The McLaren M2B was the McLaren team's first Formula One racing car, used during the 1966 season. It was conceived in 1965 and preceded by the M2A development car. Designed by Robin Herd, the innovative but problematic Mallite material was used in its construction. The car was powered by Ford and Serenissima engines but both lacked power and suffered from reliability issues.

Driven by team founder Bruce McLaren, the M2B had a short Grand Prix career, entering six races and starting only four. It scored the team's first point at the British Grand Prix and two more points at the United States Grand Prix. (Full article...)

The 2001 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Gran Premio Campari d'Italia 2001) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 September 2001 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza near to Monza, Lombardy, Italy. It was the 15th round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 72nd Italian Grand Prix. Rookie Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya won the 53-lap race from pole position. Rubens Barrichello finished second in a Ferrari with Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher third.

Montoya maintained his start-line advantage and led until he exited a chicane slowly due to a tyre blister and was overtaken by Barrichello on the ninth lap. Barrichello pulled away from Montoya and held the lead until his first of two pit stops on lap 19 which proved problematic because of a faulty refuelling rig that had been reprogrammed. Montoya was put a one-stop strategy by his team and made a pit stop on lap 29, which allowed his teammate Ralf Schumacher to lead the race for six laps. Barrichello regained the lead on lap 36, and held it for six more laps until Montoya took over the position on lap 42 when Barrichello made a pit stop for the second time for fuel. Barrichello started to reduce the gap between himself and Montoya but was unable to challenge the Williams driver who achieved his maiden Formula One victory and the first for a Colombian driver. (Full article...)

Formula One (F1) is the highest class of open-wheeled auto 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 vehicles 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. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors.

Safety standards have improved since the first World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950, where there was no medical back-up nor safety measures in case of an accident. Helmets were not made mandatory until 1952, though these were simple cork-lined helmets with no visors. It was not until the 1960s that robust full-visor helmets were made mandatory, along with fireproof overalls, and the FIA assumed responsibility for safety at the circuits. Steps were taken to improve the safety of the Formula One car in the 1970s; the cockpit opening was enlarged allowing the driver to escape more quickly in the event of an accident and outside mirrors became mandatory. The 1980s saw further improvement in the structure of the Formula One car, with the monocoque being made out of carbon fibre instead of aluminium, increasing protection upon impact. Following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994, a number of measures were introduced in an attempt to slow the cars down, including bodywork aerodynamic limitations, a pit lane speed limit and temporary circuit modifications such as extra chicanes. Grooved tyres were introduced in 1998 instead of racing slick tyres to reduce cornering speed. Safety measures continued to be introduced into the 21st century, with a number of circuits having their configuration changed to improve driver safety. (Full article...)

The 1995 British Grand Prix (formally the XLVIII British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 1995 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eighth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship. Johnny Herbert for the Benetton team won the 61-lap race from fifth position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a Williams car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Olivier Panis (Ligier), Mark Blundell (McLaren) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber). Herbert's victory was his first in Formula One, and the Benetton team's fifth of the season.

The race was dominated, however, by the fight between World Drivers' Championship protagonists, Michael Schumacher (Benetton) and Damon Hill (Williams). Hill, who started from a pole position achieved during qualifying sessions held in variable weather conditions, retained his lead during the opening stages of the race whilst Schumacher, who was alongside him on the starting grid, fell behind Alesi in the run to the first corner. Despite being held up behind the slower Ferrari until it made a pit stop, Schumacher used a more favourable one-stop strategy to move ahead of Hill, who made two pit stops for fuel and tyres, on lap 41. Four laps later, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, but the two collided and were forced to retire from the race. This promoted Herbert and Coulthard, who were battling for third place, into the fight for the lead. Coulthard passed Herbert, but dropped to third, behind Alesi, after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. (Full article...)

The 2015 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the 2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 August 2015 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. It was the eleventh round of the 2015 Formula One season, and the 71st Belgian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes entered the event as the overall Drivers' Championship leader, 21 points ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg and 42 points ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship by 147 points over Ferrari, while Williams entered the event in third, a further 85 points adrift. Having won the 2014 edition, Daniel Ricciardo was the defending race winner. (Full article...)

The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Österreich 2015) was a Formula One motor race held on 21 June 2015 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the eighth round of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 29th running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 28th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg entered as the defending race winner, while his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, entered with a seventeen-point lead over him in the Drivers' Championship standings. Mercedes were leading rivals Ferrari by 105 points in the Constructors' standings. (Full article...)