A total of 72 World Championship seasons of

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

(F1) have been run. F1 is the highest form of open wheeled

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

series regulated by the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...

(FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name alludes to a series of rules established by the FIA to which all participants and vehicles are required to conform. The F1 World Championship season consists of a series of races, known as , held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets; the most prestigious of the street circuits is the

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...

. , the sporting regulations established by the FIA's Statutes state that the minimum number of events needed to form a F1 season is 8. The season can be declared a World Championship if F1 visits at least 3 continents in that season according to the

International Sporting Code The International Sporting Code (ISC) is a set of rules which are valid for all auto racing events that are governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). North American domestic racing, such as NASCAR and IndyCar are outside th ...

. The World Championship rule can be declared invalid if the FIA grants F1 an waiver for its "long‐established use of the word 'World'." Each season throughout F1 history has been made up of between 7 and 22 , and the regulations are regularly amended to enable an increase of the maximum number of permitted races each year. The World Drivers' Championship is awarded to the most successful F1 driver over the course of the season, as determined by a points system based on Grand Prix results, and has been awarded since the first F1 season in 1950. The championship is the successor of the pre-war

AIACR European Championship The European Drivers' Championship was an annual competition in auto racing that existed prior to the establishment of the Formula One world championship in 1950. It was established in 1931 and ran until the end of 1939 with a hiatus from 1933� ...

held between 1931 and 1939. The World Constructors' Championship is awarded to the most successful Formula One constructor over the course of the season, as determined by a points system based on Grand Prix results. The Constructors' Championship was first awarded as the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers in , and its current name was adopted in . Different combinations of chassis and engine makes are considered to be different constructors for the purposes of the Championship. Constructors' Championship points are calculated by adding points scored in each race by any driver for that constructor. Up until , most seasons saw only the highest-scoring driver in each race for each constructor contributing points towards the Championship. On only 11 occasions has the World Constructors' Champion team not contained the World Drivers' Champion for that season. a total of 1,079 Formula One World Championship races have been held in 34 countries. Over 72 seasons, there have been 34 participants from 15 different nationalities who have won the World Drivers' Championship, with

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

and

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...

tied for the record for the highest number of titles won with seven. Over 64 seasons, 15 teams representing 5 individual nations that have claimed the World Constructors' Championship, with

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

winning more titles than any other squad with 16. Seasons which were run to F1 rules prior to the inaugural World Championship season in 1950 and those that were part of each of the

British Formula One Championship The British Formula One Championship, often abbreviated to British F1, was a Formula One motor racing championship held in the United Kingdom. It was often referred to as the Aurora AFX Formula One series due to the Aurora company's sponsorship o ...

and the

South African Formula One Championship The South African Formula One Championship, was a Formula One motor racing championship held in South Africa between 1960 and 1975, including races in Rhodesia and Portuguese Mozambique. The front-running cars in the series were recently retire ...

are not included in this list.

Seasons

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

*
Formula One official website

FIA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Formula One Seasons, List of

Seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...