Users are always welcome to help us with this newsletter. If you are interested, please leave a message on an existing editor's talkpage or sign up on the "Contributors" list of the central newsletter page, and we will tell you everything you need to know and answer your questions. Current contributors --
Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeledauto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and cars must conform. The F1 world championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets. Drivers are awarded points based on their position in each race, and the driver who accumulates the most points over each calendar year is crowned that year's World Champion. As of the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there have been 820 FIA World Championship races since its first event, the 1950 British Grand Prix.
Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most championships, while his 91 wins, 154 podium finishes and 68 pole positions are also records. Rubens Barrichello has entered more Grands Prix than anyone else—288 times in total—as well as having made an unsurpassed 284 race starts. The United Kingdom is the most represented nation, having produced a total of 157 different drivers. Eight nations have been represented by just one. Poland became the latest country to be represented by a driver when Robert Kubica made his Formula One debut at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.
