Only a few hours till the start of the Australian Melbourne Grand Prix, I was curious of some of the materials which make up the cars of a Formula 1 race. This website split up the materials in a very readable way. The article covers Carbon-Fibre, Petroleum-Air mixtures, Tyre compounds and recyclable car parts.
www.scitech.org.au/speed/techspecs.html
In addition to this, the 2003 F1 season imposes new restrictions and rules.
For example,
1. There is a 600Kg limit for the race including driver.
2. A 605kg limit for qualifying.
3. Tyre manufacturers are Bridgestone and Michellin and only two types of compounds can be used.
4. On average the top speed at Melbourne would reach 320 Km/h
The BBC have a series of great articles on Formula1, including a description of each flag.