[[File:Race car.jpg|thumbnail|250px300px|right|[[Formula One]] race car]]
'''Formula One''', also known as '''Formula 1''' or '''F1''' and officially as the '''FIA Formula One World Championship''' is the highest class of single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Formula One is often considered the pinnacle of [[automobile]] [[racing]]. The cars are extremely fast with speeds topping 320 kph, although it is their cornering and braking performance that sets Formula 1 apart as the highest class of car racing. The Formula One World Championship is held every year on racing tracks around the globe. There are effectively two championships being contested - the World Drivers Championship is given to the winning driver, but the teams also compete in the Manufacturer's Championship. The 2014 Driver's World Champion is British racer Lewis Hamilton, while the Constructor's Champions are the [[German]] team known as the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
*'''[[Red Bull]] Racing''', which bought the [[Jaguar]] team in 2005, who in turn bought out the Stewart team. The team's current drivers are Mark Webber ([[Australia]]) and Sebastien Vettel (Germany). The team uses Renault engines, and, like Toro Rosso, are sponsored by Red Bull.
*'''[[Vodafone]] McLaren Mercedes''' was founded in 1966. They are the third most successful team in the sport's history, having won the constructors' title 8 times. The team was formed by the [[New Zealand]]er Bruce Mclaren. The current drivers are [[Sergio Perez]] and Jenson Button. Lewis Hamilton left McLaren at the end of the 2012 Formula One season and signed on to the Mercedes team for three seasons.
*'''Scuderia [[Ferrari]] [[Marlboro]]''', who first competed in the second-ever Formula One race at [[Monaco]] in 1950, are the most famous and most successful team in the history of Formula One, and present constructors' champions. They have won the constructors' championship 16 times, mostly because of the dominance of [[Michael Schumacher]], who holds the most championship wins in the sport's history. The team uses [[Ferrari]] engines and are sponsored by the [[Marlboro]] [[tobacco]] company. The current drivers are Fernando Alonso and Filipe Massa
*'''Williams''', founded in 1977, are the second most successful team in F1's history, having won the constructors' title 9 times. However, they have not won the title since 1997. The team is heavily reliant on the money from PVDSA, the state oil company of socialist [[Venezuela]]. The team's present drivers are Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) and Valtteri Bottas (Finland). The team uses Renault engines and are sponsored by various other Venezuelan state owned companies.
*'''Air Asia Caterham Team''' Originally Malaysia F1 team and owned by businessman Tony Fernandes, who also owns leading English football club [[QPR]]. The team's name was changed to LotusF1 before their first season in 2010, but Renault, who were sponsored by Lotus challenged this in court but lost. Meanwhile, Tony Fernandes bought out the [[car]] [[manufacturer]] Caterham and promptly renamed his team Caterham. The [[Malaysia]]n government, who owns Proton, which in turn owns Lotus Cars were also rumored to have let Fernandes buy Air Malaysia in return for him dropping the legal action against Lotus. Their drivers are currently Giedo Van der Garde and Charles Pic.
*'''Marussia F1''' A Russian team owned by car manufacturer Marussia, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton currently race for them. They were originally Manor F1 and then became Virgin F1.
== Drivers' route to F1 ==
Almost all Formula One drivers start racing Karts in club and sub-national classes between the ages of 5 and their early teens. If they show some talent and have the funding they then progress to the national and international competitions. They then progress to either Formula Renault, Formula Ford or a National Formula 3 class if they have sufficient funding and talent. Drivers then progress to Formula 3 or GP3 which costs in the region of half a million euros per season. After this the drivers go into either [[World Series by Renault]] or [[GP2]], which can cost up to 3 million euros a season. Talented drivers also act as teams third and test drivers while they compete in these series; drivers who can bring large amounts of sponsorship money to the F1 teams are also given these roles even though they may be lacking in talent. Drivers can also get into F1 through routes such as Sports cars and touring cars (such as [[V8 Supercars]]) however this route is very uncommon now.
There are other, less common routes to a F1 race seat. The last driver to come to formula one via this route was Paul di Resta who won the DTM title for Mercedes and was then given a race seat in the Mercedes-powered Force India. Sebastian Bourdais came to Formula 1 through IndyCar, however he failed to compete and was sacked by Toro Rosso.