Fuel Tank 
The fuel tank is situated at the back of the cockpit, and is of aviation specification, making it able to withstand huge impacts. Fuel lines seal themselves if the rear of the car is torn off, and the tank itself, holds several hundred litres. The cornering forces in F1 create a problem: how do you extract fuel if it's pushed up against the side of the tank, and which side? Current regulations allow refuelling, so a nozzle is placed on the side of the tub, and has a cover which can be retracted by the driver pressing a button. 
EngineThe engine is attached to the tub, and unlike most cars, it is a stressed member of the car. This produces all sorts of complications: imagine what happens when the engine is slightly twisted at 17000 revs! The current breed of engines produces over 800 horsepower and capacity is limited to three litres. 

Gearbox 
The gearbox is then bolted on to the engine, and is again a stressed member, onto which the rear suspension, rear wing and much of the rear bodywork is attached. They may have 6 or 7 gears, with a large selection of ratios to chose from. The gears are changed by hydraulics in 0.001 of a second when the driver pushes or pulls 

Suspension 
All the cars now have all-round independent double wishbone suspension, with pushrods connected to inboard springs. The suspension members may look flimsy from the outside, and indeed if pushed from above are easy to bend, but they are directional in strength, and will take many times the car?s weight in a horizontal direction. 

Wings 
Wings were brought into F1 in the late 60s, and are the main reason for the increase in performance since then. The front and rear wings now produce the majority of downforce to the cars, since the stepped chassis introduced in 1995 greatly reduced the under-car ground effect. This emphasis on wings is why a perfect car set up one day can be useless if the wind changes direction. The wings themselves can be minutely adjusted and have many different versions for different circuits. They have slits between elements to create less drag and more downforce. 

Sidepods 
Sidepods were first used by the Lotus 72 to house the radiators, which had previously been at the front, like a normal car. They now house the water and oil radiators, various fluid reservoirs, and some of the computers relating to engine management and telemetry. The undersides must be flat up to a point, and are made as large as possible to increase the downforce they create. The size of the Sidepods is also dictated by engine size, as V12s or V10s need more cooling, and therefore bigger radiators, than a V8. 

Air Intake 
The intake above the driver?s head is vital in determining the horsepower of the engine. It also acts as the rollover hoop. The airflow into the intake must be separated from the surrounding air, so as not to create turbulence in the intake, which would reduce power. A good example was the 1996 Benetton. Berger, who is rather tall, found that his helmet was interfering with the air intake, and it was later found that he was loosing about 10 horsepower to Alesi. He remedied this by leaning his head to one side on straights, but this in turn put extra strain on his neck. 

Nosecone 
Bolted onto the front of the tub is the nosecone, which is attached to the front wing. The nose of all modern cars is raised, as this increases the car's aerodynamic stability and allows the front wing to produce more downforce. It also helps to protect the driver in a head-on collision, and can be replaced within 20 seconds should it be required. 

Diffuser 
The diffuser allows air under the car to slow down, which reduces drag and creates extra downforce. It consists of a venturi, a piece which slopes backwards (/), and used to house the exhausts, but this has now been phased out. However, McLaren have bucked the trend this year, as they have found something clever to prevent instability, and the resonance of the exhaust gases is what gives the MP4/15 it's distictive banshee wail. 

Turning Vanes 
"barge boards" are curved pieces of bodywork designed to get rid of turbulence from the front wing, as well as creating an area of low pressure, producing downforce. 

Cockpit 
The cockpit is incredibly cramped and the seat is moulded to fit the driver. The pedal layout is almost always two now, with the drivers using their left feet for braking. The accelerator is connected to the engine by an electronic link, and the engine management means that the relationship between throttle and revs need not be linear. The pedals are adjusted to suit the driver?s height. The clutch is now situated on the steering wheel, along with many other controls like gearshifts, pit limiter, radio, engine rev LED display, radio switch, other options like brake balance and engine mixture. Steering wheels may be worth $60,000! The driver?s helmet contains a microphone, and he wears earphones, so that he can communicate with his team. Driving is thirsty work, and the driver also has a straw through which fluid is pumped at the touch of a button. 

Brakes 
Usually considered to be the most impressive part, they can create up to 6 times the force of the car?s weight. Since the early 50s they have been disc brakes, with callipers. In the 80s steel was replaced by carbon fibre, which reduces the unsprung mass, improving handling, and also greatly improves braking performance. But carbon fibre needs to be hot for it to produce the maximum force, and they run at 700-1000 degrees 

Tyres 
One area where a lot of time can be found is tyres, since they are in direct contact with the ground. They have an operating temperature of around 100 degrees, and two compounds of slicks are available at each race. The slicks have four grooves cut into them in a bid to slow the cars down. In wet weather there are three types to choose from: intermediates, full wets and monsoon. Intermediates are slicks with some V-shaped treads cut into them, and are used if the rain is light or likely to clear. Full wets have a more developed tread, and are used in steady rain. Monsoon tyres are there for a deluge, and can clear a phenomenal amount of water. 

Coping with G-Force 

A modern F1 car accelerates, brakes and corners at speed totally incomprehensible in a road car. First of all, we have to understand what "G-force" is. G is a measure of force relative to the force of gravity. That means that a force of 5g on 1 kilogram makes it effectively weigh 5 kilograms, so to hold it at 5g requires 5 times the force it would normally require, plus the force of 1g as well. 
In an F1 car at speed, there will be at least one force on him at all times. If he's not accelerating, he's braking, and he's probably cornering as well. The cars will accelerate at about 3g, brake at 6, and cornering could be anything up to 4g. To get some real life perspective, an emergency stop in a road car will not be much more than about 1g. So every part of a driver's body could be experiencing forces of their weight multiplied by 6. The drivers are tightly strapped in, as if they wore no seatbelts at all the force of braking would throw them from the car! Martin Brundle regularly reminds us that this is enough to eject a tear from a driver's eye and splash it on the inside of his visor. If you take a human head as weighing about 5kg, and the helmet, which is made as light as possible for this very reason, as about 2.5kg, this normally weighs 7.5kg in total, but if the driver is braking for Monza's first corner, his neck will have to support more than 45kg! But it's not just the neck that gets it; his whole body will have to deal with several times its weight. With all this force on the feet, for example, the driver will still have to be super-accurate on the accelerator and brake pedals, especially if the race is wet. 
But of course, the drivers prepare themselves for this. Despite the fact his job involves sitting down all day, an F1 driver is among the fittest of any sportsmen. Most drivers will be in the gym for several hours a day, and consequently most have their own gym at home. Emerson Fittipaldi raced until his fifties, but when he retired he is said to have been as fit as an Olympic athlete. If you still want to be an F1 driver you've got many hours of training ahead of you! It's no coincidence that Michael Schumacher is widely regarded as the fittest around. 
But it's not only the forces themselves that the drivers have to deal with. Such high G-force will shift the blood in his body around, depriving some areas of oxygen for a short while. This can cause the driver's vision to become distorted slightly, as if it wasn't bad enough with all that oil on the visors! He also has to deal with all the bumps in the track. If you thought the ride of your car was bad, these cars have a total suspension travel of about 4cm, so if there's a bump in the track, he'll feel it! At certain parts of circuits drivers will modify their line to prevent a painful jolt from an unusually large bump. A force is also put on the driver if he has to go up a hill, which will compress his spine, furthering his pain. 
If all this wasn't enough, the downforce and grip of even the slowest cars means that the force through the steering wheel is enormous. The driver will have to really exert himself to keep it level in high-speed corners, and he will also have to hold it steady on a bumpy straight. All this, but yet again he has to be silky-smooth. This is made yet more difficult with the minimalist cramped cockpits they use. 
Through all this, the driver will be completely exhausted. His heartbeat will treble, and he can lose as much as 3kg in the more strenuous race just sweating away. That's like going a day without water! The 3-layer nomex overalls they are required to wear compound this. Many drivers have specially-made overalls with seems moved or removed altogether to prevent painful rubbing during the race, and Jacques Villeneuve is famous for his race suit, which is 4 sizes too big.