A modern Formula One car has almost as much in common with a jet fighter as it does with an ordinary road car. Aerodynamics have become key to success in the sport and teams spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in the field each year.

When it comes to the business of slowing down, Formula One cars are surprisingly closely related to their road-going cousins. Indeed as ABS anti-skid systems have been banned from Formula One racing, most modern road cars can lay claim to having considerably cleverer retardation.

Cornering is vital to the business of racing cars, and Formula One is no exception. On straights the battle tends to be determined by the power of engine and brakes, but come the corners and the driver's skill becomes more immediately apparent. It's the area where an ace pilot can extract the tiny advantage that makes the difference between winning and losing.

Formula One drivers are some of the most highly conditioned athletes on earth, their bodies specifically adapted to the very exacting requirements of top-flight single-seater motor racing.

The engine and transmission of a modern Formula One car are some of the most highly stressed pieces of machinery on the planet, and the competition to have the most power on the grid is still intense.

Marshals at various points around the circuit are issued with a number of standard flags, all used to communicate vital messages to the drivers as they race around the track. A special display in each driver’s cockpit - known as a GPS marshalling system - also lights up with the relevant flag colour, as the driver passes the affected section of track. Travelling at such high speeds, it may be hard for a driver to spot a marshal’s flag and this system helps them identify messages from race control more effectively.

Surprising but true, despite the vast amounts of technical effort spent developing a Formula One car, the fuel it runs on is surprisingly close to the composition of ordinary, commercially available petrol.

The acronym KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. The device recovers the kinetic energy that is present in the waste heat created by the car’s braking process. It stores that energy and converts it into power that can be called upon to boost acceleration.

For Formula One racing teams one of the biggest battles of a race weekend or testing session will be over before a car even turns a wheel: the vast logistical effort required to get all of the team's equipment to the circuit - so vast, in fact, that the sport has its very own Official Logistics Partner, DHL. Indeed each team competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship now travels something like 160,000 kilometres (100,000 miles) a year between races and test sessions.

As only one driver can ever sit on pole position for a race, and the entire grid wants to finish on the top step of the podium, overtaking is of vital importance to the business of racing. Simplified to its most basic form overtaking is nothing more than gaining track position to get past an opponent.

Drivers get most of the attention, but Formula One racing remains a team sport even during the race itself. The precisely timed, millimetre perfect choreography of a modern pit stop is vital to help teams to turn their race strategy into success - changing a car’s tyres, replacing damaged parts and adjusting front wings in a matter of seconds.

During a Grand Prix weekend, race control lies at the very heart of Formula One, responsible for monitoring and supervising all stages of the practice, qualifying and race sessions.

Part science, part magic - a decent strategy is essential to the business of winning races. Or, indeed, losing them. The basic variables of the equation are simple enough: fuel load and tyre wear. But from then on, it gets vastly more complicated.

Formula One drivers have no spare concentration for operating fiddly controls, or trying to look at small, hidden gauges. Hence the controls and instrumentation for modern Formula One cars have almost entirely migrated to the steering wheel itself - the critical interface between the driver and the car.

The suspension of a modern Formula One car forms the critical interface between the different elements that work together to produce its performance. Suspension is what harnesses the power of the engine, the downforce created by the wings and aerodynamic pack and the grip of the tyres, and allows them all to be combined effectively and translated into a fast on-track package.

As the sport of Formula One racing grew ever more technically demanding, so the practice of testing grew in importance. The old principle of tinkering with an instinctively designed car has long since been superseded by systematic testing of every major component and structure - both before and after the car is fully built and ready to race.

The start of a Grand Prix is among the most exciting of all sporting moments. A desperate struggle for immediate advantage as a grid full of vastly powerful cars, and vastly skilled drivers, all try to arrive first at the first corner.

A modern Formula One car is a technical masterpiece. But considering the development effort invested in aerodynamics, composite construction and engines it is easy to forget that tyres are still a race car’s biggest single performance variable.

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