Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled motorsport defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and cars must conform. The F1 World Championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets. The World Constructors' Championship is presented by the FIA to the most successful F1 constructor over the course of the season through a points system based on individual Grand Prix results. Constructors' Championship points are calculated by adding points scored in each race by any driver for that constructor. According to FIA regulations, the constructor of a chassis and an engine of a Formula One car is a person or corporate entity that owns the intellectual rights to the chassis and the engine of the car that a team/entrant enters into a competition.
From the inaugural season of the World Constructors' Championship in 1958 up until the 1978 season only the highest-scoring driver in each race for each constructor contributed points towards the World Constructors' Championship (then officially as the International Cup for Formula One Constructors); since the 1979 season points from all cars entered by each constructor have counted towards their championship total. The Constructors' Championship is won when it is no longer mathematically possible for another constructor to overtake another's points total regardless of the outcome of the remaining races, although it is not officially awarded until the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony held in various cities following the conclusion of the season.
