Motorsport and Cycling: Formula One and Tour de France

Motorsport and cycling give examiners a steady supply of one-mark questions because both sports are built on fixed names, colours and years. Formula One supplies the governing body, the first season, the famous circuits and the meaning of each flag; cycling supplies the Tour de France, its jerseys and the three Grand Tours. A candidate who memorises these two tables rarely loses a mark in the sports section of SSC, Railway, Banking and State papers.

Formula One: the basics

Motorsport across the world is governed by the Federation Internationale de l Automobile, the FIA, founded in 1904 with its headquarters in Paris. The Formula One World Championship began in 1950, the first race being the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 13 May 1950, and the first world champion was Giuseppe Farina of Italy driving an Alfa Romeo. A separate championship for constructors, that is for the teams, was added in 1958, so a season produces two titles. Each race is called a Grand Prix, the driver who records the fastest qualifying lap starts from pole position, the first three finishers share the podium, and the race ends when the chequered flag falls.

Great names and great circuits

Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina won five drivers titles in the 1950s. Michael Schumacher of Germany won seven, in 1994, 1995 and from 2000 to 2004, and Lewis Hamilton of Britain also has seven, won in 2008 and between 2014 and 2020. Among circuits, the Monaco Grand Prix is run on narrow public streets and is the slowest race of the year, Monza in Italy is called the Temple of Speed, and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium is the longest circuit on the calendar. Winning the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans is known as the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

Racing flags

India and motorsport

The Indian Grand Prix was held three times, in 2011, 2012 and 2013, at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull won all three races. Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian to race in Formula One when he drove for Jordan in 2005, and Karun Chandhok followed in 2010. Force India, owned by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, competed from 2008 to 2018 before being reorganised under new owners. Other branches of motorsport worth remembering are MotoGP for motorcycles, the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race held in France since 1923, the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, the Dakar Rally and Formula E, the championship for electric single-seaters whose first season was run in 2014.

Cycling and the Tour de France

World cycling is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale, the UCI, founded in 1900 and based at Aigle in Switzerland. The Tour de France, the most famous bicycle race in the world, was first held in 1903 on the initiative of Henri Desgrange, editor of the newspaper L Auto, which wanted to raise its circulation. The race is run every July over about three weeks and twenty-one stages, and it traditionally finishes on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Cycling has been part of every modern Olympic Games since 1896, and its disciplines are road racing, track cycling inside a velodrome, mountain biking, BMX and cyclo-cross. The United Nations observes 3 June as World Bicycle Day.

The jerseys and the Grand Tours

Four riders have won the Tour de France five times each: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong, who had finished first seven times, was stripped of those results in 2012 after a doping investigation. The main bunch of riders is called the peloton, a rider who escapes ahead of it is on a breakaway, a helper who works for the team leader is a domestique, and a stage ridden alone against the clock is a time trial.