ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 51 Email to Friend   Printable Version
Atlas F1   The F1 FAQ
  by Marcel Schot, Netherlands

Have a question about Formula One statistics or history? Well you're not the only one, and it's about time someone came up with the answers to Formula One's most Frequently Asked Questions. Send us your questions, to faq@atlasf1.com - we may not know everything, but we will sure make the effort to find out

The flat 12 remains a topic in the questions arriving at the moment. This time we have one from Jean Pierre:

"Weren't the Porsche TAG engines flat 12's? Have never been able to get a straight answer on this one. I think the late 70's early 80's Ligiers were V-12's, right?"

The TAG Porsche unit used by McLaren from late 1983 to 1987 was actually a V6, which was a configuration used by most of the teams in those days. Even Ferrari used a V6 in those years, albeit much flatter than anybody else's (120 degrees vs the usual 80 or 90). Ligier indeed used V12 Matra engines between 1976 and 1978, and in 1981 and 1982. Ligier used a Lamborghini V12 in 1991, which was also the year with the most V12-powered entries in Formula One history. In that year no less than seven teams used V12 engines: Brabham (Yamaha), Ferrari, Footwork/Arrows (Porsche), Lamborghini, Ligier, McLaren (Honda) and Minardi (Ferrari). So there is the Porsche V12. The Porsche V12 only lasted half a season, as it proved to be too big and heavy. Footwork switched to the Cosworth V8 for the remainder of the season, which unfortunately didn't make much difference to their results, ending the season without scoring a point.

The next question is on a similar subject:

"How many cylinders does an F1 have?, Max"

Since 1998, only 10 cylinder engines have been used in Formula One. From 2000 onwards, this has become mandatory, as Rule 5.1.4 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations states: "All engines must have 10 cylinders and the normal section of each cylinder must be circular." Previously, the maximum number of cylinders allowed was 12, but as said before, the weight and size of these engines have become unpractical in today's cars.

"Who was the youngest F1-winner in history ? Walter"

As with the oldest winner, this question does not have one answer. From 1950 until 1960, the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the World Championship and this delivered the youngest winner of a World Championship race, namely Troy Ruttman. On 30 May 1952 he took the chequered flag, aged 22 years, 2 months and 19 days. However, if we don't regard the Indianapolis 500 as a Formula One race, the answer is Bruce McLaren. The founder of the McLaren team took his first win in the United States Grand Prix at Sebring on 12 December 1959, aged 22 years 3 months and 13 days.

"Hi, I was wondering why David Coulthard wore Michael Schumacher's helmet during one race? Which race was it and why didn't he have his own helmet? Marcel"

This happened at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. The whole weekend had been dry, but on Sunday morning, the rain came pouring down. This caused David Coulthard's visor to mist up to the point that he couldn't see a thing after one lap of the warm-up. As there was little time to solve the problem, Coulthard asked Michael Schumacher if he could borrow one of his helmets, and the German agreed. Sponsorship decals were covered and off they went. The end result was a second place for Coulthard, behind Olivier Panis. Michael Schumacher retired during the first lap.

"Now the winner gets 10 points, second 6 etc... What I want to know is how the points were distributed before? Was it 12 for the winner or 9? Jos"

The points system has had a few variations over the years. 

1950-1959:
1st		8 points
2nd		6
3rd		4
4th		3
5th		2
Fastest lap	1

1960:
1st		8 points
2nd		6
3rd		4
4th		3
5th		2
6th		1
Fastest lap	1

1961-1990:
1st		9 points
2nd		6
3rd		4
4th		3
5th		2
6th		1

1991-:
1st		10 points
2nd		6
3rd		4
4th		3
5th		2
6th		1

From 1950 until 1957, drivers were allowed to share a car. Every driver who was considered to have driven enough laps, was awarded their share of the points.

As the timing systems were less advanced than today, it happened a few times that multiple drivers set the fastest lap in a race, upon which the single point was divided between them, making it possible for Jean Behra to score the fewest possible points in a year in 1954. In that year's British Grand Prix, Alberto Ascari, Jean Behra, Juan Manuel Fangio, Froilan Gonzalez, Mike Hawthorn, Onofre Marimon and Stirling Moss shared the fastest lap, giving each driver one seventh (0.14) of a point. As Behra didn't score any more points that season, he's now the owner of an unbeatable record.

To make things a little more complicated for the championship, until recently, not all results counted towards the championship.

  • 1950-1953: Best four scores counted
  • 1954-1957, 1959, 1961-1962, 1966: Best five scores counted
  • 1958, 1960, 1963-1965: Best six scores counted
  • 1967-1980: See below
  • 1981-1990: Best eleven scores counted
  • 1991- : All scores count

The period from 1967 until 1980 was the most complicated, as the season was divided into two halves. For most of these years, from each half of the season, the worst result was discarded. If the season had an odd number of races, the first half of the season would count one more race than the second, with the exception of 1975, when the first half was eight races and the second half only six. In addition to that, in 1979 and 1980 there were two more variations. In 1979 the best four out of the first seven counted, as well as the best four out of the last eight. In 1980 it was five from the first seven and five from the last seven.

"How much is it to buy an old F1 car ? How big is the range ? What would be at the low, middle and high I imagine a Lotus 79 is more than a Merzario A4, but how much? What would the costs be to run a car in a series for a year? Thanks, Mark"

Recently a Prost AP03 chassis was auctioned on the internet, selling for US$85,500. That didn't include an engine...

I've been doing a bit of window shopping - or rather magazine and website shopping - and compiled a small list, which shows owning an old Formula One car is an even more expensive hobby than driving one.

  • Around US$ 300,000: McLaren M23 (1973)
  • Around US$ 250,000: Arrows FA1 (1978), Matra MS10 (1968), Matra MS120C (1972)
  • Around US$ 225,000: BRM P126 (1968), Connaught A (1952)
  • Around US$ 175,000: Tyrrell 008 (1978)
  • Around US$ 150,000: BRM P201 (1974), Renault RE30B (1982)
  • Around US$ 125,000: Dallara 192 (1992), Lola Larrousse LC88 (1989)
  • Around US$ 100,000: March 761 (1976)
  • Around US$ 75,000: March 741 (1974), Arrows FA12-91 (1990)

At first sight, it seems that age and exclusiveness each put their mark on the price. The older a car is, the more likely it'll cost a lot of money. Why then would an Arrows FA1 cost such a lot of money? Simply, because it's rare and has a story behind it. This was the first Arrows, and it was banned after the English courts decided it was a copy of the Shadow.


Editorial Remarks:

  • Some of the questions we receive have already been replied to in previous F1 FAQ columns. Therefore, before sending in a question, we suggest you have a look at the back issues, by searching the FAQ database. Not that we mind getting so much mail, just that we feel bad for those who feel they are left unanswered...

  • We receive quite a few questions from you all, and it is absolutely impossible for us to research and respond to each of you, be it here or privately. Please, don't feel discouraged if your question was not replied to; it might come up in the next column. And don't forget - you can always look for answers at the Atlas F1 Bulletin Board.

Marcel Schot© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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