We're halfway through round 3 (or the quarter finals, if you prefer) and things are running smoothly. We're seeing very high scoring; as of the time of writing, the top 16 all have over 90 points. This has already proved to be more competative than this time last year- in 2011, 76 points secured a place, while in 2010, a massive 250 was the lowest qualifying score. People have also upped their game slightly from last round, which is to be expected as we approach the end of the competition. Leading Pool A is Cwmhiraeth (submissions), whose points have mostly come from a large number of did you knows on marine biology. Pool B's leader, Grapple X (submissions), is for the first time not our highest scorer at the time of newsletter publication, but his good articles on The X-Files and Millenium keep him in second place overall. Miyagawa (submissions) leads Pool C, our quietest pool, with content in a variety of areas on a variety of topics. Pool D is led by Casliber (submissions), our current overall leader. Nearly half of Casliber's points come from his triple-scored Western Jackdaw, which is now a featured article.
This round has seen an unusually high number of featured lists, with nearly one in five remaining participants claiming one, and one user, Muboshgu (submissions), claiming two. Miyagawa's featured list, 1936 Summer Olympics medal table, was even awarded double points. By comparison, good article reviews seem to be playing a smaller part, and featured topics portals remain two content-types still unutilised in this competition. Other than that, there isn't much to say! Things are coming along smoothly. As ever, if you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) 23:33, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
Users are always welcome to help us with this newsletter. If you are interested, please leave a message on an existing editor's talkpage or sign up on the "Contributors" list of the central newsletter page, and we will tell you everything you need to know and answer your questions.
Below is the F1 Picture of the month (found here). The picture has to be one uploaded in the last month and only from the current season.
It is exclusive to the Newsletter. REMEMBER, YOU CAN VOTE.
Lewis Hamilton extended the 2012 season's record by becoming the seventh different winner is as many races at the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix. At the following race in Valencia, Fernando Alonso broke the sequence by taking his second win of the year.
Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeledauto racing 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 vehicles 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 first Grand Prix was held in 1950 at Silverstone; since then 68 circuits have hosted a Grand Prix. Circuits such as the Nürburgring have hosted Grands Prix using different configurations. The first race at the circuit used the 22 kilometres (14 mi) circuit, but concerns over safety meant that more recent Grands Prix have used a shorter, safer circuit. F1 circuits were predominately in Europe during the early years of the championship, as the sport has expanded so has the location of its circuits. New circuits have been used in Asia and America, the change has been a recent occurrence. Of the 20 circuits that will host a Grand Prix in 2012, nearly half were not on the calendar before 1999.
