What types of cars are racing in formula 1?

A Formula One car is a custom-built, single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel race car with substantial front and rear wings and, as of 2006, a 2.4 liter engine. The regulations governing the cars are as precise as possible, but as the top teams have almost unlimited budgets (in good economic times) the teams try to out-lawyer each other in interpreting the rules to their advantage. The Formula One regulations are intended to keep the speeds and g-force loads on the drivers within a relatively safe limit, but the teams manage to advance technology past these limits every year. It is not really possible to estimate the value of any car very precisely, as each is a unique works of art and technology as advanced as any machine in the world, excepting perhaps the United States military. They can generate cornering forces up to 4g (4 times the force of gravity), which means an offramp with a highway sign recommending 25 mph could be taken by an F1 car at something like 150 mph.

The cars are very light, with a minimum fully-loaded weight of 620 kg (about 1,400 lbs) but have aerodynamics so advanced that they could drive upside-down at only about 125 mph, nowhere near their top speeds. The braking forces are even higher, believe it or not, about 5.5g (gravity measurement), and Moto GP (the equivalent of F1 in Motorcycle Racing) racers complain that that the F1 cars ripple the pavement. The steering wheels are worth US Dollar 5,000 or US Dollar10,000, with a ridiculous number of buttons and controls, and learning to drive one of these monsters is pretty much the equivalent of learning to be a fighter pilot, just without the weapons.