Formula1! The pinnacle of motorsports has been one of the most mesmerizing sports on the planet. The speed, The G-forces, The Technology and Innovation and The drivers, are just soo amazing that I can't wait to take you into the breathtaking world of Formula One! So, shall we get started already?
As a beginner, it's a bit intimidating to understand what's going on on the TV while watching the race. But don't worry, I got you! In this post, we are going to understand everything that a beginner should know to get started with F1.
What is Formula 1?
Formula 1 is motorsport racing series, which is considered the best of the best in all sorts of motorsports.
F1 is called the pinnacle of motorsport because it is not only the fastest form of racing but also the most innovative and technologically advanced form too.
The formula1 is divided into 2 parts,
- Part handled by FIA.
- Part handled by Formula One World Championship Limited.
Both together form Formula 1 and hold the event called as FIA Formula one world championship. The races held in the championship are called as Grand Prix and that is what we see on TV. The championship season usually starts in March and ends in December. During this period races are held worldwide in different countries and on different race tracks. you can find the exact date, timing and location of the races in the F1 season calendar.
What is FIA?
FIA stands for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. I know I know, Let's stick with "FIA".
So FIA is the governing body of Formula 1 which manages the rules and regulations of the sport and acts as a "Race control" which is similar to what a referee is in football or an umpire in cricket.
FIA not only manages formula 1 but also other varieties of other motorsports.
On the other hand, Formula One World Championship Limited handles all the commercial parts of F1 such as broadcasting, marketing and sponsorships.
How does F1 work?
First of all, we need to understand that F1 mainly is a sport of cars and then the drivers. It is about who can make the better car and then having a driver who can push the car up to its limits.
So there are two championships the teams fight for.
1. Drivers championship - which is awarded to the driver who scores the most points at the end of the championship season.
2. Constructors championship - which is awarded to the team which scores the most points at the end of the championship season.
As of the 2023 season, there are currently 10 teams competing for the championship.
All of the teams have 2 cars, driven by 2 drivers.
(ill just add a little bit of a taste of what the teams and drivers are all about)
- RedBull - The defending champions, a Very bold and brave team.
- Max Verstappen 1 - defending and 2 times world champion, youngest race winner.
- Sergio Perez 11 - The king of tyre management, Best Teammate.
- Mercedes - Dominated sport for 8 consecutive years, Unbeatable team of the hybrid era.
- Lewis Hamilton 44 - The GOAT, 7 times F1 world champion, and Most successful driver in the history of F1.
- George Russel 63 - Rookie F2 Champion, Mr. Saturday
- Ferrari - The most successful F1 team, Carries a Huge legacy and pride.
- Charles Leclerc 16 - F2 champion and Longest contract in the history of Ferrari.
- Carlos Sainz 55 - Very strong driver. smooth operator.
- Mclaren - Known for its golden days back in the 90s and 70s and legendary drivers. 3rd most successful team.
- Lando Norris 4 - World Karting champion, Potential world champion.
- Oscar Piastri 81 - Rookie(2023) and Rookie F2,F3 champion.
- Williams - 2nd most successful team of F1. Struggling for the past few years.
- Alex Albon 23 - World karting champion, Very strong driver.
- Logan Sargeant 2 - Rookie(2023), World Karting champion.
- AlfaRomeo - Gave first chances to many legendary drivers,
- Valtteri Bottas 77- Strong driver, Ex Mercedes driver.
- Guanyu Zhou 24 - Stong driver, Debuted last year.
- Alphatauri - Redbull sister team.
- Yuki Tsunoda 22 - Driver with high potential.
- Nyck de Vries 21 - Rookie(2023), F2, Formule E and World karting champion.
- AstonMartin - Team known for its ability to punch above its weight.
- Fernando Alonso 14 - 2 Times F1 world champion. Unluckiest F1 driver ever. potentially GOAT
- Lance Stroll 18 - F3 champion and Son of the chairman of the team.
- Alpine - Very strong team
- Esteban Ocon 31 - Strong driver
- Pierre Gasly 10 - Driver with potential.
- Haas - Small team with Great potential. Iconic team principle.
- Kevin Magnussen 20 - Strong and veteran driver.
- Nico Hulkenberg 27 -High potential driver making his comeback in the sport.
Race weekend and Points system
The Grand Prix or the F1 Race will always be held on Sunday. But that's not all,
The Grand Prix is the process of the whole weekend. Following is the whole Weekend schedule.
Friday
Free Practice 1 (FP1) - 1-Hour Session
Free Practice 2 (FP2) - 1-Hour Session
FP1 and FP2 are the sessions where cars go out on the track whenever they want in the window of 1 hour. Teams use these sessions to understand the car and track and find the best balance of both.
There can be a whole post on what teams do in the free practice but for now, try and understand that they are trying to optimize the performance of the car on the specific track through data and various techniques.
The commentary is the best thing you can listen to while watching a practice session. Personally F1 commentary is the best commentary of any sport I have ever listened to.
Saturday
Free Practice 3 (FP3) - 1-Hour Session.
FP3 is similar to FP1 and FP2, just a little more intense since everybody wants to get their car ready for the qualifying.
Qualifying - 1-Hour Session
Qualifying is the session which decides the Grid of the race. i.e the order in which every car will position itself at the start of the race on Sunday.
It is divided into 3 sessions as Q1, Q2, Q3
Q1 - 18 mins session
In Qualifying, be it Q1, Q2, or Q3, the drivers have to do a lap around the track (do a round) as fast as possible within the given window of time. They can attempt the lap as many times as they want.
The fastest Driver in the qualifying is first on the grid and the slowest driver is last on the race day.
at the end of Q1, the last 5 drivers will be eliminated from qualifying and their grids will be locked for the race and won't be proceeding for Q2.
i.e 20th,19th,18th,17th, and 16th drivers are eliminated at the end of Q1 and will start the race on the same grid position.
Q2 - 15 mins session
Just like in Q1, 5 Drivers from 11th to 15th are eliminated and their grids are locked for the race and will not proceed to Q3.
Q3 - 12 mins session
It is the competition for the top 10 Grid positions similar to Q1 and Q2.
In qualifying, a majority if not all the cars are on track. Those drivers that are attempting the fast lap are given enough space by other drivers who are not on their fast lap or rather they are on a slow lap.
Sunday
On Sunday everybody lines up on the grid based on the qualifying yesterday and the race starts.
Everybody races with one another fighting for the highest positions.
The Race Strategy
There is a thing called race strategy in the race. In the race, the drivers have to change their tires after a certain time since tires lose grip and degrade as the race progresses.
So the drivers need to maximize their tire life and also be fast enough to catch up to the next position or to sustain the current position. To achieve that drivers will drive slower or faster strategically and try to save the tires as much as they can so that their tyres can last longer and they don't have to pit sooner for the new tyres. It's a skill of a driver to optimize both tire life and race pace.
In addition to this, There are 3 main compounds of tyres which provide different levels of grip and life.
- Soft compound tyre: Usually symbolized with red stripes on tires
provides maximum grip and the least tyre life.
- Hard compound tyre: Symbolized with White stripes on tires
provides the least amount of grip but the maximum tyre life.
- Medium compound tyre: Symbolized with Yellow stripes on the tires
provides a balance between both grip and tyre life
There are two more compounds of tyres used when it rains
Intermediate compound tyres: Used when it's not raining heavily and the track is just wet.
Wet compound tyres: Used when it's raining heavily.
These compounds create a lot of opportunities and strategies for drivers to gain positions.
for e.g one can use soft tyres and stops twice to change the tires in the race or one can use a hard tyre and make only one stop for a tyre change. These strategies are called one-stop strategy and two-stop strategy respectively.
Remember that pitting for a tyre change takes a lot of time around 20-25 seconds and there is a risk of losing many positions depending on the situation of the race.
So in short the race strategy is all about optimizing the tire compound, tire life, race pace and the timing of the pitstops in the race. And just like you can feel, There's a lot that can go wrong in this :) (2022 and 2016 Monaco GP)
2016 Daniel Ricciardo pitstop mishap: https://youtu.be/p7xbq9w7nl8
2022 Charles Leclerc pitstop mishap : https://youtu.be/W0rUmzqWBDw
Safety Car and Flags
In case of any hazardous scenario during the race, depending on the situation the Yellow flag is given.
Race control may even use full fledge safety car, where a safety car is deployed on the track and everybody is supposed to queue up behind the safety car. When under a yellow flag the drivers are not allowed to race or overtake another car. It's for having the race under control while the situation is being handled but still continuing the race.
The red flag is shown when the situation on the track needs the race to be suspended to be able to deal with it.
when the race is red flagged all the drivers are supposed to box (pit) immediately and the race is suspended until the further update.
The blue flag is shown to a certain car when that car is supposed to clear the way for the car behind.
The safety car, Yellow and Red flags drastically affect the strategy and ultimately the final outcome of the race. (2021 Abu Dhabi GP)
Points System
Now the whole point of racing is gaining as many points as possible.
The point system is very simple
Here is the point distribution based on the finishing order.
1st - 25 points
2nd - 18 points
3rd - 15 points
4th - 12 points
5th - 10 points
6th - 8 points
7th - 6 points
8th - 4 points
9th - 2 points
10th - 1 point
No points will be awarded to drivers finishing outside the top 10.
driver and the team which gains the most points at the end of the season after the last race is awarded the drivers and constructor world championship respectively.
That's pretty much all you need to know as a beginner.
Let me know what you got in mind in the comments down below.
Hope you enjoyed the post!
Thank you!
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