Formula 1 Season Races to Conclusion

After 19 of 21 races in the 2016 Formula 1 season, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg holds a 19 point lead in the championship over teammate Lewis Hamilton, despite Hamilton winning each of the past two races. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is third; however, he is over 100 points behind.

Hamilton has dominated the past two races in Austin and Mexico City, leading almost every lap. His win in Mexico gave him 51 career wins, tying Alain Prost for 2nd most all time behind Michael Schumacher.

The two Mercedes drivers have dominated this season, with Rosberg winning 9 races and Hamilton winning 8. Ricciardo has won one race, and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen has one victory. The nineteen-year-old phenom Verstappen has impressed in his first two seasons, becoming the youngest Formula 1 driver ever, the youngest ever to score points, and this year the youngest ever to win a race, which he did in May in Spain.

Formula 1 is one of the oldest motorsport series in the world, with its first race being the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England, in 1950. Today, Formula 1 is a highly specialized and technologically advanced racing series. It is immensely popular across the globe, holding races in over twenty countries on five continents. The most recent race in Mexico City pulled in almost 500,000 spectators over the three-day race weekend, including practice, qualifying, and the actual race.

Formula 1 cars are extremely powerful. Their engines typically run about 900 horsepower. Furthermore, the carbon fiber bodies have a minimum weight of 1548 lbs. For comparison, a 2016 Volkswagen Jetta has 184 horsepower and weighs a minimum of 2939 lbs. The highly powerful engines combined with the lightweight bodies require incredibly complex and specialized aerodynamic systems to keep the cars running at peak performance.