Formula BMW is a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It is positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it is intended to function as the young kart racing graduate's first experience of car racing.

The new formula was created by BMW Motorsport in 2001, with the first of its championships being inaugurated in Germany in 2002. Selected competitors from each series meet in the World Final at the end of each season, with the promise of a Formula One test for the winner.

From 2011 onwards BMW has ceased to support the Pacific and Europe series, in favor of the Formula BMW Talent Cup. Those series will continue to run, albeit independently.

BMW has prior experience of junior formula racing, as a successful engine supplier in Formula Two and, more briefly, Formula Three in the 1970s. Its European F2 Championship program, which ran from 1973 to 1981, contributed to six drivers' titles in partnership with March. The company ended its participation prior to its first entry into Formula One in the 1980s.

Sebastian Vettel (German pronunciation: [zeˈbasti̯an ˈfɛtəl]; born 3 July 1987) is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in 2010 and 2011.

In his first year driving for Red Bull in 2009, Vettel finished the season as the youngest-ever World Drivers' championship runner-up. He also secured Red Bull's first pole position and race win in the team's history. The following year he went on to become the youngest driver ever to win the World Drivers' Championship. In the same year he helped Red Bull win the team's first World Constructors' Championship. He followed up his first championship with a second in 2011, becoming the youngest double as well as youngest consecutive champion.

Vettel holds numerous other "youngest" Formula One records, among them: the youngest driver to have taken part in an official practice session of a Grand Prix, to score championship points, to lead a race, to secure pole position, and to win a race.

Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. His bestselling books include The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Panic, Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood and Boomerang. He was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, 2009–present.

Lewis was born in New Orleans to corporate lawyer J. Thomas Lewis and community activist Diana Monroe Lewis. He attended the college preparatory Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. He attended Princeton University where he received a BA degree (cum laude) in Art History in 1982 and was a member of the Ivy Club.

He went on to work with New York art dealer Daniel Wildenstein. He enrolled in the London School of Economics, and received his MA degree in Economics in 1985. Lewis was hired by Salomon Brothers and moved to New York for their training program. He worked at their London office as a bond salesman. He resigned to write Liar's Poker and become a financial journalist.

Kris Richard (born October 28, 1979 in Carson, California) is an American football coach for the Seattle Seahawks and former National Football League cornerback.

Richard prepped at Serra High School in Gardena, California.

He played college football at the University of Southern California.

He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 3rd round (85th overall) in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played for the Seahawks for three seasons. He was traded to the Miami Dolphins for Ronald Flemons in 2005. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 and the Oakland Raiders in 2007.

Richard was hired in 2008 by Pete Carroll as a graduate assistant coach for the USC secondary (defensive backs). He followed Carroll to the NFL and joined his former team, the Seahawks, as a coach.