Paris

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/ PARR-iss; US: ⁱ/ˈpɛərɪs/ PAIR-iss; French: [paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne, "Paris Region". The City of Paris has an area of 105 km² (41 mi²) and a population of 2,241,346 (2014 estimate) within its administrative borders essentially unchanged since 1860.

Since the 19th century, the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders; together with its suburbs, the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 (Jan. 2012 census).Paris' metropolitan area spans most of the Paris region and has a population of 12,341,418 (Jan. 2012 census), or one-fifth of the population of France. The administrative region covers 12,012 km² (4,638 mi²), with approximately 12 million inhabitants as of 2014, and has its own regional council and president.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.

Sébastien Bourdais

Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007. As of December 2015, he has won a total of 70 races in his career.

He drove in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008, and the start of the 2009 season, but was unable to translate his past successes to that competition. Bourdais currently drives for KV Racing Technology in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Early years

Karting

Born into a racing family in Le Mans (his father Patrick races in touring cars, hill climbs, and sports cars), Bourdais began his racing career at age 10 in karts. During the early 1990s, he competed in a variety of karting championships, winning the Maine Bretagne League in 1991 and the Cadet France championship in 1993. Bourdais was part of the winning Sologne Karting team which won the 1996 24-hour Le Mans kart race at the Circuit Alain Prost on a Merlin chassis with Atomic motors.

2015–16 Formula E season

The 2015–16 FIA Formula E season is the second season of the FIA Formula E championship held from 24 October 2015 to 3 July 2016. The season sees the introduction of eight manufacturers, who are allowed to develop new powertrains, specifically the e-motor, the inverter, the gearbox and the cooling system.Nelson Piquet, Jr. is the defending drivers champion and Renault e.dams is the defending teams champion. After four rounds, Sébastien Buemi leads the championship by four points over Lucas di Grassi.

Teams and drivers

The second season was planned to again feature 10 teams that were essentially the same as in the first season, but after the withdrawal of Trulli after failing to enter the first two races, only 9 teams compete this season. Additionally, there are 8 manufacturers of powertrains that work together with or are part of the individual teams. Initially only Team Aguri decided to keep the powertrain from the previous season, while Dragon use the Venturi powertrain. Due to the regulations, all teams use the same chassis as in the first season. The 8 manufacturers were homologated by the FIA in August 2015. After troublesome pre-season testing, Andretti decided to revert to the powertrain from the first season.

Renault in Formula One

Renault are currently involved in Formula One as a constructor, under the name of Renault Sport Formula One Team. They have been associated with Formula One as both constructor and engine supplier for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in its first car, the Renault RS01. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams. Although the Renault team won races and competed for world titles, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault continued supplying engines to other teams until 1986, then again from 1989 to 1997.

Renault returned to Formula One in 2000 when it acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team (formerly Toleman Motorsport), a team which had won the Drivers' Championship in 1994 and both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in 1995. In 2002 Renault re-branded the team as the "Renault F1 Team" and started to use "Renault" as its constructor name, and subsequently won both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships two years in a row, in 2005 and 2006.