This year’s FIA Formula 1 World Championship will take place over a grand total of 1,195 laps. That’s a distance of 6,100.496 kilometres, and an average of 59.75 laps and 305.025kilometres per Grand Prix.
The 2012 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will be run on the 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix Track, rather than the 6.299-kilometre Endurance Circuit which was used in 2010 to mark the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Formula One.
At 5.412 kilometres in distance, Bahrain is the 11th longest track on the 2012 Formula 1 calendar. The longest is the 7.004-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps circuit, home to the Belgian Grand Prix. The shortest is the 3.3-kilometre street circuit in Monte Carlo, used for the Monaco Grand Prix.
With 57 laps, the Bahrain Grand Prix is the 10th shortest race of 2012 in terms of laps, tied with the European Grand Prix’s total of 57. The Belgian Grand Prix at the 7-kilometre long Spa-Francorchamps takes place over just 44 laps making it the shortest in terms of laps, while the Monaco Grand Prix takes place over 78-laps around the 3.3-kilometre street circuit, making it the longest in terms of laps.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is sixth-longest race distance of the 2012 season at 308.238 kilometres. The longest is the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang at 310.408 kilometres, while the shortest is the Monaco Grand Prix at 260.520 kilometres.
There is a roughly 100-metre difference between the length of the Australian Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prix. The Melbourne race is the longer at 307.574 kilometres, while the Japanese Grand Prix is 307.471 kilometres.
Five of this year’s record 20 Grands Prix will be taking place on counter-clockwise circuits. This places greater physical demands on the drivers, particularly on their necks. The anti-clockwise circuits include the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore; the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam, South Korea; Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, the UAE; Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the US; and the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Interlagos, Brazil.
Although the Suzuka circuit, which plays host to the Japanese Grand Prix, is a clockwise track, it actually has more left-hand turns (similar to an anti-clockwise track) thanks to its unique figure-of-eight layout.
Michael Schumacher is the ‘oldest’ champion on the 2012 Formula 1 grid, having scored the first of his seven titles 19 years ago, back in 1994. He’s also the oldest driver by age, being 43 years old.
Small aircrafts take off at a slower speed when compared to F1 cars, owing to the improved aerodynamic structure of these cars that generate tremendous down force.
A Formula 1™ driver changes gear approximately 2,600 times throughout a race. It has been calculated that one engine makes 8 million ignitions during a Grand Prix.
The cars have more than a kilometre of cable linking approximately 100 sensors to help monitor performance and to control the car.