Formula One: Difference between revisions

* ''Graham Hill'', charismatic Londoner who won two titles (1962 and 1968), including one for Lotus after Jim Clark's death, as well as the 1966 Indy 500.

** ''Damon Hill'', his son, who won one title in 1996.

* ''Jackie Stewart'', three time titlist (1969, 1971, 1973) who campaigned for better safety standards. He later became a race commentator who was instantly recognizable for his Scottish accent. Also had his own team in the late 1990s.

* ''Mario Andretti'', Italian-American won the title in 1978. Also won the Daytona 500 in 1967 and Indy 500 in 1969.

* ''Emerson Fittipaldi'', Brazilian won two titles, for Lotus in 1972 and McLaren in 1973. Also won Indy 500 in 1989.

* ''Niki Lauda'', Austrian, won 1975 title for Ferrari before being [[Body Horror|scarred in a fiery crash]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp2i5-hfgok at the Nurburgring]. Returned to [[Took a Level inIn Badass|win again]] (in 1977 and 1984) and establish Lauda Air.

* ''Ronnie Peterson'', late Swedish driver known for an exciting sideways driving style.

* ''Gilles Villeneuve'', Canadian Ferrari driver beloved by the Tifosi for his flamboyant style. Died in a racing crash in 1982.

** His son ''Jacques Villeneuve'', less beloved but still highly successful, having won in 1997. Also won Indy 500 and drove the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

* ''Nelson Piquet'', Brazilian 3-time champion (1981, 1983, 1987), known for playing practical jokes.

* ''Alain Prost'', Frenchman, second to Schumacher in the wins total, and third in title count, with four wins (1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993).

* ''Ayrton Senna'', famously intense and ruthless Brazilian, feuded with Alain Prost in the 1980s. A polarizing figure, adored in Brazil, he may have been the fastest and most daring driver in F1 history. Won three titles, in 1988, 1990 and 1991, all of which were clinched at the Japanese Grand Prix. Killed in a crash in 1994, spurring a raft of new safety rules.

* ''Mika Häkkinen'', two time (1998, 1999) Finnish world champion. Considered to be Michael Schumacher's only real rival (even though the 1999 win came only through lack of competition, considering this rivalry, since Schumacher sustained an injury which prevented him from driving for most of the season).

* ''Michael Schumacher'', German, holds most of the sport's records including most wins (91 against 51 from Prost, the previous record holder) and most titles (seven, in 1994, 1995 and 2000 through 2004, breaking Fangio's five-title record), making him the world's wealthiest athlete. Retired in 2006. Had planned a comeback to cover for the injured Felipe Massa, but was forced to call it off due to his own injuries.

**Came Will comeback anywayback, but for Mercedes instead of Ferrari, after recovering from the neck injury that kept him out the year before. Was generally in the upper midfield, with a car that couldn't quite match the main contenders. For someone off the track for 4 years practically driving the first time again (not counting training of course) it is a solid performance, though people had been expecting top-3 positions due to his legend...

The most famous team is ''Ferrari'', who have won the most races and championships. Ferrari fell into a slump in the 1980s but were rejuvenated by the signing of Michael Schumacher in 1996 and dominated the 'noughties. The nearest challenger is the British ''McLaren'' team, founded by the late New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominated in the 1980s driving for McLaren. The British ''Williams'' team were strong in the 'nineties, thanks partly to a strong design department, but have slipped to the midfield in recentthe 2000s, and to the rear in the late years2010s. Sports car maker ''Lotus'' is the next most successful team, but the team started slipping down the order after technical genius and founder Colin Chapman's death, withdrew from F1 in 1994 and didn't return untill 2010 when a Malaysian backed company used the name. The 'Big Four' of racing are generally considered to be Benetton/Renault, Williams, Mclaren and Ferrari since they have dominated the drivers and constructors championships since the 80's, the majority of titles going to Mclaren and Ferrari; they are the most successful teams in the sport. However the status quo was upset in 2009 with the success of Brawn (now Mercedes) and, later in 2010 and 2011, Red Bull.<ref>Note, however, that despite the changing names of teams it's still pretty much the same rivalry between two chief designers: Ross Brawn was a top tech man in ''Ferrari'' before [[Start My Own|buying out the failing]] ''[[Start My Own|Honda]]'' [[Start My Own|team]] and later selling it to ''Mercedes'', while Adrian Newey headed the ''Mclaren'' design department before moving to ''Red Bull''.</ref>

Unlike other major worldwide sports, the playing field for F1 changes at every event. Many of the race tracks are equally legendary names as the drivers and cars. The most notorious is probably the ''Nürburgring Nordschleife'' in Germany - a 14 mile course with over one hundred corners, it was last used in 1976 but is still there and is even open to the public to drive round if you pay. Other famous tracks still in use are ''Monza'' (Italy), ''<s>Silverstone</s> <s> Donnington if they sort the issues</s> Silverstone again'' (UK), ''Spa-Francorchamps'' (Belgium), ''Suzuka'' (Japan) and the street race in Monte-Carlo (Monaco). A frequent gripe of fans is when an exciting track is dropped or altered in the name of safety. Currently the expansion of F1 into new countries such as China, Bahrain and Malaysia has led to several bespoke tracks that are frequently condemned for being soulless and boring, earning the derisive nickname of ''Tilkedromes'' --— Google the name "[https://web.archive.org/web/20111026111128/http://uncyclopedia.cawikia.com/wiki/Hermann_Tilke Hermann Tilke]" to see the explanation and fan reactions.

F1 used to be notorious for frequent driver deaths, but it's a lot safer than it was - no-one hashad died at the wheel [[X Days Since...|since Senna in 1994]], and no one had died due to an accident since then until Jules Bianchi's crash in 2014 at Suzuka and eventual death the next year. On the other hand, a marshal was killed at the Melbourne Grand Prix ain fewthe yearsintervening agotime.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Top Gear]]'' has had various F1 drivers as their 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car'. Unlike most of the stars, they have their own leader board due to their skill superiority. {{spoiler|Rubens Barrichello currently{{when}} leads the leader board, beating [[Badass Driver|The Stig's]] time by a tenth of a second.}}

** {{spoiler|Consequently, the Stig has developed an [[Berserk Button|irrational hatred]] for him.}}

** Both Jackie Stewart and Mika Häkkinen have been featured in segments where they teach presenter James May (aka 'Captain Slow') how to drive like a racer.

** Series 13 had {{spoiler|1=Stig reveal himself...as Michael Schumacher. It wasn't, as he was later revealed to be Perry McCarthy.}}

** Also in Season 13, during the 'rear wheel drive' challenge, the presenters were in a race in France. One of the other competitors was former driver Olivier Panis. He called their cars shitboxes.

** As mentioned below, the original Stig was {{spoiler|1=the talented but unlucky Perry McCarthy.}} He outed himself in his biography, and was subsequently fired due to a clause in his contract saying that if his identity was revealed, he must be fired.

** The second Stig, who was with the show from series 3 through series 15, was revealed to be {{spoiler|[[wikipedia:Ben Collins (racing driver)|Ben Collins]]}}. They are now on their third Stig.

** Season 14 had the presenters attempt to make art out of cars. David Coulthard helped Jeremy out with his art, using a 2005 Red Bull car. Specifically, using paintballs fired from the exhaust pipe of the Red Bull car. Onto a canvas Clarkson was holding in front of him. [[Groin Attack|It didn't go well.]]

** Season 15 Episode 5 had an absolutely ''beautiful'' tribute to Ayrton Senna, to commemorate what would have been his fiftieth birthday earlier that year (2010).

** Season 17 Episode 3 produced a new fastest driver in the F1 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' Leader Board, {{spoiler|Sebastian Vettel}}.

** Season 18 Episode 7 featured Kimi Räikkönen, returning from his two-year F1 sabbatical (in which he competed in the World Rally Championship), as the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car'.

* [[This Is Your Life]] also featured a few drivers as the subject of it's show. Notably Murray Walker, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. Several other racing drivers acted as guests.

* ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' featured a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNrS9RHMc-I sketch] where [[Hugh Laurie]] played an F1 driver who constantly moans about his "many problems" even though he won the race. The interviewer ([[Stephen Fry]]), after berating him "You do a job that half of mankind would kill be able to do, and you can have sex with the other half as often as you like!", "Are you ARSING WELL HAPPY you dismal moaning French twat?" finally punches him out. A ''real'' punch as well, hence Stephen's slightly guilty expression.

* ''[[The Mary Whitehouse Experience]]'' had a sketch trying to prove that elderly drivers are the most dangerous. Part of which was Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost being held up at the British GP by 'Granddad'. The constuctors championship being won by McLaren, with Ferrari second, and "Austin 1100" third.

* Jasper Carrott talked about fellow [[The Midlands|brummie]] Nigel Mansell on his show: "''Potentially'', he is the most exciting man on the Earth..." (beat) "...until he speaks". "He's got all those exciting endorsements on his tunic; Havoline, Texaco, Labatts...it's so ''incongruous'' isn't it?. It should be Horlicks, or Solihull Public Library" He even mentioned Nigel's Indycar switch: "[[Paul Newman]], and Nigel Mansell! Butch Cassidy and The Sanatogen Kid!"

* Machalcon from ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' is an [[A Mech by Any Other Name|Eng]][[Engine Sentai Go-onger|ine]] based on a Formula 1 car.

== [[Film]] ==

* John Frankenheimer's 1966 movie ''Grand Prix'', starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Yves Montand is pretty much the definite Hollywood treatment of Formula One.

* [[Roman Polanski]] produced a [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068178/ documentary] following Jackie Stewart's 1971 Monaco GP victory.

* ''Senna'', a documentary on Ayrton Senna has been produced. It premiered in Japan during the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix weekend, and was a competitor in the 27th Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award for Documentary Film.

* In ''[[Iron Man 2]]'', Tony Stark enters a [[wikipedia:Historic Formula One Championship|Historic F1]] race at Monaco.

== [[Music]] ==

* Teenage Fanclub's 1995 album [[wikipedia:Grand Prix (album)|''Grand Prix'']] had a Simtek on the cover.

* Robbie Williams's video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVaf7nurSZY 'Supreme'].

== [[Video Games]] ==

* There have been a large number of officially licensed games.

* The highly successful ''[[Super Monaco GP]]'' series on Sega Megadrive / Genesis, which weren't FIA officially licensed games and thus made use of [[Expy|Expies]] for both cars and drivers ; the second game however had Ayrton Senna's supervision and thus was the only real-name driver displayed there.

** As [[In Name Only]] as it is, Sega had previously made an "original" Monaco GP in the late 1970s.

* Also from Sega, 3D racing pioneer ''[[Virtua Racing]]'' had the option to drive F1 cars.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The Autobot Mirage on ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' turns into a formula one car.

** The Stunticon Drag Strip turns into an orange version of the [[wikipedia:Tyrrell P34|Tyrrell P34 6-wheeled]] F1 car.

* [[Formula One/Tropes A-M|Tropes A-M]]

* [[Formula One/Tropes N-Z|Tropes N-Z]]