Properties of the coatings developed during thermal spraying are essentially determined by rapid solidification of splats formed as a result of impingement of the melted powder particles onto a substrate surface. The processes of flattening droplets and formation of splats in thermal spraying have been studied intensively during the last two decades. The last review on this topic was published at the end of 1994. Since then many papers have been dedicated to investigating splat formation, taking into account such important issues as roughness of the substrate surface, wetting phenomena, and splashing. This review, consisting of two parts, includes the main results obtained since 1994 and examines the influence of solidification of the lower part of the splat, substrate roughness, wetting at the substrate-coating interface, substrate deformation, oxidation, and splashing on the dynamics of flattening of droplets and the formation of splats. Flattening of composite powder particles, splat-substrate interaction, and development of splat-substrate adhesion and splat porosity are discussed. Part 1 of the review covers the following issues, which significantly influence the droplet flattening and splat formation: droplet solidification during flattening and roughness of the substrate surface, composite morphology of the powder particles, and oxidation processes. The results provide a better understanding of the thermal spray processes to increase their efficiency.