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How F1 is becoming embroiled in an oil war

The oil industry is hitting trouble in the 'real world' - and that's going to have major repercussions for Formula 1

Although oil is thought to have been first discovered 3000 years ago in what is today's Iran, it was only with the birth and rise of the internal combustion engine in the 1800s and 1900s respectively that the commodity took on a strategic importance, so much so that the combustible liquefied organic substance became known as 'black gold'.

So vital is this fossilised material to modern living - whether for transportation, heating, energy generation or synthetic materials - that global and regional powers have fought wars over the commodity, with much of the unrest in the Middle East being traced back, whether directly or not, to oil's strategic importance.

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