with no expertise to verify the situation is not on everywhere and not necessarily realistic Maintenance Product introduction and some incomplete description would mislead consumers. Both pharmacists, artists, or used by staff or reported to be very careful to seek a professional perspective, not misrepresentation, exaggeration, not fabricated, reported the most authentic product information. The first channel sales








chaos Cosmeceutical products are the main focus is the manufacturer sales, the profit on the first, some products have deviated from the value of cosmeceutical products characteristics, their composition and safety have not been investigated. These sales staff, pharmacists, etc. even in the skin of consumers do not understand the quality of the random recommendation, its purpose is to early to products Sell Out and do its own brand name Proxy . And some products with ingredients that there was no Logo Clear that the stability and security products are not guaranteed.








Fact, cosmetics are not drugs in the general market for sale, because such products require professional staff to consumer testing to understand the circumstances of their skin to give professional advice to inform what should be the correct drug and cosmetic use products. The current market few such Service Most of the main purpose is to sell, drug and cosmetic products into a product, so the interests of consumers is not guaranteed. For some pharmacists, artists and other celebrities to be made, this is not appropriate, it will mislead some consumers to make the wrong choice. These people should be aware of their impact on the public, based on professional knowledge to enable consumers to make choices.

Waterford Crystal

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History


An employee at Waterford Crystal glass cutting.


A crystal business was originally founded in the city in 1783 by George and William Penrose; it produced extremely fine crystal that became world-renowned. However, their company closed in 1851. In 1947, Czech immigrant Charles Bacik, grandfather of Irish senator Ivana Bacik, established a glass works in the city, due to the superb reputation of the original glassware. Aided by fellow countryman and designer Miroslav Havel, the company started operations in a depressed Ireland. By the early 1950s it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company, owned by McGrath, Duggan and Freeman of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake, heavy investors in Irish business at that time.
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Jasper Conran began designing his signature range of crystal for Waterford in 1999. The endeavour has evolved into four unique lines for Waterford and a complimentary tableware collection in fine bone china for Wedgwood.
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Glass blower at Waterford glass factory


In May 2005, Waterford Wedgwood announced the closure of its factory in Dungarvan in order to consolidate all operations into the main factory in Kilbarry, Waterford City, where 1,000 people were employed by the company. The move resulted in nearly 500 Dungarvan workers losing their jobs.


The Kilbarry operation featured a tourist centre offering guided tours of the factory, a gift shop, cafe, and gallery. After the closure of that factory on Jan 30th, 2009, former employees and their families staged a sit in, hoping to prevail upon receiver Deloitte to retain those jobs. The sit in ended in March, 2009 after workers agreed split payment of 10m. The worker's fight to keep the factory open is chronicled in a PBS online documentary.


Waterford Crystal Limited was, until March 2009, a subsidiary of Waterford Wedgwood plc, itself formed through the acquisition by the then Waterford Glass Group of the famous pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood in 1986. The last chairman was Tony O'Reilly, and the CEO John Foley. The leading shareholders of the holding company are former billionnaire O'Reilly and his family, joined in the last decade by O'Reilly's brother-in-law, Greek shipping heir Peter Goulandris. That company was forced into receivership in early 2009.


Under the receivership managed by Deloitte, ownership of most of Waterford Wedgwood plc's assets was tranfered to KPS Capital in March 2009. Waterford Crystal, along with Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, and other brands, were transferred to the new company WWRD Holdings Ltd. The sale did not include the factory or visitor centre in Kilbary, Ireland.


2009 troubles


On 5 January 2009, news of the receivership of Waterford Wedgwood Ltd. was announced in Ireland and the UK.


On 30 January 2009 it was announced that the Waterford Crystal plant in Kilbarry was to shut down immediately, despite earlier promises to discuss any such move with the unions in advance. Many of the employees performed an unoffical sit-in. The sit-in made the BBC News On 4 February 2009, there were protests across the city at how the workers were being treated.


On 27 February 2009, the receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, confirmed US equity firm KPS Capital were to purchase certain overseas assets and businesses of the Waterford Wedgwood Group. The purchase was completed on March 27, 2009, at which point KPS formed a new company, WWRD Holdings Ltd to manage these brands. The visitor centre shut its doors one last time on January 22, 2010.


Products


Waterford Crystal Volvo Ocean Challenge Trophy


Waterford produces many patterns of lead crystal stemware, including lines such as Adare, Alana, Colleen, Kincora, Lismore, Maeve, Tramore, and many others.


Waterford's chandeliers hang in well-known buildings like Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, and the Kennedy Center, and they have made the 2,668 crystals for the famous New Year's Eve Ball that is dropped each year in New York City's Times Square. The ball is a 11,875 pound geodesic orb, 12 foot in diameter and is lit by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS.


Sporting trophies are also crafted by Waterford, such as the Masters Series crystal shield trophies that are awarded to the winner of each of the nine men's professional tennis Masters Series tournaments, the AFCA National Championship Trophy that is awarded to the US college football team which finishes the season at the top of the Coaches Poll, and a representation of the Ashes urn that is presented to the winners of the Test cricket series between England and Australia.


Also crafted by Waterford are the winning trophies for the French and German Grand Prix in Formula One, and a bat and ball trophy presented at the final game at Yankee Stadium to Derek Jeter. They also design the trophies for the People's Choice Awards.


Sources


^ "Waterford Crystal closed amid crippling debts". USA Today. 2009-01-30. http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2009-01-30-waterford-sit-in_N.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 


^ Werdigier, Julia (2009-01-05). "Waterford, the Crystal Maker, Is in Receivership". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/business/worldbusiness/06plate.html?hp. Retrieved 2009-02-03. 


^ Garavan, Thomas N.; O. Cinneide, Barra; Garavan, Mary (1996). Cases in Irish business strategy and policy. Cengage Learning EMEA. pp. 347. ISBN 1860760147. http://books.google.com/books?id=HAh33DgZLjEC&pg=PA347&dq=%22irish+Glass+Bottle+Company%22&ei=2ne8Sf2hPJLYlQSw_JTjCw. 


^ Lyall, Sarah (2009-03-09). "Workers and Tourists Keep Showing Up at a Closed Irish Factory". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/world/europe/10waterford.html?_r=1&ref=world. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 


^ Edwards, Elaine (2009-03-22). "Waterford Crystal workers to end sit-in after deal accepted". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0322/breaking33.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 


^ "Wide Angle: Raise the Last Glass". PBS. 2010-01-01. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/raise-the-last-glass/introduction/4905/. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 


^ a b "WWRD Holdings Limited acquires the assets of Waterford, Wedgwood, and Royal Doulton". KPS Capital Partners. 2009-03-26. http://www.kpsfund.com/newsandpressreleases/press2009-03-26.asp. Retrieved 2010-01-23. 


^ Arm candy (2009-01-05). "Waterford placed into receivership as no buyer found". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/waterford-placed-into-receivership-as-no-buyer-found-1592448.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 


^ "Staff protest over Waterford Crystal closure". RT News. 2009-01-30. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0130/wedgwood.html. Retrieved 2009-02-03. 


^ "Workers occupy crystal factory". BBC News. 2009-01-31. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7862515.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-03. 


^ "Waterford Crystal bought by equity firm". RT News and Current Affairs. 2009-02-27. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0227/wedgwood.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21. 


^ "Waterford Crystal visitors' centre closes". RT News and Current Affairs. 2010-01-22. http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0122/wedgwood.html. Retrieved 2010-01-22. 


^ MSNBC Times Square ball to get LED makeover (retrieved 31 December 2006)


^ "New Year's Eve: About the Ball". New Year's Eve. Times Square District Management Association. http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_ball.html. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 


See also


Edinburgh Crystal


Tyrone Crystal


External links


Official site


Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre


"Raise the Last Glass" PBS online documentary.


Jasper Conran Dining


v  d  e


Glass makers and brands


Contemporary


companies


Anchor Hocking  Arc International  Ardagh  Armashield  Asahi  Aurora Glass Foundry  Baccarat  Blenko Glass Company  Bodum  Corning  Dartington Crystal  Daum  Edinburgh Crystal  Fanavid  Fenton Art Glass Company  Firozabad glass industry  Franz Mayer  Glava  Glaverbel  Hardman & Co.  Heaton, Butler and Bayne  Holmegaard Glassworks  Holophane  Hoya  Kingdom of Crystal  Kokomo Opalescent Glass Works  Kosta Glasbruk  Libbey Owens Ford  Liuli Gongfang  Iittala  Luoyang  Johns Manville  Mats Jonasson Mlers  Moser Glass  Mosser Glass  Nippon Sheet Glass  Ohara  Orrefors Glasbruk  Osram  Owens Corning  Owens-Illinois  Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano  Phu Phong  PPG  Pilkington  Preciosa  Quinn Group  Riedel  Royal Leerdam Crystal  Saint-Gobain  Samsung Corning Precision Glass  Schonbek  Schott  Shrigley and Hunt  Steuben Glass  Sterlite Optical Technologies  Swarovski  Tyrone Crystal  Val Saint Lambert  Verrerie of Brehat  Waterford  Watts & Co  World Kitchen  Xinyi Glass  Zwiesel


Historic


companies


Bakewell Glass  Belmont Glass Company  Boston and Sandwich Glass Company  Carr Lowrey Glass Company  Cambridge Glass  Chance Brothers  Clayton and Bell  Dunbar Glass  Fostoria Glass Company  General Glass Industries  Alexander Gibbs  Grnvik glasbruk  Hazel-Atlas  Heisey  Hemingray Glass Company  Knox Glass Bottle Company  Lavers, Barraud and Westlake  Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs  Morris & Co.  Old Dominion Glass Company  James Powell and Sons  Ravenhead glass  The Root Glass Company  Sneath Glass Company  Ward and Hughes  Westmoreland Glass Company  Whitall Tatum Company  White Glass Company  Worshipful Company


Glassmakers


John Adams  Richard M. Atwater  Frederick Carder  Irving Wightman Colburn  Henry Crimmel  Henry Clay Fry  Friedrich  A. H. Heisey  Libbey  Antonio Neri  Alastair Pilkington  Salviati  Otto Schott  S. Donald Stookey  W. E. S. Turner  John M. Whitall


Trademarks


and brands


Bohemian glass  Bomex  Burmese glass  Chevron bead  Corelle  CorningWare  Cranberry glass  Cristallo  Duran  Endural  Favrile  Fire King  Gold Ruby  MACOR  Murano glass  Opaline glass  Pyrex  Ravenhead glass  Tiffany glass  Vitrite  Vitrolite  Vycor  Waterford Crystal  Wood's glass  Zerodur


Categories: County Waterford | Glass art | Glassmaking companies | Tony O'Reilly family | Waterford Wedgwood | Waterford | Glass trademarks and brands

Wax is not the more expensive the better knowledge of body waxing List

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Waxing really good for car maintenance and repair, but many current owners of the car wax and some one-sided, for example, some car owners will frequently wax, while others simply do not play, and some owners think that wax more expensive the better, and Related Aspects of Intellectual import car wax to use. In fact, these practices are not appropriate. Here are some of the wax on the related knowledge and precautions when waxing. Related: polish wax vapor conservation Auto Paint Wrong side out of the most desirable: the paint can not be recycled also destroyed car polishing






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The first is how to choose a car wax. Currently, Market The wax on the wide range of solid and liquid points, not the same quality car wax. Different properties of various wax, its role and not the same effect, so must be careful in the selection, choose inappropriate not only not protect the body, but to paint color.
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General, should be based on the role of wax characteristics, the age of the vehicles, paint colors, and driving environment factors to consider. Best car polish wax with color coating to protect the body's luster and color, the summer is better to use the UV car wax, poor driving environment plays a prominent role when the application of tree protection cheese wax. Ordinary vehicles use an ordinary pearl or metallic paint color can range wax, high-end luxury car wax should be used, otherwise there is damage to the body. Of course, use car wax and paint color must also be considered suitable, generally dark-colored paint is black, red, green line of car wax, light-colored paint used silver, white, pearl-color series of car wax.








Should be noted that the new car instead of just waxing. It was purchased new vehicles to the vehicle after waxing, this is undesirable. Because the paint on the car itself has a protective wax, waxing too early but will remove car wax original surface, resulting in unnecessary waste, generally within five months to purchase new vehicles do not need to rush to waxing .








Second, we must grasp the waxing frequency. As the traffic environment and different parking places, waxing time interval should be different. Generally have garage parking, and more in good vehicles on the road, every 3? Hit 4 months can be a wax. Open storage of vehicles, due to wind and rain, preferably every 2? 3 months to play a wax. Can be judged by touch, in general, touching Car body Do not feel smooth when you can wax again.








Best to use before waxing Car wash Body of water looks clean soil and dust. Remember not to blindly use of detergent and soap, which contains sodium chloride due to erosion of body composition will paint, wax and rubber membrane, so that loss of gloss paint, rubber aging. If there is no dedicated car washing water, washing vehicles with water, the body dry and then wax.








Should be in the shade to car wax to ensure the body will not heat. Because as the temperature, the wax adhesion worse, will affect the quality wax.








Wax, apply the sponge coated with appropriate car wax, car body painting line back and forth, not to wax scribble down in the car or doing a circle-type smear. A continuous operation to complete, can not stop-Tu Tu. General wax layer Tuyun 5? 10 minutes after the new towels are available polished, but fast wax coated side should be polished edge.








Body waxing after Lights , Plates, doors and cracks in the trunk, etc. will leave some wax to make the body look very beautiful. Scale of these places if not promptly cleaned of wax, may also result in corrosion. Therefore, be sure to wax after the wax so after thoroughly cleanse the dirt, so to get the perfect wax effect.

Speaking style of play to tap first color exquisite decoration

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Traditionally, bathroom equipment, most notably Washbasin , Bath, sitting Toilet "The Big Three." And now Home improvement In more and more people are aware of the importance of leading a, especially in Kitchen The decoration is on Faucet Have a very high demand. People pay attention to the tap to be one step, at least 10 years with it, but also looks enough grades.






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Watch brand is quality Taps currently on the market a wide range of unit price from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, the price of the factors affecting the tap their quality, functionality, design a significant relationship. Selection of bathroom taps, the first thing to consider is the quality of the tap, it was that the taps are the same, as long as you can not do it. But "water" in our everyday Life Used frequently, while the tap is the export of water, its importance can be imagined. For the faucet, it's Spool Is like the human heart, a good selection of taps must first understand the faucet valve, valve core function of the quality of decision to tap the reliability and service life.
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Spool common nowadays, there are three: Stainless steel Ball Tao Tiles spool And roll-style spool shaft. Common feature of the three spool is a holistic, the mandrel into one, easy installation and maintenance, replacement. Among Ceramics Valve core has the advantage of low prices, less pollution, water quality, but pay attention to more brittle ceramic material, easy to break; axis roll-type valve has the advantage of turning the handle smooth, easy easy, comfortable and easy to handle, anti-aging, anti- wear. Stainless steel ball is high Technology A leading content spool, a number of high-end Bathroom Brand Adopt it as their latest products tap spool. The industry also believe that bad water valve more suitable areas, because it is not the impact of impurities in the water, life will not be shortened. And the ball valve handle in the regulation of warm water in the region have relatively large angle, can accurately control the temperature, to ensure the water flow quickly and accurately, and to conserve resources as much as possible, was welcomed by many people of insight .








Features all feel good Quality assurance in the spool, the need to consider is the function of the leader. Do not think the tap function is very simple, but with the development of technology, tap water way too particular about them. In addition we have become accustomed way of ordinary water, some tap water also has a special way. Some brands of faucets also through special devices, water and air pre-mixed, the resulting water is very soft, while also saving precious water resources. Of course, a good product cheap prices, a number of international brands of products are usually priced at a thousand dollars. But once the selection of a faucet, kitchen and living for the future do not have to worry about.








If you require home 24 hours hot water, then pick a mix of good quality tap it is very necessary. Mixed with tap water generally unstable and easily hot-cold, and some hot water mixing faucet equipped with regulation Controller , Can regulate the water inflows into the mixing tank to ensure rapid and accurate flow of hot water, not only saving water, it Energy .

Cane toads in Australia

Invasive species


The cane toad in Australia is regarded as an exemplary case of a "feral species"thers being rabbits, foxes, cats, and Giant Mimosa. Australia's relative isolation prior to European colonisation and the industrial revolutionoth of which dramatically increased traffic and importation of novel speciesllowed development of a complex, interdepending system of ecology, but one which provided no natural predators for many of the species subsequently introduced. The recent, sudden inundation of foreign species has led to severe breakdowns in Australian ecology, after overwhelming proliferation of a number of introduced species for which the continent has no efficient natural predator or parasite, and which displace native speciesn some cases these species are physically destructive to habitat as well.


Introduction and spread
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A young cane toad.
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Cane toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in June 1935 in an attempt to control the native Cane Beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum). They bred immediately in captivity, and by August 1935 more than 102 young toads were released in areas around Cairns, Gordonvale and Innisfail in northern Queensland. More toads were released around Ingham, Ayr, Mackay and Bundaberg. Releases were temporarily limited because of environmental concerns but resumed in other areas after September 1936. Since their release, toads have rapidly multiplied in population and now number over 200 million and have been known to spread diseases affecting local biodiversity. The toads have steadily expanded their range through Queensland, reaching the border with New South Wales in 1978 and the Northern Territory in 1984. The toads on the western frontier of their advance have evolved larger legs; this is thought to be related to their ability to travel farther. As a consequence of their longer legs, larger bodies, and faster movement, about 10% of the leading edge cane toads have also developed arthritis. It is estimated that cane toads migrate at an average of 40 kilometres (25 mi) per year.


Ecological effects


The spread of cane toads in Australia from 1940 to 1980 in five year intervals.


The long-term effects of toads on the Australian environment are difficult to determine. Precipitous declines in populations of the Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) have been observed after toads have invaded an area. There are a number of reports of declines in goanna and snake populations after the arrival of toads. The preliminary risk assessment of cane toads in Kakadu National Park stated that the predation of the cane toad by native wildlife is the greatest risk to biodiversity. Other factors, such as competition with native wildlife for resources, and the predation of the cane toad on native wildlife, were considered much lower risk factors but requiring further study. In the Northern Territory, goanna predation on cane toads has been linked to a rise in the amount of undamaged salt water crocodile eggs. Cane toads were present within a few days of the crocodiles hatching in April, 2007.


Numerous native species have been reported as successfully preying on toads. Some birds, such as the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), have learned to attack the toad's belly, avoiding the poison-producing glands on the back of the head. Reports in the Northern Territory suggest that a native frog, Dahl's Aquatic Frog (Litoria dahlii), is able to eat the tadpoles and live young of the toad without being affected by the poison that often kills other predators. This is believed to account for slower than expected infestations of toads in certain areas of the Northern Territory. Some snakes have been reported to have adapted smaller jaws so that they are unable to swallow large cane toads which have large quantities of poison. Another study, however, notes that the cane toad is adapting to a wider environmental range and may in the future be spreading into habitats currently not available. In 2009 it was found that the native meat ant is immune to the toad's poison and can successfully prey upon young cane toads. Whereas native frogs and toads have natural reflexes to avoid the meat ants, the cane toads do not tend to try to escape the ants, rather standing still when attacked.


As of 2005, ultraviolet light which attracts the moths the toads love has been used to lure and capture Cane Toads for extermination. In June 2006, the University of Queensland announced research into a gene to reverse the sex of female cane toads. This would lead to a population of males, and thus eliminate the population.


In popular culture


This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (August 2009)


A purse made from a cane toad.


The introduction and migration of the cane toad in Australia was popularised by the film Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988), which tells the tale with a humorous edge and is often shown in Environmental Science courses. Don Spencer, a popular children's entertainer, sang the song "Warts 'n' All", which was used in the documentary.


Attempts have been made to make use of dead cane toads, which can number in the thousands and cause hygiene problems. This includes processing the carcasses into liquid fertilisers. Their skin can be made into leather, and comical cane-toad purses, or coin-purses, retaining the toad fore-body, are sometimes seen (eg see accompanying photo).


Cane toads have also been known to be a significant source of food for humans in their native environment; cane toads are cooked by skinning them and taking out the internal organs (including the poisonous glands), and then roasting them. Many people who have eaten cane toads say they are like chicken except with a drier taste.[citation needed]


In Australian states where the cane toad is common, some rather cruel 'sports' have developed, such as cane toad golf and cane toad cricket, where cane toads are used as balls. In April 2005, Dave Tollner, a Northern Territory Member of Parliament, called for legalisation of attacks on cane toads. This was criticised by many animal and conservation groups who claim freezing is a more humane way to kill cane toads than hitting them with cricket bats. The short film Cane Toad - What happened to Baz? displays an Australian attitude towards the cane toad. This film won the "Best Comedy" award at the 2003 St Kilda Film Festival. The film relies on humour which Australians, especially, connect with, and screenings in overseas festivals have been less well received.[citation needed]


This was controversial in relation to an ad put out by the Tooheys beer company which showed people from New South Wales standing at the New South Wales-Queensland Border with golf clubs and lights, attracting Cane Toads just so they could hit them back across the border with the golf clubs.


The cane toad has been listed by the National Trust of Queensland as a state icon of Queensland, alongside the Great Barrier Reef, and past icons, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the backyard mango tree (also an introduced species).


"Cane toad" is also a colloquial term for an inhabitant of Queensland, particularly the state's State of Origin rugby league team members and supporters.[citation needed]


Also, many websites when talking about Cane-Toads will also refer to the Queensland football team.


The invasive nature of cane toads was part of The Simpsons episode "Bart Vs. Australia".


See also


Invasive species in Australia


Conservation in Australia


References


^ "Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Killing off the cane toad". http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=48437. Retrieved 2006-12-06. 


^ "Toxic Toads Evolve Longer Legs, Study Says. 15/02/06. National Geographic News". http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0215_060215_cane_toads.html. Retrieved 2006-05-19. 


^ Henry Fountain (October 16, 2007). "Arthritis Fails to Slow Invading Toads in Australian Fields". NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/science/16obtoad.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1193531451-eJSm5PA39SmnzeZ9ztvwsQ. Retrieved 2007-10-27. 


^ Tyler, M. J. (1994). Australian Frogs A Natural History. Reed Books. pp. 112. ISBN 0-7301-0468-0. 


^ Mayes, P.J.; Thompson, G. G. and Withers P.C. (2005). "Diet and foraging behaviour of the semi-aquatic Varanus mertensi (Reptilia: Varanidae)" (PDF). Wildlife Research 32: 6774. doi:10.1071/WR04040. http://publish.csiro.au/%3Fact%3Dview_file%26file_id%3DWR04040.pdf. 


^ "SSR164 - A preliminary risk assessment of cane toads in Kakadu National Park". http://www.deh.gov.au/ssd/publications/ssr/164.html. Retrieved 2006-05-22. 


^ Boland, C. R. J. (2004). "Introduced cane toads Bufo marinus are active nest predators and competitors of rainbow bee-eaters Merops ornatus: observational and experimental evidence". Biological Conservation 120 (1): 5362. 


^ "Cane toad impact will boost croc hatchling numbers, researchers say". http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1742950.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-15. 


^ "Cane Toads Present for Croc Hatching". http://sbs.discuvery.australia/canetoads.65145.d69f2544a66. 


^ Mitchell, D.; Jones, A. Hero, J.-M. (1995). "Predation on the Cane Toad (Bufo marinus) by the black kite (Milvus migrans)". Memoirs - Wueensland Museum 38: 512531. 


^ "NT frog 'eats' Cane Toad. 15/15/2004. ABC News Online". http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1265310.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-09. 


^ Phillips, Ben L.; and Shine, Richard (December 2004). "Adapting to an invasive species: Toxic Cane Toads induce morphological change in Australian snakes". PNAS 101(49): 1715017155. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406440101. PMID 15569943. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/49/17150. 


^ Urban, Mark C.; Ben L. Phillips, David K. Skelly, and Richard Shine (2007). "The cane toad's (Chaunus [Bufo] marinus) increasing ability to invade Australia is revealed by a dynamically updated range model". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0114. 


^ "Killer ants are weapons of mass toad destruction". London. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6007268.ece. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 


^ "Northern Australian Frog Database System". http://www.frogwatch.org.au/index.cfm?attributes.fuseaction=viewResearch&research_id=141. Retrieved 2006-05-20. 


^ "ABC news online: Gender bending could see cane toad's end". http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1656274.htm. Retrieved June 18, 2007. 


^ "Toads as Fertilizer - DirtDoctor.com - Howard Garrett". http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=1470. Retrieved 2006-06-07. 


^ "Cane toad clubbing sparks controversy". http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1342444.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-20. 


^ "Vulgar, Violent Ads". http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/Page.asp?PageID=866. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 


^ "Cane Toad Golf Out of Bounds". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1553992/Cane-toad-golf-out-of-bounds-says-RSPCA.html. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 


^ "National Trust Queensland National Icons". http://www.nationaltrustqld.org/qldicons.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-17. 


^ "How to kill a cane toad - Daily Telegraph". http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/how-to-kill-a-cane-toad/story-e6frf0q0-1111113541375. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 


Further reading


Tyler, M. J. (1994). Australian Frogs A Natural History. Reed Books. ISBN 0-7301-0468-0. 


Barker, J.; Grigg, G.C.; Tyler, M.J. (1995). A Field Guide to Australian Frogs. Surrey Beatty & Sons. ISBN 0-949324-61-2. 


Lawson, Walter J. (1987). The Cane Toad, Bufo marinus: A Bibliography (AES working paper). School of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University. ISBN 0-86857-247-0. 


External links


Summary of cane toad research in Australia


Cane toad factsheet - Australian Museum


The Cane Toad - Australia's Amphibian Plague at h2g2


"Cane Toad - What Happened To Baz?", the prize-winning Australian animated short, hosted on a German site


Categories: Conservation in Australia | Fauna naturalised in AustraliaHidden categories: Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters | Articles needing cleanup from August 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2009

History of Formula One

The early years


Formula One was first defined in 1946 by the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) of the FIA, forerunner of FISA, as the premier single seater racing category in worldwide motorsport. It was initially known as Formula A, but the name Formula One was widely used early on and became official in 1950.


In the beginning, the formula was largely based on pre-war regulations defined by engine capacity. The regulation expected to bring a new balance between supercharged and normally aspirated cars. Non supercharged 4.5 litres pre-war Grand Prix cars were allowed to race against the pre-war 1.5 litres supercharged 'voiturettes' while pre-war supercharged Grand Prix cars were banned. The first race under the new regulations was the 1946 Turin Grand Prix held on 1 September, the race being won by Achille Varzi in an Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta, although in reality the cars were no different to those that had raced earlier in the season. Indeed Varzi's car was built before the war. Championships for drivers or constructors were not re-introduced immediately. In the early years there were around 20 races held from late Spring to early Autumn (Fall) in Europe, although not all of these were considered significant. Most competitive cars came from Italy, particularly Alfa Romeo. Races saw pre-war heroes like Varzi, Jean-Pierre Wimille and Tazio Nuvolari end their careers, while drivers like Ascari and Fangio rose to the front.
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World Championship
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See 1950 season, 1951 season, 1952 season, 1953 season, 1954 season, 1955 season, 1956 season and 1957 season.


Juan Manuel Fangio drove this Alfa Romeo 159 to the title in 1951.


In 1950, as an answer to the Motorcycle World Championships introduced in 1949, the Fdration Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) organized the first ever official World Championship for Drivers using the Formula One rules. The organization of the championship, to be held across six of the 'major' Grands Prix of Europe, plus the Indianapolis 500, was a mere formalization of what had already been developing in Grand Prix racing during the previous years. It was the Italian teams of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Maserati which were best positioned to dominate the initial years of the championship. Other national manufacturers such as the French manufacturer Talbot or the British effort BRM competed, although less successfully. A number of private cars also took part in local races.


Alfa Romeo dominated all before them in the 1950 season, winning every race in the championship with the pre-war "Alfetta" 158s. The sole exception was the Indianapolis 500, which was part of the championship, although not run to Formula One regulations and rarely contested by the European teams. The race would never be important for Formula One and was no longer part of the championship after 1960. Nino Farina won the inaugural championship, Juan Manuel Fangio taking it in 1951 with the Alfa-Romeo 159, an evolution of the 158. The Alfetta's engines were extremely powerful for their capacity: In 1951 the 159 engine was producing around 420 bhp (310 kW) but this was at the price of a fuel consumption of 125 to 175 litres per 100 km (2.26 to 1.61 mpg imp/1.88 mpg to 1.34 mpg US). Enzo Ferrari, who had raced the Alfettas before the war, was the first to understand that the 1.5 litre supercharged engine was a dead end: Any increase in power meant more fuel to carry or more time lost in the pits for refuelling, For the last races of 1950 Ferrari sent his 1.5 litre supercharged 125s to the museum, and fielded the new V12 4.5 litre normally aspirated 375s. With a fuel consumption of around 35 litres per 100 kilometres (8.1 mpg-imp; 6.7 mpg-US) the 375s offered fierce opposition to the Alfettas towards the end of the 1951 season. Alfa Romeo, a state-owned company, decided to withdraw after a refusal of the Italian government to fund the expensive design of a new car. Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo involvement in racing was made with a very thin budget, using mostly pre-war technology and material during the two seasons. For instance the team won two championships using only nine pre-war built engine blocks.


No Alfa Romeo, a supporting cast of privateer Lago-Talbot entries and an almost undriveable, unreliable BRM would make Ferrari effectively invincible. The FIA was in an embarrassing position as it had already announced that current Formula One regulations would last until 1954 before switching to 2.5-litre atmospheric engines. Major manufacturers were already working to develop cars for the future regulation and it was obvious that nobody would develop a new car for only two years. The promoters of the World Championship Grands Prix, mindful of the lack of serious competition for the Alfettas, eventually all adopted Formula Two regulations for two years. However, Ferrari's dominance went on with the light 4-cylinder powered 500s, bringing Italian legend Alberto Ascari his two championships in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Ferrari's Formula One cars continued to race very successfully in non-Championship Formula One and Formula Libre races through this period. Ironically, during this period the only World Championship race for which Formula One cars were eligible was the Indianapolis 500. In 1952 Ferrari entered four Formula One 375s with Alberto Ascari as lead driver, but with little success.


Discounting the Indianapolis 500, the World Championship was entirely based in Europe until 1953 when the season opened in Argentina. Since then there has always been at least one race outside Europe.


As planned, the World Championship races returned to Formula One regulations for the 1954 season, now based on 2.5-litre atmospheric engines. With them, Lancia and Mercedes-Benz came to the formula, hiring the best drivers of the era: Ascari for Lancia, Fangio for Mercedes. Featuring desmodromic valves, fuel injection, magnesium and exotic alloys parts, "streamlined" bodywork and other advanced features, the brand new Mercedes began the 1954 season with Fangio taking pole position at the "Grand Prix de l'ACF" at Reims-Gueux with the first lap over 200 km/h (124 mph) in Formula One before winning the race after a duel with other Mercedes driver Karl Kling, who finished second.


The Mercedes cars swept the next two seasons with Fangio winning all but three of the races. However, at the end of the 1955 season Mercedes vanished as swiftly as they had come. They had proven the superiority of their technology, but the crash of one of their sportscars that year at Le Mans, killing 83 people, was also a significant factor. The company would not return to Formula One for forty years. After Le Mans, three of the year's remaining Grands Prix were cancelled.


The Monaco Grand Prix saw a spectacular incident when Ascari and his Lancia crashed into the harbour after missing a chicane. Ascari was pulled out of the water alive and apparently well. However, there was speculation over an undetected internal injury when four days later Ascari was killed at Monza while testing a sportscar. After Ascari's death, Lancia followed Mercedes out of the category, passing their engines, cars, information and technology to Ferrari.


The 1956 season saw Fangio make good use of the Lancia-born Ferrari to win his fourth championship. Driving for Maserati, he took his fifth championship in the 1957 season, a record which would not be beaten for 46 years.


The mid engine revolution


See 1958 season, 1959 season, 1960 season and 1961 season.


Mike Hawthorn in his Ferrari in the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.


Although the basic formula remained unchanged in 1958, races were shortened from around 500 km/300miles to 300 km/200 miles and cars had to use Avgas instead of various fuel mixtures using methanol as the primary component.


With Fangio retired, Mike Hawthorn in a Ferrari took the 1958 driver's championship becoming the first English driver to earn a title. The British Vanwall team took the maiden constructors championship that season, but ruined their driver's championship aspirations by taking points off one another. Stirling Moss, despite having many more wins than Hawthorn, lost the title by one point. This season saw a woman driving in Formula One for the first time with Maria Teresa de Filippis racing a private Maserati at the Belgian Grand Prix.[note 1]


1958 was a watershed in another crucial way for Formula One. Against a small field of Ferraris and Maseratis (BRM and Vanwall were still working to convert their engines to Avgas), Stirling Moss won the Argentine Grand Prix driving a mid-engined Cooper entered by the private team of Rob Walker, and powered by a 2 litre Coventry-Climax Straight-4. This was the first victory for a car with the engine mounted behind the driver in Formula One.[note 2] The next Grand Prix in Monaco was also won by that Cooper, this time driven by Maurice Trintignant and facing a more substantial opposition. Powered by undersized engines, the Coopers remained outsiders in 1958 but as soon as the new 2.5 litre Coventry-Climax engine was available, the little British cars went on to dominate Formula One. The 1959 season saw fierce competition between the works Cooper of Australian Jack Brabham and Moss in the Walker team's Cooper. As the use of a modified Citron Traction Avant transaxle was Achilles heel of the Coopers, Walker switched to a home design. Unfortunately the special transmission turned out to be more unreliable that the standard part and Brabham took the title with Moss second.


For 1960 while Enzo Ferrari adopted a conservative attitude, claiming "the horses pull the car rather than push it",[note 3] Lotus and BRM introduced mid-engined machines. Walker's team switched to a Lotus 18 chassis. Moss gave Lotus its first Formula One victory at Monaco but his season was ruined by a crash and Brabham took a second title with his Cooper.


The mid-engined revolution rendered another potentially revolutionary car obsolete. The front-engined four-wheel drive Ferguson P99 raced in British Formula One races in 1961, winning the non-Championship Oulton Park International Gold Cup, but was too heavy and complex compared to the new breed of mid-engined machines.


In 1961, in an attempt to curb speeds, Formula One was downgraded to 1.5 litre, non-supercharged engines (essentially the then-current Formula Two rules), a formula which would remain for the next five years. Ferrari could have used its already proven V6 powered mid-engined Formula 2 cars, but preferred to go one step forward by designing a very sophisticated car powered by a 120 V6. This led to Ferrari dominance for the 1961 season as the British teams scrambled to come up with a suitable engine.


Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Formula One World Championship was merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to races run to Formula One regulations. The total number of races run to Formula One regulations remained about the same as it had been before the introduction of the World Championship. Many famous races, such as the Pau and Syracuse Grands Prix, the BRDC International Trophy, the Race of Champions and the Oulton Park Gold Cup, were not part of the World Championship, but nonetheless continued to draw the top drivers and teams to compete.


Technology emerges


See 1962 season, 1963 season, 1964 season, 1965 season, 1966 season and 1967 season.


John Surtees (Ferrari) at the 1964 British Grand Prix.


In 1962, the Lotus team ran the Lotus 25 powered by the new Coventry-Climax FWMV V8 engine. The car had an aluminium sheet monocoque chassis instead of the traditional spaceframe design. This proved to be the greatest technological breakthrough since the introduction of mid-engined cars, but the Lotus was unreliable at first. Jim Clark finished second that year leaving the title to Graham Hill and his new V8 powered BRM.


As soon as the car and the engine became reliable, the era of the Lotus and of Jim Clark began. Clark won the title twice in three years, 1963 and 1965, the latter being the only occasion to date of a driver winning both the Championship and the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race in the same year. For 1964 Lotus introduced the new Lotus 33 and Ferrari made considerable technological and financial effort to win the title. Ferrari used no less than three different engines in the seasonhe existing V6, a V8 and a flat-12, while Lotus was struggling with the teething troubles of a new car. The title went to John Surtees and Ferrari. Surtees' title was especially notable, as he became the only driver ever to win the World Championship for both cars and motorcycles. The 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, the last race of the 1.5 litres Formula One, saw Richie Ginther giving Honda its first victory at the end of a season that was otherwise disappointing for the Japanese newcomer. This was first victory by a Japanese car and, as of today, the only one by a car powered by a transverse engine.


1966 saw a 'Return to Power' as Formula One changed the engine rules once again, allowing engines of 3.0 litre normally aspirated, or 1.5 litre supercharged capacity. 1966 was a transitional year for most teams, however, the year did see the first use of a technology which would later go on to revolutionise the sport: composite materials. The McLaren M2B, designed by Robin Herd, used an aluminium-wood laminate known as Mallite for much of its monocoque, although the car's design did not make best use of the new material.


Ferrari was the great favorite with a 3 litre version of his well tested sports car V12 design, but the engines were underpowered and the cars were heavy; an enlarged V6 held some promise but Surtees left mid-season after a dispute with team manager Dragoni. Coventry-Climax, formerly supplier to much of the field, pulled out of the sport leaving teams like Lotus to struggle with enlarged versions of obsolete Climax engines. Cooper turned to a development of an otherwise obsolete Maserati V12 that was originally designed for the Maserati 250 F in the late 1950s while BRM made the choice to design an incredibly heavy and complex H-16. The big winner was Jack Brabham, whose eponymous racing team took victory two years with a compact spaceframe chassis powered by the aluminium-block stock-derived Repco V8 unit. With SOHC heads and no more than 330 bhp,[note 4] the Repco was by far the least powerful of the new 3 litre engines but unlike the others it was light, reliable and available right from the start of the new rules. 1966 was Jack's year, while 1967 went to his teammate, New Zealander Denny Hulme, as Jack tried new parts on his car.


In 1967 Lotus introduced the Lotus 49, powered by the Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine that was to dominate Formula One for the next decade. Like the Repco the Cosworth was light and compact but it was a real racing engine using 4-valve DOHC heads and delivering much more power - Cosworth had aimed for 400 bhp (300 kW) and exceeded this when the engine first ran. The DFV was designed to be fully stressed (an idea pioneered by the Lancia D50). This allowed Chapman to design a monocoque that ended just after the driver's seat while the Brabham were still using a very classic tubular frame that supported the engine, the gearbox and the rear suspension wishbones. The newborn DFV suffered from frequent failures due to excessive vibration from the flat-plane crank, forcing Keith Duckworth to redesign several parts and allowing Hulme to win the World Driver's Crown on reliability.


1967 also saw a remarkable result by Rhodesian driver John Love with a 2.7 litre four-cylinder Cooper-Climax; Love, who was in his forties and although seen as one of the finest drivers in Southern Africa was not a major star, led and finished second in that year's South African Grand Prix. Love's obsolete Cooper was originally designed for the short races of the Tasman Series; to run a full Grand Prix Love added two auxiliary gas tanks. Unfortunately the auxiliary tanks fuel pump failure forced him to refuel after having led most of the race.


Love was the king of South Africa's flourishing domestic Formula One championship, which was run from 1960 through to 1975, winning the drivers championship six times in the 1960s. The frontrunning cars in the series were recently retired from the world championship although there was also a healthy selection of locally built or modified machines. Frontrunning drivers from the series usually contested their local World Championship Grand Prix, as well as occasional European events, although they had little success at that level.


By the late 1960s, 'overseas' races outside Europe like the South African Grand Prix formed about a third of the championship in any year. The core of the season remained the European season run over the Northern Hemisphere summer, with overseas races usually falling at the start or end of the season, a pattern which has continued to this day. There were also a number of non-championship races run outside Europe the South African Grand Prix was occasionally one of these.


Sponsorship arrives


See 1968 season, 1969 season, 1970 season, 1971 season, 1972 season and 1973 season.


The Lotus 49 at a demonstration run in 2005. The 49 was the first F1 car to appear in a sponsor's livery.


In 1968 Lotus lost its exclusive right to use the DFV. McLaren built a DFV-powered car and a new force appeared on the scene when Ken Tyrrell entered his team using Cosworth-powered French Matra chassis driven by ex-BRM Jackie Stewart as lead driver. Clark took his last win at the 1968 season opening South African Grand Prix. On 7 April 1968 the double champion was killed at Hockenheim in a Formula Two event. The year saw two significant innovations. The first was the arrival of unrestricted sponsorship, which the FIA decided to permit after the withdrawal of support from automobile related firms. In May the Lotus Formula One team appeared at Jarama in the red, gold and white colors of Imperial Tobacco's Gold Leaf brand. The second innovation was the introduction of wings as seen previously on the Chaparral CanAm and endurance cars. Colin Chapman started the arms race with modest front wings and a spoiler on Graham Hill's Lotus 49B at Monaco. Brabham and Ferrari went one better at the Belgian Grand Prix with full width wings mounted on struts high above the driver. Lotus replied with a full width wing directly connected to the rear suspension. Brabham and Matra then produced a high mounted front wing connected to the front suspension. At the end of the season most cars were using mobile wings with various control systems. There was several case of wings, struts, or even suspension collapsing. Lotus won both titles in 1968 with Graham Hill with Stewart second.


The 1968 Matras most innovative feature was the use of aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks but the FIA decided to ban the technology for 1970. For 1969 Matra made the radical decision to withdraw its works team and build a new car using structural tanks for the Tyrrell team, even though it would be eligible for only a single season. The 1969 season started with cars using larger and more sophisticated wings than the previous year. When both Lotus cars broke their wings' struts and crashed at the Spanish Grand Prix, the FIA banned wings for the next race at Monaco. They were reintroduced later in the season but were to be restricted in size and height, and attached directly to the chassis in a fixed position.


Safety became a major issue in Formula One and the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa did not take place as the drivers boycotted the circuit after safety upgrades were not installed as demanded. Stewart won the 1969 title easily with the new Matra MS80, a spectacular achievement from a constructor and a team that had only entered Formula One the previous year. It remains the only title won by a chassis built in France. 1969 also saw a brief resurgence of interest in four wheel drive with a record of four such cars on field at the British Grand Prix. Johnny Servoz-Gavin became the one and only driver to score a point with a 4WD, finishing sixth with the Matra MS84 at the Canadian Grand Prix, although the front wheel transmission was actually disconnected. Wide tyres and downforce had proved to be better means of increasing grip, and the technology was largely abandoned. Jacky Ickx finished second in the championship for Brabham, competitive again after dropping its Repco engines in favour of the DFV.


For 1970 Tyrrell were asked by Matra to use their V12, but decided to retain the Cosworth instead. As Matra was now a Chrysler affiliate and Tyrrell derived much of its income from Ford and Elf (associated with Renault) the partnership ended. Ken Tyrrell bought March 701 chassis as an interim solution while developing his own car for the next season. The new wedge-shaped Lotus 72 was a very innovative car featuring variable flexibility torsion bar suspension, hip-mounted radiators, inboard front brakes and an overhanging rear wing. The 72 originally had suspension problems, but once resolved the car quickly showed its superiority and Lotus' new leader, the Austrian Jochen Rindt, dominated the championship until he was killed at Monza when a brake shaft broke. He took the 1970 title posthumously for Lotus. 1970 saw the introduction of slick tyres by Goodyear.


After Rindt's death the Lotus team had a desultory 1971 season with its two new and inexperienced drivers - Emerson Fittipaldi and Reine Wisell. The team spent a lot of time experimenting with a gas turbine powered car, and with four wheel drive again. After Jack Brabham's retirement, his old team went into a steep decline. Using their own chassis heavily inspired by the Matra MS80 but with conventional tanks, Tyrrell and Stewart easily took success in 1971.


Focussing again on the type 72 chassis, now fielded in John Player Special's black and gold livery, Lotus took the 1972 championship by surprise with 25-year old Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi becoming the then youngest world champion. Stewart came second, his performance compromised by a stomach ulcer.


In 1973, Lotus teammates Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson raced each other while Stewart was supported by Franois Cevert at Tyrrell. Stewart took the Driver's title, but then at the final race of the season, the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Cevert crashed during Saturday practice in the notorious esses and was killed instantly. Stewart and Tyrrell withdrew from the race effectively handing the Constructor's title to Lotus. At the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that was already made before the US Grand Prix.


McLaren, having fully recovered from the death of his founder, ended the 1973 season with three wins and several poles. The new M23, an updated interpretation of the Lotus 72 concept, appeared to many as the best design on the field. Fittipaldi made the choice to leave Lotus for McLaren that offered him true lead driver status that Chapman refused to him.


Ferrari and McLaren at the top


See 1974 season, 1975 season, 1976 season and 1977 season.


The 1974 season went to pre-season favourites McLaren and Fittipaldi, but was a far closer result than expected. Ferrari bounced back from a dismal 1973 season with its first true monocoque cars, the flat-12 powered 312 B3s driven by young Austrian Niki Lauda and the experienced Clay Regazzoni. Despite the failure of the new Lotus 76, Peterson managed to win Grands Prix with the four year old 72. Brabham driver Carlos Reutemann was also able to win with the new BT44 and young talent Jody Scheckter ended most of the races in the points, including winning the Swedish Grand Prix with the M23-lookalike Tyrrell 007. Lauda's season fizzled out after a crash on the first lap of the German Grand Prix. Only the last race of the season decided the driver's title between Fittipaldi, Regazzoni, and Scheckter.


By this time the innovations introduced by the Lotus 49 and 72 had changed car design. Fully stressed engine and variable flexibility suspension was now the norm, most cars had wedge shaped bodywork and airboxes towered over driver's heads. The main innovation of this era came in 1975, when the Ferrari 312T appeared, its transverse gearbox allowing better weight distribution.


Ferrari won the Constructors titles in 1975, 1976, and 1977. Lauda took a relatively straightforward first Driver's title in 1975. The main surprise of the season came when the tiny Hesketh team won the Dutch Grand Prix with James Hunt. Despite entering only one car and refusing sponsorship the team finished 4th in the constructors championship. That year also saw Lella Lombardi score the first points by a woman in Formula One for 6th place at the Spanish Grand Prix.


Niki Lauda practicing at the Nrburgring during the 1976 German Grand Prix.


For 1976, Fittipaldi made the surprising decision to drive for the Brazilian Fittipaldi Automotive team of his brother Wilson, sponsored by Copersucar. James Hunt, who knew that Hesketh's future was doomed by its lack of sponsorship (Lord Hesketh had tried to obtain major backing once he realised Hunt was a likely title contender and that he could no longer afford to run the team out of his own pocket), signed for McLaren. In 1976 Lauda's second successive title seemed inevitable until he crashed in the rain on the first lap at the Nrburgring, suffering severe burns. He was given the last rites but unbelievably was back in his Ferrari six weeks later. He lost the championship by a single point to James Hunt in heavy rain at the final round at Fuji in Japan when he pitted his car and refused to continue, declaring that the risk was too great and that from now on he would refuse to race under extreme conditions.


The most radical innovation of 1976 was the 6-wheeled Tyrrell P34. The P34 was a good car, often finishing third or fourth and winning the Swedish Grand Prix, but it was not superior to the best 4-wheeled cars. 1976 also saw the Lotus team fitting brushes or plastic skirts under its rather uncompetitive 77; McLaren and Brabham also experimented with air-dams and splitters in an attempt to cause low-pressure areas under the car but found no significant effect on performance, in fact nobody knew what was in Chapman's mind.


The incident at Fuji damaged Lauda's relationship with Enzo Ferrari and Lauda officially became the second driver of the Scuderia with Carlos Reutemann as leader. Lauda signed for Brabham before the end of the 1977 championship, having taken the title easily before Enzo Ferrari refused him a car for the end of the season. His second title was mostly built on regularity and reliability. Despite his conflict with the "Commendatore" and his second driver status Lauda enjoyed immense respect from the Ferrari team, which did its best to give him a good car. There was in fact a very competitive field that year but no single challenger to the Austrian emerged and points taken away from Ferrari were shared between many teams and drivers. Surprisingly, the new Wolf team, born from the ashes of Frank Williams Racing Cars and Hesketh, made excellent use of its legacy with Jody Scheckter finishing second to Niki Lauda.


1977 also saw two radical technical innovations that would change the future of Formula One. The purpose of Lotus' experimentation in 1976 was revealed with the Lotus 78, which brought ground effect to Formula One for the first time, using wing-profiled sidepods sealed to the ground by sliding lexan skirts. Generating radically increased downforce with radically less drag,[note 5] the Lotus 78s driven by Mario Andretti and Gunnar Nilsson won five Grands Prix in 1977. Renault unveiled the second when their RS01 made its first appearance powered by a 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, derived from their sportscar unit. Although supercharged engines were successful in the 1950s and the regulations allowing for turbocharged engines had existed for 11 years, no Formula One team had built one, feeling that the fuel consumption and turbo lag (boost lag) would negate its superior power. Motor engineer Bernard Dudot, who had observed the turbocharged Offenhauser engines used in Indycar racing in the USA, pushed for this choice.


The entry of Renault also brought Michelin's radial tires to Formula One. Goodyear, who enjoyed a monopoly before the entry of Michelin, was still using the cross ply design for racing. Goodyear saw the entry of Michelin as a serious threat and made a notable effort in research and development to develop its own radial tires. Tyrrell's 1977 season was disastrous because Goodyear was too busy to continue to develop the unique small tires required by the P34. Without continuing development, the tyres became less competitive and the six-wheeled concept had to be dropped.


The wing-cars era


See 1978 season, 1979 season, 1980 season, 1981 season and 1982 season.


The Brabham BT46B "fan car".


For 1978 the new Lotus 79 made a more radical and mature use of the ground effect concept. Many other teams began experimenting with the technology, but Lotus had a head start and Mario Andretti won the Championship in the "Black Beauty", becoming the first driver to win both the American IndyCar championship and the Formula One title. Brabham outbid Lotus in generating downforce with BT46B "fan car", a revival of the "sucker car" concept used by Jim Hall's Chaparral 2J in the Can-Am series in early 1970s. The car exploited a loophole in the regulations, but the team, led by Bernie Ecclestone who had recently become president of the Formula One Constructors Association, withdrew the car before it had a chance to be banned after winning its only race with Niki Lauda at the wheel at the Swedish Grand Prix. Late in the season Ronnie Peterson crashed into the barriers in the first lap at Monza and his Lotus burst into flames. James Hunt heroically pulled him out of the car and the medical prognosis was initially good but the Swede died the next day because of an embolism. Hunt would retire after the following season's Monaco Grand Prix.


For 1979 Ligier, the resurrected Williams team and surprinsigly Ferrari, despite the handicap of the Flat-12 that obstructed wind tunnels, produced wing-cars designs that were more effective than the Lotus 79. This forced Lotus to hastily introduce the new 80 that overplayed the ground effect concept (it was originally intended to run with no drag-inducing wings, merely ground-effect sidepods) and never proved competitive. Renault persisted with the turbo engine, despite frequent breakdowns that resulted in the nickname of the 'Little Yellow Teapot', and finally won for the first time at Dijon in 1979 with the RS10 that featured both ground effect and turbo engine.


The Renault RS10 was the first turbocharged car to win a Grand Prix.


The new technologies introduced by Renault and Lotus became entangled in the FISA-FOCA war of the early 1980s. Turbo engines were complex machines whose layout limited the ground effect 'tunnels' under the car. They were an emerging technology and so they were difficult and expensive to develop and build and make reliable. It was mostly manufacturer-supported teams, such as Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo which took that route. In contrast, the cheap, reliable and narrow Ford-Cosworth DFV engine, still used by most teams more than a decade after its introduction, lent itself well to highly efficient ground effect aerodynamics. These two groups were represented by two political bodies the sport's governing body FISA, headed by Jean-Marie Balestre, and FOCA, headed up by Bernie Ecclestone. The first group supported a strict limitation of ground effect to gain full advantage from their powerful turbos while the other relied on unrestricted ground effect to balance their horsepower deficit. There were also financial considerations. Faced with large constructors with unrestricted budgets, the smaller constructors wanted a larger share of Formula One's income to remain competitive.


The battles between FISA and FOCA during the first years of the 1980s overshadowed the events on track. Jody Scheckter took Ferrari's last title for 21 years in 1979, but attention there was already being focused on young Canadian Gilles Villeneuve. Alan Jones and Keke Rosberg brought success to Frank Williams at last in 1980 and 1982, while young Brazilian Nelson Piquet won titles for Brabham team owner Ecclestone in 1981 and 1983.


Patrick Depailler was killed in 1980, probably due to high lateral acceleration causing a black out in Hockenheim's fast Ostkurve. The double blow struck to Ferrari in 1982, of the death of Gilles Villeneuve and the crippling injury to teammate Didier Pironi only a few weeks later, helped bring this crisis into the spotlight, and helped both sides settle the dispute for the good of the sport.


The old fashioned DFV helped make the UK domestic Aurora Formula One series possible between 1978 and 1980. As in South Africa a generation before, second hand cars from manufacturers like Lotus and Fittipaldi Automotive were the order of the day, although some, such as the March 781, were built specifically for the series. In 1980 the series saw South African Desir Wilson become the only woman to win a Formula One race when she triumphed at Brands Hatch in a Williams.


After several years in darkness McLaren merged with Ron Dennis's Formula Two Project-4 team. The McLaren MP4/1 (McLaren Project-4) introduced the first carbon fibre composite chassis in 1981, an innovation which, despite initial doubts over its likely performance in a crash, had been taken up by all the teams by the middle of the decade. The use of carbon fibre composite in place of aluminium honeycomb produced cars that were significantly lighter, yet also far stiffer which improved grip and therefore cornering speed.


The rise of the turbo


See 1982 season and 1983 season.


The 1983 title, won by Piquet for the Brabham team of Bernie Ecclestone, champion of the non-manufacturer teams' rights, was the first-ever won by a turbocharged engine. By 1983, the dispute between FISA and FOCA had been resolved and although FOCA emerged with the stronger hand, the teams had seen the writing on the wall. By 1984, only Tyrrell still struggled on with the old DFV engines. 1983 also saw the last non-championship Formula One race: The 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, won by reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg in a Williams Cosworth in a close fight with American Danny Sullivan.


Safety issues finally helped resolve the dispute; after nearly 50 years, the power achieved by the turbocharged cars could finally match the 640 hp (477 kW) produced by the supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125, without a huge consumption of very explosive special fuel. By 1986, some engines were producing over 1000 bhp (750 kW) in short bursts in qualifying. BMW's 1,000 bhp (750 kW) dynamometer was incapable of measuring the output of their qualifying engines - Paul Rosche estimated that it might be as much as 1,300 bhp (970 kW).


First fuel consumption and then turbocharger boost were restricted - to 4-bar in 1987 and 1.5-bar in 1988; by 1988 the turbos were only slightly more powerful than the lighter 3.5-litre atmospheric cars that had been introduced the previous year.


The thirsty turbo engines briefly saw refuelling introduced into the sport, but this was banned for 1984.


Domination of McLaren and Williams


See 1984 season, 1985 season, 1986 season, 1987 season, 1988 season, 1989 season, 1990 season, 1991 season, 1992 season and 1993 season.


The Williams FW11 won the Constructors' Championship in 1986; the only year in which every car in the field had a turbo engine.


With controversy at last left behind, the Formula One teams flourished through the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. Despite the overwhelming dominance of two teamscLaren and Williamshis period is regarded (perhaps ironically) as one of the brightest spots in F1's 50 year history.


Niki Lauda, coming out of retirement for a hefty sum in 1982, pipped his promising young teammate Alain Prost to the title in 1984 by a mere half point, the closest ever finish in Formula One history. That half point in itself was controversial in that it came at the rain-shortened Grand Prix of Monaco, which resulted in half points, too. Prost won that race, but rookie Ayrton Senna made the stronger impression in his Toleman car, finishing 2nd and rapidly closing on Prost (while the young German Stefan Bellof in the inferior non-turbocharged Tyrrell raced from the back of the field to 3rd and might even have taken the win, running faster than both Prost and Senna and with Senna reputed to have terminal suspension damage after an earlier incident). It was the start of a rivalry between the two men that would continue for nearly a decade. But in the early years, Prost held the advantage, driving for the McLaren team with the Porsche-built TAG turbo engine which took three world titles in a row.


1986 provided another close finish. The Honda-powered Williams cars of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell looked untouchable, but too often they took points from each other, allowing McLaren's Prost to stay in touch. Although Williams easily won the Constructor's Championship that year, it wasn't until the season-ending Grand Prix of Australia that the Driver's title was decided, Prost making the most of both Williams drivers tyre problems. 1987 saw the Williams grow only stronger, with Piquet driving more consistent races to take his 3rd title ahead of Mansell.


1987 also saw the return of atmospheric engines to Formula One, after the turbo-only year of 1986. Capacity was increased to 3.5 litres, and the turbo engines were restricted in boost pressure and fuel capacity to limit their effect, with a total ban to be introduced in 1989. Nevertheless, while turbo engines lasted, they dominated, Williams winning easily in 1987, and McLaren returning to form in 1988 with the super-team of Prost and Senna winning 15 of 16 races, a record unmatched today. It was Senna who emerged the victor, claiming the first of his 3 World Titles.


In 1989, turbos were banned, but the dominance of McLaren continued for the next 3 seasons, Prost winning the title in 1989, Senna in 1990 and 1991. The championship was marred however by the fierce rivalry between the two men, culminating in a pair of clashes at the Japanese Grands Prix of 1989 and 1990. In 1989 Prost 'closed the door' on his overtaking team mate while Senna later freely admitted to deliberately driving into Prost in the 1990 race, drawing stiff condemnation from all quarters of Formula One. Senna, however, was more concerned with the threat (and opportunity) afforded by the resurgent Williams, now powered by Renault, which were to dominate Formula One for the next 7 years.


It was more than Renault engines, however, which allowed Williams and later Benetton to dominate Formula One from 1992 to 1997. Refuelling at pit stops was reintroduced turning each race into a series of sprints as a result the race strategy became as important as the driver's ability. In the early 1990s, teams started introducing electronic driver aids, whose use spread rapidly. Active suspension, (pioneered by Lotus in 1987), semi-automatic gearboxes (Ferrari in 1989), and traction control (Williams in 1991) became essential to compete. Some of these technologies were borrowed from contemporary road cars. Others were primarily developed for the track and later made their way to the showroom. All enabled cars to reach higher and higher speeds, provided the teams were willing to spend the money. The FIA, due to complaints that technology was determining the outcome of races more than driver skill, banned many such aids in 1994. However, many observers felt that the ban on driver aids was a ban in name only as the FIA did not have the technology or the methods to eliminate these features from competition. Even this controversy didn't diminish the pleasure British fans of the sport felt in 1992, when Nigel Mansell finally won the title, after a decade of trying, nor French fans in 1993 when Alain Prost took his 4th Championship, both drivers piloting Williams cars.


Lightweight television cameras attached to the cars became common in the early 1990s (following an American network TV practise actually pioneered in Australia). As well as boosting audience figures this also made the sport more attractive to sponsors beyond the traditional cigarette companies. Safety improvements also meant that the major car manufacturers were more inclined to attach themselves to teams on a rolling basis.


1994, then, seemed ripe to produce a stunning season. Ayrton Senna had moved to Williams to replace Prost, who retired from the sport. Young German driver Michael Schumacher had Ford power for his Benetton. McLaren had high hopes for its new Peugeot engine, and Ferrari were looking to erase the dismal memories of the last 3 years with Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi. The season was stunning, but for all the wrong reasons.


Safety, rules and regulations


See 1994 season, Death of Ayrton Senna, and 1995 season.


The Benetton B194 with which Michael Schumacher won the 1994 title.


By 1994, the last death in Formula One was nearly a decade past, that of Elio de Angelis during testing in 1986. There had been several horrifying accidents (for example Nelson Piquet and Gerhard Berger at Imola, or Martin Donnelly at Jerez), but no fatalities. The speed of Formula One cars had continuously risen over 8 years, despite turbocharged engines being made illegal and reducing the width of tyres and eventually removing driver aids. There was an "air of invincibility" in Formula One, a belief the cars were inherently safe and drivers wouldn't die any more.


At the San Marino Grand Prix this belief was crushed completely with the serious injuries sustained by Rubens Barrichello and the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger during qualifying and Ayrton Senna in the race on 1 May 1994. Furthermore, Karl Wendlinger was left comatose after a crash two weeks later at Monaco Grand Prix.


The shock from the sudden injuries and deaths was stunning. Not only had two drivers been killed, but one of them was a triple world champion. The FIA reacted swiftly and harshly with major changes to be enforced from that year onwards, and it was the beginning of the FIA's push to increase safety in Formula One.


While significant changes could not be made to cars in 1994, the FIA required all Formula One cars' airboxes to be perforated to reduce their "ram-air" effect, to reduce power. For the same reason special racing fuels, previously an exotic mixture of benzenes and toluenes, were banned; only those with similar characteristics to everyday unleaded petrol would be permitted. To reduce downforce, and therefore the cornering speed of the cars, a wooden "plank" was to be fitted beneath the central portion of the chassis, forcing a large section of the floor further away from the track. If the plank was worn over a certain tolerance (approximately 10 mm), the car would be deemed illegal.


Further, from 1995, designs were required to be drawn from a reference plane (template), and strict limitations were enforced as to the minimum and maximum tolerances for aspects of the vehicle (such as the size of the cockpit opening, an idea well known in Champ Car for a decade, and of aerodynamic devices, commonly called wings). Further, maximum engine displacement was reduced from 3.5 litres to 3 litres. Further changes were mandated as the FIA continued to try to curb the increase in speeds of Formula One cars as the years progressed. These changes included the increase in size of the cockpit opening (to ensure driver egress was easy and to minimise possible side head impacts), introducing grooved tyres (to reduce cornering speeds by reducing grip) and narrower bodywork (this would complicate cooling and also reduce cornering speed), raising and reducing wing sizes and elements (cutting aerodynamic downforce, thus reducing cornering speed), and introducing comprehensive checks on stiffness tolerances and measurements to ensure cars conformed completely with the regulations (for example, weight tests on wings and bodywork to ensure that they maintained integrity and did not flex to give an aerodynamic advantage in a straight line).


The rapid introduction of all of these new rules and regulationsarticularly those introduced in 1994ade the atmosphere even more chaotic for Formula One. Michael Schumacher had to fight desperately for his first World Driver's Championship, as his Benetton team found itself in frequent violations of FIA regulations, and Schumacher was suspended for several races as a result. Even his championship-clinching race in Australia was controversial, as he collided with rival Damon Hill, son of Graham, and ensured himself of the title.


By 1995, however, things had settled down somewhat Schumacher took his second Driver's title, and Benetton, their first Constructor's title with relative ease, defeating the Williams team of Hill and David Coulthard. The Renault engine which powered both teams was virtually unbeatable, with only Ferrari claiming a single win at the Canadian Grand Prix for Alesi, his only career win.


End of the privateer era


See 1996 season, 1997 season, 1998 season and 1999 season.


Jacques Villeneuve driving for the Williams Formula One team at the 1996 Canadian Grand Prix.


For 1996, the FIA mandated a much larger minimum size cockpit area, along with driver's head protection, to ensure the driver's head was less exposed (ironically, this limited driver visibility and contributed to accidents).[citation needed] As part of his plan to rebuild Ferrari, Jean Todt brought Michael Schumacher to the team from Benetton that year, essentially in exchange for his 1995 drivers Alesi and Berger. There was an immediate effect, in his first year with the Scuderia Schumacher won three races, more than the team had managed in the previous five years. Ferrari were not championship contenders though and Damon Hill made a strong run to the title, finally claiming the crown after 3 years of almost but not quite.


In 1997, another son of an F1 racing legend took the titles for Williams once again, as Jacques Villeneuve became the 4th driver to take both the Formula One and CART championship (the others being Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Nigel Mansell). This season was much closer than 1996, and Villeneuve only clinched the Drivers' Championship at the final race. Once again, Michael Schumacher collided with his championship rival at the final race, but unlike 1994 events turned against him. Schumacher not only found himself knocked out of the race, but was found to have deliberately tried to run Villeneuve off of the road. Schumacher was stripped of second place in the Championship and was disgraced.


At the end of 1997 Renault withdrew from Formula One. McLaren-Mercedes took the Driver's Crown for the next two years, both being claimed by Mika Hkkinen. The Finn was nearly untouchable as he took his first title while Schumacher and Villeneuve could only watch (Schumacher putting up an admirable but futile fight). 1999 provided a stiffer contest for the title. Villeneuve was out of the picture at the brand-new BAR but Schumacher was in contention when he crashed and broke his leg at Silverstone. His team mate Eddie Irvine eventually lost by only two points to Mika Hkkinen, but his efforts contributed to Ferrari's first constructors championship since 1983.


Behind the title races, however, there were signs of trouble brewing in Formula One. Long-established, highly respected names like Brabham and Lotus vanished from the starting grids. French powerhouse Ligier found themselves in desperate straits, and were sold to Alain Prost. Ken Tyrrell's team foundered on, despite dismal results, until 1998, when BAR bought the team. And the colorful era of the small, private teams finally came to an end. Names like Larrousse, Dallara, Simtek, Pacific, and Forti would no longer be seen on the starting grids, with only Jordan, Sauber, Arrows and of course Minardi managing to survive somehow. The flourishing of Jordan in 1998 and 1999, under the leadership of Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Ralf Schumacher (Michael's younger brother) proved to be a last hurrah of the privateer, not a sign of health in the sport. Even once mighty Benetton, champions only a few years before, were barely surviving. Jackie Stewart fronted his own team from 1997 to 1999 with backing from Ford but even then sold out as the team transformed into Jaguar.


Schumacher and Ferrari ascendant


See 2000 season, 2001 season, 2002 season, 2003 season and 2004 season.


Schumacher before the 2005 United States Grand Prix.


2000 saw the grids of Formula One start to revert to normal, as Jordan rapidly faded out of sight, and Williams, looking forward to a new partnership with BMW started to reassert itself. The fight at the front, however, was very much between Hkkinen and Schumacher, each two-time champion, driving cars closely matched in performance. Ferrari had been steadily improving since their low point in the early 1990s and in 2000 Schumacher prevailed, becoming the first 3 time Champion since Senna, and bringing the World Driver's title to Ferrari for the first time since Jody Scheckter in 1979. The 2001 season saw Ferrari start to leave the rest of the grid behind, and Schumacher won the championship by the Hungarian Grand Prix, which tied him as second quickest championship winner with Nigel Mansell. For 2002, the season was a red-wash. Ferrari finished every race, and won 15 of 17. Michael Schumacher scored more points than the second and third placed drivers combined. In this season, he wrapped up the championship at the French Grand Prix, becoming the earliest ever championship winner.


While Ferrari celebrated their dominance, the sport itself was seen by many to be in trouble. Two more privateers, Prost and Arrows, had closed their doors for good. Benetton was also no more, the team having been completely bought out by Renault. Even more troubling was the one team in seemingly no danger of disappearing: Ferrari. While Formula One was no stranger to teams monopolizing the winner's stand, Ferrari's actions throughout the 2002 season angered many; in particular the staged finishes of the Austrian Grand Prix and the US Grand Prix. It seemed to many that sportsmanship no longer had a part in Formula One, that it was possible to take the dictum of 'win at all costs' too far. Ratings and attendance noticeably declined in the later half of 2002, a serious problem for a sport which was by far the most expensive (and, more importantly, most lucrative) in the world by this time.


In 2003, despite heavy rule changes in order to prevent what had happened in 2002 from happening again, Schumacher won the championship once more. He was run close by both Kimi Rikknen and Juan Pablo Montoya, but Schumacher prevailed, taking the championship by two points at Suzuka. It seemed that 2003 was the perfect balm to ease the memories of the previous season, with 8 different race winners (including first-time victories for Fernando Alonso, Kimi Rikknen and Giancarlo Fisichella) and 5 different teams, including both Renault (for the first time in twenty years) and Jordan, who grabbed a lucky win in a wild Brazilian Grand Prix.


In 2004 Ferrari and Schumacher returned to almost total dominance of the championships, winning both with ease. A new race in Bahrain made its debut in April and another new race in China debuted in September. It was initially thought that in introducing these new races, older Grands Prix in Europe, like the British Grand Prix, might be removed from the championship, but instead the number of races was increased to eighteen. According to Ecclestone, the move was to increase Formula One's global reach, though the steady tightening of restrictions on tobacco advertising in Europe and elsewhere may also have been a factor. This move saw the percentage of races held outside Formula One's traditional European home climb to around fifty percent meaning the World Championship, which visits four of the six continents, truly deserves its name.


Despite Ferrari's dominance (taking 15 wins from the 18 races), the battle back in the pack was much more open than 2002, as powerhouses McLaren and Williams got off to horrendous starts with radical new cars. As could have been expected, Renault were quick to capitalize on the misfortunes of the two older British teams, but the real shock came from British American Racing, led by Jenson Button. Although failing to win a race, Button was a regular sight on the 2nd or 3rd step of the podium, and with teammate Takuma Sato managed to clinch 2nd in the Constructors Championship, leaving Renault 3rd, Jarno Trulli's win in Monaco some consolation. Montoya and Rikknen each managed a solitary win for their teams, which finished 4th and 5th in the results.


The Ford Motor Company's decision to pull out of Formula One at the end of 2004 exposed the vulnerabilities of some small teams. Not only was their works Jaguar team sold to Austrian drinks company Red Bull, but the few remaining small independent teams, who traditionally had used Ford engines, found their engine supply in a precarious state.


Renault displace Ferrari


See 2005 season and 2006 season.


Fernando Alonso qualifying in a Renault Formula One car at the 2005 United States Grand Prix


In 2005, Formula One saw Ferrari fade out of sight, as the works Renault team dominated the early part of the season, and Fernando Alonso forged a clear championship lead. In the latter part of the season McLaren were significantly the stronger team, with consistently better results and a win tally of 6 from 7 races. However, their early record of poor reliability had meant that catching Renault in either Drivers' or Constructors' Championships was a tall order.


For a while it looked close between Rikknen and Alonso, but by Brazil Fernando Alonso had become Formula One's youngest ever champion. The Constructors' Championship looked even more likely for McLaren, widely regarded as the faster car and with reliability much improved. However, a retirement for Juan-Pablo Montoya in the season finale at Shanghai secured the Constructors' title for Renault. One statistic proved the two teams' dominance: they together won all but one of the races, the controversial US Grand Prix, (in which neither of the two teams participated) which was Schumacher and Ferrari's only win of the year.


Arguably, the final small specialist racing team disappeared with the September 2005 purchase of Minardi by Red Bull to be renamed as Scuderia Toro Rosso and run as a separate entity alongside Red Bull Racing. Jordan had been bought by Russo-Canadian steel company Midland early in 2005 and was renamed Midland F1 for the 2006 season. In June 2005, BMW bought a majority stake in Sauber, which became their factory entry. The Williams team ceased their partnership with BMW as a result, entering a commercial arrangement with Cosworth instead. From 2006 manufacturer teams have an unprecedented level of involvement in the sport. Honda also bought BAR.


2005 marked the end of the V10 era in Formula One. After the banning of turbocharged engines in 1989, V10 became the most popular engine configuration in Formula One. To keep costs down, the configuration was made mandatory in 2000 (although only V10s had been in use since 1998, Toyota were planning on entering with a V12 and had to delay their entry by a year to redesign) so that engine builders would not develop and experiment with other configurations. Over this period, the statistics show a supremacy of the Renault and Ferrari engines, with Renault clinching six Constructors and five Drivers championships as engine suppliers for Williams and Benetton from 1992 to 1997, and their first ever Drivers and Constructors Championships in a 100% Renault car in 2005. Ferrari also enjoyed great success in the V10 era, winning six Constructors' championships and five drivers' championships from 1999 to 2004.


Large car manufacturers have played an increasingly important role in the recent history of Formula One. At the 2006 United States Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso (Renault) leads Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Jacques Villeneuve (BMW) and Ralf Schumacher (Toyota).


2006 was the last season with two tyre manufacturers: Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone and French company Michelin. In December 2005, the FIA announced that from the 2008 season, there would be only one tyre supplier. Five days later, Michelin announced it would quit Formula One at the end of the 2006 season, leaving Bridgestone as the sole supplier from 2007.


Renault and Fernando Alonso established early leads in both the Constructors' and Drivers' Championships. By mid-season Ferrari appeared to be making a comeback, however.


The Italian Grand Prix saw Schumacher reduce Alonso's lead to only two points as Alonso suffered an engine failure. The race also saw Ferrari pull ahead of Renault for the first time in 2006. However, the race results were largely overshadowed by Schumacher announcing, during the post-race press conference, that he would retire at the end of the season.


However, an engine failure for Schumacher at the Japanese Grand Prix, along with costly puncture in the final round in Brazil allowed Alonso to secure the Driver's Championship for the 2nd year running, with Renault also securing the Constructors Championship.


Post-Schumacher


The 2007 Formula One season saw a much more competitive McLaren, with current world champion Alonso alongside rookie Lewis Hamilton. However, Hamilton surprised everyone with a run of 9 consecutive podiums in his first 9 races seeing him take a significant lead in the drivers championship. Alonso's relationship with McLaren deteriorated as the season progressed, as he believed it was his right as world champion to be favoured above his team mate. A Mistake by Hamilton in China and a mechanical problem in Brazil ruined his championship. Alonso, however, was not able to fully capitalise on the situation, and Ferrari's Kimi Rikknen took the championship after a strong second half to the season. Rikknen turned around a 17 point deficit with 2 races to go to win by a single point.


Ferrari also clinched the constructors championship after McLaren's disqualification.


2008 again saw McLaren and Ferrari have the most competitive cars. However, the season was much more open, with winners from 3 other teams. After agonising defeat in 2007, Hamilton clinched the drivers championship in dramatic fashion, overtaking Timo Glock to secure the 5th place he needed on the last corner of the last lap of the final grand prix Despite this, Ferrari secured the constructors championship for the 8th time in 10 years.


New rules and cutting costs 2009


2009 saw the introduction of many new rules and regulations (including an adjustable front wing, KERS and disproportionate wing sizes) to encourage overtaking. Due to the recession, many more rule changes were brought in to reduce the cost of Formula One. Initially a standardised engine was proposed. This idea was rejected by the teams, who came up with their own cost cutting measures. These included a huge reduction in testing times and an increase in the required engine and gearbox mileage. Many teams voiced concerns over the cost of KERS and have suggested a standardised unit, but so far no such opportunity exists. The new rules and regulations saw a new order in 2009, with new team Brawn GP and Red Bull Racing and their drivers leading the way, with Ferrari and McLaren having a poor season. However Ferrari started by the British Grand Prix to make the most of their car with a string of podium finishes and a race victory in Belgium, while a redesign of the McLaren challenger helped Lewis Hamilton to win two races and gain more points than any other driver after it was upgraded at the German Grand Prix. After dominating the beginning of the season with six out of seven race wins, Jenson Button eventually clinched the Drivers title in Brazil, with Brawn winning the Constructors' championship in its only season, before being taken over by Mercedes.


See the 2010 Formula One season article for information on the current season.


Footnotes


^ Women had driven in Grands Prix prior to F1, e.g. Hell Nice


^ The mid-engined Auto Unions had been successful in Grand Prix in the 1930s


^ It was probably disinformation: at the same time Ferrari was preparing 1961 by designing a mid-engined F2.


^ Probably 285 bhp (213 kW) at its beginning and 330 bhp (250 kW) at final stage of development


^ Reportedly the internal name of the project that gave birth to 78 was "Something for nothing", Lotus external consultant Peter Wright, one of the designers of the 1970 March 701, brought the idea.


References


^ Formula One Retrieved from www.conceptcarz.com on 28 April 2009


^ Grand Prix Cars - Alfa Romeo 158


^ "Le Mans disaster claims 77 lives". British Broadcasting Corporation. 1955-06-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/11/newsid_3726000/3726535.stm. Retrieved 2006-11-20. 


^ "Drivers: Juan-Manuel Fangio". grandprix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-fanjua.html. Retrieved 2006-11-20. 


^ Christian Moity, La Ferguson P 99 Climax (1961-1964). La preuve par quatre. Auto Passion n136 May-June 2001 p. 42-49


^ Fangio Ferrari 50 - Ferrari Owners' Club


^ John Love, L'homme de Kyalami. Automobile historique (To be completed)


^ F1 Nutter - The Aerodynamic Development of the Formula One Car


^ Safety Improvements in F1 Since 1963


^ 8W - How? - Four-wheel drive in 1969 Grand Prix racing


^ Franois Hurel, V8 Cosworth. L'lment moteur. Autohebdo March 1, 2006 N 1535 p. 26-31


^ Bernard Canonne & Christophe Wilmart, 1906-2006 100 ans de Grand Prix. Rtroviseur November 2006


^ Hill, Damon (2004-04-17). "Had Ayrton foreseen his death?". The Times (London: News International). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12771-1077121,00.html. Retrieved 2006-10-28. 


^ "Race ace Senna killed in car crash". BBC News. 1994-05-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stor...