Formula 1

A Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open-wheel racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formula One racing events. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship. The Formula one regulations specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves, though the design and manufacture can be outsourced.

Engines

It appears that not even the legendary pairing of McLaren and Honda can produce a 2015-regulation Formula One engine that sounds as good as the current V8s. Much like Mercedes-AMG Petronas, McLaren Honda have released a clip of their turbocharged, 1.6-liter V6 ahead of next season, and well, at least to our ears, it's not the sweetest of singers.

Scroll down to view the official press release from Honda and to hear what the future McLaren Honda will sound like when it hits the grid in 2015. For comparison, we've also included some on-board footage of Jenson Button's McLaren's V8 from last season.

Top speeds

Top speeds are in practice limited by the longest straight at the track and by the need to balance the car's aerodynamic configuration between high straight line speed (low aerodynamic drag) and high cornering speed (high downforce) to achieve the fastest lap time. During the 2006 season, the top speeds of Formula 1 cars were a little over 300 km/h (185 mph) at high-downforce tracks such as Albert Park, Australia and Sepang, Malaysia. These speeds were down by some 10 km/h (6 mph) from the 2005 speeds, and 15 km/h (9 mph) from the 2004 speeds, due to the recent performance restrictions (see below). On low-downforce circuits greater top speeds were registered: at Gilles-Villeneuve (Canada) 325 km/h (203 mph), at Indianapolis (USA) 335 km/h (210 mph), and at Monza (Italy) 360 km/h (225 mph). In the Italian Grand Prix 2004, Antônio Pizzonia of the BMW WilliamsF1 team recorded a top speed of 369.9 km/h